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| Photo courtesy of Renjith Krishnan/FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
One aspect of the journey of
following authors and participating on forums such as this one is how many
authors are now sharing their process with their readers. I hadn’t really
thought much about it until recently when I heard it stated as an important
element in creating authenticity or trust with one’s reading community.
We’ll all be familiar with
Narelle’s recent three-part series on the Splash Box set and Rita’s post
last week where she introduced us to her English governess alter ego.
One of the interesting
aspects of the world of the Indie author is the number of them who share a lot
of their process. I introduced you to Heather Day Gilbert last time who has been very good in doing such in a series of posts which she then
accumulated into an ebook. Certainly
much of this information maybe more relevant to an author than perhaps a reader
but how many of us have been asked by an author to vote on a cover or a book’s
title?
Only last week I received in
an email from a non-fiction author I read which had a video of how she went
about updating her debut book titled “The Life of an Author.”
Social media and the
affordability of technology (e.g., video/podcasting) really have enabled such
sharing and participation. It quite changes the dynamic for the modern author.
Think Process not end Product
We authors spend the majority
of our time in the process of creating whether it’s writing and editing to then
the entire marketing lifecycle.
It’s what we do.
Readers who are not authors
obviously appreciate it as well because so many authors are doing it in some
way. It provides an opportunity to connect with their favourite authors.
So much so there’s a view
that treating your process as the primary engagement vehicle for your
readership is the way forward. It builds trust, enables authors to experiment
and provides a mechanism for regularly communicating.
Frequency is the new ubiquity
(Kevin Kaiser)
For our readers-only members
I’d love to hear any thoughts you may have on author’s sharing their process.
What interests you, what doesn’t?
Ian Acheson is an author
and strategy consultant based in Northern Sydney. Ian's first novel of
speculative fiction, Angelguard, is now available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. You can
find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter
