Welcome to the Helping Writers Become Authors Podcast. I'm K M. Wyland and I am here to take you

deep with story theory, writing techniques, and the incredible wisdom of story.

I believe story is the greatest power on this earth,

and that as writers, we carry the torch of wielding that power

with responsibility, passion, and skill.

There is no such thing as just a story.

Today, it is my honor and my purpose

to help you write your best story,

astound the world, and maybe change your life.

Hello and welcome.

You are listening to season 16 episode 3 five reasons marketing is hard for writers.

Say the word marketing to a group of writers and you're likely to elicit a groan. Almost anyone with dreams of seeing a book in print can relate to the deflation experienced when it becomes clear that simply writing an excellent book isn't enough to sell any notable number of copies.

Sooner or later, any writer committed to publishing and selling a book will have to accept that learning how to market the book is just as important

if not more to the book's success than the book itself. This is often a frustrating experience since in general marketing tends to be hard for writers.

Why is this?

After posting last month about my own approach to marketing and how it has evolved over the last 16 years,

I started thinking about why it is that marketing is almost universally deplored by writers.

Although some writers are of course exceptions, most writers hate the idea of marketing.

Here you are, you've just done this incredibly monumental thing of learning all the complex and high-level skills involved in writing a book,

only to be told you're basically back to ground zero.

Now you have to start all over and learn the equally complex and high level skills of marketing a book.

And the difference is that most of us learned the art of fiction because we loved the process.

...