I'm presently (and honestly will always be) searching for my audience. There are currently 7.4 billion people on this planet. 7.4 billion people. Let me say that one more time... 7.4 billion people. Surely there is an audience out there. The challenge that is set before me is to be savvy enough, interesting enough and engaging enough to convince them to be my audience... That is once I find them.
So here's one thing I've done so far:
1. Reach out to other authors.
If you don't know what the word humble means... look it up. Because it's something you're going to have to learn. If you like the way someone is doing something you might want to ask them how exactly they're accomplishing their success. For example, so far I've emailed 5 authors that I want to emulate. All five because of different reasons. All possess something that I would love to be able to harness and use in my own platform. One has a huge twitter following, One has been writing for a very long time, Two have websites which deal with the genre my current book is based on and the last one is a "goddess" in my genre. Now the "goddess" is a long shot, and I don't really think I'll hear from her. Not because she doesn't want to answer me, just because I'm sure she's inundated with requests. So let's forget about the "goddess" for a moment. Let's focus on the other four. I am delighted to report that all four returned my emails/direct messages. The two which operate websites were especially warm and encouraging and offered me advice and resources to check out and to hopefully help me along in my process. The author which has been writing for a long time was so sweet and so generous in her advice. I feel like I have a mentor and it is so comforting knowing I can approach her anytime with questions. The last person, the author with the huge twitter following wasn't as friendly but he still answered my question. He didn't offer any additional advice, but I am so grateful he took the time to answer me.
So the lesson I've learned here, is to reach out to people. Listen to what they have to offer. It may not have been the advice you were originally hoping for but they may open your eyes to resources, websites or other people. I truly hope one day, I'll be contacted by an aspiring young author that will ask me for advice. And I will generously give them my suggestive two cents.
So here's one thing I've done so far:
1. Reach out to other authors.
If you don't know what the word humble means... look it up. Because it's something you're going to have to learn. If you like the way someone is doing something you might want to ask them how exactly they're accomplishing their success. For example, so far I've emailed 5 authors that I want to emulate. All five because of different reasons. All possess something that I would love to be able to harness and use in my own platform. One has a huge twitter following, One has been writing for a very long time, Two have websites which deal with the genre my current book is based on and the last one is a "goddess" in my genre. Now the "goddess" is a long shot, and I don't really think I'll hear from her. Not because she doesn't want to answer me, just because I'm sure she's inundated with requests. So let's forget about the "goddess" for a moment. Let's focus on the other four. I am delighted to report that all four returned my emails/direct messages. The two which operate websites were especially warm and encouraging and offered me advice and resources to check out and to hopefully help me along in my process. The author which has been writing for a long time was so sweet and so generous in her advice. I feel like I have a mentor and it is so comforting knowing I can approach her anytime with questions. The last person, the author with the huge twitter following wasn't as friendly but he still answered my question. He didn't offer any additional advice, but I am so grateful he took the time to answer me.
So the lesson I've learned here, is to reach out to people. Listen to what they have to offer. It may not have been the advice you were originally hoping for but they may open your eyes to resources, websites or other people. I truly hope one day, I'll be contacted by an aspiring young author that will ask me for advice. And I will generously give them my suggestive two cents.