Why Should I Care About You?

Let's keep it sofa reel and give you the ass-kicking you need.

Yes, I know it’s not “sofa reel,” I just think it’s funny. Those pillows don’t look all that comfy though. Anyway, I have some quick thoughts for you today. Sofa Reels aside, here we go!

Nobody cares about you.

It’s the sad fact of being an author is that nobody needs to, wants to, or has the motivation to care about you. They don’t have to care about your words, they don’t have to care about your world, your characters, how much time you spent writing, editing, what you gave up or sacrificed, etc. etc.

None of it matters.

Oh, you wrote a high fantasy epic? Yay, you. There’s like a billion of them out there. Romantasy? Don’t even get me started. Sci-fi? Throw it on the pile with the rest of them.

Why should people care about anything you do?

“Look at how awesome my cover is!”

So? There’s thousands of awesome covers, and thousands of different tastes. Yours is more awesome than others? Okay, cool. Maybe you get a few sales off it. Still, nobody needs to care, and if you’re sitting here selling your book on how awesome the cover is, you’re going about this the wrong way, author. That’s like selling an airplane on the color of the paint.

Is it air worthy?

There are more important considerations than the presentation, and your cool cover doesn’t say anything about any of those. Artists can sell artwork on the merits of the artwork. Artists don’t sell their artwork on the merits of the text they use to describe it in an email. Artwork involves an immediate reaction due to personal taste. You sample the full thing with your eyes. You decide if it’s worthy to add to a collection.

You don’t read the entire book in 5 seconds, then decide you want to purchase it.

So … why should a reader care?

“My characters have a ton of depth!”

And? So do most characters in most books out there. Nobody is going to sell their book on, “Well, my characters aren’t that deep, but it’s a great book!” So why should a reader or potential reader care at all about your characters?

“The world building is top notch! There’s an awesome magic system, and merciless villains, and …”

Oh my GOD just stop.

And here we get to the meat of the problem. If you’re out here on the socials, be it Facebook or X, Substack like this post, or YouTube, BookTok, or whatever - you have to understand that selling your book on the merits of the book will put you firmly in a crowd of fellow authors doing the same exact thing. It gets you nowhere. It’s the author version of a Microsoft Excel circular reference. “Buy my good book because my book is good and it is a book!”

Congratulations, you’ve reduced years of hard work and investment into a commodity.

At this point, you’re “just another fantasy book.” They’re all cool. Most have cool covers. They all have magic systems, deep characters, intrigue, violence, twists, turns, and so on. How do you stand out here?

So the question remains …

Why should anyone choose your book?

Which leads us to Rule #1 of being an author, and one that most struggle with - you are your brand.

People will support you because you are YOU. They don’t give a crap about the magic system, it’s intricacy, how long it took you to come up with, etc. They don’t care about your cool character names. All of this is noise. Colorful cover? Look at the above picture. Oh, your font is big and eye catching? SO IS EVERY OTHER FONT IN THAT PICTURE.

Now, if you’re sitting on a hard-earned $10 bill in your pocket, and all of these books are $9.99, but one of these books is from an author you know, have interacted with online, and who directly answered a question you had … which of these books is going to get the sale?

Damn right. The personal connection makes the difference. Not the magic system. Not the flavor of sci-fi. Not the world building. Yes, all of this stuff matters, but the one thing that your book has that no other book on the planet has …

… well, that’s you. That doesn’t mean you have to personally get to know each reader, and that’s the magic of socials on the internet. Upload one video, develop the same connection with potentially hundreds of people with an hour worth of work. That’s pretty awesome when you think about it.

Standing apart in a crowd.

This advice applies to so many things, but I’m focused on the book-ish aspect of it all. If potential readers get to know you, those potential readers are far more likely to support you, and your book. There’s a connection there. They got to know something about you as a human. You’re more than just a faceless author at this point.

Smart authors understand this, which is why they do everything they can to get on podcasts, interviews, and get themselves out there. Selling your book on the merits of your book is selling a commodity on the merits of it being a commodity.

“I don’t like the way I look on camera!”

Literally nobody cares except you.

“I don’t like the way my voice sounds!”

That’s because you’re used to the voice in your head feeding you bullshit.

“I don’t have a camera or a microphone!”

You have a phone. You are carrying a portable movie studio and marketing machine in your pocket. Daily.

“I don’t know how to do any of that stuff!”

Do you know how to type, “www.youtube.com” and search for something? Congratulations, you have the entirety of step-by-step instructions at your fingertips for free related to virtually any topic, ever.

“I don’t have the time!”

So every minute of your day is spent on something more important than getting your book into someone’s hands? That’s a very telling admission of your priorities, author.

“I’m not interesting!”

Wrong. Everyone is interesting, what you lack is self-confidence. It’s a different problem, and not at all related to anything we’re talking about here. How do you call yourself a storyteller and in the same string of thoughts say you are not interesting? Because if you’re not interesting, I guarantee you, you’re a shit storyteller. You are interesting, you just don’t know how to communicate, and you’re beating yourself up for fun and sport. Knock it off.

Listen …

If I have two piles of wood, and I need wood, and there’s no distinct difference - they’re both piles of wood - I’m going to get the pile of wood that is most convenient, or cheaper. Do you really want someone purchasing your book only because it is a) convenient or b) cheaper?

Why not give them a reason to purchase your book that will have you making sales and having dedicated readers for your lifetime?

You.

Be the reason someone wants to buy your book. Be of some service to the author community. Write helpful substack posts (ahem, like I’m doing right now), or create a platform that allows you to highlight fellow authors, because every time you interview an author, people are seeing you as well.

“Oh, but I’m so introverted!”

Congratulations on providing the most insufferable, tone-deaf and stupid answer you could possibly conjure up. Introversion means you need some peace to recover your energy, it doesn’t mean you’re some feral author shaking in fear at the prospect of talking to another person. You aren’t an introvert, you’re a scaredy-cat, and for no logical reason other than your own mind bullying you.

Be normal. Talk to people. Realize that nobody cares. Stop making excuses.

Food for thought, nothing more.

If you’re wondering why everything is such a struggle, ask yourself why people should read your books. And if you’re giving an answer related to what’s on page 273 of your 500-page epic, ask yourself who is going to buy your book, invest all of the time to get to page 273, and be like, “Huh, that’s pretty cool,” without having any reason to pick it up among the sea of similar books in the genre in the first place?

It’s worth hammering the point home - personally, I do not buy any books written by someone I don’t personally know. I’ve either interviewed them, connected with them online, or met them at a convention. That’s it. That’s all I’d ever buy because when it comes down to where I spend my dollars, I want to support friends, not randos. Books aren’t a commodity, they’re a personal connection with someone’s history, experiences, and life.

I’m here to support good people that have been open to connecting.

And given the choice, a reader is going to support you because you’ve let them in, they know you, and they think you’re cool. If you give that reader a choice between a random book with a cool cover, and you, they are going to choose you.

Now get out there and show us who you are, because we want to support you!

‘til next time,

-David