PRESS update - the third most important thing

...but it's super super super important

Okay, okay, let’s get those first two most important things about being a wisely published author out of the way:

1. Finish and share your writing. Yes, that sounds like two things, but it’s actually not. Most writers never feel “done” with anything, even after it wins awards and earns enough to pay off your car. But every writer (at least those who want a writing career) must get their work to the point that it can be shared with others— first with alpha readers / critique partners / a professional editor, then publicly with the world. Finishing a story and sharing that story are two sides of the same coin. This coin is the ante. Without it, you aren’t even in the game.

2. An author website. Some way to make it easy for people to find you and the things you’ve written, and contact you about those things: sure, you might rely on your Facebook profile (beware!) or your Substack (better), but you really want to own a “home base” where no matter what, people can find you and your work there. Sure, it will point to your Facebook, Substack, Patreon, AO3, or wherever you habitually engage with people online, but it needs to stand alone no matter what happens to the social media world around you.

3. An email list of people who like your writing, or who are at least curious about your writing. You absolutely must have a way of communicating with people who volunteer to learn more about your writing, people who are fans, people who just can’t wait for the next thing you publish so that they can thrust cash into your hands and brag about being your first 5-star review on Amazon. You need to know who these people are (full names) and how to contact them in the most reliably boring way (email).

If you are missing either #2 or #3, your writing career is built on the shifting sand of others’ commercial ventures. If you’re missing #1 you don’t have a writing career yet at all.

We at PRESS and Wordsmith Writing Coaches can help you with all these things.

One way that we help you is by letting you know about great opportunities to learn about these things even if they have nothing to do with us!

Which is why I am thrilled to point you towards Russell Nohelty’s latest free thing, a “behind-the-scenes tour" of how Russell handles his own email with his own huge fanbase, and his even larger cloud of “curious-folks-who-might-become-fans.” It is coming up this Wednesday, just two days from this very moment!