I received a LinkedIn notification of a book release, from a man I respect. The premise was intelligent, and I perceived the plot to be in-depth and a challenge, which thoroughly tempted me.

The problem was:

1. About six other authors I already read have books out. Some were released the end of 2021, some just coming out, some due out in the next couple of months.

2. I belong to a book club, and that’s about ten books I’m obligated to read.

3. I have a dozen books to be read on my nightstand that I seriously want to read and digest to groom my own genre.

4. That doesn’t count the bookcase in my bedroom that holds the secondary TBR (to be read) stack that I’ve hoarded for a couple years. Books I refuse to give away because they showed a crazy amount of entertaining promise.

So, here is a book I want to read. I suspect it falls into the bookcase category in terms of priority, which pains me, because I want to read it now. I just can’t because of the others that hold MORE promise to me, or that I’m more obligated to read.

Which means . . . a new author, or a fledgling author, has little chance of squeezing themselves and their works of promise into my reading agenda. Nothing against them. It’s just that there’s so much competition out there.

I regularly follow a cadre of authors who have proven their worth to me (like all readers). My time is precious (like all readers). Logic deems that the proven authors have a better chance of selling their books to me (like with all readers).

A new author is not going to shoe-horn their way into a reader’s world with a freebie or a 99 cent special. They are going to do it through word-of-mouth about a grand tale. They are going to do it on recommendation. They must be patient and allow this process to work, while working on the next book.

Yes, you invest incredible time into your writing. A reader sees themselves as investing an incredible amount of time into their reading. You have to earn your way into that world.

Offering a book as a freebie or a 99 cent special isn’t going to convince me the writing is good enough to discard another author who’s already proven themselves to be worth the reading.

Make yourself worth reading.