One of my life-long goals is to be a working novelist that people want to read. When I started out, though, the writer’s job was just writing, and for the last fifty or so years, that’s the skill I’ve tried to refine. But that’s not the only skill a writer needs.
Here are some other skills I’m working to hone. These are particularly important, I think, as I try to launch my career as a writer. They are the kinds of things anyone would have to consider before they embarked on a business venture. Pretty basic, but focused on this author’s journey.
Get to know your readers. If you were a business person producing a product, you would want to know every relevant thing about the people who might buy your product so you could meet them where they are. By that, I mean, you’d want to meet their need, AND you’d want to find them so you could offer your product. If your product looks like it will bring them joy or satisfaction and they know about it, you can sell it. Sure you have to tweak pricing and stuff like that, but you’ll work that out.
Your Novel IS your product. So why is this different?
As a writer, I think there’s a nuance here. I’m not just interested in connecting with readers for this one book; I want to connect with the people who will want to read other books I produce. To that end, I need to find and study the right genres. Read the books they’re reading. Dissect them. Know the anatomy of good books that are successful, and good books that are not. Get a glimpse at the anatomy of their marketing: where could readers find these books? what kind of ads did I see for them–after all, as a genre reader, I’m part of the target market too.
To do this, I’ll focus a couple ways: 1. Continue to read (and listen) voraciously. 2. Pay attention to the ads I see and where I see them. (AG Riddle books started showing up in my Facebook stream lately.) 3. Leverage tech to collect relevant data (or purchase the data from a source like PublisherRocket). In my case, I plan to use purchased AND collected data to figure out the patterns markets (genre categories) I pursue.
Get to know yourself as an author. Even if you’re only now finishing your first novel, odds are pretty good you’ve written other things: character sketches, short stories, articles, bad drafts that will never see the light of day. Take stock on the kinds of things you like to write about, and the kinds of themes toward which you gravitate. What is your writing style? What other authors do you sound like? They may be the authors you like to read.
One way to figure this out is to go back through your slush pile–those things you started and never finished. I did this recently, and I quickly recognized a couple things:
- I like to write about “American” values: freedom, liberty, justice, individuality. It makes sense, as I was raised in a family and culture where those values were elevated, and they form the basis of many of the things I pursue in my own life.
- I just accidentally wrote what could be the first book in a post-apocalyptic series.
- I like to write from different Points of View (PoVs). (It will be interesting to see if readers gravitate to first or third for my writing.)
This is important knowledge, as it can help me figure out where I’ll likely focus in the future, and what kinds of readers I’ll attract. Chances are, like me, they’ll have some fears centered around those values. Thinks like:
- Being Trapped
- Being Overcome by “the machine”
- Losing Freedoms and “things” they’ve worked hard to earn
- Societal Changes that Seem Overwhelming.
Some of these are timely topics. Things that people care about now.
I also like to write about super-human powers showing up unexpectedly. Like many people, something inside me hopes for a magnificent rescue at the very moment of need. Much of my work has an element of fantasy in it. And when I’m not writing fantasy, I’m apt to be writing sci-fi.
How about you? Take a moment to look back at what you’ve written and get to know yourself better. What patterns do you see there?
Get to Know Yourself as a Reader. There’s are reasons you like to read what you like to read. If you’re like me, those reasons are reflected in your aspirations as a writer. You’ll especially know that’s true if you find yourself thinking things like: “I wish I’d written that” or “that sounds like something I’d write” (if my skill matched my will).
Brandon Sanderson is like that for me. As is C. S. Lewis. Neil Gaimon. And Octavia Butler. The styles of these authors are aspirational for me–I admire their master of craft, but I can’t yet match it. They are my teachers; not my peers.
There are other writers, however, who ARE my peers, even though they’re selling books and I’m not–yet. Writers like Kyla Stone, A. G. Riddle, Andy Weir, and Adrian Tchaikovsky. On my best days, in my own estimation, I write as well as these writers. But I probably don’t write as much. And I certainly don’t publish as much.
Prioritize Time and Focus. Writing is an addiction for some of us. Finding time to do it isn’t about getting motivated; it’s about moving other, less important things out of the way. Things like fishing, or watching television, or shopping. More than anything, to write well, you must write often. And you must read. And edit. And research. And study writing.
Becoming a full-time author, if you have a full-time job, is VERY hard work. You wind up making sacrifices that can impact other areas of your life. As I write these words, my wife is sitting beside me, drinking coffee. Though we are best friends, we are not talking. We will talk later, in the car–her gift to me so I can focus on this writing. Other people make sacrifices for you to write. Don’t forget those people. They are more important than your writing career.
I’m a very distractible person. One of the ways I’ve learned to achieve goals is to set and track measurable targets. I have some ambitious targets for 2023:
- I’m going to publish at least one book: The Last American. I need the feedback that only comes from real readers, or I’m never going to get where I want to get in my writing career.
- I’m going to finish drafts of two other books and get them into the hands of Alpha Readers:
- Silke’s Story – I have a FBD (First Bad Draft) completed; I need to walk through it one more time and then release into the wild.
- The Seven Coins: Convergence – on my fifth or sixth iteration on this book. I’m getting closer, but another 40-60K words to write.
- I will write 1/2 million words in 2023. I know I can write nearly 2000 words per hour on a really good day. Assuming an average of only 1000 words per hour, I can hit 500,000 in 500 writing hours, or 62.5 eight-hour days. My writing schedule is built to accommodate 768 writing hours. If I keep to that schedule and manage distractions, I should be able to hit my target.
So, what are your writing goals for 2023? Where are you focused for growth as a writer? How are you going to get where you want to go from here?
