Why Do I Keep Writing?

Hint: Just so I can piss off my old English teachers.

How many times have you heard these phrases in your life? You can't, you won't, you shouldn't, no one will...

Did I have all those doubts about writing and publishing a book for the first time? HELL YES! I had all those specific thoughts and plenty more negative things running through my head at the time. In fact, I almost gave up and quit part way through the book.

​​So if you remember back to last week's post, I was talking about how my first book lit a fire inside me and then my second book failed miserably. What did I learn about writing that made me keep writing and producing content after such a major set back?

The short answer is marketing.

You see, my second book was a book about finance. But who in the world is going to buy a book about money and finance when no one knows who the author is? The answer to that is no one, or at least, next to no one (thanks mom!).

See, not only do you have to write something that most people can relate to, but you also have to be someone that people look to for expertise in that field. Who in the hell was Donnie Masters to give financial advice? No one, that's who.

So I learned a lot about marketing after that. I learned that my little book on mattresses dominated the rankings because there wasn't that many people interested in reading about mattresses. When they looked into the subject, my book was the most reviewed and valued opinion on the subject.

But of those that did read the book, Mattress Buying 101, I was the first major contributor to a different type of book about bedding. I set the bar, so to speak. Maybe I was catering to a small, niche audience, but I was doing a good job for them. To this day, that book is still highly reviewed amongst the mattress community. And although it doesn't sell a lot of copies each month, I am still the biggest name in my respective category. All of this almost 3 years from the date it was first available for purchase.

Next time, I will answer some questions about how I came to fiction as my next opportunity.​