I’m going to take a little time to discourage you all today, so if you’d like to remain encouraged I suggest you not follow the break.

So for the past several months, I have been attending every publishing seminar I can find to try and figure out what I’m doing wrong, and I’ve finally reached it. I have distilled down everything you need to do in order to be a successful writer, and it comes down to one single, simple bullet point:

Be a social butterfly.

If you aren’t, too bad. That’s what the world requires of you today. Writers are not writers anymore, they are social media experts. Do you know how many articles on blogging say the best way to have a successful blog is to read and comment on other peoples blogs? Not write compelling content, just socialize and network.

Publishers today expect you to already have a following before they pick up your book. How are you supposed to get one? I dunno. I’ve been writing this thing for almost a year and I have zero followers. But then again, I sort of hate the blogger community and refuse to read anyone else’s blog because I don’t care what they have to say.

Being a writer today is about being a social butterfly first, a publicist second, a book promoter third, a marketing expert fourth, and a good writer last. In fact, good writing doesn’t even come up in these “how to get published” workshops. Its all those other four things.

Hollywood likes to promote the lie of the shy recluse, the mysterious eccentric who hides in their secluded mansion and writes these incredible books on a typewriter. This person is so good at their trade that they never have to appear in public, and their publisher is more than happy to put up with all of this because the writer is so good.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, that writer does not exist. It is a complete fabrication. Now adays, if you aren’t a flagrant self promoter, you aren’t a writer.

And yes, I am aware of the hypocrisy here. Shut up.