Go to any writers conference and there will be a set of workshops on the business side of writing. They’ll cover marketing and promotion, book deals and contracts. You’ll learn about newsletters and mailing lists and the infinite techniques used to build your readership. Because that’s what you want, right? You want readers. You want fans.
I want readers. Every author who puts their babies out there, exposed to the world, wants them read (and reviewed, please!). Readers equal sales. They fuel the desire to produce and publish more. They keep the pressure on to get the friggin’ WiP done already!
Readers pay the bills.
Writers have access to a second, even more important stream of fuel and motivation with added benefits of emotional support, encouragement, competition, inspiration, enjoyment of the writing life, and yes, sales. That stream stems from making friends.
In my workshop Networking the Con: Getting Out of Your Shell and Getting Known I teach that the number one thing you do at a conference, convention, or public event is to sell yourself. You want the folks you meet to remember you (in a positive way) when they return home. I do that by making friends.
I’m talking true, I support you, you support me, friends. Connect with fellow writers of all walks on a level of respect, trust, and encouragement. Have drinks at the bar. Buy and review their latest book. Promote them on social media. Listen to their advice. Offer your own. Engage with them outside of writing. Etcetera, etcetera.
Make friends.
The trick to friends is you don’t look at them as a means to improve your career. You don’t seek friends as tools to up your Amazon rankings. Friendship’s benefits come organically. I firmly, deeply believe that. I have evidence too, anecdotal though it may be.
This past week I ran a five-day promotion on my novella A Night to Remember. I ran no ads. All I did was drop a post on FB and Twitter and tell my friends. My friends (I give them sole credit) are the reason that little book shot up to #9 in its subgenre on Amazon.com.
My friends helped me build readers. I want readers to become fans and start gobbling up everything I put out (stay tuned for a little something-something next month). More importantly, I want my friends to stay friends, for our bonds to grow, for more friends to join my circle, and I want to help them out, too.
Every author wants readers. Every author wants fans.
