So, not only don't be afraid of new media, but don't put all your eggs in any one basket, whether the basket is old or new media.
Many successful writers I know have seen the same thing: they were all in on picture books, but it was the YA they wrote as a fun side project that got noticed (or vice versa). Or their newsletter brought in more money and more readers than their book. Or they get an unexpected opportunity via a social media connection. Or suddenly they find themselves screenwriting, or starting a new website/journal/bookstore, or discovering that they enjoy ghostwriting or editing or writing songs.
Also, as you have found, many writers will have success with one thing for a while, but then that thing's time passes--whether it is a genre or a format or a media outlet. Another reason adaptability is key.
I always say that writing is very difficult, but it's the easiest part of "authorhood." The hardest part is reaching the audience--not only because of gatekeepers, but because there are so many competing options for that audience.
It really is fascinating to notice the pull of our own desires for traditional types of success like the ones you mentioned, as opposed to the stuff that we dismiss like writing to an audience that cares and getting paid for it. Ie living the dream! Yet we still torment ourselves about missing out on the traditional, old school markers of success.
After publishing six books traditionally, it became evident to my publisher and to me that they didn’t any longer know how to market my work, which had become more complex and which fit less well into their established channels. I got into indie publishing fairly early, and I now have more self-published books than traditional.
I would not say I’ve experienced a lot of financial success. My reward has come directly from readers. “My gay brother had concluded that God didn’t love him. You’ve changed his mind.” And, “Thank you! I now have some ammunition when my fire-and-brimstone father comes at me with ‘God hates gays.’” And, “I feel seen. In a good way. And validated.”
My readers keep me writing. And you are correct to say that the legacy industries favor the already-big names. They’re also eating their own, by which I mean they’re losing financial ground and swallowing each other in the hopes of surviving as mega-companies.
Let’s keep looking for new ways to do our work, new channels and new types of channels. Because, really, it’s all about the work.
Its really interesting the way you describe your experience with "succes" and what it means personally.
I'm an artist and creative person who's always been motivated by the glamour of "succes", not particularly the money or the reach aspect, but rather the idea of being recognized. That my work has impacted or touched the world in some sense.
But for the past year, through a lot of perspective and soul searching, I fund myself conflicted. Why do we need to reach that perfection? Why do we need to achieve that glorified succes? To inspire others and ourselves or to satisfy the ideal of a happy life, constructed by the society we live in today. In which case social media doesn't help either our self-confidence or image of the perfect existence.
Granted it has value for different people how and why they define succes in their way, I guess my question is, why do we need it? As artists and writers shouldn't our happiness/succes only derive from doing what we are passionate about and only for that reason?
I have rambled on a bit too long and maybe confused more than informed. Either way those are my thoughts 😂
As a prestige-craved person, this was the call-out I needed.
Also, it’s dawning on me now how ridiculous it is for me, a newbie independent online writer, to keep on insisting to play the same game as veteran/professional writers. I mean I’ll always aspire to have a byline in, say, the NYT, but there are about a hundred other avenues for me to build some kind of name and platform.
Thank you for writing this! What a 30 year run it has been! Cheers!
Once again I am in awe! I love the way you write. I learn something all the time! Thank you….the only time I said I wanted to write a book was to get out of a detention for talking in my Freshman high school English class!
Fantastic piece Brent. You have such insightful learnings to share....Working on some new creative concepts, so timely to read this.
I particularly liked your honesty about success. It is so personal. For me, I am only in the very early stages of forming an identity as a writer, it is still feeling new and unfamiliar.
Financial stability and needs, changes when you have a family and responsibilities to a child. I also realised that matters to me, as a parent and creative. More things to ponder in my journalling and self-reflection, thanks. 😊
I hear you! Sometimes, I wonder about the time I spend on social media because one of my publishers thought it was a "must". But, this morning, I got a message from a reader whom I'd never noticed before. He wrote a long note thanking me for my content and told me he often stopped by without signing in (I thought you had to sign into leave a message.). He made my day. Content matters to me, but did anyone else care? Maybe social media is the only true path to hearing what our readers think!
I see an additional lesson in your story:
Have lots of irons in the fire.
So, not only don't be afraid of new media, but don't put all your eggs in any one basket, whether the basket is old or new media.
Many successful writers I know have seen the same thing: they were all in on picture books, but it was the YA they wrote as a fun side project that got noticed (or vice versa). Or their newsletter brought in more money and more readers than their book. Or they get an unexpected opportunity via a social media connection. Or suddenly they find themselves screenwriting, or starting a new website/journal/bookstore, or discovering that they enjoy ghostwriting or editing or writing songs.
Also, as you have found, many writers will have success with one thing for a while, but then that thing's time passes--whether it is a genre or a format or a media outlet. Another reason adaptability is key.
I always say that writing is very difficult, but it's the easiest part of "authorhood." The hardest part is reaching the audience--not only because of gatekeepers, but because there are so many competing options for that audience.
Great piece, Brent. And so relevant too.
It really is fascinating to notice the pull of our own desires for traditional types of success like the ones you mentioned, as opposed to the stuff that we dismiss like writing to an audience that cares and getting paid for it. Ie living the dream! Yet we still torment ourselves about missing out on the traditional, old school markers of success.
After publishing six books traditionally, it became evident to my publisher and to me that they didn’t any longer know how to market my work, which had become more complex and which fit less well into their established channels. I got into indie publishing fairly early, and I now have more self-published books than traditional.
I would not say I’ve experienced a lot of financial success. My reward has come directly from readers. “My gay brother had concluded that God didn’t love him. You’ve changed his mind.” And, “Thank you! I now have some ammunition when my fire-and-brimstone father comes at me with ‘God hates gays.’” And, “I feel seen. In a good way. And validated.”
My readers keep me writing. And you are correct to say that the legacy industries favor the already-big names. They’re also eating their own, by which I mean they’re losing financial ground and swallowing each other in the hopes of surviving as mega-companies.
Let’s keep looking for new ways to do our work, new channels and new types of channels. Because, really, it’s all about the work.
Its really interesting the way you describe your experience with "succes" and what it means personally.
I'm an artist and creative person who's always been motivated by the glamour of "succes", not particularly the money or the reach aspect, but rather the idea of being recognized. That my work has impacted or touched the world in some sense.
But for the past year, through a lot of perspective and soul searching, I fund myself conflicted. Why do we need to reach that perfection? Why do we need to achieve that glorified succes? To inspire others and ourselves or to satisfy the ideal of a happy life, constructed by the society we live in today. In which case social media doesn't help either our self-confidence or image of the perfect existence.
Granted it has value for different people how and why they define succes in their way, I guess my question is, why do we need it? As artists and writers shouldn't our happiness/succes only derive from doing what we are passionate about and only for that reason?
I have rambled on a bit too long and maybe confused more than informed. Either way those are my thoughts 😂
As a prestige-craved person, this was the call-out I needed.
Also, it’s dawning on me now how ridiculous it is for me, a newbie independent online writer, to keep on insisting to play the same game as veteran/professional writers. I mean I’ll always aspire to have a byline in, say, the NYT, but there are about a hundred other avenues for me to build some kind of name and platform.
Thank you for writing this! What a 30 year run it has been! Cheers!
Once again I am in awe! I love the way you write. I learn something all the time! Thank you….the only time I said I wanted to write a book was to get out of a detention for talking in my Freshman high school English class!
Fantastic piece Brent. You have such insightful learnings to share....Working on some new creative concepts, so timely to read this.
I particularly liked your honesty about success. It is so personal. For me, I am only in the very early stages of forming an identity as a writer, it is still feeling new and unfamiliar.
Financial stability and needs, changes when you have a family and responsibilities to a child. I also realised that matters to me, as a parent and creative. More things to ponder in my journalling and self-reflection, thanks. 😊
I hear you! Sometimes, I wonder about the time I spend on social media because one of my publishers thought it was a "must". But, this morning, I got a message from a reader whom I'd never noticed before. He wrote a long note thanking me for my content and told me he often stopped by without signing in (I thought you had to sign into leave a message.). He made my day. Content matters to me, but did anyone else care? Maybe social media is the only true path to hearing what our readers think!