Welcome to the Writer Groupie podcast. I’m Kim Smith the writing guru bringing you discussions, insights, and insider details on how to plan, produce, promote and profit as a writer.

itsmeritesh / Foter / CC BY-SA

You can find out more info about Writer Groupie at https://www.kimsmithauthor.com

Welcome to the Writer Groupie Podcast.

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If you would like more information about the show go to https://www.kimsmithauthor.com

Show NOTES:

Be who you are O writer, O writer!
I hear from authors trying to break into the writing industry, and that’s in all forms, traditional, indie, and self publishing. And there is a misconception of what the 21st century author is supposed to be like. Some believe we are still stuck in that staid mode of all-official author complete with printed book and marketing plan nicely tucked in a binder.

Well I am here to say, stop it. Yes. That’s right. Stop.

There is no MODE in the current era of writers. Be who you are, not what you perceive the “industry” is looking for.

You can write cross-genre – you can break grammar rules (as long as you know what they are and what breaking them might bring).

It’s a great time to be a writer. You do not have to have an agent. Heck, you don’t have to have a publishing company standing behind you. In fact, I am no longer certain that publishers and all that goes with them are the best road for an author to take any longer.

I mean, back when I was a young dreamer/writer, the publishers dealt directly with the author. Many times the two worked closely and the publisher launched that writing career out into the universe and they both thrived. Publishers took great pride in an author’s success.

But then they grew into these large corporations and took on a corporate attitude. They were too busy building their publishing empires to work with the peabodies. So they passed the buck to literary agents who became the doorman to the inner sanctum of the publishing world.

Believe me, getting past the guards is hard, folks.

But now with the advent in the last few years of new technology that enables us to print on demand, authors can do things themselves and cut out all the middlemen.

Now we have great choices. Traditional publishing is not the only way. The world is our oyster and we are the pearl of great price.

So, be who you are, O writer. You have new freedoms to try new things. Don’t settle for bad contracts and houses that do nothing more for you than you can do yourself. Having a publisher’s name on your book spine is not that important. Most readers could care less who published your book. They just want a good read. And you can do that all by yourself in the quiet of your writing nook.

And so it goes…