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.
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.
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