10 Reasons Why You're Not Making It as a Writer
- Jenna Moreci
- May 14
- 7 min read
HelloOoOo everybody!
One phrase that gets thrown around a lot in the writing community is, "making it."
“I wanna make it as a real author!”
It's a nice sentiment, but it's not really meaningful. Everyone has their own definition of what "making it" means to them. Personally, I felt like I "made it" once I was able to support myself financially with my writing.
Bestseller statuses and accolades can contribute to this title, but ultimately "making it" really depends on who you ask. On the flip side, not making it is relatively standard, no matter who you talk to. If you didn’t make it, it means one thing: no one's buying your damn books. Unfortunately, this is a position that an overwhelming majority of writers find themselves in, and that's what we're talking about today.
I'm breaking down the top 10 reasons why you haven't made it as a writer, and more importantly, how to rectify the situation. For the record. I'm not talking about the obvious mistakes like not hiring a professional cover artist, not hiring a professional editor, or not doing any marketing at all. There are plenty of writers who hit all of these steps and still can't make a buck off their writing. If you've made your product as polished and professional as possible, and it's still not going your way, I'm gonna let you know why, so hopefully you can set things on the right path.
This video is sponsored by Audible. As always, all opinions are my own.
If you haven’t already, don’t forget to also subscribe to my YouTube channel for more writing tips, sarcasm, and of course, more of Princess Butters!
Number 1: You Relied Too Much on Write-to-Market
Write-to-market is a common tactic that encourages writers to write whatever is currently popular in their genre. The extreme version of this practice is trend-chasing. Writing to market has proven successful for a lot of authors, but it completely depends on your goals. If you're comfortable producing a ton of books very quickly for an indefinite period of time, then write-to-market might work for you.
However, many authors aim for a sustainable career and a loyal audience. And trend chasing doesn't really fit into this equation. Chasing a trend doesn't bode well for establishing yourself in a memorable way because you've made your writing interchangeable with everything else in the genre. If you'd like a whole post devoted to the pros and cons of writing-to-market, let me know in the comments below.
Number 2: You Don’t Give a Shit About What Readers Want
While trend chasing isn't sustainable, that doesn't mean you should ignore reader preference entirely. After all, they're the ones buying your book. You don't have to chase trends, but you should be aware of your audience and their desires. And it's completely possible to write a story you're passionate about while still taking your audience into consideration.
For example, say you have two concepts you're considering. One is fantasy and one is dystopian. Then you take a look at your readership and realize oh shit, dystopian’s on its way out! People are sick of it (in this hypothetical situation). Meanwhile, fantasy has hit its revival. This will be an ideal opportunity for you to work on the fantasy manuscript and put the dystopia on the back burner.
Number 3: You Are Completely Closed Off to Feedback
There are a lot of authors out there who rely on the same three beta readers with every single book, and then wonder why no one's reading their work. Three beta readers don't cut it. The entire point of enlisting feedback before you publish is to make your work the best it can be. I know plenty of writers who use the beta process as a back-scratcher for their ego, but if you truly want to improve your craft, you need to be open to feedback. That means hearing things you don't wanna hear before the book comes out, and learning from it. None of us are at the end of our journey, we're all continually growing.
Number 4: You Don’t Have a Strategy
The single most time-consuming part of a book launch is creating a thought-out marketing strategy. Similarly, the one step most authors neglect is creating a thought-out marketing strategy. Do you think Apple has released a new product on a whim? Do you think musical artists release new albums without some kind of business model?
Book releases are something you have to plan, and a proper book release will be executed down to every minute detail. For the release of The Savior's Champion, I had my social media presence planned literally day by day. Readership doesn't happen overnight and without effort. You need a plan in order to contact the right people in the right manner.
Number 5: You Don’t Learn From Your Numbers
Some marketing strategies don't work, period. It may not make sense, it may work for a million other authors, but if it doesn't work for you, toss it aside. Pay attention to your numbers, and analyze your accounting and sales figures. Too many writers cling to strategies that are widely accepted, even though they don't work for them, as opposed to learning from the results and moving on.
Facebook advertising works for countless authors, but the multiple times I tried it, it didn't work for me. When I analyzed my figures I realized that a bulk of my audience wasn't active on Facebook. Does this mean it's a terrible strategy? Of course not. It's just not the strategy for me.
Number 6: Your Ego Sucks
We've all seen those viral threads where a delusional douche lectures a literary agent for not grasping the depth of his genius. How could she not see he's the next great American novelist? His scat play erotica is transcendent. This is usually the same person who picks fights on Goodreads and writes over 500,000-word novels because every syllable they create is brilliant. No one likes this dick.
Acting like a chump is gonna get you a bad reputation really fast. People aren't gonna want to work with you. They're not gonna want to promote you. And of course, they're not going to buy your shit. It's really hard to make it when your name is synonymous with batshit crazy.
Number 7: Your Cover Art Isn’t Cutting It
Your cover is one of your greatest marketing tools. It gives your readers a snapshot of what they're getting themselves into. Thus, not only does your cover need to be beautiful and professional, but it also needs to accurately reflect the content of your novel. If you're writing horror, the cover should be severe. If you're writing erotica, the cover should be sexy.
And don't forget about categories. A young adult fantasy novel is probably going to look a little different than an adult fantasy novel because they are catering to a different crowd. And if you're not sure how to accurately reflect the content of your novel, look at other book covers in your genre, specifically the successful ones. A trip to the bookstore or an afternoon perusing Amazon could do you a world of good.
Number 8: You Never Studied the Market
What are other authors doing? What's working for them? I'm not talking about trend-chasing, I'm talking about promotions, giveaways, and events. How are other authors getting their names out there? How are they selling so many copies?
I had no idea presale giveaways were so popular until I studied the market, and I can honestly attribute at least half of the success of my last book release to that very practice. I cannot tell you how many authors completely skip the step of just researching popular marketing tactics, and then wonder why their book isn't selling.
Did you look at what's working for other authors?
“No, was I supposed to?”
Only if you'd like to be just as successful, no big deal.
Number 9: You’re Telling the Wrong Story
This is a problem for a lot of writers for a number of reasons. Maybe you're writing the wrong story because you relied too heavily on write-to-market. You chose your story based on what was popular, as opposed to what you're passionate about. Maybe you're writing the wrong story because you did what was expected of you. You're a scientist, so you wrote science fiction, even though you actually prefer historical romance.
Passion is evident. If you don't give a shit about the content of your work, readers are gonna be able to tell. Similarly, your lack of care can affect the quality of your work, because happy writers are a lot more invested in their projects. Maybe you haven't made it yet because your writing just isn't where it needs to be. And that could very well be because you're not writing what you need to be writing.
Number 10: You’re Not Making Shit
“It's not fair, these other writers are so successful. Why can't I have a piece of that?”
Well, have you published anything?
“I mean, no but…”
But nothing. If you want to make it as a writer, you have to write something. Give the people a book to buy, damn it. And after you publish one book, guess what? You have to publish another.
It's very rare for an author to make it after one book. You need a backlog in order to sustain your name. A lot of writers who complain about not making it don't have one published work, let alone several. This should be a given. If you want people to see you as a serious professional, you need to do this professionally. Write the words, get that shit published, and keep the books coming.
So that's all I've got for you today!
A huge thank you to Audible for sponsoring today's video. If you'd like to gain access to a huge selection of audiobooks, check out http://www.audible.com/jennamoreci or text ‘Jenna Moreci’ to 500-500. You can get your very first audiobook for free, and that audiobook can and should be The Savior's Champion.
*This post is sponsored by Audible. As always, all opinions are my own.
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