Maureen, Simbelmynë–Thank you.

Terrill–Yes. I think we’re seeing a transition in thinking and many are coming to the same conclusions. I’m still trying to find the right pattern for contacting readers. Twitter is great for me, but the turnover there is also big. To keep in long-term contact, I’m thinking it helps to turn that twitter connection into email. People tend to stay with the same email address.

Ezzy–I try to be compassionate about people who turn negative. Happy people don’t tend to spend their time tearing others down and there’s a lot of pain in the publishing industry right now. The more negative people are, the more I assume they’re hurting. It’s sad. That said, when I’m looking for professionals to represent my work, excessive negativity is a red flag. Something is wrong in that person’s life–quite possibly their professional life. I don’t want that bad energy attached to my work.

Jina–Yes! It’s all about the readers.

J.L.–Yes, it is the something extra. It’s a great opportunity! Why not embrace it?

LK–I love that you give away copies of your books. Short stories don’t come naturally to me either, but neither do queries or synopses. At least when I finish I short story, I’ve added to the body of my work–and that feels great!

Angela–Hooray! Yes, that’s what happened for me when I started putting readers at the forefront of my mind: it all crystalized.

Jess–Yes. I think the beauty of this is that authors can find their own path. All the details can be altered to fit the individual writer.

Take care,
Jess

I’d kind of been thinking similar thoughts, but they were half formed and nebulous. Everything crystallized when I read this article. Thank you SO much. Time to start hanging out with my readers.

With so many people writing novels and trying to get published, I think you need that little something extra (an egar and captive audience?) to give you that advantage. It is fair? Probably not, but I feel it shows some degree of dedication if you’re willing to give something away.

“You know what they say about watching how your date treats the waiter? Yeah. No matter how an agent treats clients, I don’t want to work with someone who treats people badly. I don’t care if you let me into the cool club if you’re mean to others. Period.”

I’ve seen a lot of what you mention above on Twitter in the form of rants about people who query, and it’s such a turn-off. I think I’m only now following two who treat people with respect on-line. Fact of the matter, if they’re jerks on-line, they’re probably jerks off-line. No thanks.

Great post.

Tony–Yes! Those of you involved with #fridayflash were way ahead of the curve. It’s so great to hear reports from those of you who have been doing this longer. The fact that you continue to be enthusiastic speaks volumes.

Misty–Yay! :)

Sessha–I will write more about this next week. I’ve been thinking along the same lines. I come from the teaching profession where good teachers always feel the needs of their students. No matter how much we do, there is always more that can be done. We establish priorities and set boundaries. We do our best. We have to trust it’s enough. I’m finding the same is true with writing. If I protect my writing time, I have more energy to give to readers and writers, but I can’t do it all.

Sara–Yes. Changing the paradigm changes how we spend our time.

Aimee–I can feel your excitement! What do writers want? Readers. It’s what we all want.

I have been saying this EXACT thing this week, to my writing partner, to my husband. This is SO true and SO valuable and is exactly the path I quite literally chose YESTERDAY (October 8th) in a fit of hysterics after my 4th novel started off with a prompt series of rejections and I said to myself … “What do I really want with my work? To let them sit on my computer or to get them read?”

To get them read of course! That’s ALL I want … even if it means just one person somewhere whether they are published by a big agency or not, though for each new story, I will TRY and move on if it doesn’t work.

So, BRAVO for self-realization and taking steps that make you happy! ::claps::