Writing is Hard | 3 Harsh Writing Truths (tough writing advice)

Transcripts
1

In this transcript, the speaker, Allison, emphasizes the challenges and realities of being a successful writer. She outlines several “hard truths” that writers need to accept for success:

  1. Self-Promotion is Necessary: Writers must actively promote themselves and their books. This involves networking, participating in podcasts, conducting interviews, creating social media content, and maintaining an email newsletter. Allison highlights that if you don’t market yourself, few will care about your work.

  2. Marketing is Essential: Marketing might be an uncomfortable task for some, but it’s crucial for selling books and building an audience. Writers need to regularly discuss their work and connect with readers.

  3. Merits of Traditional vs. Self-Publishing: The speaker notes that signing with a traditional publisher does not guarantee success. Many self-published authors achieve full-time writing careers, often finding more financial success than those with traditional contracts.

  4. Hard Work and Continuous Improvement: Writing talent alone is not sufficient; writers need to work hard, consistently write, read within their genre, and improve their craft to stand out among peers.

  5. Overcoming Introversion: Many writers are introverted, which can make self-promotion challenging. However, to succeed, they need to step out of their comfort zones and engage with their audience.

  6. Alternative Paths to Success: Allison encourages writers not to rely solely on traditional publishing as their path to success. There are many ways to achieve success in the modern landscape, including indie publishing.

  7. Supportive Communities: She suggests joining communities, such as Facebook groups, for support and encouragement during the writing journey.

Overall, Allison’s message is that success in writing requires dedication, marketing efforts, and a willingness to accept and navigate challenges.

Hey guys! Allison here, author, yoga instructor, and creative warrior. Today I’m just here to say: writing is hard. That’s it—that’s the video! Just kidding!

But I am here to talk about some hard truths that you need to accept if you want to make it as a writer.

Yes, writing is hard, and trying to pretend it’s easy is only going to make it harder. So let’s jump into some hard truths that you need to accept to be a writer.

Hard Truth Number One: Talent will only get you so far. All your teachers in elementary, middle, and high school told you that you could be a writer, and that’s great! But what happens when you get out of school and into the real world? You find yourself surrounded by a bunch of other people whose teachers told them they could be writers too.

There are thousands—probably millions—of talented writers out there. Some are really talented, and some are just kind of talented. But out there in the real world, if the kind of talented writer works harder than the really talented writer, they’re going to get farther. They’re going to be more successful.

If you want to be a writer—like really be a writer—you have to work at it. You have to write, you have to research, you have to brainstorm, you have to read about writing, and you have to read books in the genre that you want to write about. You have to constantly be improving your craft. And if you’re not, and that other writer is, guess who’s gonna make it sooner?

Making it as a writer isn’t just about coasting along on talent alone. There is a lot of work involved, and that brings us to Hard Truth Number Two: You have to market yourself.

Um, marketing. Some of you might be cringing at the word “marketing,” but the truth is if you want to be a writer—like sell your books, have an audience, make money, sell more books, and write full-time—you have to talk about yourself. A lot. You have to talk about your books and tell people you’re a writer. You have to hype yourself up, you have to network, go on podcasts, do interviews, make YouTube videos, and be active on social media—or at the very least, maintain an email newsletter.

Here’s another hard truth: You’re the only one who cares about your book—at least right now. You can’t write it, throw it up on Amazon, and expect people to find it and buy it. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work like that. Sorry!

So if you’re one of those writers that says, “But I’m an introvert, so I can’t do that! I can’t talk about myself; I can’t talk to other people!” I feel ya! Most writers are introverts. It’s why they spend most of their time in a made-up world surrounded by characters that they invented. But if you really want to get your books out there and make a career out of those characters and those worlds, you have to market yourself. You have to put yourself out there. You have to talk about yourself and your book.

Truth: This next hard truth might be a really, really hard truth to swallow, but please really think about it before you just reject it. Traditional publishing isn’t your golden ticket to success.

When I was growing up, it was my dream to publish a book, get it in bookstores, see it on bookshelves, do book signings, and spend my life talking about my books with people who love them as much as I loved the books that I read growing up. All I had to do to achieve those goals was get discovered by a big publishing company.

But today, getting a book deal with a big publishing company does not guarantee that you’ll be able to quit your job and write full-time. In fact, today it’s probably more likely you’ll be able to quit your job and be a full-time writer as an indie author. But we’ll talk about that in another video.

Today, I self-publish and will continue to self-publish, and you don’t have to look very hard on YouTube to find a lot of authors who have found a ton of success by taking this route instead of traditional publishing.

When you sign with a traditional publisher, there’s no guarantee you’ll get an advance. You still do all or most of your own marketing, your royalties are much less than what you get when you self-publish, and there is no guarantee that that same publisher will want your next book.

So while you’re out there shopping your book to agents with the hope of getting published with a traditional publisher, please don’t get discouraged if you feel like you’re not getting your big break, because traditional publishing isn’t necessarily that big break.

There are so many other ways to find success these days. Don’t just rely on traditional publishing to be that ticket to success.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by these hard truths and your writing career, join the Creative Warriors community over on Facebook and get support from other creatives who understand your struggle. Oh, and grab a meditation from the end of this video and try to chill out a little bit. It will all be okay!

Now go fight for your creativity!

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