Authoring in the Modern Era: A Place to Call Your Own.

Hi everyone!

Welcome to another Wednesday, where we at The Quill (Justin) want to take time out of our (his) day and share with you the struggles that all (probably just him) authors share as they climb towards success.

Last week I wrote a serious piece on what it means to write, and how you must love your demons while writing in the muck and the mire.

I want to take this week (and the weeks to come) and talk about different things you can do to make your writing career happen.

I’ll go one step further: It’s probably the single most important thing you’ll do aside from writing.

That thing?

Promoting your work.

Want to be an Author?  Learn early, take to heart, and carve this into your soul:  You.  Own.  A.  Business.

That’s right.  You’re the only employee for a looooooong time.  Long time.  But you’re no less a business because of that.

Like every business that has ever existed, you won’t last long unless you get your name and your brand out there.  If anything, starting a career this deep into the social media, self-publishing era of authorship is more of an exercise in brand building than it is in writing.

You are competing against thousands upon thousands of men and women who want just as desperately to be an author as you do.  Some even more so, if you can believe it.  Waves are crashing against the rocks endlessly, and your task is to make yourself heard above the din, to stick out amongst the flotsam and jetsam.  There are an endless number of blog posts on this subject, so many men and women trying to sell you their own miracle elixir that is sure to grow your career within two-weeks.  Sure to offer you an iron-clad guarantee of success.

This blog is not one of them.

If you’ve come here looking for the secret sauce to success, my friend you are in the wrong place.  I don’t offer miracle cures at The Quill.  I don’t do quick fixes.  I cannot, and will not, sell you a magical cure to make your writing career catapult into the sunlight.

What I want to do, what I have always tried to do, is to provide realistic advice.  That’s why I talk so much about sleeping.  It’s why so many of my posts, so so many, are on the subject of what it means to write when you’re sick, or tired, or frustrated, or feel like there is literally no point so why even bother you’re never going to be as good as your idols so just quit now and save yourself the embarrassment.

Not going to lie, that last one may just be me.  I don’t think so, but I’ve been wrong before.  I’ll be wrong again, too.

So, my kindly Quillerite, what can you do to build your career?  What steps can be taken to make yours the drill which will pierce the heavens?

First and foremost, you need define what success will mean to you.  Are you happy writing for no money, basically ever, throughout your career?  If so, your goals and career path will be drastically different than someone whose idea of success is to make as much money as they can writing, no matter what it is or how its made.

I come down somewhere in the middle, so I’ll share with you the recent steps I’ve been taking and the places I have already trod.  I will share what worked, and what didn’t.  Mostly, I will do my best to impress upon you that the best thing you can do for yourself is to do as much research as you can tolerate.  Then do more.

First and foremost, my career path dictates a lot of the decisions I make, so I must share that with you now:  I wish to make my living as an author.  That’s what I want to do for my bread and butter.  More specifically, I want to make my living while writing about under-represented groups.  The LGBTQ community, female protagonists of color, etc.  I’m also not willing to write for free.

But Justin, you protest, you’re writing on this here website for free right now!  You’ve contradicted yourself before you even hit the publish button!

While I accept that the writing for this site (and all my other writing to date) hasn’t made me any money and is most definitely something I do unpaid, I own the words and posts which are created and this here website that they are posted on.  Therefore, each post I write, each new project I undertake, and each time I invest money in art assets and programming upgrades, I am slowly making progress towards my goal.  With enough readers and site visits, I can make enough money to be going on with.  It may be free for now, but it is free with purpose.  Free with a plan, free with long term potential to be my bread and butter.

That’s is the one thing I do not believe you can skip.  When I talk about avoiding bloggers, authors, motivational speakers, or anyone who says “Do this or quit”, realize that I am not telling you that you can’t be an author unless you have your own platform.  There are an enormous amount of individuals who’ve been successful authors without first having a digital home of their own.  But we are not them.  We are writing and struggling in 2018.  Doing so without a consistent platform which you can call your own is like trying to write without doing any editing afterwards.

Sure, you might be one of the tiny percentage of individuals who find success along that road.  Most likely, however, you’ll have to take the long way around.

To be continued…

Homefully,

The Unsheathed Quill