Faith Mortimer-author of crime, suspense, romance & action
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Caring About Those Readers

9/11/2011

3 Comments

 
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Caring about those Readers.

Now here’s a strange thing. It has recently struck me that the modern conversation around writing has moved away from words and instead has gone towards numbers. Reading other sources I hear and see this often during my working week. Logging onto Facebook or reading various blog posts, I repeatedly see writers asking each other money matters. They are concerned with how much they can make self-publishing, what is the best price for their eBook, how many sales they’ve had and their ranking and royalty percentages on sites such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords. And I have to ask myself this question. Why during this time with its amazing opportunities, when writers could be sharing words with their readers, writers actually seem more interested in their customers.

It might surprise some of you to realise that there is a difference! There are paying customers who might never open your eBook, especially if they’ve only paid a paltry sum for it. On the other hand there may be readers who receive your book after borrowing it from a friend, through a library, or from a temporary free giveaway.

I love being able to have a chance to earn some money after my hard work, and today’s readers have a wide array of choices and price ranges. With this thin connecting line, we as writers can meet our readers inside our stories. We should be excited about telling our stories, instead of being obsessed on numbers, the market, and the money. And when some of these people leave the self-publishing market because of ‘poor sales’, I ask myself how many of these are actually writers?

Without being discouraging, ask yourself your reason for writing. A writer is something you are. It is not something reliant on today’s market, the economy, or even the publishing environment. If the indie era faded, (as it well might as all booms inevitably do), are you still going to be a writer?

Do you care more about the numbers, or those beautiful words? Are you still going to remain true to your readers?

Thank you for reading this latest blog post of mine and as ever a huge thank you to all my book readers!

Faithx

Connect with Faith on Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, blog, website or all Amazon pages.

Faith’s books include: The Crossing (paperback & eBook), The Assassins’ Village (paperback & eBook), Children of The Plantation (paperback & eBook), Echoes of Life and Love (eBook), 7 The Bamboo Mirror.


3 Comments
ScottTheWriter link
10/11/2011 12:01:38 am

I agree with that distinction between "readers" and "customers."

It's extremely unlikely that anyone will get rich from writing books, whether self-publishing or working with a publisher. So, writers should focus on connecting with readers.

Still, numbers come in when considering the number of readers. I would rather have many readers than none at all.

Selling is a tricky thing. To illustrate: I have self-published two short stories. One is free, and to my best calculations, it's been read by nearly 200 people in about a month. The other costs $1.99, and all proceeds go to charity. It's been read by about 70 people, and netted under 50 paid sales, in two months.

No one ever said being a writer was easy!

Reply
Karen A Einsel link
10/11/2011 08:30:15 am

I'm thinking it has to do with how society overall defines success. As a writer, I write because I want people to enjoy what I write, not because I have to do it for a living, (A little money would be nice though :-) or to get rich, but because I enjoy it. It was my post yesterday on my blog about what makes you successful.

Reply
Nick Antinozzi
23/11/2011 06:15:03 am

Thank you, Faith, I couldn't agree more. I belong to a few writer's groups and I have to wonder when some of these people find the time to practice their craft. Pricing is a personal thing, if people really want to know what to charge, they can go online and look around. Money is nice, but nothing beats meeting a total stranger that's read your book! Love your blog.

Reply



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