Writing Isn’t a Monologue

If you listen carefully, the world answers back.

Writing seems like a one-way communication, whether you’re publishing a book or a blog post. Although you can envision your audience, they aren’t with you. You take a deep breath and send your work out into the world.

You can’t see what happens next. But sometimes the world answers back. Faintly. Often enigmatically.

Pay attention to those signals.

They may show up in reviews, in emails, in mentions of your book by people on podcasts. (You may have to search to find those.)

Authors Who Listen

My latest book Get the Word Out shares stories of authors who listened to the messages from the world and took action on what they found. Here are a few:

Karen Catlin started an anonymous Twitter handle (@BetterAllies) focused on being an ally in the workplace. As her audience grew, they told her what they needed next from her, which led to many things, including her book Better Allies. As Karen reports, “I started out to change the world, yes, but I had no idea I would speaking, writing a book or two, and having this newsletter.” She listened and responded.

Michele Wucker wrote an excellent book about obvious risks that we see coming and…