I have always wondered why do writers write?
Many writers say that they write for themselves or a specific person; an ideal reader.
Whether you are writing for someone specific or for your own soul, the moment when you’re going to share it with the world will inevitably come and that’s the moment when you’re going to start to worry – What if no one is reading my stuff?
It’s nothing strange if no one is reading your writing especially now when there are more writers than ever. Just look at all these books on Amazon and you will find more books without a single review, including mine, than these with a decent amount of readers.
The market is oversaturated with books and a reader with a limited amount of time and money in her hands needs to choose from the unlimited and ever-growing number of books on shelves. The question is – Why would she read yours?
Your book needs to stand out. It needs to touch the reader on a level so deep that she would talk to her friend about that book until the friend reads it too. The word of mouth has never been a more efficient tool than in the world where commercials are hitting our faces from every screen and each of us owns at least two of these magical devices. If your book is good, it’s going to be read, if it’s not, you need to write the one that’s good. In my opinion it’s simple as that.
But, what if no one reads your book? Would you still write it? Would you still put the time and effort to write a book that no one is going to read?
Writing a novel is hard and no one likes spending their time on something that is going to be buried at a digital graveyard of Amazon’s dead books but if you want to survive in this cruel world, I think you need to get ready for something like that unless you want to get devastated.
I believe that you should prepare yourself that no one is going to read it. Whether it’s your book or your blog post or whatever you’re writing. This way you will avoid all the pain that comes from the disappointing sound of crickets which are going to hear when you open your Amazon report. When you don’t expect anything and you won’t get hurt if it really happens.
Instead, you should enjoy the ride, enjoy the process and write about the things which you care about because if no one is going to read your book, why would you bother doing something that you don’t like.
It’s not easy to write for no one that’s why I sometimes I imagine that my daughter is going to read this blog one day if she ever decides to become a writer. She will have this blog in legacy to lead her and to show her what to do and what not to do. This single notion keeps me going and motivates me to write when I know that no one is reading my blog. Perhaps you should think about doing something like that too. Find that single person who you want to lead through life and share your experience with.