A rant about...
Writing is such a fickle thing
Writing is such a fickle thing, especially if you have the hope of making a living off of it. If you have been writing for a while, dreaming of self-employment from the dancing rhythm of your fingertips, then you have most likely seen one of the many ads out there.
You know the ads, “ I made $$$ after I cracked the code and now I am willing to share my secret with you!”
Back in 2014, an editor I know advised me to start a blog and just see where it takes me. Not really sure what I was going to write I forced myself to write seven posts, and that’s all I did that year. In the next three years, I generally ignored the blog, posting just a handful of things. You would think it should have just died, but one day I checked it and discovered that the number of followers had grown… a lot. So I decided to start “feeding the stove.”
Well, guess what I made millions. No, seriously the rate of followers subscribing dropped off to zero. This left me a little confused and perplexed. Then one day I posted a blog called, “To All the Old Roads.” It was kind of therapeutic, my way of venting about the good and the bad struggles my wife and I went through in the prior years.
Well… the darn thing exploded. The typically dismal numbers started to gain several zeros as people shared the post. It went viral and I started getting serious numbers overseas. So much happened with that post as I soon heard through the grapevine that my former employer was not happy about it. In fact, some people were told to stop talking with me and that I was no longer allowed to visit.
Numbers for this post, to my surprise, continued to remain strong for the better part of eight months. Seeing that it did well, I decided to write similar posts to keep the momentum going. And they did…poorly.
Writing is so fickle, in many cases I have “broken” the rules and done well, other times I followed the rules and wondered why I even put in the effort.
Book writing has also faired the same. Doing “My Father’s House” has been very interesting. Generally people either dislike it or it has made a major impact in their lives. The general understanding is that if you have a teaching book that has impacted people, those people will naturally share and the book grow via word-of-mouth recommendations. Well, that kind of started, then stopped.
Between that book and my science fiction book, “Fading Starlight.” Sales in the United States almost do not exist. But… we have sold many overseas in the UK and Germany. Does that make sense?
So if you're going to be a writer. I would suggest tough skin and patience along with a healthy dose of being flexible.
Robert A. Foster