Discoverability is Hard

A writer friend of mine was lamenting the challenges of discoverability. This is about how readers find your book. It does presume you have a book written and published (via traditional hybrid or self-publishing). 

How do you get the word out? This is where sales and marketing come in, and there are a million different ways to do that. It could be building your author platform (in whatever form that looks like to you) or it could be social media ads, or it could be organizing in-person events, or it could be connecting with readers in online communities. 

But it’s all marketing. Sales. Publicity. Discoverability is about getting your product into the hands of the consumer. 

Discoverability is not about writing. It’s not about the creative act. It’s not about getting words on the page. It’s not about whether you have a great book or a bad one. It’s not about you as a writer. 

Which means, if you’re at this stage and you’re struggling, please remember it’s not about you or the quality of your writing.

And if you find you’re not getting the traction you want, you have two choices: you try new strategies or you stop. Neither is wrong. Just consider where your time is best spent. Is it about trying to keep connecting with readers through the book you already have? Or do you want to write a new one? 

Put your energies where you’re going to be most satisfied. 

Read to Learn

Can you learn to write by reading good books? 

Can you learn to make a film by watching a movie?

Can you learn to play the piano by listening to a concert pianist? 

Can you learn to play hockey by watching the NHL? 

It seems obvious the answer is no. And yes, it is no—sort of. You can’t just pick up a book, read it, set it down and simply start to write. But you can study a book, just like musicians and filmmakers and athletes study other people’s performances, games, films, etc. Reading for pleasure should be paramount. But reading to study, engage with, and analyze a book can also be pleasurable. Writing is hard, so it’s not always going to be fun, fun, fun, which means breaking down a book to search for invisible threads masterfully holding a story together isn’t always easy. But it can be wholly worthwhile. 

As long as you remember this: the greater the author who writes, the harder it is to learn from them. They are magicians, weaving together a beautiful tale wrought with an alchemy that is difficult to explain. How did they do that? It may not be easy to figure out. And that’s okay! Reading other people’s books to learn how to write your own is just one tool in your writerly toolbox. And it’s one you don’t have to use. 

In other words, if you just want to read for reading’s sake, by all means. You get to decide the right way to write. 

It’s YOUR Life

I picked up a book, The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac, first published in 1992. It’s a small, humourous little book about, well, the rights of the reader—and it’s an unapologetic celebration of reading for pleasure. Not because you have to or you should or you’re supposed to (ahem, high school students and English class aside…😊), but because you want to. 

Pennac offers, among others, these rights: The right not to read. The right to skip. The right to not finish a book. The right to read it again. The right to read anything. The right to mistake a book for real life. The right to read anywhere. The right to dip in. 

Isn’t that a refreshing reminder, especially as writers? Read what you want!! There are no shoulds in this writing world. There are best practices—that work for some writers and not others. There are lessons learned from books—that work for some writers and not others. But reading because you have to is never going to fly. Read a new genre because you’re curious. Read a new author because you want to give them a chance. Read a new style because, well, why not? But if none of that interests you? Read what you want and then keep writing what you want. 

It’s your reading life. It’s your writing life. 

Live the Writer Life

Did you ever try the exercise where you wrote your own obituary? The idea is to write not just about the kind of person you are, but about the kind of person you want to be remembered as (and yes, obviously, those are not mutually exclusive—but they can be!) 

Have you tried that same exercise as a writer? How do you want you want to be remembered? As a dedicated careerist? A devoted hobbyist? A one-book wonder? A private journaler? There are no wrong answers, but there is reflection. If you find that what you wish your writing obituary could say is not yet what it would say, then can you think of ways to change that? You may be able to—start to write more, or devote more resources to independent publishing, or share your work with more people—or you may not. It’s not about setting a goal (you’ll never know whether you’ve achieved it since, well, you’ll be dead…😂); it’s about living the life you have. If you can’t write as much as you want or you can’t get your book published or you can’t sell it or you can’t finish it, that’s okay. It’s all still part and parcel of being a writer. 

So if you’d like to see the word “writer” or “author” or “scribe” or “the Second-Coming of Shakespeare” in your obituary, then all you have to do is live the writer life.

And that’s easy. Because if you write, you are a writer. 

Writing IS Hard!

If you write, it’s because you want to. You may feel it’s a “calling”, or something that speaks to your soul. You may simply have a great idea for a story and want to get it out there. You may only want to tell your story, or your family’s in the form of a memoir and that’s it. 

Regardless of your motivation, we all know writing is hard! But what’s easy to forget when we’re in the trenches is that other people don’t know this. Shocking, isn’t it? It’s obvious to us how much work goes into brainstorming, planning, outlining, drafting, revisions. We’re the equivalent of all those credits at the end of the film—except we’re only ONE person! Yet a well-meaning friend may be stumped when they ask how your book is coming along and your answer is the same as the last time. Or a family member snorts in ill-concealed derision that you’re finding it challenging. I mean, they say, anybody can write, right? 

Uh, no, obviously not. But since almost everybody can read, it’s easy for others to think anybody can write. That can be discouraging, when others don’t recognize the challenges—both technical and emotional—that we face. 

Don’t despair. I know what you’re going through. Maybe some other people in your writing life, do, too. Seek them out. Commiserate. And don’t think for one minute that those other people are right. Because we do know writing is hard. 

It’s More Than You Think

I’m fortunate to have a job where I get to talk to writers all day. But I’ve also realized, that has, on occasion, put me into a writing bubble. I forget that there are other people out there in the world who (gasp!) don’t write and even (double-gasp!) don’t read very often. (How they survive, I honestly don’t know…😊)

Yet recently I was talking with a group of people not part of the writing world. They were asking me the difference between young adult novels and adult novels. They were asking me the difference between fantasy and science fiction. They were asking me why romance covers are the way they are these days. 

I had answers for them—it’s what I do; I know my field—and I was giddy to talk about all I knew! But it also reminded me how much I do know. It reminded me about how much other writers also know about their craft. When we’re immersed in a world, we sometimes forget how much we’ve learned. That includes what you know about writing. Even if you’re new to the writing world, even if you consider yourself a hobbyist. Even if you want to write only one book and nothing more. It may be easy to assume you know nothing because others may know more. I’m here to remind you, you actually do have a wealth of knowledge. And for that, you should be proud. 

Ask Yourself Hard Questions

We know there are two distinct processes in writing: the actual writing process (everything from brainstorming, outlining, drafting and revisions) and the publishing process (everything to get your book out into the world). The first one is what most of us want to do as writers; the second one is what we wish would magically happen for us. 

It doesn’t. There are simply too many good books by too many good authors to have your very good book automatically rise to the top of the discoverability pile just because it is good. It’s not fair, but alas, for now, that is the way of it. Quality itself isn’t an automatic ticket. (Though you have to start with quality! If you don’t have a solid manuscript that you’re proud of, you’ve got nothin’ for part 2!)

So we learn all the marketing and networking and publicity skills we may never have had before. And then we learn that those techniques, too, are not a guarantee. In fact (sigh) there are no guarantees. 

But here’s something I rarely hear: you don’t have to learn all those additional skills. Absolutely it’s much less likely your book will make a big splash without them, but perhaps the effort to market your book isn’t, ultimately, worth it. Writing is meant to be fun, engaging, fulfilling. If your writing time is now only marketing time—and you hate it—then consider you have a choice. There are consequences, yes. But maybe, just maybe writing is, in the end, all you want to do. 

YOU Choose Your Path

Like many of my writing friends and clients, finding a path to traditional publishing can be fraught with peril. More and more are choosing something different: hybrid publishing, self-publishing, even starting up their own publishing imprints to publish their own work. 

One friend who writes middle-grade novels and who had done everything you’re supposed to do to perfect your manuscript, query letter, synopsis and agent research, finally gave up on traditional publishing when this happened to her: 

“I got a copy of my book printed and gave it to my neighbor’s son. He had always been my ideal reader—a reluctant boy who rarely reads. A few days later, my friend sent me photos of her son unable to put the book down! He read it in the kitchen, and it the car on the way to school. He then re-read it! It’s one reader; but it’s why I wrote the book in the first place.”

She decided then and there that her story had value (which I’d known all along!) and she wasn’t going to wait on a fickle, unpredictable industry. She’s in control. 

It’s a hard choice; there’s a significant financial investment and you have to market your book yourself (but then, you often have to do that even if you’re traditionally published…) It’s not easy, but it is an option. Anything to get your story into the hands of your ideal reader. 

AI: The Tools WE Use

AI is a thing. It’s a thing in the wider world and it’s definitely a thing in the writing world. There is lots of cause for concern about how AI will affect us. But, like any technology, AI is a tool, and it’s how it’s used that is the most prevalent issue. 

Personally, I have little need for AI. That may change if I see the value and benefit to my work. For the moment, though, I’m happy to go old-school. You know, come up with my own outlines, write my own words, tackle my own revisions. 

But then my university-aged daughter got me to think outside (my) AI box. To choose a gift for me (books, of course) she made a note (a long note, to be sure) of the books on my to-read pile, then punched in the titles to AI for similar books. AI came up with four, that were then duly purchased, wrapped and given to me. I didn’t find out about how the books were chosen until I’d finished all of them—then my daughter asked for a report: how well did AI/she do? Excellent! I read all four, loved one, liked two and decided one wasn’t my cup of tea—and I couldn’t have done better myself! 

What I loved about using AI for discoverability of books is having a more targeted recommendation. It’s not perfect (no technology is—for that matter, nor is any person), but since AI is sticking around, let’s make it work for what we want. 

The Impact of Stories

The ancient Greek epic, The Odyssey, attributed to Homer, is one of the oldest surviving works of literature (estimated to have been written in the 8^th or 7^th century BCE). It’s still popular today—in fact, a current You Tube/social media sensation is proof. Musician Jorge Rivera-Herrans created EPIC: The Musical, a sung-through adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey that has amassed widespread critical and popular acclaim. 

My daughters are two fans of the musical (making me one, too!), so much so that on our recent trip to Greece, they insisted we visit Ithaca, the island home of Odysseus, the place to which he struggled to return after the ten-year Trojan War. On the island are the ruins of a castle that archaeologists believe could have been the home of the legendary Greek king of Ithaca. 

We made the (ahem) odyssey, and the 3,000+ year-old ruins were breathtaking to see. But what made them remarkable was their (alleged) connection to the story. We saw a lot of ancient sites on our trip; they were all beautiful, but this one location rose above the rest because of its very long, storied, bond to something we still talk about today. 

That’s the power of story. 

That’s the power of what you do when you write. 

So keep writing.