Why The Writer is not a Salesman

Before the web came along a writer used to write and then rely on his publisher to do the marketing for his book. The publisher would usually set up a few book signing opportunities but the bulk of the selling would be done through the trusted sales channels developed by the publisher over the years. The writer was there to, well, write.

It was a relationship that was apparently made in heaven because, just like in the best relationships, it divided the labor of love required to maintain it and bring its purpose into fruition. Just like the best of relationships, beneath the surface, nothing was what it seemed. Publishers, with their team of sales people and distribution deals, worked on the path of least resistance. They sold books that turned a profit for themselves but did not work hard to help the writer increase his sales. Writers, content to do what they loved and get paid, did the bare minimum. They appeared at the book signings and interviews set up by the publisher but did little work to promote themselves or their books beyond that.

Relationship on the Rocks
What’s brought about a change, as always, are circumstances that made it impossible to pretend that the relationship, as it was, worked. Publishers, strapped for cash and looking for quick gains seized on social media and pushed writers to the front. Writers, tired of not selling beyond their usual audience, thought the time had come to reluctantly step into the limelight.

And this is where things get interesting.

Without a doubt, social media has changed everything. By stripping away the traditional barriers that kept writers and readers away from each other it has made the complex marketing mechanism publishers had in place, redundant. Suddenly the writer has become the publisher’s best marketing aid.

Considering that marketing also helps the writer this should not much change things except it has. For a start it allows the writer to use his place on the web to talk directly to his readers (which is why Google Semantic Search: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Techniques That Get Your Company More Traffic, Increase Brand Impact and Amplify Your Online Presence became a best-seller before publication. It then allows the writer to realize that writing is not quite as unique an ability as he may think it is.

This stripping back of layers of misconception is not without its problems. A writer close to his readers enjoys their ear, partakes in their concerns, gets their opinion, becomes (in the social media sense of the word) their buddy. The closeness changes the traditional alchemy of the roles. A writer who listens closely to his readers is attuned to their needs and understands what they like but, at the same time, he is influenced by their opinions and becomes subject to their direction. That is problematic.

A writer is at his most valuable when works not to write a book (that is a byproduct) but to realize a vision. Whether that vision is a non-fiction book that becomes a handy aid, a fictional masterpiece that sets popular culture on fire or a technical tome that documents a subject, it is something that resonates deeply with a perceived audience need and becomes, in the hands of the reader, a catapult that will launch them into a new orbit.

When a book does its job, it enables the reader to feel, think, act or analyze differently. It is the trigger than unleashes the reader’s superpower. That’s why writers, ultimately, write and why readers buy their books.

The ability of social media to bring writers and readers closer to each other is certainly seductive and it is both desirable and appealing. But it should always be the channel through which a writer explains his vision rather than the means through which he transformed into a salesman peddling his wares.