Do Authors Seek Fame Or Fortune?

 

Perhaps the headline question above is not a fair one. It is not the only choice for a writer’s motivation — fame or fortune, or their combination. After all, not every author seeks fame nor fortune.

Some write to get a message out, one that can help others or change lives. Yet, others may only write because it is a cathartic and therapeutic experience, an exercise in purging their feelings, confessing their views, and admitting to their actions. Then there are those who seek neither fame, fortune, service, or psychotherapy. They seek a legacy, attempting to shape how or why others should view them, even long after their days on Earth have expired.

Some writers may even say they don’t know why they wrote a book, as if it were something that had to come out of them. It is their art, a form of creating and sharing with no definitive purpose or motive driving their actions. Stringing words together is a hobby for them, an exercise no different than when little kids spontaneously draw something or sing a random melody.

I will venture to say some people write books out of revenge, to settle a score and expose a perceived wrong or hurt. A spite book.

Even mentally ill people write books, including mass murderers and rapists. There are few limits as to whom can write a book, and their motivations will vary greatly.

Not only are some authors not particularly seeking fame, they actually want to avoid it. They want to be anonymous, to avoid public scrutiny, to not lose their privacy, and in some cases, to not let their past catch up to them.

Maybe authors just need to focus on creating their best possible book and let everything else settle itself. They think too much about what that book could mean to how they live life, burdening themselves with unlikely scenarios and unlived dreams — or nightmares.

The truth is no book means more to anyone other than to its author. And more than 99.9999999 percent of all books ever published will go unread by 99.9999999 percent of all people alive today — and even fewer tomorrow.

Fame? Fortune? Therapy? Service? Revenge? Legacy? Insanity? Spontaneous Creativity? Just write baby, just write, and let the dust settle where it may.

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I am speaking at BookCAMP June 23^rd!

 

BOOKCamp 2024 is June 23-25, 2024 in New Jersey. 

The business of publishing, marketing, & craft: 

Register at https://www.independentpressaward.com/ipabookcamp

 

Here is a discount link for a three-day pass to BookCAMP

https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/WDLJNRK87864Y that you can share/post. 

*$251 off a three day pass $299 (instead of $550)

 

Need PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with over 3.9 million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.9 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.