OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
A child comes to you with a new drawing, crayon in hand, beaming with pleasure at creation and proud of the result.
Or do you say, “That's brilliant. Why don't you draw another one?”
Your creative self is that child. When you start to constrain what is possible to create, that child will cower in fear and stop creating.
Some in the industry say that there are too many books in the world.
That you are competing for a small pool of readers.
That you shouldn't help your fellow authors because they might get ahead of you.
I shall use the term ‘poppycock' since we are in polite company and I'm British, but there are other less polite words you could apply to these thoughts.
If you believe that there can only be a specific number of books in the world i.e. those that are judged worthy by a few privileged gatekeepers, then you are crushing the voices of unheard people in every culture, as well as your own creativity.
I bet you were a reader before you were a writer, as was I.
Perhaps your parents read to you at night when you were little.
Maybe you read under the bedclothes as you got older.
Maybe your idea of fun was sneaking off to the library every lunchtime.
Perhaps books are your hobby, your passion and your escape – as they are for me.
I don't know how many books I've read in my 41 years of life so far, but I can tell you, it is many thousands more than I have written, and many more than I will ever be able to write in my lifetime. The most prolific authors, like Nora Roberts, write as many as twelve books per year, but you can bet they still read more than one a month.
One author alone can never satisfy a reader's appetite.
Writers are readers first.
Cultivate an abundance mentality and you will be far happier. Find authors in your niche who serve the same audience as you. Read their books and recommend them to your readers. Give without expectation of receiving … and get on with writing your next book!
This is an excerpt from The Successful Author Mindset. Out now in ebook, print, workbook and audiobook formats.
What are your thoughts? Join the conversation and leave a comment below.
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1 2 3 Next »Thank you for this inspiring and encouraging post.? It takes true writing skill to put such practical common sense advice in so elegantly. Its very timely for me and is evergreen as well. Your encouragement is deeply appreciated.
Thanks for always encouraging, Joanna!
Thank you yet again for a thought provoking post. You have only got to look at the Goodreads Challenge to see that many participants read over 100 books a year. As you say so many more than an author could possibly write in that period of time. It makes you want to get back to the computer!
Oh I love this. Sometimes it feels like I'm plugging away at a MS that's going to get lost in the sea of books. Really needed it today. Thank you Joanna!
You have inspired me for years now, how did that happen anyway? But when I first saw your blog you only had finished the first novel and I had only just discovered Twitter and Facebook. You are still sparking my confidence and I get your blog all the time but need to say thanks again.
Hi Dixie! Yes, it has been years - so glad to stay connected and share the journey with you!
I'm an indie author who wrote and published my first novel 11 months ago. My readers keep asking me to create more novels. Since there are millions of readers out there who want more books by their favorite authors, there may never be enough books for today's readership.
Unfortunately, the literary world can occasionally be backstabbing. Dorothy L. Sayers wrote a hilarious chapter about the London literary scene of the 1930's in her novel, Gaudy Night. After attending a literary party in London, her heroine Harriet Vane feels more comfortable back in Oxford, where a serial killer may be on the loose. That says it all!
I think The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith contains JK Rowling's thoughts on the literary scene :) and yes, if we can find our readers, they will always want more books.
In that novel JK Rowling was quite awful about bloggers though!
Thank you for another uplifting post. I've got your Successful Mindset book on my Kindle so that I can dip in and out of it when the old gremlins begin to nag at my confidence. (Which they periodically do!)
I'm reading your book at the moment because, as you intended it to be, although I've been writing several years (ironically books to encourage parents who want to home educate), I just needed that bit of extra encouragement you talk about here and can't always do it for myself! Thank you very much for yours! x
There will always be room for more books. Because there is so much crap out there, one becomes excited and inspired when one finds a good quality read. So, there's always that quest for discovering the next "good" book.
and remember, one person's 'crap' is another person's treasure ...
It does feel like you're shouting into an abyss sometimes...but then you'll mention your WiP on Facebook and somehow you speak to once in a blue moon asks when the sequel is coming out because they enjoyed the first one so much! #winningatlife
It is that one extra-special fan that takes time to respond or speak to you online that makes a difference, isn't it? I feel like I am constantly shouting into a void, and then just when I am about to give up and crawl away in defeat, someone steps forward and gives me a boost, quite out of the blue. I cannot give up my craft! #PoweredByIndie
Joanna, the abundance mentality is so much more freeing than the crabbed, strangled thinking of the jealous, gloom-laden scarcity mentality. I battle my own dark demons now and then, but sometimes I'm just grateful to be a writer, and to continue writing (and reading). Thanks for the lift!