Build a Network with Your Blog
An author friend of mine told me the story of how he landed what turned out to be a years-long job writing commercially published action fiction. How did it he do it? It all started with starting a blog.
My friend was interested in doing reviews of survival and self-defense products, as it turns out. He started a website with lots of knife reviews, gear reviews, think-pieces on survival and martial arts… basically a very solid male-interest site. Yes, I know there are plenty of women interested in these topics too (women are prominently represented in “homesteading” online, for example), but there’s no denying that this is a men’s interest topic.
As it turns out, one of the authors with whom he networked, and whose book he reviewed for his blog, was also a fiction writer. That author had written several books for an action franchise based out of Canada. The two got to talking after my friend published his book review. This became an introduction to the editor of the action fiction series in Canada.
After getting a toe in the door, my author friend was told by the editor to write up three sample chapters and a full outline for a story. This was a simple test to see if he could write for the series in question. He did this and was granted a contract for a single book. This, too, was a test: Could he deliver a book of the required length within the required time frame (three months, if I remember correctly)?
Well, he did. This turned into an invitation to contract for three more books… and three more after that… and three more after that. All told, my friend wrote almost two dozen books in this action series, writing roughly 1.5 million words in books that, at one time, you could find in any grocery store in North America.
And it was all because he blogged about another author’s book.
“The currency of real networking is not greed but generosity.” – Keith Ferrazzi
This is the power of networking. Networking is establishing links with other people who share interests and who occupy the same spaces (or spaces peripheral to those). You simply never know who’s going to know someone else you know. These personal connections fuel opportunities. They open doors.
Look, nobody wants to admit this, but it’s a stark reality of the book publishing world: You can write the best book in the world and it’s still going to face an uphill battle getting recognized for what it is. Networking — connecting with people you know who might be able to open doors for you — is one way to make that uphill climb easier.
Take JK Rowling, for example. She famously was laboring in poverty when she wrote the first Harry Potter book. After writing it, as an unknown author, she was rejected by 12 different publishers. Now, every single one of those publishers is probably kicking itself that it missed out on that franchise. Rowling was one of the richest women in the world until she gave away so much money that she dropped in the standings through charity… and she’s still quite wealthy. That’s the power of merit and what it can eventually do for you. But merit still has to be recognized… and that’s where networking comes in.
Remember that networking is not about what other people can do for you. It’s about what you can do for them. Be generous with your time and help those with whom you connect. They’ll remember your generosity and, yes, when the time comes that they can help you, they very likely will. Building a network of like-minded people who share your interests can never hurt you. It will only help you. Don’t neglect this extremely important aspect of the writing business and process.