Comments on: Do you write to write? Or write to sell? https://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/07/do-you-write-to-write-or-write-to-sell/ A Blog On Writing Sun, 02 Feb 2025 06:37:11 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Crystal Collier https://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/07/do-you-write-to-write-or-write-to-sell/#comment-90751 Wed, 05 Aug 2015 14:11:09 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=20522#comment-90751 I think the key really is just writing for your audience, which initially is you. People who love your work will gravitate to it with the right marketing, and that's all you can ask. I've read too many stories without a heart because someone had a deadline or contract. I don't like heartless stories--even when seasoned editors shape them up.

]]> By: 50at70 https://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/07/do-you-write-to-write-or-write-to-sell/#comment-87905 Sun, 05 Jul 2015 02:57:11 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=20522#comment-87905 Hi Orly
Maybe when I sell a book my priorities will change but right now I only think about what my characters tell me to write down. I'm a pantser. In the last month I read something that address all this sell, appeal to agent/editor etc. and I hadn't a clue what any of that meant and don't know if I'm going traditional, indie(don't even know what this is), or self-publish so how do I know what I need to know to adjust my stories to fit? As far as a trend, I only read what I like so how do I know what is selling now and what will be selling in a year or two when mine will be ready to go on the shelf? Got to go firecrackers are going off and i'm typing with one hand and holding my 6 yo puppy with the other, not easy.

]]> By: Orly Konig-Lopez https://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/07/do-you-write-to-write-or-write-to-sell/#comment-87869 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 15:19:34 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=20522#comment-87869 In reply to Fae Rowen.

Okay, you know I have to ask ... three queries per book? Fae, honey, we need to talk! 🙂

]]> By: Orly Konig-Lopez https://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/07/do-you-write-to-write-or-write-to-sell/#comment-87866 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 15:18:42 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=20522#comment-87866 In reply to Kate Moretti.

Reviewing your own pages with the eyes of a reader. YES! After an edit or three, I save my ms as a pdf and read it in iBook on the iPad (I'm probably the last holdout without an actual ereader). But I force myself to read it straight through with just a notepad handy for those "what were you thinking here" moments.

Thanks for stopping by on a Saturday morning, Kate!! 🙂

]]> By: Kate Moretti https://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/07/do-you-write-to-write-or-write-to-sell/#comment-87857 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 14:08:47 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=20522#comment-87857 Great post! Hit home ;). For me, the answer is complicated. I can't "write to sell" exclusively. Meaning, if I wanted to do that I'd write erotica or something. But that doesn't come naturally to me. HOWEVER, I absolutely consider the market and my place in it when developing a new story idea. And I can't remove that from my brain when I read either. I ask those questions: what is the draw, what was the selling concept? But I'm trying to switch careers in my mid-thirties with two little kids and a mortgage.
That being said, I work hard to not question every sentence I write. But I do try to review my pages like a reader would: does the chapter end on a hook? Is there enough micro-tension? How can I build in more nuance?
I have thrown out story ideas that are too similar to ones I've read, or heard about. And I do worry about getting all the way to the end of novel, handing it over and having someone say, "Ummmm this is exactly like that famous book from three years ago...."

]]> By: Stephen P. Bianchini https://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/07/do-you-write-to-write-or-write-to-sell/#comment-87854 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 13:28:09 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=20522#comment-87854 In reply to Orly Konig-Lopez.

Thanks, and looking forward to hearing more from your writing. 🙂

]]> By: Fae Rowen https://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/07/do-you-write-to-write-or-write-to-sell/#comment-87836 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 06:13:55 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=20522#comment-87836 When I wrote my first book, I never dreamed of selling it. Then my husband talked to a mystery-writer friend of his and learned about royalties. He's so supportive he went out and did a sea-trial on a bigger boat--after telling me I should sell that book.

I haven't been motivated to keep with trying to sell (three queries per book has been my limit), but I feel change in the air this year. Since I write science fiction, I don't write to trends. I write society "what ifs" and that doesn't change, although in the middle of a YA dystopian, The Hunger Games hit big. Then agents and editors said dystopian was finished. And Divergent hit. Who knows? After I sell, then I'll worry about the market.

]]> By: Orly Konig-Lopez https://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/07/do-you-write-to-write-or-write-to-sell/#comment-87827 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 01:27:49 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=20522#comment-87827 In reply to Debbie Herbert.

I don't think it sounds crass at all, Deb.
I so admire that you can write journal and write poems for the beauty of writing.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend. 🙂

]]> By: Debbie Herbert https://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/07/do-you-write-to-write-or-write-to-sell/#comment-87824 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 01:11:19 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=20522#comment-87824 I always think of writing for publication. It may sound crass, but I don't mean I do it for the money only (although money is very fine indeed - I want more!) rather, I want others to read my stories. That is what my thrill is - when others read the outpouring of my thoughts. The only time I don't write for publication is when I scribble in my private journals or poems.

Thanks for a great post, Orly!

]]> By: Orly Konig-Lopez https://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/07/do-you-write-to-write-or-write-to-sell/#comment-87821 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 00:55:32 +0000 https://writersinthestormblog.com/?p=20522#comment-87821 In reply to Susan J. Reinhardt.

Love hearing that someone makes the separation work, Susan! I'm glad you joined the discussion.

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