Pals, it's time for an important question: What do you want out of publishing?
I adore you all and want you to succeed, so time for some tough love talk
Why can't authors just publish our books? Why are we the ones responsible for marketing it?
Signed,
Sorry to be rude it's just annoying
Dear Sorry To Be Rude It’s Just Annoying,
First off, I’m 100% fine with tone like this in questions (as a reminder, question submissions are entirely anonymous, Emily and I can’t see who you are unless you tell us). It’s a frustrating industry. I tell a lot of jokes and build up my persona in these marketing letters because I know marketing often isn’t fun, and I want to try and make it fun.
Emily and I have been waiting for this question; and if you’re at all connected to writer communities, you’ve seen this question come up more and more over the last couple of years. Hell, thirty minutes before sitting down to write this I saw a related poll on YouTube. So I’ve been thinking about how to answer this for a while. It involved multiple coffee walks with Emily, talking it out while circling our nearby park.
Because here’s the thing: I agree with you. In a different world, art wouldn’t be this way. We wouldn’t have to market it. We wouldn’t have to worry about a living wage, and wanting to earn that wage doing things we love. Capitalism drastically changes the consumption and creation of art alike.
And you can do it—you can have the above. You can write and self-publish, you can do minimal marketing. Ebooks can become a passive income to supplement a hopefully low-stress job. You can make art and put it out into the world and have that be it.
But after many coffees and walks and talks with Emily, there’s a pill-shaped-question that can be difficult for people to swallow, and I need you to be fully honest with yourself about the answer:
What do you want out of being an author? What does it look like?
I’m being 100% sincere when I tell you that regardless of why you want to write a book, I’m not judging you. Everyone has their own reasons and their own goals. I just want you to be honest with yourself about your goals–and to be honest with yourself about whether or not you have the energy to make them happen.
If you landed on “no marketing needed” then hey, no hurt feelings! Come back now and then to see if what I write about helps you out, but otherwise Emily has you covered.
If you landed on any of the “I need marketing” spots, but you’re feeling marketing resentment, then you need to do one of two things:
1. Suck it up. Accept that you need to play the game, revisit the Iron Triangle and see what you can make work.
2. Change your goals. Redefine what your dream looks like. Redefine what success looks like. It’s not a bad thing to want to focus on your art for your art’s sake, to create just to create.
Emily and I have been having a lot of conversations recently about wanting to create art that we aren’t trying to monetize into a side hustle. It’s led to Emily making some incredible crafts. It’s led to me getting back into photography. We’ve barely even posted those results to our friends on our private social media accounts. It’s just for us.
It is okay if you want your art to just be for you, and for whoever comes across it naturally. That is not a failure. That is beautiful. That’s the world we should ideally be living in. I want to live there with you.
But if you have that ambition drumming in your veins and you want your art to lead to something bigger, you need to understand how competitive it is out there.
I may lose some of you with this analogy, but for those familiar with fanfiction, there’s this ongoing joke about badly written self-insert stories, often surrounding young girls imagining themselves being noticed by bands like One Direction or K-Pop group BTS. The fantasy is about being a girl who’s inherently different, she’s so talented but no one sees it. She finds herself in a crowded place and starts singing under her breath–she’s not even thinking about it or trying. It’s a completely natural talent that just happened to her, she didn’t have to work for it. And despite the crowded, noise-filled location, one or more members of the boy-band-of-choice notices the girl singing under her breath. They recognize her talent, and immediately commit to helping her become famous (and also fall in love).
It’s silly, but it’s a relatable fantasy. It’s so seductive, this idea that we can have it all without trying; that our creative minds will be seen and loved and celebrated without having to play the capitalism game. You can have it all! Fame without the shame of wanting fame.
Stop feeling shame if you want to be famous. You have to throw that shit out of the window if you want it to actually happen. I’m sorry, but you’re not going to be noticed in the crowd if you aren’t trying. Your creative mind is special, but there are a lot of minds that deserve to be uplifted. If you want yours to be one of them, it’s not going to happen by chance.
“But why TikTok?! I shouldn’t be expected to do all that!”
Babes, it’s because that’s what’s working right now. Do you think TikTok is the first time in history that the publishing industry has utilized marketing trends? Do you think authors didn’t do any kind of organic marketing and promotion before social media? This is just the new shiny thing, and of course the publishing industry is going to capitalize on it. Would you prefer that publishing was more behind on trends?
When was the last time you clicked on something clearly marked an ad? When was the last time you trusted a brand that served you an ad on Instagram? When you Google something, do you click on the sponsored links or do you scroll down? When you search on Amazon, do you click on their sponsored suggestions? When you see that a TikTok or IG is a paid influencer collaboration, do you stick around and engage with it?
If you don’t, why do you expect other people to?
People are burnt out on ads. They want authenticity, especially audiences shopping for books. They want honest, enthusiastic reviews and recommendations. They want to see the face of the person who created the art they consume. They want to know that it’s not all just bullshit to convince them to buy something they don’t want.
With that perspective, is it really surprising that an author talking about their book with sincere love is going to be the thing that sells it best?
Shameless Plug
If you know me at all in real life, you know that I’ve re-entered my love of pirates with a furious passion since the release of Our Flag Means Death. All I want is pirate content. I’m 13-years-old again and seeing Pirates of the Caribbean in theaters for the 7th time.
So obviously I’m pumped about our pen pal Marshall J. Moore’s series, Son of a Sailor. The first book is out now, and the sequel, Prisoners of a Pirate Queen comes out on 12/19! The first book isn’t required for the sequel, though it will certainly enhance the experience. Here’s a peek at what’s to come in Prisoners of a Pirate Queen:
Join Captain Redbeard and his crew on a daring new adventure across the Sea of Tears in this sequel to Son of a Sailor.
Quint Thatch, known across the Archipelago as the notorious Captain Redbeard, has just pulled off the most daring raid of his career. Fleeing a pursuing Naval fleet led by his former lover, Commander Vanessa Delacort, Quint charts a course to reunite with the other half of his crew...
...only to run right into the clutches of the dreaded Pirate Queen, Captain Margherita, who seeks nothing more than to tear down the Empire in a blaze of revolutionary glory. And after capturing Quint, Vanessa, and the others, she intends to use her new prisoners as pawns in her war against the Imperial Navy.
But when a devastating storm leaves them shipwrecked on an uncharted island, Quint, Margherita, and Vanessa are forced to reconcile their opposing ideologies. Will they be able to overcome their differences and find a way back home?
Prisoners of a Pirate Queen combines the island adventure of Swiss Family Robinson, the found family of Our Flag Means Death, and the cozy heart of Legends & Lattes.
You can preorder your copy here!
And catch up with Marshall on TikTok (signed copies coming soon on his TikTok shop), Instagram, Facebook, and his website.
(Look at all those social links, extra points to Marshall! If you want extra points, sign up to be a Shameless Plug).
Is anyone else having an existential crisis that we’re already about to enter 2024? With that, Emily and I are going to take the rest of the year to recharge, and this is going to be our last big letter of the year. I hope it’s a good motivator to sit down and outline your goals for 2024. No matter those goals, Em and I are here for you.
We’d also love to send out one last mini newsletter celebrating your 2023 successes! Whether it was participating in NaNoWriMo (to whatever extent that was), publishing a book, or even just starting a social media account, we’d love to hear from you. You can attach your name or keep it anonymous–no matter what, we want to celebrate your accomplishments!
We adore you all. Thank you for following us for the birth of this newsletter. We’ll see you in the new year!
Best,
Pip (he/they)
Professional Goal Supporter
P.S.
I’ll send the first 5 people who email me at pipdavidsonmarketing@gmail.com a copy of You’re Doing Great, a beautiful little calming and motivating book from an author at my day job. Hit me up!