In the past, being a professional writer was awesome. No, it doesn't mean that today's professional author is not awesome, but things were certainly different. You wrote the book and the publisher did everything else. Marketing, publicity, setting up book signing, material to go out to conference... it was all taken care of.
But. as I said, things are definitely different today. We now have different modes of getting those stories to the readers. We have a much larger global market that includes translations, international sales, connecting with reviewers around the world. And yes, we certainly have a lot more writers out there. With the opening of self-publishing, there are a lot more authors competing for the same number of readers out there. In this case, it is a simple case of supply and demand.
As an author in today's world, you cannot just sit back and be idle. You have to be relentless to stay in the mind of all those who will make and break your career. There are simply too many authors out there and people will not just come to you. And yet, there are a lot of authors out there who believe just that (and then complain when they didn't get what they wanted.
We're not just talking about things you can do to get readers,but this also goes for those published authors who want a little more from your publishers. It takes time and effort to demonstrate to your editor and publisher that you deserve a higher advance, or that you want to be in that next anthology. It takes a lot more than just "doing your time."
As you think about your career, think of how much you might be doing to advance that career. You may need to take this weekend to really do some serious career planning.
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