Every year authors are told to pay attention to trends. Which genres are growing? Which categories are declining? Which books are selling? While understanding the publishing industry has value, many aspiring authors make the same mistake. They spend more time studying trends than creating books. The truth is that most publishing trends come and go. But one publishing principle has remained unchanged for decades: readers return to authors who consistently create work they love.
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Why Authors Become Distracted by Trends
Now, you know and I know you ARE an author.
The problem isn’t whether or not you’re an author.
The problem is what you’re pouring yourself into.
What you’re spending your time on.
What is consuming your focus and energy.
Hours and hours and hours of prime writing time fly out the window while you’re searching for the right keywords on your site or researching that topic to see if it’s the right one.
That’s a problem because your number one responsibility as an author is to create.
To create words.
Your Job Is to Create
Authors write. Publishers publish. Readers read.
As an author, your purpose is to create content.
You may have ulterior motives like making book sales or seeing your name on bookstore shelves but that is all auxiliary to the simple act of writing. You are a content generator. You must take those abstract ideas and wrestle them into words. If you don’t, you’re not an author.
Ideas alone do not make someone a writer. Writing does.
Think about it this way.
Publishers publish books.
The single drive within you must be laser focused on creating a book.
Not a bunch of ramblings. Not a life of research. You must be working on and towards a book.
Why Chasing Trends Rarely Works
Imagine this.
Tomorrow, industry trends change and westerns become the BIG THING all over again.
What are you going to do?
You like to write about bunny rabbits and how to make big salads. But you’re all spun up on this new/old trend that westerns are all that sell RIGHT NOW and if you don’t jump on that ship you may as well quit.
Let me tell you a super secret truth that will carry you through the remainder of your publishing journey.
If westerns become the next BIG THING (again) tomorrow, the person who LOVES westerns and has been writing westerns for the last decade hoping and waiting for westerns to find their way back to mainstream sales is going to be selling books.
Notice I said selling books. Because they’ve been writing books this whole time.
They’ve been editing their books and refining their books.
They’ve been taking selfies on horseback and have all sorts of hats and boots ready for their western book tour.
Readers Create Bestsellers, Not Trends
The book publishing industry is not like some digital product e-commerce startup company that literally will try to sell anything that does sell and only cares about how many people are looking for the item.
Book publishing takes a considerable amount of time to consider, cultivate, and create a product ready for consumption.
What are you passionate about? What drives you?
If you’re an author, and I know you are, you must be throwing down words on paper or on screen a mile a minute about that topic.
Much of the busywork that distracts writers feels productive, but very little of it matters if the writing never gets done.
Write about what is important or fun or fascinating or neat or cool to YOU.
Now, let’s say you’re doing just that.
You just read all the previous text and you’re like “I’m doing that, I’m laser focused on the single thing that makes or breaks the bank, I’m creating my content, putting words down, burning ink, creating a book, but I don’t know if it will go anywhere or be successful when I’m finished.”
If creating the content of your book is a tree, it’s vital you give the tree the nourishment it requires by managing your attention and focusing exclusively on nourishing the tree.
The nourishment is what ultimately pushes out the branches, blooms, and fruit 10 fold, 100 fold, or 1,000 fold.
The nourishment is the constant realization that delighting the reader is paramount.
Everything you do with your content is to delight the ultimate reader. Pour over that. Think about that.
The more delightful your book is to your reader, the bigger your tree will be.
Delighted readers are multipliers.
The delighted reader can share your book with 5 people in person or 5,000+ through social media platforms.
Conversely, the shafted reader will pay you back with silence – the gift of never telling a single soul about you or your book.
Every now and then I come across truly wonderful picture books.
What do I do? I tell people about it.
I can’t help it.
I want to because the author or illustrator delighted me.
Focus on Delighting the Reader
Creating the content within the context of delighting the reader has never changed, is not changing, and will never change.
People often think the industry drives the market but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Readers drive the market.
The more delighted they are in a genre or with an author, the more the reader will do what they can to advance it. To get more of it. To share it and spread it.
Focus on a single thing…creating your book.
Do it within the framework of delighting the reader. If you do this, you’ll be successful beyond your wildest imagination.
Are you struggling with the focus part? Easily distracted? Not too sure what to do next in your publishing journey? I’d love to help you. Send me a note on my contact page. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
