Cintia asked Cindy Dees:

I'm an aspiring writer, but I'm dealing with two things: I get discouraged every single day because 96% of manuscripts are rejected, and I haven't had an idea for years, literally. There's too many people wanting to be writers, and knowing there's so much competition just kills me a little every day. When I get motivated, immediatly something appears about the industry that kills it. Any tips on how to deal with this?

Cindy Dees Cintia, you've put your finger on perhaps the most important question facing all romance writers today. The short answer is: write for the love of it or don't bother writing.

The long answer is: It's a saturated market and competition is beyond fierce for readers and sales. At some point, you have to ask yourself why you write at all. If you're doing it to make money, I would immediately reconsider your career choices. If you're doing it because you're a story teller, all the way down to your soul, and you can't help but write your stories, then write on...and don't think about the challenges in the business end of writing.

Success in the romance biz these days has a lot to do with luck, word of mouth, a good book, and happening to come out with the right story at the right moment. The only part of that you can control is the good book. Write the best book you can and then let go of what happens to it. Put it out in the universe and move on to telling your next story. Maybe your book gets discovered, and maybe not.

Yes, you can do a certain amount of reasonable marketing, and you have to package the book well and create excellent metadata for the book. But at the end of the day, you can't force readers to buy your book. They're going to have to come to it organically and tell their friends about it organically.

Writers tend to be control freaks, so letting go of control after we publish our books is hard. But it's also necessary for our sanity. You're juggling two worlds: the art of writing and the business of selling books. You have to set aside the business portion of being an author when it's time to sit down and let fly with your art. Otherwise, the business concerns will, indeed, choke off the art inside you altogether. Does that answer your question?

flag