Writers in the Storm

by Johnny B. Truant

Ever since I started talking about the Artisan Author approach to writing (less stress, more loyal fans, and more creativity and freedom than Rapid Release), two things have happened.

First, a lot of writers began to thank me. There’s nothing revolutionary about the Artisan way (it’s more about unlearning than learning), but it’s liberating just the same. Rapid Release is often presented as the default. Just hearing that there’s an alternative — one that sounds less like burnout and more like what we thought “being a writer” was supposed to be — is a weight off many literary shoulders.

The second thing is that people began asking me how exactly to do it. Once they’re on board with the idea of slowing down, creating better fan connections, and prioritizing quality over quantity, they want to know how to begin and which actions to take.

Okay, Johnny, they’ll say. I like the idea of being an Artisan Author. I want to be able write the books I want instead of the ones the algorithms want, court good fans who are willing to pay fair prices, and enjoy writing again instead of stressing about it all the time. But how? How can I begin?

The answers to “how” and “what works for you” are different for everyone, but I like to give real answers whenever I can. So I’ve plucked one of many Artisan Author ideas from the grab bag to unpack … one that, if you try it, might open up a whole world of possibility.

But before we get to actions, let’s first ask a question to set the stage:

Who Has the Power Over Your Author Career?

Your first instinct will be to say that you do. It’s clearly the “right” answer. It’s wrong, though. In practice, very few modern indie authors truly control their careers.

So who does? Why Amazon, of course. If you’re all-in with Kindle Unlimited, then have no illusions: Amazon controls your present and your future.

Don’t believe me? Okay, then take all of your books off of Amazon and see what happens. Or, imagine Amazon changes its bookselling algorithm, decreases royalties and page-read payments, or starts randomly banning author accounts. (Again, I mean, seeing as it’s happened several times before.)

Oh, but you’re wide, you say? Cool. Then you’re right; Amazon doesn’t control your entire career. They only control 70% or so of your career. Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, Google Play, and others control the rest. So does Instagram. And TikTok. And Facebook. Unless you control any of those platforms (hint: you don’t), then virtually nothing is under your control.

At any point, someone in any of those companies could change the rules and ruin you. It’s happened before. It will happen again.

Now, I’m not trying to scare anyone. I’m definitely not trying to judge anyone. Most writers work the way I just described, and for now, things may be fine. If you’re wide, you’re at least diversified. Many big corporations would have to change at once to completely ruin you, even though the wrong singleton changing its policies could hurt you plenty.

I just want to make it clear: That’s who has the power. Not you. Them.

So let’s try this again: Who do you want to have the power?

Why you, of course.

Take the Power Back

It’s not just the title of a great Rage Against the Machine song. It’s also good common sense. Me and Zack de la Rocha, on the same page like always.

What do you do right now when you want to make sales? You probably run an ad, do some social media, launch a new book … you get the idea.

But then what?

You wait, right? You wait and hope. After you’ve cast the die, it’s out of your hands. All you can do is to hope that whatever you just tried to promote your book actually hooks some readers.

But what if the die wasn’t out of your hands? What if — just as an experiment — you were able to be more active in your bookselling? What if you didn’t have to “wait and hope”? What if instead, you had a measure of control?

What if you — not Amazon, not X, not Instagram — had some of the power?

Your Experimental Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It …

Okay. This is where we circle back to the “what’s one way to sell books as an Artisan Author?” question.

What I’m about to suggest is an experiment, not a replacement for anything you’re doing right now. Just because Amazon and others currently control your author career doesn’t mean you should jump ship and leave them for whatever I’m about to say instead. Don’t do that. It’s just something to try. It’s a small way to open a door of new possibility — a world where instead of controlling none of your career’s actual sales results, you instead control 1% or more.

Just to prove to yourself that it’s possible. Just to change your mind, if only a little.

Now, what I’m about to suggest will scare you. It will make you uncomfortable. You don’t have to do it — and no, it’s absolutely NOT the only way to sell books as an Artisan Author. But you, collectively, asked for examples of what an Artisan Author might do to sell books outside of the usual online world. This is my answer.

Ready? Take a deep breath. Your introvert’s heart is going to hate me in just a second.

Try selling your books in person.

Just once. Just for kicks. Just for a few hours on one day, starting very small.

If you’re lucky, this tiny little experiment might just change your entire mindset — and with it, restore the control you never realized before was missing. 

Sell One Book to One Person, and Watch Your World Change

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to have a few copies of your book(s) printed as paperbacks, then book yourself a table at an event of some sort: a farmer’s market, a local craft fair, an arts bazaar being held at the church down the street. Pick something small. Something cheap or even free to attend.

Yes, I know it’s terrifying. Try it anyway. Having control means taking control, and nobody ever took control by by being passive.

That’s your mission. Now, here’s your goal: Sell one book to one person.

That’s it. Don’t aspire higher than that if this intimidates you. Instead, seek only to find one person who might like your book enough to buy it. If you sell more, great … but one sale is enough if you’ve never done this before.

Do you remember your first online sale? If you’re like most authors, it was thrilling. You might only have priced that book at 99 cents, but that first 32-cent commission felt amazing. A stranger bought your book! This author thing suddenly seemed possible in a way it never had before.

Your first in-person sale will feel so much more amazing.

Maybe you’ll only net five bucks from that one paperback sale (or more accurately, you might lose a bit because you’ll have to pay for the spot at the event), but who cares? This first trial is about possibility, not profit.

The point is: You made that sale happen. You left your comfort zone, went where people were, and learned that you could reach readers without touching Amazon at all.

Now, there are some caveats. First, you need to pick an event that has at least some traffic. No traffic equals no potential buyers.

Second, you can’t just sit quietly behind your table and hope. That’s passive, someone-else-has-the-power thinking, akin to listing a book online and waiting. Instead, stand up behind your table. Smile at people as they walk by. If their eyes find you, say hello. If they pause and look at what you have, engage them in conversation. I always start by asking if they’re a reader, then what kinds of books they like.

If the event has at least some traffic and if you can bring yourself to be friendly and engaging and talk about your book with enthusiasm, chances are excellent you’ll make at least one sale. You can accept cash, Venmo, or a full Shopify POS setup from your first in-person customer like I use at my live-selling. You don’t need anything complex at all.

Don’t believe you’ll make a sale?

Try it and see. If you give this experiment a real go, I’ll bet you’ll be surprised. Authors are inherently interesting to other people. Just the fact that you wrote a book and came out to sell it will amaze them. If you can be passionate about your book when you talk about it, they’ll catch that passion.

Oh, and be sure to let potential readers know you’re local. People love supporting local artists. Many are willing to give authors a go just to be cool — just to give big business the finger.

Now, will one sale change your life?

Not in a financial sense, no.

But in a mental sense? Maybe. It sure did for me.

Maybe you’ll start to realize that there’s an entire world of readers out there that we’ve been ignoring all these years. Maybe you’ll become intoxicated by the possibilities that exist outside of the usual box of self publishing and Rapid Release. And even if live selling isn’t your jam (it’s absolutely not for everyone), maybe you’ll start to realize that other things — other Artisan Author ways of meeting readers and selling books that nobody talks about — might be your jam.

And maybe, through one small and uncomfortable experiment, you’ll start to realize that instead of giving others power over your career, you’d like to have — and absolutely can have — a bit more of it for yourself.

QUESTION: Would you ever try selling your books in person? Have you tried in the past, and how did it go? Let us know in the comments!

About Johnny

Johnny B. Truant wrote the bestselling indie guide Write. Publish. Repeat and hosted the original Self Publishing Podcast. His new book The Artisan Author is about a ditching the faster-faster “Rapid Release” approach to publishing in favor of a saner, more sustainable, and more creatively fulfilling way. You can get The Artisan Author early on Kickstarter, or here on the usual stores.

Featured image licensed from Depositphotos.

by Jenny Hansen

My husband and his knee inspired this post when what we thought would be a knee replacement turned out to be eight weeks of physical therapy (PT) to get him back in balance. My bloggy-self always perks up at the mention of words like "balance" and "maximum potential," so I peppered the Hubs with some questions.

It turns out that walking great and writing well have several things in common.

Their Goal For Him

They wanted to strengthen the weaker muscles in his leg to balance with the stronger muscles and keep his kneecap aligned. His pain was from his kneecap (patella) literally being pulled toward one side of his knee.

That's not the intriguing part. The cool part was that what they did to achieve this balance sounds a heck of a lot like what we do as writers.

3 Components That Keep Your Body in Balance

These are your big three things that keep your body in balance. (Plus, it explained to me why, when I had vertigo, they used my eyes to retrain my ear.)

• Your inner ear
• Your vision
• Your musculoskeletal control

Their example:

When you hold your arm out in front of you, there's more happening than you just looking at your arm. You remain upright through the balance of your inner ear (which is the only aspect of this that is really out of your control). You sense your arm through nerve impulses transmitted from the core strength of your muscles which attach to your bones. The three together allow you to keep that arm held out straight and still for much longer than you might think you could.

Try it. . .the act of staring at your hand makes a huge difference in the amount of effort you need to expend for this exercise. If you don't stare it, your arm gets heavier faster. The difference was somewhat astonishing.

If ANY of these three components are out of whack, the arm (or the leg, or even your entire body) will no longer be able to stay upright. Focusing all three components on the task is what makes it work.

How do we relate this to writing?

Let’s change the order around a bit and dig a little deeper.

Part 1 – Your Inner Ear

Think of your inner ear as your writing voice. Voice is the cadence that is essentially you. It’s what makes your work stand out as unique.

The best description I've ever heard of "voice"

Imagine you are sitting in a café, telling your friend a story. The way you tell a story is quintessentially you. You don’t stop to think about how the story sounds when you’re talking to your friend, you just tell it. The visual and verbal cues you get back are what help you time the rhythm of your story and play certain parts of it up or down.

The best part, and the hardest part, about writing is that we do it alone. There is no one across the café table, or computer screen, to tell you what’s “just right” and what is falling flat. We learn to recognize what works on our own (through Craft) or we find a great critique group.

Part 2 – Musculoskeletal Control

Techie Definition: Musculoskeletal control is essential in our balance and vital to our ability to walk normally. The mechanics of human ambulation, or walking on two legs, is quite unique in nature. It has been described as consisting of a cycle of "controlled falls," which highlights the complexity of distinguishing between a fall or stumble and normal, controlled walking.

This definition immediately made me think of a blog Kristen Lamb wrote on the importance of learning to fall.

For the writer, “musculoskeletal control” is Craft.

The more you exercise your writing muscles, the more balanced and resilient they become. It took me ages to recognize (and accept) that it doesn’t matter whether you can lift a five pound weight or a fifty pound weight, what matters is that you can do it a lot and do it smoothly. Patience is not my virtue, so I'm always wondering why I can't curl 25 pounds like a badass, instead of being impressed with how smoothly I can curl 5 pounds.

In writer-speak: a good writer with the courage to approach the page every day is going to be published long before a great writer that approaches the page sporadically.

Just like targeted physical therapy can turn a weak knee into a strong one, regular writing practice can turn a good writer into a wonderful, well-disciplined one.

Writing Craft must be practiced and honed with regular writing.

All the greats say this – Anne Lamott, Natalie Goldberg, Julia Cameron – and it has always been the thing that made me groan the loudest.

Who has the time? I can’t! I don’t wanna!  My inner Lazy Ass has said all that and more on various occasions.

The reality behind these complaints was: I’m scared. What if I fail? Won’t that make my writing so important I will want to die if I fail? (Feel free to insert your own special fear here.)

We all have these fears, just like we all have that dastardly inner critic. The fact is, no one said it would be easy. Writers are a tough breed and my money will always be on us. We just hitch up our version of titanium panties and settle down to get our work done.

Some great Craft posts:

• “A Deeper, Richer Understanding of Craft” Part 2 by Larry Brooks (THEN read Part 1)
• New and Improved Writer’s Toolbox by Laura Drake

Part 3 -- Your Vision

Your visual strength is what you rely on after you’ve gotten the words on the page. "Your vision" translates into editing.

I know wonderful writers who have lyrical prose and the ability to create fantastic worlds with engaging characters. Yet they are still fighting to be published. Why?

Most of these writer friends tell me it’s actually because their editing or proofing is not strong enough yet. Practice makes perfect and we’ll all get there if we keep at it and build a powerful writing team to provide help when we need it.

There is a reason why Oscars are given for film editing – it is the art of separating out the unnecessary footage to keep the viewers hooked. It works the same with books.

There is a famous quote by Elmore Leonard that frustrates the hell out of most new writers: “I try to leave out the parts that people skip.” The structure of a story is a lot harder than it looks because we have to learn what parts people will skip and why.

Some fantastic posts I’ve found on editing:

• The Three Simple Stages of Self-Editing by Jody Hedlund
• How I Edit by Nathan Bransford
• The 5 Stages of Editing Grief by Julie Glover, which made me laugh.

Final Thoughts

Wherever you are on your writing journey, DON’T STOP. The best is always yet to come because we keep improving the more we do it. What you hear with your inner ear and see with your writer’s eyes will eventually be translated by the “musculoskeletal” strength of your Craft.

True Story

I heard Linda Howard speak at a writer’s conference in San Diego some years back and I’ve never forgotten her words. They meant so much to "baby writer me."

“Everybody dreams,” she said. “But writers are special because they write down their dreams. As writers, we can do anything and be anyone. You can be astronauts or spies or time travelers. Writers can go to amazing places and build imaginary worlds for others to visit.

“But the sad fact is that no matter how hard you try, the music and the magic of your dreams will never be equaled by the words you put on a page.

“Do it anyway.”

Every writer in that room started crying because it IS so hard to translate the grand scope of our imaginations into words on the page. The words never seem quite big enough or important enough to express the magic that lives inside our minds.

My hope is that, even on those days when you feel that all is lost, when you wonder why you ever believed that YOUR words were important, you keep at it.

Do it because you have to. Do it because you need to. Do it because the act of sharing those words is more than most people will ever attempt.

And finally, do it because no one else will have the inner ear to hear the words exactly as you do, the strength to birth them onto the page, or the vision to translate those words into the perfect story that floats from your heart to ours.

Do it anyway. You won't be truly happy unless you try.

What part of writing do you struggle with the most? Voice, craft or editing? I have the hardest time with structure and editing myself, and conflict and…Oh, sorry. Enough about me. What’s your writing albatross? Please share it with us down in the comments!

About Jenny

By day, Jenny Hansen provides brand storytelling, LinkedIn coaching, and copywriting for accountants and financial services firms. By night, she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction, and short stories. After 20+ years as a corporate trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

Find Jenny here at Writers In the Storm, or online on Facebook or Instagram.

Featured photo purchased from Depositphotos. Branded in Canva.

By Lisa Norman

I remember when finding something to read online felt like discovering a treasure.

Back in the 1980s, we had nothing like Google. If you were curious and a little techy, you might sneak into a bulletin board system in the middle of the night. Your modem chirped, producing a beautiful musical sound, and suddenly you connected to strangers who felt like friends. You’d browse through posts, download stories, and maybe stumble across a file that someone had written just for fun.

CompuServe was my favorite. It opened to the public in 1979, and by the time I found it, there were forums full of writers and readers talking about stories they loved. We didn’t worry about keywords or rankings. We shared links like secret handshakes. You found the good stuff because someone you trusted said, “You’ve got to read this.”

Reading felt like an adventure, not a transaction.

We didn’t scroll. We didn’t skim. We read slowly, like every word was meant to be there.

Those connections were often real and powerful. I made lifelong friends in those forums.

When the Robots Moved In

That all changed in the late 1990s when Google came onto the scene. At first, it felt magical. Suddenly, you could type in a question and the answer would appear, as if the internet finally knew what you needed.

Google officially launched in 1998, and its PageRank system was revolutionary. Instead of listing websites alphabetically or matching keywords, it ranked them based on how many other sites linked to them. Popularity became power.

It didn’t take long for people to figure out how to play the game. Writers and marketers learned to shape content in ways that pleased the algorithm. Headlines became formulas. Writers padded posts to hit ideal word counts. Keywords were carefully chosen, sometimes at the expense of flow or meaning.

And yet, for a while, creative writers held our own.

We weren’t chasing trends or stuffing posts with jargon, but we produced lots of good content. We told stories. We shared insights. We built blogs that grew communities, often without realizing we were checking the SEO boxes just enough to stay visible.

But the algorithms kept changing. It wasn’t just SEO either. The internet began shifting from open discovery to platform-driven visibility. Social networks and aggregators started choosing what readers saw.

As search engines began prioritizing domain authority, backlink networks, and structured data, our voices started to slip. Content farms and big media companies could outpace us on volume and technical polish. Eventually, even great writing was barely enough.

The Ones Who Vanished (and the Ones Who Adapted)

Some creators faded quietly.

The hobby bloggers. The zine-style websites. The personal pages filled with stories, art, and in-depth explanations of niche topics. Communities that once thrived on curiosity and connection found themselves buried under content mills and commercial optimization. For many, staying visible meant learning to out-game the algorithm. Not everyone had the time, knowledge, or desire to do that.

But fandom didn’t die.

It pivoted.

Writers and readers who once gathered on scattered forums and fan sites found new homes. Platforms like Wattpad, which launched in 2006, became hubs for serialized fiction and fan creativity. Others migrated to Archive of Our Own (AO3), a nonprofit, community-built platform launched in 2009. AO3 wasn’t just a backup plan. It was a statement. If the web wouldn’t make space for fan voices, they would build it themselves.

Writers adapted. They moved between platforms, followed readers, and found new ways to connect. That flexibility saved them.

But something changed in the process.

Discovery stopped being organic. It became managed. Curated. Quantified by algorithms.

Big corporations were putting up barbed wire fences to cordon off the wild frontier.

The Rise of the Skim

As SEO took hold of the web, something deeper shifted. Something that crept in slowly but changed everything.

Readers changed.

When the internet began rewarding content that was short, structured, and scannable, we started to read differently. Articles turned into checklists. Posts began with titles like “5 Ways to…” or “The Ultimate Guide to…” We trained ourselves to search for bold phrases and bullet points. We skimmed for answers instead of settling in for the full story.

Just like writers adapted to please the algorithms, readers adapted too.

We stopped lingering.  

We stopped getting lost in the middle of a long, thoughtful paragraph.  

We became more impatient.  

We got used to getting what we wanted, fast.

Even fiction felt the pressure. Writers were told to hook readers in the first sentence. Page one had to sparkle. Page two had to deliver tears. That advice may still have value, but it came from a culture shaped by speed and distraction.

In 2023, a book called Smart Brevity offered guidance for writing in an age of limited attention. The authors, from Axios, championed getting to the point. There’s something useful about that. If you’ve only got ten seconds of a reader’s time, you learn to make those ten seconds count.

But when every sentence is optimized for speed, something else gets lost.

Nuance.  

Rhythm.  

Emotion.

The space between the words — the place where a reader pauses and feels something — starts to disappear.

We didn’t just teach ourselves to read faster.  

Maybe without realizing it, we also started expecting less.

What Comes After the Skim

So here we are.

We trained ourselves to write for search engines. Then we learned to read like machines. In the process, we lost something.

But we didn’t lose everything.

There are still readers who want more than bullet points and summaries. They want voice. They want meaning. They want to be moved.

And that’s what writers still do best.

Even when the platforms shift. Even when algorithms rewrite the rules. Even when AI starts answering before anyone reaches our pages.

We can still write with heart. We can still connect.

That’s what Part Two of this series is all about.

Next month, I’ll talk about GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and how AI is changing the way people find and consume content. We’ll also talk about what writers can do to stay visible, stay connected, and keep doing the thing that no machine can replicate.

This isn’t the end of the story.  

It’s just the next chapter.

Have you noticed your own writing or reading habits changing over the last 20 years? And if you are younger, can you imagine a world without search engines?

About Lisa

Lisa Norman's passion has been writing since she could hold a pencil. While that is a cliché, she is unique in that her first novel was written on gum wrappers. As a young woman, she learned to program and discovered she has a talent for helping people and computers learn to work together and play nice. When she's not playing with her daughter, writing, or designing for the web, she can be found wandering the local beaches.

Lisa writes as Deleyna Marr and is the owner of No Stress Writing Academy. She also runs Heart Ally Books, LLC, an indie publishing firm.

Interested in learning more from Lisa? Sign up for her newsletter or check out her school, No Stress Writing Academy, where she teaches social media, organization, technical skills, and marketing for authors!

Lisa and several others of our amazing WITS folks will be presenting at a Virtual Writing Symposium on June 21 and 22.

There's still time to sign up! We even have a few agent pitch appointments left! This is on GoBrunch, which will give you a glimpse of some of the new technology Lisa has been raving about!

(If you sign up after the symposium, you won't be able to join live, but you will be able to view the recordings.)

Top image from depositphotos.