Onward and Upward

Having published books is a whole new world where I have to be prepared to talk up my books at any given moment. I kept my writing life and the rest of my life separate for so long that it feels weird blending the two worlds together.

I wasn’t big into sports when I was younger. I figure skated for a few years and loved it. I also played soccer and didn’t love it. I am a team player, but I’ve never been competitive. Of course, winning is more fun than losing, but either way, my goal is to enjoy the game. Maybe I’ve just never invested enough of myself into a sport or competition for it to mean enough to me.

Writing books is not a sport, but it has some of the same qualities: hard work, discipline, spending months and years mastering the art. Releasing books may not be a competition, but readers are spectators who evaluate and judge a writer’s performance.

Having people rate something so important to me is scary. Of course, I love getting positive feedback. It strokes my ego and makes me feel like I am right where I should be. The negative feedback isn’t as fun, but I’ll always welcome constructive criticism because I can learn how to improve. However, some people online are unnecessarily vicious. I haven’t experienced this yet, but it is more likely to happen as more people read my books.

Before people can rate my work, they have to learn about it, and although social media has helped me get the word out, there are those pesky bastards called advertising and self-promotion. Putting myself out there is one thing, but talking myself up is entirely different. It’s strategizing. It’s a sales pitch, and for an introvert like me, it is exhausting.

I like to take care of people. I’m a nurse for a reason. I worked in sales for a while, and the only reason it worked was because I was taking care of an individual. I liked the challenge of helping someone find something within their budget. I tried to be a friend instead of a pushy salesperson.

Every single time a salesperson comes to our door, I say, “I’m so glad I don’t have that job.” It would be my nightmare. They may love their job, but I always try to turn them down swiftly and politely because I feel bad for them.

Online advertising isn’t door to door sales, but it is a whole world I’m only beginning to understand. Advertising is constantly changing, and I’m doing everything in my power to learn and keep up. I don’t enjoy this aspect, but it’s crucial to get books into the hands of readers so I can continue to write and get more books out there.

Eventually, I’ll build up a readership and things will get more comfortable, but the learning curve is steep, and the uphill climb has only begun.