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Are You Stuck in the Writing Echo Chamber?

Margery Bayne

5 min read5 days ago

I am, and I’m trying to get out

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All of us aspiring authors are out here consuming the same advice:

Build a social media following
Build a blog following
Build newsletter subscribers

The why? Because we need to build an audience to either (a) prove to potential literary agents or publishers we have interested readers or (b) market to those readers ourselves if we independently publish, or (c ) a combo of both.

What is the aspiring author who dreams of publication, sales, awards, admiration, or even just a handle of positive reviews on Goodreads to do but follow that advice.

So what do we all do? We write about writing. We write about editing. We write about trying to get those literary magazine editors or literary agents to like us. We talk about the stark business of writing and the emotional turmoil of writing. And we repeat the advice we were told about social media, blogs, and newsletters

Who ends up reading, clapping, following, and subscribing? Our future readers of our sci-fi epics or werewolf romances or short story collections?

No.

Yes, this is a hard thing.

...having a niche or a passion, but trying to avoid talking about it all day because the potential audience is small—

...also writing about other things too, attracting a broad audience—

...then, when the niche/passion book…

I sympathize. With a hunger for writing, I only have time to read what will improve me as a writer. I hope there is an audience for my writing, but I do not need one. I do need playfulness and self-permission. I have both at the moment, but I’ve become more of a self-editor than a writer in fiction.

Are You Stuck in the Writing Echo Chamber?

Written by Margery Bayne⁠

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