I guess the trick is finding the balance. I mean, I DO want to make some money. Although honestly, I've made more as I've turned away from the mainstream this past year anyway ...
Naturally, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't trying to make money.
My goal is to make a full-time income with my writing so I can drop the day job. But I'm also aware that I can do that without superstar success.
I figure it's all about finding enough readers who vibe with what I do. Getting to the level of cult following that I need to reach my financial goals.
This is so on-point, especially the warnings about how becoming "famous" is more shackles than freedom. So often we assume the options are either "get really big" or "sell no books at all," when the middle road "make a living writing to committed fans who value what you write" is really the best option for most writers.
And, I'd argue, where most authors actually ARE. If you judge by the messages and implications out there on the net, you'd think that everyone needs to go huge or not even try. I think many, many more are in the middle.
I'm not gonna lie, I've always aimed for the bestseller star. But what's funny is that as my skills have grown, my passion for the Genre I write in (Fantasy fiction) and I write more pieces with Tolkien and Howard in mind, the more I want to simply earn enough to get by.
I don't want fame. I don't want infamy. I want recognition for my skills, which is to say be recognized as a skilled writer but I also like my privacy and the ability to write across my genre from LOTR styled epics to Silmarillion styled fairy-tales, to Conan style novellas and mystery-fantasy, and horror-fantasy and grand histories and audio-dramas and so on, be it in English and French.
I also want my privacy, I want to be left alone. I think nowadays I'd prefer to make enough and be respected enough but not to be JK Rowling. I want to write something that will be read in 100 and even 1000 years, but I don't want to be famous in the way she or King or whomever are.
Dunno where that puts me, but the cult-hit status would be nice right now. So I kind of sympathize with your view. Sorry about the somewhat rambling post, I'm somewhat having to reorganize how I think after reading your essay. It's quite something, it really made me think.
I once dreamed of awards. Of having "NYT Best Seller" before my name. Of being the next Robert Jordan.
But these days?
I would much rather be the next Richard A. Knaak or C.S. Friedman.
I'll be happy just finding a decent tribe of the right readers to allow me to make a living with my writing while still being unknown enough to have my privacy and be able to have meaningful 1-on-1 connections with my readers.
That’s an awesome comparison, Knaak’s Legend of Huma was my favourite novel as a kid (it’s now somewhere around like #6 or something), I love the guy and know a friend of a friend of his.
I must admit that I seriously dream of being in his position and think he’s got the best of both worlds. He’s a bestseller, his name will live on but he’s able to live quietly as you said.
Huma was probably the single novel that moulded my sense of honor and justice more than anything else in my childhood.
I've been blessed to have a sort of relationship with Richard (calling him a personal friend would be a bit of a stretch though), which is kind of surreal. I still remember when he dropped in for the online (Facebook) launch party for my first book.
I'm a lot of ways he really does have the best of both worlds, which is obviously a great place to be.
So you know him better than I (I only sorta’ve know him as said tangentially), cool. I’m struggling to keep up with a writing group on FB tbh, so kudos to you.
Huma is very special that way, I think it made half his fame given how high calibre it is and how much it taught folks like you and I about honour and justice. I must admit I try to infuse themes like that in many of my works.
I also think of all of this in film terms. Personally, I love the personality that A24 puts into its often-weird films much more than big studios. I have to judge big-picture studios on a movie-by-movie basis, but with A24 I just buy the damn ticket. If they made it, I know I want to see it.
A20 is a film studio right? I’m not familiar with them, will have to have a look at their movies. If they’re good mild-hits and contemplative I’ll probably like them.
That was meant as sarcasm . TODAY OJ is popular, with "today" meaning back in the 80s and 90s. It was meant to imply, with current-day perspective in 2025, that obviously he's not popular or loved now ... and yet back then, he was everyone's darling. It's a comment on how fame and popularity can shift on a dime.
You talk about the rare cases in literature. Who cares about them? No normal human being who wants to be a writer, meaning to be published, make money, have success, i.e., to be read, and have his book found at the libraries. Who needs that crazy "cult-hit author?"
Hrm, I suppose maybe people have different definitions about being a write, though, don't you? It also takes only one meaning of success. You could be found in one library, be read by 10 people, make $100...there are a lot of undefined terms here.
I have been making six-figures since 2017, and you can't find me in most libraries. They don't sell great on retailers, but they do sell. They sell well enough to make me good money.
So, IDK, I have published 68 books, made more than a million dollars in fiction and non-fiction, hosted a conference, and done a whole lot, and I barely anyone knows who I am. Even if you consider all 42,000 people on this email list, that's barely a fraction of a fraction of a percent.
And yet...I do pretty okay. I guess I would say those cult-hit author's fans need them, in as much as anyone needs anything.
All the comments here are about a regular understanding of a writer or someone who wants to be a writer. I was not talking about you as a writer. I have not read your books. I am very glad for your success as a writer. My sincere congratulations!
Knowing most of the people in these comments, I don't think they would all agree about what "somebody who wants to be a writer" means. I'm not even sure they would even all agree that writing a book is a thing they want to do, which is kind of necessary of being found in libraries, unless you include microfiche, which would mean being in a newspaper or magazine.
The one I read above you specifically says they want their privacy and to be left alone, which is the opposite of what I would consider success to be.
I think that thinking there is a "regular" understanding of being a writer is limiting. In my experience working with thousands of authors, there are at a minimum 5 different ways people consider success as a writer, and there are probably as many definitions of success as there are writers in the world.
If you don't think a cult-hit author is a valid career path, that's fine, but my point is that I am a cult-hit author at best, and I very much fit into all of the "regular understanding of being a writer" that you mentioned, and I am not at all a rare case. Most writers look way more like me than then do like what most think a "successful author" would be.
This aligns with my publishing principle, Johnny. I don't want to be famous; I just want my writing to reach the right readers.
Better to be authentic, I think!
I couldn't agree more.
I've always wanted not superstardom but rather just for my books to reach the right readers.
I guess the trick is finding the balance. I mean, I DO want to make some money. Although honestly, I've made more as I've turned away from the mainstream this past year anyway ...
Of course.
Naturally, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't trying to make money.
My goal is to make a full-time income with my writing so I can drop the day job. But I'm also aware that I can do that without superstar success.
I figure it's all about finding enough readers who vibe with what I do. Getting to the level of cult following that I need to reach my financial goals.
1000 True Fans. Totally.
This is so on-point, especially the warnings about how becoming "famous" is more shackles than freedom. So often we assume the options are either "get really big" or "sell no books at all," when the middle road "make a living writing to committed fans who value what you write" is really the best option for most writers.
And, I'd argue, where most authors actually ARE. If you judge by the messages and implications out there on the net, you'd think that everyone needs to go huge or not even try. I think many, many more are in the middle.
I'm not gonna lie, I've always aimed for the bestseller star. But what's funny is that as my skills have grown, my passion for the Genre I write in (Fantasy fiction) and I write more pieces with Tolkien and Howard in mind, the more I want to simply earn enough to get by.
I don't want fame. I don't want infamy. I want recognition for my skills, which is to say be recognized as a skilled writer but I also like my privacy and the ability to write across my genre from LOTR styled epics to Silmarillion styled fairy-tales, to Conan style novellas and mystery-fantasy, and horror-fantasy and grand histories and audio-dramas and so on, be it in English and French.
I also want my privacy, I want to be left alone. I think nowadays I'd prefer to make enough and be respected enough but not to be JK Rowling. I want to write something that will be read in 100 and even 1000 years, but I don't want to be famous in the way she or King or whomever are.
Dunno where that puts me, but the cult-hit status would be nice right now. So I kind of sympathize with your view. Sorry about the somewhat rambling post, I'm somewhat having to reorganize how I think after reading your essay. It's quite something, it really made me think.
I think I'm right there with you.
I once dreamed of awards. Of having "NYT Best Seller" before my name. Of being the next Robert Jordan.
But these days?
I would much rather be the next Richard A. Knaak or C.S. Friedman.
I'll be happy just finding a decent tribe of the right readers to allow me to make a living with my writing while still being unknown enough to have my privacy and be able to have meaningful 1-on-1 connections with my readers.
That’s an awesome comparison, Knaak’s Legend of Huma was my favourite novel as a kid (it’s now somewhere around like #6 or something), I love the guy and know a friend of a friend of his.
I must admit that I seriously dream of being in his position and think he’s got the best of both worlds. He’s a bestseller, his name will live on but he’s able to live quietly as you said.
You worded it really quite well.
Same!
Huma was probably the single novel that moulded my sense of honor and justice more than anything else in my childhood.
I've been blessed to have a sort of relationship with Richard (calling him a personal friend would be a bit of a stretch though), which is kind of surreal. I still remember when he dropped in for the online (Facebook) launch party for my first book.
I'm a lot of ways he really does have the best of both worlds, which is obviously a great place to be.
So you know him better than I (I only sorta’ve know him as said tangentially), cool. I’m struggling to keep up with a writing group on FB tbh, so kudos to you.
Huma is very special that way, I think it made half his fame given how high calibre it is and how much it taught folks like you and I about honour and justice. I must admit I try to infuse themes like that in many of my works.
I also think of all of this in film terms. Personally, I love the personality that A24 puts into its often-weird films much more than big studios. I have to judge big-picture studios on a movie-by-movie basis, but with A24 I just buy the damn ticket. If they made it, I know I want to see it.
A20 is a film studio right? I’m not familiar with them, will have to have a look at their movies. If they’re good mild-hits and contemplative I’ll probably like them.
Hard disagree on OJ Simpson but everything else I can get behind.
That was meant as sarcasm . TODAY OJ is popular, with "today" meaning back in the 80s and 90s. It was meant to imply, with current-day perspective in 2025, that obviously he's not popular or loved now ... and yet back then, he was everyone's darling. It's a comment on how fame and popularity can shift on a dime.
You talk about the rare cases in literature. Who cares about them? No normal human being who wants to be a writer, meaning to be published, make money, have success, i.e., to be read, and have his book found at the libraries. Who needs that crazy "cult-hit author?"
Hrm, I suppose maybe people have different definitions about being a write, though, don't you? It also takes only one meaning of success. You could be found in one library, be read by 10 people, make $100...there are a lot of undefined terms here.
I have been making six-figures since 2017, and you can't find me in most libraries. They don't sell great on retailers, but they do sell. They sell well enough to make me good money.
So, IDK, I have published 68 books, made more than a million dollars in fiction and non-fiction, hosted a conference, and done a whole lot, and I barely anyone knows who I am. Even if you consider all 42,000 people on this email list, that's barely a fraction of a fraction of a percent.
And yet...I do pretty okay. I guess I would say those cult-hit author's fans need them, in as much as anyone needs anything.
All the comments here are about a regular understanding of a writer or someone who wants to be a writer. I was not talking about you as a writer. I have not read your books. I am very glad for your success as a writer. My sincere congratulations!
Knowing most of the people in these comments, I don't think they would all agree about what "somebody who wants to be a writer" means. I'm not even sure they would even all agree that writing a book is a thing they want to do, which is kind of necessary of being found in libraries, unless you include microfiche, which would mean being in a newspaper or magazine.
The one I read above you specifically says they want their privacy and to be left alone, which is the opposite of what I would consider success to be.
I think that thinking there is a "regular" understanding of being a writer is limiting. In my experience working with thousands of authors, there are at a minimum 5 different ways people consider success as a writer, and there are probably as many definitions of success as there are writers in the world.
If you don't think a cult-hit author is a valid career path, that's fine, but my point is that I am a cult-hit author at best, and I very much fit into all of the "regular understanding of being a writer" that you mentioned, and I am not at all a rare case. Most writers look way more like me than then do like what most think a "successful author" would be.