When I was a little girl and first dreamed of being a writer I just thought of all of the wonderful stories that I wanted to tell and all of them would have happy endings. When I was ten and started to write poetry to essentially pour my heart out on the page I realized that I had something other then fairy tale stories inside me and that there was a poet in there. When I realized how long winded I could be in my storytelling and that I had some really unique stories to tell in the form of novels I dreamed of being on the New York Times Best-Seller’s list.
No where in any of my romanticized dreams of becoming various versions of a writer did I factor in the business side of it all. In my daydream I had a wonderful agent who got me this wonderful five book deal with Random House and of course once the first five are done they option me for another five book deal. Of course because it’s Random House all of the marketing and getting my author name to known as a household name to book lovers everywhere is taken care of by their in house marketing team. Never did I plan on trying to do this myself or that it would be so incredibly hard to get an agent. Never did I factor in having to market myself.
Writing is for the creative and the imaginative but it is also indeed a business. You can only romanticize the idea of being a writer for so long before coming to terms with the fact that only about 25% of your time (if that) will be spent actually writing and the rest will be spent on the business of getting yourself out there. No one is going to know your name, your work, your talent, if you don’t put yourself out there and hustle for that recognition.
Of course when you are out there and everyone knows who you are and you make enough to outsource your marketing efforts, (which is definitely in my plan) then that is certainly a good option but you have to put in your fair share of work first. I am still a work in progress on this aspect but I know that if I don’t step my game up and market myself as if my life depended on it (because it actually does) then I won’t get where I want to be, where I need to be. My romanticized notions of being a writer are certainly gone now (at least until I get that five book deal) and now it’s time to get down to the business of really being a writer and a media mogul. Until tomorrow…Have you tapped into your business side yet?
Jimmetta Carpenter
Writer/Editor
The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)
Writing as “Jaycee Durant”
https://writetobe.wordpress.com/
http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310
Write 2 Be 