Happy Wednesday!

My dear friends, there is something I think very few of us writers and none of our readers really understand: writing a book is hard. Publishing is harder. Selling is….

And everything that comes after? Well, even the pros occasionally get run down by it all.

It’s something I’ve found too few people understanding. Writing the book is easy. Sit down, put words to paper, hit send. We tend to think that the process of finding an agent and/or publisher is the hard part. Yes, it can be. Some people query for months or years, always tinkering at their stories until they’re perfect.

Then, once you land that agent, it’s on to finding someone willing to buy it. Have no illusions. This part is also hard to get through. Emotions on edge, wondering if you’re actually good enough to reach that fabled stage of publication.

But when you do…when you reach that golden state where you have an actual release date! Oh…it all seems perfect.

Then the reality hits. All of that is easy compared to the next part: marketing.

Selling books is all about selling yourself. Your friends and family will support you, they may even share your pre-order links, but be prepared for the idea that they may never purchase a single copy themselves. Prepare yourself for the idea that your Twitter followers may be annoyed by you constantly posting order links, or links to your Ko-fi or Patreon pages because after a time, they will be.

This is okay. I promise you. It’s all a part of the process. In my years of studying the industry, I’ve found a lot of people who simply don’t understand that being an author means you’re a business. You are responsible for selling your books. Some authors get publicity storms as a part of their publishing contract, but sadly most of us don’t and so we’re left largely to our own devices.

The sea of indie and small press published authors is vast. Everyone is out there for the same thing. Don’t let this discourage you.

Selling a book is work. Making it successful even more so, but don’t let this discourage you.

You have written this book. You will write the next. Hard work pays off in this industry.

See you in the bookshelves.