More reason to write, not market

I've been spending more time writing instead of marketing this week, and I feel better for doing it. It's mostly because I'm working on something I can control (when I will finish my book) instead of something that I don't know how to influence (how many books I will sell).

I also came across this blog post that reinforces the same ideas. According to the post, if you view your writing as a career than spans many years instead of as a vehicle for instant gratification, then what you should do is focus on writing. As a new writer with just a couple of published books, the best way to sell my books isn't to promote them now. If a reader happens to find one of my books, reads it, and likes it, then what? I don't have anything else for that reader. What I should be doing, especially at this early point in my career, is to focus on writing more books. Then, when a reader reads one of my books and likes it, there will be more books for them. Not only does it satisfy my customer's wants, but the additional purchases are also good for my pocketbook.

It all makes pretty good sense to me. As much as I'd like to sell more copies of George and the Galactic Games and Numbers Plus Four right now, the right thing to do is to keep working on my next novel. Speaking of that work in progress, I'll talk about how it's going in my next post. Stay tuned!