Where Have All The Writers Gone?

There are millions of writers out there.  I’m not disputing this fact.  What I am asking is where have all the writers gone?

Emerson quote

I believe social media is vital to writers, and even many years ago, when there wasn’t as much social media as we have today, the smaller writers, not the Harper Lees or Stephen Kings of this world, needed to get some book reviews in the local papers and other places writers needed to go to be “seen.”  That was then. Now, with social networking going to the online world, are we forgetting what it means to be a writer?

I don’t think it so much as see there is a lot of talk, or conversations, about learning the author branding or how to market your book a lot better, and to me this isn’t being a writer.  I am sure most people will feel angry about the idea that they are marketing themselves or their book.  The truth is the best writers do market their books, and the ones who don’t, don’t have the sales.  Money is an important factor is getting your name out, but it is not the only factor.

Some can ask what about writing another book isn’t that important?

Of course it is, that is what it means to be a writer.  I couldn’t stop writing simply because I have a book out.  I can’t stop writing because this is what I love doing.  This is my life.  The problem is I have to market, and then publish another book.

Piles of cash is something we would all like

Where have all the writers gone?

Some have left, some have given up on their dreams.  Some have become brands in their own right.  There are writers out there, the one who love the art of words.  They have both success and failures, but they are smart, and they are passionate and won’t quit. These writers may have for a time gone ‘underground’ as it were.  These writers are writing a book or starting to write a book, and are getting a lot of work done, but it’s all background work.  This is until the day they publish, then they reemerge and promote their books.

These are writers, they aren’t any less writers because they take breaks from social media, but if they are taking breaks from writing to market their books is this a good strategy?

In my view it isn’t.  Publishing a book is a must, and setting a goal is as vital to a writer as any other part of the process of book publishing and social networking.  The strategy works well if you find a good balance between the two. A writer who wants to stay in the ‘spotlight’ as it were, need to think about writing as part of their life, but not the only part.  They need to have all the things I listed in the beginning of this post, and they need to have a good plan on how to do this.

Most people, writers especially, can’t balance everything well without the help of a team.  The Internet is changing to rapidly to sit back and think you can go into seclusion and not have a bad experience when it comes to falling off the map.

Where have all the writers gone?

It’s a vicious world out there, and in some cases a writer is both a David and a Goliath.  We are the Goliath when it comes to the power we have with writing a blog, or committing to publishing a book.  We can be Davids when it comes to self-publishing or marketing.  Whatever the challenge is, it is part of being a writer, and a person.

Writers aren’t going anywhere

Writers, or the people whom we uplift as the ‘great one’ were dedicated and passionate about their craft, but they were also smart marketers in their own time.  Not only that, they learned how to create a balance in their lives. Writers haven’t gone anywhere, the best have learned to market and write and have a home life.  They’ve learned the art of balance, and they haven’t gone anywhere, they are making their presence felt, but differently than the rest of the world.

Where have all the writers gone?

You can find them anywhere, but the real writers are the one who think long term, and are willing to make sacrifices to see more success.