Jeff Goins wrote recently of his idea on what it takes to be a real writer. His answer, is to call yourself one. I happen to agree. If you write and want to call yourself a writer, why not. I called myself a baseball player in Little League and a football player when I played in college. Was I ready for the majors or the NFL, sadly no. I wrote my first story when I was six or seven, and a great story it was, and have been dabbling in writing, first part now full time, ever since. Over the past forty plus years I have published in newspapers, magazines, a state publication and a travelogue, Online I have been published on cooking sites, coaching sites, western sites, mysteries, and travel sites. How much money did I make? Not much.
I have also written nine partial books, dozens of short stories, seven complete book of which I have published four. I call myself a writer. When I am speaking to groups I tell them I am a writer but not a famous or a rich one. I also tell people that if they want to be a writer to be rich and famous that those are the wrong reasons.
I like to write and like to read and I like to read about writing but am not a marketer. Not by any stretch of my imagination. I have very little knowledge of social media, know nothing about SEO, and am woefully behind in my ability to self-promote – not my style.
If you are
interested in SEO marketing and in really getting out and selling through
social media or need a lot of information on Indy writing check out Greg Strandberg, great stuff a couple of times a week and always entertaining. But
for me, all of my promotion is done by word of mouth, on twitter and Google +, not
much at all.
So I continue
on as a writer and a happy one, celebrating each sale as if I am James
Patterson or Steven King selling another million. Don’t take
this wrong, I am not complaining, I am happy with my sales, would love to sell
more but I really am in it for the story. With that said I will have three books
coming out in the next year. I will be doing all of my minuscule promotions
right here and on Twitter.
If you write
it doesn’t matter if you call yourself a writer, scribbler or author, I salute
you and happy writing or write on dudes - something like that.
Summer book presentation - that's me with the good looking legs
4 comments:
I've often heard it said that the best advice for aspiring writers is, "write".
M J Wright, the New Zealand historian, publishes a blog which includes observations on writing (and he is obviously a prolific writer on this blog). One thing he notes is that over time, his writing has improved, and gotten easier to do.
I've noticed that myself. I've published one book so far, I'm supposed to be writing a second, and have published quite a few articles. Am I a writer? I'd like to think so.
I think anyone that takes the time and effort to write a book is a writer. Some are better than others but I agree, writing gets better with time.
Hey, Neil, what's SEO?
The more I write the better I become according to me. If I had listened to some of the critics, I would never have "took up" writing. But it's a great profession, hobby, or sideline for an old man. Keep on writing.
Hi Oscar
SEO is search engine optimization , supposed to make it easier for folks to find you and therefore buy books. I don't know a thing about it either. Like you I think writing is great, I enjoy it. I really don't promote myself much, think I enjoy the writing much more than the selling part.
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