Recently I was advising a political Facebook group, and one key factor I could not get some of the candidates to understand was “define the voter’s need then fill it.” The candidates only wanted to say how good they are. That’s like saying a new drink product is good, when the best ads for drink products show them slaking a thirst by someone exhausted and dripping with sweat, or curled up on a sofa in front of a fire with a warm cup in their hands.

It doesn’t matter how good a product is if the consumer doesn’t feel the need for it.

So when you are selling your writing, you have to prove that it fills a need. To the magazine or blog editor, you have to demonstrate their need for the topic you want to write about. . . while strategically showing they need your style and quality. When selling your novel, you prove the story is one that is strong, worthy, and worth the investment of the reader. When selling your nonfiction, demonstrate how the reader will walk away stronger and more endowed to face the world after reading.

It isn’t about you. It’s about the consumer.

You provide a product that will make the consumer’s life better.

It isn’t about how long it took you to write it.
It isn’t about how much the book is.
It isn’t about who published it.

When an author makes writing all about them and their investment into it, they risk the public wondering what is wrong with that writing that they don’t lead with its quality.