Does Marketing Kill Your Desire to Write?

Originally, I started this Blog as a place to share my love my of writing and reading. As I pursued publishing avenues other writers, friends and people in the industry kept telling me what I should blog and how I should achieve optimal marketing potential. Back in 2012 (the height of my writing career) I blogged everything, not worrying about the content, in hopes of reaching marketing goals. Then in 2013 things slowed. I became depressed about not reaching as many people as I had thought I should. The same happened in 2014 to 2015. I just couldn’t understand how my blogging about my writing and sharing author interviews only counted for around 50 or hits. 

It was ease to become disillusioned, thinking all this wonderful advice I had received was pointless. No one cared what I was writing. They didn’t care about if I blogged or not. Hell, even I had begun to hate writing. Also, during this time my husband was diagnosed with combat PTSD and depression, which didn’t help. Between focusing on his health and writing I became burnt out. I didn’t love writing anymore. So, I chucked it all in. I stopped. I pulled my work from publishing companies. I didn’t want to market, blog, tweet, run a Facebook page or write. 

For two and a half years I did basically nothing in regard to writing. Other wonderful writing colleagues encouraged me not to give up. One friend offered me a spot in an anthology and suggested I give Wattpad a try. Without the pressure I found it easier to manage. If no one cared then there was no deadline, no need to market and no expectations, so I couldn’t let people down. Likewise, people couldn’t let me do because I had no expectations of them.

Fast forward to end of too mid 2018 where I joined a local book club in hopes of reigniting my passion for reading (which had also taken a drive during this time). It was at this book club that I met another young girl who introduced herself after she heard me taking about how I used to write fiction. 

She told me about a local writers group and encouraged me to join. It had been forever since I had writing partners and people to share what used to be my passion, so I figured I’d give it a shot. At first, I was scared. What if they don’t like me? What if I’m actually a terrible writer and all my earlier succuss had been a fluke? What if I still hate the idea of writing? 

The first meeting was good, everyone was welcoming and nice. Once a month, we spoke about our goals, what we were writing and other writing related stuff. After more meetings, I was back tapping away at the keyboard. I also got asked to be a part of the group anthology. Everything was looking up until the dreaded marketing came up. I froze. Anxiety went through the roof. Would this mean Facebook page? Better twitter profile? Blogging? I didn’t know if I could do it. 

That’s when I realised that marketing had been what killed my passion for writing. I didn’t understand how to do it; therefore, I didn’t want to try and fail. If I didn’t get good hits, I’d be letting everyone down and these were my friends. 

My friend, the one from the book club, who was now one of my biggest writing supporters and great ally, told me not to stress. I’d only be failing if I didn’t try at all. If one person reads my blog that is one person who I have touched, inspired, annoyed or many any other adjectives lol. 

It is hard when the idea of failing becomes crippling. We live in a society where everything is on the internet. Our lives displayed for all to see. As a writer, all you want is to know someone, anyone has enjoyed your work. That’s why as an indie writer we spend most of our time and funds on marketing. I might not be the best, but I’ve vowed to give it a good try. So, with that in mind this blog will be filled with posts like this, book reviews (because I really do love to read) and snippets of writing etc. 

I would love to know if anyone else feels or has felt this way? Did marketing and promoting your work kill the desire to write? How did you push past those feelings? 

If anyone who has stumbled upon this post, please feel free to give me some tips on how to stay motivated or what works for you. Also, if you have a suggestion of what you might like to see, let me know otherwise you’re going to be stuck with the list above lol.  Hopefully, this will be the first of many blog posts.