Sell books? That’s far from the mind of many authors.

A panel of writers at a meeting I attended last night candidly shared their experiences in terms of making money with books.  Most of the authors have put in years and have spent, not including their time, more than they have earned. And all but one had no expectation of earning money–let alone making a living–from selling books. Several spoke passionately of the joy of writing, of making an impact, of  touching readers. And there was little disagreement from the audience, most of which consisted of experienced writers. The group is a local club of a statewide organization, and my guess is that the panel, and the audience’s responses, reflect a widely held point of view.

But not mine.

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I love to write.  (Although I strongly empathize with the late William F. Buckley, who, when someone said admiringly to him, “You must love to write!” responded, “Oh, no. I love to have written.”)  I do agree it is almost impossible to make money from writing books. To make money you must sell books.

I think the problem for many writers is simply that they do not see themselves as entrepreneurs. They do not view their book-writing endeavors as one aspect or phase of a business. They write because they want to, because they have to, because it allows them freedom of expression. They hope to finish their books, and they hope people will buy them and read them–and be moved by them, one way or another.  They don’t want to sell books. These hopes represent their wishes–and “if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” There are numerous authors making a good living (because they learned to sell books), and only a few are celebrities. These are people who are conscious that they are in business. To be in business, you must:

• Find out what people want
• Sell it to them
• Do it again