Grow Your Writing in 2023

“You can’t wait for inspiration; you have to go after it with a club.”—Jack London

Some of you may know I do farming, so sorry up front for my farm slang. My observation is that just as consumers increasingly want quality locally-grown farm products, readers want well-written books with a sway toward local authors. There are likely many reasons for this, but for me overall author marketing greatly resembles farmer marketing.

Some Marketing Generalities

First, some words about advertising’s role in marketing. Farmers understand that reputation over time is more important to work success than anything else. As a traditional novelist, my similar belief is that advertising should be a negligible part of an author’s marketing effort. Quality writing, manuscript after manuscript, is instead the key. Yes, in the past I have worked deals with trade magazines for free advertising in exchange for me writing this or that article. But overall I remain skeptical about advertising as a successful form of marketing for traditional writers to gain readers.

And then, there’s the age-old comparison of the writing craft to the submerged and visible parts of an iceberg: 90% of a writer’s time should be behind-the-scenes marketing, with only 10% visible in the writing. Upon first hearing this rule of thumb, I was disgusted and appalled. “I’m in this for the writing, and nothing else,” I would say.

But now I enjoy devoting considerable time to both, though it took awhile to swallow such a horse pill. Writers need to gain more readers, and marketing fits right in with increasing readership—so realize and enjoy!

Important Specifics

Now, since supposedly we’re so talented at writing things down, how about writing down some reasonable writing and related marketing goals for the new year?

Think about your whys and whats first:

1. Why do I write, farm, etc.? For example: I do this to establish a remembrance, a closer tie to food, and so forth.
2. What hurdles are there? For example: inexperience, competing priorities
3. What is my end goal? (be specific)
4. What differentiates your work; why is your passion unique? For example: knowledge of the topic, remarkable upbringing.

So now, how about jotting down your own supportive 2023 writing goals? Something like:

1. Invest in self. Go to a writer’s conference; go to a week-long writer’s training class; join a virtual or in-person writer’s club; and so forth.
2. Grow daily by reading one fiction and one nonfiction book a month. You adjust the numbers.\
3. Tune in to a writer’s craft podcast, perhaps YouTube channel, weekly.
4. Write daily such that you generate at least 1,000 words per week. You set the number, time of day, and time interval…but the 1,000 words was the enforced goal of one highly-successful writer’s group I was in.
5. Journal daily.
6. Adjust your detailed written marketing plan daily. How will you personally get your writings out to more readers? What organizations would like to hear about your writings? Can you give how-to talks to other writers in your writer’s club? Can you team with other writers’ marketing efforts? Remember, you are also writing daily as 10% of the required effort, with this marketing the other 90%.
7. Buy books from local authors and set the example.
8. And don’t forget to reflect on the past year’s and next year’s goals come each December…writing them down again!

Instead of “various and sundry in 2023,” think of Jack London and a personal mantra of “doggedly in 2023.” Good luck and stay in touch!