In entering the world of online writing, marketing, and what-have-you, there are, inevitably, hundreds of articles, blogs, books, etc. about how to be successful doing it. This ranges from all sorts of differing advice – post often (but not too often), write a lot (but not too much), find an agent (go it alone)…and so the list goes on. Honestly, it can be completely overwhelming. But, it’s what I’ve decided to do with my stories this year, so I’m going to have to learn to really read between the lines, and pick out what I can make work for me.
I think that’s the main point though – what works for me? What is the measure that I see as being successful? Is that bar too low? Too high?
To start with, I have found that I view success as simply following through with the ideas of putting stories out into the world. I recently joined Booksie and Wattpad. To date (three days in), I have had zero reads on Booksie, and 15 on Wattpad. Not anything to be super excited about, to be sure. But at the same time, that’s 15 more people that have read my work than when I started this. And if I can find a way to be consistent, and learn a few more tricks of the trade, what’s to say that I can’t reach 100?
This might beg the question of whether or not the bar has been set too low. However, I’m not doing this to make money – I’m doing this to be able to express my creativity, instead of just having a flash drive loaded with 20 stories. Instead of having binders with physical copies of all 20+ stories, why not also have bound book versions? If only my friends buy a handful of copies, is that not still success? If a handful of stories are shared through online platforms, and a few dozen people read it – isn’t that better than no one?
I’ve been writing long enough that I know my answer. That’s not to say that anyone else’s answer is better or worse. But I think for any of us who are “Would-be Writers”, the most important thing is just knowing where we want to set the bar. How will we measure success? And will it be enough when we get there?
I promised a review of all the books I’ve been picking up – still have two waiting for arrival. Will try and start to post some reviews this weekend when the fun and excitement of the 50 hour work week is over.
Until next time –
L.E.
**Memo to self – go back and credit art on book covers. Sounds like another weekend project. But thank you to all artists who give their art to sites like Canva and Pixaby.
Ramblings of a Would-Be Writer 