Yet Another Key to Success–Being a Giver

There’s a lot of advice out there on how to make splash as an indie writer, most of it just a re-hash of the same ideas and strategies: write a great book, invest in a cover artist and editor, build your platform, manipulate SEO, manipulate Amazon’s search fields, etc. I’ve written before on some of the less quantifiable things like random chance and word of mouth, things that help tremendously but which you can’t do much to initiate. Here’s something different, though; it’s not something you can just punch up on a website, but it is a path to success that you can have a hand in creating.

So what’s this secret to success? Easy. Be a giver.

I’m not talking about giving away copies of your books–although that can help, too. No. I mean that you should try to be giving of yourself. Try forming connections with other writers. Comment on their posts. Share their announcements on social media. Invite others to do guest posts on your blog or offer to do some mutual guest posting to help your different audiences grow their awareness of new writers. Offer advice when writers post questions in your writers’ communities or on message boards (and if you’re not engaging in that kind of social media, you need to start). And remember this is actual giving I’m talking about–where you’re not expecting something in return. Just because you post a few comments on someone’s page, don’t expect that writer’s fans to seek you out and shoot your book up the bestseller lists. Instead, just put yourself out there. Build some online friendships. Make yourself known within some communities. When others in that community hear of an opportunity that’s right for you, they’ll think of you and help things along.

This has essentially been my experience with writers’ groups among Google+ communities, the most productive being the Writers’ Discussion Group, a community with more than 28,000 members (not all terribly active, of course, but still…that’s a lot of potential eyes on one’s posts). After discovering this community, I jumped in with both feet, asking for help when I needed it and offering advice where I could. Being part of this community (and I really mean being part of it, not just lurking) helped me find inspiration, marketing ideas, and a sense of perspective when I was feeling down about sales; I’d like to think my posts were of help to others, too. Soon after joining the group, I noticed that several names kept popping up in posts and comments, and one particular member I noticed was a Canadian writer named Jefferson Smith, who often had interesting advice for other writers. He must have noticed me, too, as one day I received an email from him, letting me know he had picked up a copy of Take Back Tomorrow and had some feedback for me if I was interested. Of course, I was, and a productive exchange of ideas followed.

Not long after, I saw that Jefferson was starting to post about something called Immerse Or Die, and curiosity pulled me to his website, where I found that he was writing frequent book reviews with an unusual twist. He wasn’t reviewing whole books. He was testing books to see how long it took for their authors’ mistakes (editing errors, continuity errors, implausible characterization, etc.) to cause him to lose immersion in the story. His method is to get on his treadmill and read for 40 minutes; if a book makes it the whole time, he calls it a “Survivor,” and if mistakes cause him to lose immersion, he notes the problems as “WTFs.” I found it fascinating and submitted Strictly Analog for review. About a month later, I was pleased to find that my book had gone the whole forty minutes, one of very few to make it.

My point here is that I wouldn’t have known about this opportunity if I hadn’t been involved in the G+ community, and I also probably wouldn’t have bothered submitting to Jefferson’s process if I hadn’t already built up a relationship with him

Of course, the story gets better; Jefferson went on to read more than just 40 minutes’ worth of those survivors, and after a year of reading and 114 candidates, he ended up with 8 books he felt were truly worth reading. He then reached out to the people at Story Bundle, who thought it would be a great idea to give their readers a chance to read the Immerse Or Die survivors at a remarkable pay-what-you-want price, and the results have been amazing. I’m pleased to be among this group of writers whose books have made the cut for the Immerse Or Die bundle. We’ll see where this goes, but being part of this group of IOD survivors is generating more sales than I’ve ever had, and it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t just started posting and commenting on others’ posts. There’s no plan here, no strategy–just being open to working with others and doing things to help one another succeed.

You could argue that all indie writers within a particular genre are each others’ competition, or you could argue that they can all form a massive support system, doing what they can to help each other along the way, to help their readers find other good books and good writers, etc. I’ve read about other indie writers who regularly recommend sale books by other authors in their newsletters and blogs. Crazy, right? Telling your readers to go buy someone else’s book? But why not? Someone might return the favor, and even if they don’t, the writer who’s giving away advice and recommendations is going to create good feelings among his or her readers, and those good feelings are likely to generate more genuine fans than being among the thousands of voices crying, “Buy My Book” in ads and on social media.

So what are some of the ways you’ve tried giving as part of your online activities?