Advice for New Writers
Ignorance Is Bliss
I wish sharing this didn’t come down to basically the same thing as “don’t think about a pink elephant,” but if you can take this tip to heart, you’ll thank me for it.
I’ve been told my Twitter profile doesn’t count as marketing because my questions don’t take a stand, make a claim, or otherwise reveal me, and therefore fail to impress myself on my community, but it’s hard to accept that when I almost daily appear in front of sixty-thousand twitter users.
Listen, I’m beyond grateful for the reach I have through Twitter, but it’s no secret that my reach was built on six-, eight-, even 10-hour days tweeting, commenting, responding, and sharing on the platform.
There was a period when I wouldn’t go anywhere without my laptop so I could Tweet every five minutes even through a family dinner. And I chose that radical action because I knew 10,000 followers would lead me to the long-coveted book deal.
What You Know CAN Hurt You
Had I the foresight to know my Twitter profile would grow to nearly 20,000 followers in the course of eight months, but that all those followers would have no impact on a book deal, had I known instead of a book deal, I’d be firing my agent at the beginning of September, I promise I’d not’ve embarked on 2-hour let alone 10-hour Twitter days.
But while I was busy chasing the traditional publishing deal, fate, or the universe, or whatever you call it was busy building me a multifaceted business through Twitter that will enable me to reach a million readers with every book I publish.
Twitter has been the vehicle for me to earn a living chasing my dreams, and I’d have snubbed it before I started if I’d known the fate of my book with the traditional houses.
My Advice To New Novelists
Don’t look into the numbers. Avoid the statistics. Set your goals where you’d set them if you had the hopes of a child, and never back down.
Some people read the news because they’re realists and they say about people like me who avoid the news that we’re delusional and can’t make things better by pretending bad doesn’t exist.
I say to them and to you, I can make the world a better place by chasing my dreams and encouraging others to chase theirs, a behavior I’d soon tire of if I faced “reality.”