I'm a numbers persons and I have no issue with that. I like statistics and analytics. Numbers are facts. They maintain their purity. I'm not a math Guinness. But give me some solid numbers and I can create a beautiful infographic to
help people understand the numbers. I fell in love with numbers while transitioning from a cult to the real world. With so many opinions being thrown around, I gravitated to substantiated and documented facts. As creative, we are strongly right brain individuals.
Left brain work can appear cold and distant to us. Many of us fear it because we struggle to understand its complexities. Right brain work flows from us. Left brain work is like using a jack hammer on concrete. I've come to understand that left and right brain work is the most beautiful dance. The yin and yang of me. Without the one, I can't fully explore the other. So, let's dance shall we? We all love to write. We all desire that our writing gets read. We all hope that it's read enough that we can write full time.
Our hypothesis (scary statistics word) template is: If I do __________ I will obtain _________, than if I do ________. "If I write x amount of words a day for x amount of days, I will finish my book in x amount of time." That's an easy dance for us.
The "if" and " then" statements. "If I write a book, then I'll get book sales." That one is not so easy for us, because most of us aren't natural salespeople. Recently, I'm seeing quite a few Tweets about not caring about your follower number.
I can understand and agree with those thoughts. But, at some point in time we all have to correlate that the more people who see our work, increases our chance of fulfilling our dream of being a full time writer. I personally had to undergo a paradigm shift in my mindset.
I write non-fiction. I write about motivation and self- improvement. If I truly believe that individuals will improve their quality of life, by reading my story Falling Silence and my motivational series, then getting my work in front of more eyes will naturally be my goal.
The only way I'm going to know, if my work is resonating and making a positive impact in people's lives is through numbers. Welcome to the world of sales. The selling of me. I know, that until people are sold on me they won't believe in the value of what I write.
Apply that concept to yourself. Why do you believe in you? Why do you think people will be better off using their time to read what you write? Answer that, and you now have your intent. Before I hear, "But I'm a fiction writer."
Let me share the impact that fiction writers have on my writing.
Falling Silence
writes about strong women. When writing my story became so overwhelming with emotion, I escaped into his books. His characters weren't real, but the emotional journey was relatable.
Works he wrote a decade ago, helped give me the strength to get back to that keyboard and keep writing. Wayfinding, Half Way Home, Hope in Amber. Not his top sellers, but made a profound impact in my writing journey.
Engaged with me during the time I was in the process of releasing my book. I was reading one of his book, Loosing Mars at the time. He reminded me, too believe in me.
His book, Loosing Mars helped me to find inner strength to push that button and launch Falling Silence into the internet space. Peter was liking my Tweets as I was sharing my step by step process of releasing my book on Amazon.
"Houston we have lift off" His "likes" were like saying to me, "Copy that. You're clear to go. See you on Mars (Amazon)."
I kept writing because of the crazy writing style of this writer who makes me laugh and reminds me to loosen up, with his Tweets. My writing has tremendously improved because of reading his writing. This guy has 20k+ followers and makes each of us feel important.
Has over 350k followers, just reached out to share he was reading Falling Silence. Reading his non-fiction book How to Get 100,000 Twitter Followers has already greatly impacted my ability to gain more eyes on my writing.
Is currently reading Falling Silence and posts updates. Reading his book, Symbiosis in Seattle began our online engagement. I was introduced to his incredible writing style.
reached out and sent me two signed copies of his books with a personal message. Galactic Energies and Branches of Time. His books expanded my writing world.
(The Grand)
A screen writer
A writer
All three of the above, were liking my Tweets, while I was writing this training Tweet.
So the next time you think, numbers don't matter. Think again. They matter. Each one of these authors believed in their work enough, to focus on gaining followers, to get eyes on their work. Their efforts put their work in my eyes and has made an impact in my life personally and professionally. Yes, follower count does matter. Because you never know who you're impacting. I'm grateful these individuals believed in the importance of actively increasing their followers.
Numbers matter. Looking forward to seeing your numbers rise.