You Are a Writer (6 page)

Okay, let’s get technical. There are so many opportunities to blog out there — where do you begin? What’s good? What’s bad?

Personally, I love Wordpress (you can download this free blogging software at
Wordpress.org
). Having a self-hosted blog (which means you completely own it) is essential for a writer, in my opinion. However, you may want to begin with baby steps, like an account on
Wordpress.com
(you can get your own domain name for $15-20 a year).

Having a free account on some blogging service is nice for updating your grandma (who is, apparently, pretty tech savvy), but it’s not enough for a professional. If you’ve got a presence on a platform you don’t own, you’re leaving yourself vulnerable to the whims of a stranger who doesn’t have your best interest in mind.

Launching a self-hosted blog can be a little technical to set up (you will need web hosting), but once you begin, you will have total freedom over how you communicate and connect with others.

If you need help doing this, there are great full-service providers like the guys at
OutstandingSetup.com
and
YourDigitalBook.com
. Plus, with websites like
Problogger.net
and others, there are all kinds of helpful resources to get you started.

Twitter is a great place to connect with other writers. Facebook can be good, too. Often, these relationships go offline and lead to greater influence. That’s the whole point of them: Social media is a means to an end, not the end itself.

Once you begin, you will want to start building connections. Without other people, it will be hard to succeed. So where do you begin?

Three Important Relationships

There are three must-have relationships that will extend your reach, and each of them is absolutely necessary:

Fans:
You need to build meaningful connections with your tribe of followers.

Friends:
You need to connect with others who are doing what you are.

Patrons:
You need to earn influence with influencers who will support your work.

A fan is someone who admires and follows your work. These people will spread your message and pay money for your work.

A friend is a peer — someone who can relate to the work you do. You should have an inner circle of friends to hold you accountable to being true to your craft and art.

These people will help you get better.

An advocate is a patron — someone who supports you financially or through lending you his or her influence.

These people will mentor you and help you go to the next level. They will increase your influence and help you grow in wisdom.

Here are three ways to start building a fan base:

• Create amazing stuff.
  Find out what people need and deliver it to them.
  
• Be generous.
  Reward your readers by giving them freebies once in awhile. Do favors. Serve them.
  
• Ask permission.
  Never assume. Always invite.
  

How to Win Fans

The best way to win a fan is to create meaningful art — work that will move people and change the world.

However, when you’re just getting started, you’re working pretty blindly. How do you know what people want? You
don’t
.

Once you build a platform, you can ask your audience. Until then, you have to go with intuition. The good news is that online distribution and communication are virtually free. So you can try stuff out without it costing you a ton of time or money.

Begin, and tweak as you go.

If you’re not sure what to do, try writing something dangerous — something that challenges the status quo or contradicts a social convention. Create something worth adamantly disagreeing with. Chances are you’ll find someone who likes it.

Rinse and repeat.

How to Make a Friend

Friends are important to your work. Without peers and cheerleaders, we’re doomed to live lives of solitude and limited impact.

Sometimes, though, it’s hard to make friends, hard to meet new people. Still, this is essential. Here are three ways to build a relationship if you need help:

• Reach out.
  Email people. Reply to them on Twitter. Start a conversation.
  
• Help.
  Begin the relationship by serving and showing interest in the other person.
  
• Follow up.
  Don’t let the relationship lie fallow. Stay in touch.
  

The best way to make a friend is to show interest in someone else without agenda. I hope you’re seeing a pattern here: Serving people is the best way to earn influence. The most influential people I know do this regularly. They give more than they take; they ask more than they tell.

If you want your writing to reach the most people possible, you’ll need friends to champion your work and encourage you in the process.

The best way to find these people is to be one yourself.

How to Earn a Patron

We live in an incredible age. Technology is amazing and accessible. Ease of communication allows you to reach millions in seconds — all at the touch of your fingertips.

Ironically, writers and artists are more alone than they’ve ever been.

One challenge in this age of super-connectedness is the prevalence of competition, especially amongst creatives.

We need help. We need someone to show us the ropes. We need influencers who are generous with their platforms to help us find our audiences.

Without the Medici family, Michelangelo wouldn’t have painted the Sistine Chapel. Without his friends at Atari, Steve Jobs never would’ve started Apple. Without patrons, you won’t reach your potential.

We all need people who believe in the work we do and help support us. How are patrons different from other people? For one, they already have influence and expertise. They are also extremely busy.

It may be hard to get time with these important people, but it’s well worth the effort. How do you get potential patrons to notice you? Here are three steps:

• Ask.
  Start with email or a letter. Ask for a short meeting. This can be in person, over Skype, or whatever is most convenient for them.
  
• Interview.
  Show interest. Come prepared with questions. Respect their time.
  
• Stay in touch.
  Follow up with an email (or phone call) after the meeting.
  
• Repeat.
  The real secret is diligence and perseverance. Do this enough with enough people, and you’ll find someone who believes in you.
  

The best way to do this is to demonstrate competency and proactively reach out. Before you ask for a meeting, show them what you’ve done or are capable of doing.

When setting up the meeting, the trick is to make it easy. Offer to buy them coffee or breakfast near their workplace. Do it when it’s convenient for them, not you.

When you meet, make it more about them than you. However, don’t be surprised if they have their own questions. Come prepared to both ask and answer.

Obviously, you want them to help you, to endorse the work that you do. But don’t make this “ask” the first meeting. Instead, make it your primary goal to build a relationship. If they like you, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to ask later.

After the meeting, thank them and send a list of notes to show you actually remembered their advice. You want them to know you took their time seriously. Then, like any relationship, let it build over time.

Relationships are important. They can lead to all kinds of opportunities and breakthroughs in your career.

Every success is a story of community — a complex network of people helping each other. Don’t forget: You can’t do this alone.

If you’re intimidated or afraid of reaching out to potential patrons, know that it gets easier. You just need to start. If you’re already doing this, keep going. It never hurts to have more people on your side.

Personal Story: Connecting with People

I was hesitant to start networking with other people who could help me. It felt sleazy. I didn’t like the idea of promoting myself.

Instead, I did what I knew: I offered to interview people I wanted to connect with. I would reach out on Twitter, Facebook, or via email, and ask someone to coffee. Then, I’d interview them.

Afterwards, I would publish the article and let the person know. This was my excuse to follow up. With many of the relationships, I just continued to stay in touch.

Over time, this gave me the confidence to reach out to other people. This simple formula has allowed me to get people like Seth Godin and Michael Hyatt to endorse my work. It’s allowed me to publish exclusive interviews with writers like Steven Pressfield and many, many others. And it will help you, too, if you take the time to ask.

You must be bold and risk a little, but I promise you: The outcome is worth the risk.

What It Really Takes to Be a Writer

“This business of… being a writer is ultimately about asking yourself, ‘How alive am I willing to be?’”
—ANNE LAMOTT

This isn’t easy, this writing life. It is, however, a noble calling. And like most things worthy of fighting for, it will require
all
of you. Not just your fingers and brain, but your whole self.

When people tell me they want to publish a book but aren’t willing to build a platform or worry about marketing, I don’t believe them. If you want to be a writer, if you want this badly enough, you will work.

Why
wouldn’t
you be willing to give this everything you have? If this is your dream we’re talking about? Why would you hold anything back?

Yes, this life will be hard. You will get rejected and be called names. There’s no sugarcoating it: Writing takes work. It requires gumption and moxie. No, it won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.

There’s a foolish way to pursue a writing career (waiting to be picked) and a smart way (building a platform worth noticing). Do yourself a favor and choose the latter. Create a brand that resonates. Make meaningful connections that help you succeed.

This craft is not for the faint of heart, so hang in there. You will need to get tough and learn to stick through some stuff — and I hope you do. Because we need your voice. We need your art — whether you realize it or not.

Now comes the hard part. The part where you apply this (or don’t). Where you find your tribe and build your path to publishing.

Before that, though, you will have to do something important. You will have to choose yourself.

This is harder than it sounds. It will take a lot to do this day after day of hardship, misunderstanding, and slander. You
will
struggle. And that’s okay, as long as you keep going.

Which brings me to my final point. There is one — and only one — tool you need to be a writer:

COURAGE.

None of this matters one hill of beans if you aren’t brave.
If you do not persevere.
No guide or set of tools can prepare you for the rejection you will face, the criticism you will endure, the pain you will experience.

All these strategies carry with them a core, underlying assumption: You must be courageous.

The world needs this more than you know. We are waiting for your words. Longing to be changed. Will you share your art? Will you believe you are a writer and start writing?

I hope so.

Before Your First Book

Every writer wants to get published. It’s the dream we long for, the recognition we crave (even when we say we don’t).

It doesn’t take long to realize getting published isn’t easy. It takes hard work, thick skin, and perseverance. At the same time, it’s not as difficult as you might think. Not if you know the secret.

Every day, hundreds of books and thousands of articles go into print. And here’s the truth: Some of them aren’t very good.

What’s the difference between published authors and you? What do
they
have that you don’t? Maybe nothing. Except they know how to get published, which is actually quite significant.

First Things First

Before you jump into the world of publishing, you need to ask yourself a few questions:

Am I serious?

Am I committed?

Am I prepared to be challenged?

Too many people dream of one day publishing a book or getting a piece featured in a magazine without first counting the cost. It sounds kind of glamorous — getting published — doesn’t it? It’s not. It’s more grisly than anything.

Most writers are content to dream but aren’t prepared to do the work. They fail before they start. Before you begin, take a moment to consider what you’re about to do.

Are you prepared to dig in and stick it out? Even when it gets hard? Even when you’re discouraged or lose sight of your goals? Will you still get up each day and write?

This is what you must resolve to do. Otherwise, you’re doomed from the start.

Let’s be honest: You’re probably not a great writer. If you are just starting out and don’t have decades of publishing your work under your belt, this is a given. Which is fine as long as you don’t stay there. We all start somewhere, right?

The best way to get good at something is to practice. You probably already knew that. Here’s the twist: The best way to practice is to do it publicly. Musicians become professionals by playing a hundred live shows. Likewise, writers become authors by publishing a lot of bad work (until it’s no longer bad).

A young actor once lamented to Walter Matthau, “I’m just waiting for my big break.”

Matthau laughed and replied, “Kid, it’s not just one break; it’s fifty.” The same is true for any craft, especially writing. You have to walk before you run.