WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A BESTSELLER

I have no idea.

What I do know is that if you're writing to become the next Tom Clancy, you might just want to step back from the curb and take a real look.

Why do you write?

What do you do to connect?

What frightens you when it comes to writing that you'd like to correct?

I find that these three questions give me the answers I really need to know when it comes to writing and promoting my work.

I am constantly asking myself why I write. If it's for the big bucks (maybe I'm discouraged because a promotion on Amazon didn't go so well), I know that I need to re-focus my energy.

Why do I write? I write because I have something good to share. I write to connect. I write because writing brings me joy.

Why do you write?

What do you do to connect? Do you merely offer a few scattered book signings? Or have you gathered new friends; readers on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn? Are you constantly searching for new (maybe even free) ways to get the word out about who you are and what you do?

Not a bestseller...but I keep on keeping on..

 

Do you have a blog and/or website, and do you update it frequently? Do you attend writing conferences?

Do you speak? If you don't, is it because you feel under-qualified or because the idea of standing up in front of even half a dozen people makes your knees weak?

I'd like to think that most people who speak in front of a group get scared, but that those who do it on a regular basis speak even though their heart is pounding like a jack hammer. Sure, it matters that they're scared, but it matters more that they get up and speak.

When it comes to being a bestseller, you might just hit the jack pot by just getting out there. I often think of Richard Paul Evans and how he started out with The Christmas Box. He got out there himself and sold his book.

And so can you!

What's Your Purpose as an Author?

Yesterday I had a talk with one of my daughters. Part of the conversation had to do with my purpose as an author. She was a bit confused.

"I thought you wrote inspirational books," she said.

She was right, of course. I'd written three of them and my fourth, well, it was a cozy mystery. A bit out of the same realm.

Fortunately, I'd worked through the same issue myself just a few months prior before deciding to release Scrambled. I wondered: "Will people like it that I've switched genre's?" "Will they see my purpose as miss-managed?"

What I realized then just as I do now is that every author is filled to the brim with ideas and not all of them run the same wave. C.S. Lewis himself was known to write fantasy as well as nonfiction. He wrote for adults as well as children.

And while I'm the first to admit that a  mystery story is a cry from a Christian fiction novel, there are surprisingly some elements that remain the same. 

 

• Like to figure things out about your life; make it better? Read a Christian fiction or nonfiction book.

 

• Like to figure things out when it comes to sleuthing? Want to discover "who did it" even before the author releases the news? Read a mystery.

I'd like to think that my purpose as a writer is not only to share the goodness of God but the joy of life. I'd like to think that sometimes we just need an escape and a good mystery can do that. We also need to get the good old left brain working to figure things out.

And I'd like to think that I can do both.

What's your purpose as an author? I would love to hear your thoughts.