Are you putting yourself out there?
This one might be the scariest of all when it comes to writing, but as a writer (one who writes), that’s the thing that you are ultimately doing.
Sure, you can write for yourself, and that’s perfectly fine if that’s what you what to do, but most of the time you are writing with the intention that your work will be read by others.
And that means you gotta put yourself out there.
I have started putting myself out there recently with the launch of a TikTok account. I never ever thought I would put myself on video, but I started the account because I was sick and tired of people not knowing that my book Naughty Week existed.
I honestly think Naughty Week is a book that people would love — if they had any idea it existed. It is very frustrating as a creative person to work on something that’s intended for an audience… and not having an audience.
I just want attention. I think most creators thrive on attention.
Naughty Week is one of the best things I’ve ever written. I absolutely love the idea behind it and the concept. I think it’s great for young readers and it ranks up there among the best middle grade Christmas books. It’s also great for any parents or grown-ups who enjoy reading to kids. It’s set right after Christmas, so it’s a great holiday-themed book, it’s fun and irreverent, and it’s basically my kind of humor.
And unfortunately, nobody knows about it. I’ve poured a small fortune into Amazon ads the last few years to get the book in front of shoppers looking for holiday books, and I’ve pretty much broken even on the endeavor.
This year, I’ve decided that I am better off creating content and sharing it organically to build awareness, so I turned to TikTok.
I started making short movie trailers for my book thinking they would go viral. They didn’t.
One of my videos got nine views on the first day.
So the goal of building awareness wasn’t quite working, so I dug in and doubled down on learning about the new platform (new to me). What I found is that the accounts that are building audiences and gaining traction are the ones whose content creators are putting themselves in front of the lens.
So here I am.
I am admittedly nervous about doing all of this. I don’t like seeing myself on video or listening to my own voice. It’s weird.
But I am committed to spreading the word about my book, so I need to put myself out there and engage with the audience I am so desperate to know Naughty Weeks exists.
It’s kind of scary and super uncomfortable at the moment, but I going to continue making these videos and see if there is anything I can do to provide tips or help others with their writing journeys as they write their books or their screenplays or their pilot scripts. I can’t say I am the ultimate expert on the matter, but I do have about 20 years of experience, and I’ve had some success.
And I’ve had lulls of not-so-much success.
I’ve had to take on nine-to-fives to pay the bills while I write, and those are basically the facts of life for me.
If you are writing, if you want people to read your work, if you want your creative endeavors to get out there, then at some point you are going to need to face the music and put yourself out there.
