oh dear

someone has a hot take about the business of writing today

and i have thoughts about that specific take, which i have heard before, but i need to make coffee and do some morning stuff before i talk about my experience

brb

now first of all we don't *really* need to know who said the thing, because the person who said it is not the point here. I am not talking about this to dunk on them or dash off a witty riposte or whatever

My purpose is to reach the people this take will actually harm

the take in question?

Other writers are your competition.

Friends, the second you hear this come out of another writer's mouth you have my urgent advice to regard everything else they say about writing with decided skepticism

because that is not how it works

trying to impose the individualist ethos of capitalism's ideology on the business of book publishing reveals a tragic lack of experience in how the business actually happens, at best

at worst, they are actively trying to destroy your future because they're cruel

am i saying that the business of promoting and facilitating discovery of your books is not capitalist? lol no

I'm saying that a vital piece of your promotion and discovery machine is becoming a part of the community of artists in the business of writing fiction

but let me back up. buying a book is not like buying a car or a computer or a washing machine. books are a single item in an individual's collection. and collectors gonna collect. they actively want more than one book, even if each book collector's curation values are different.

so we writers are operating in a business where the people who purchase our books are pursuing abundance. that's not our problem.

The problem is *discovery.*

hold on, I gotta change my laundry over

all right, back

so how does a reader discover a writer they might want to read?

lots of different ways, but it all boils down to having someone recommended to them. sometimes that's by algorithm, but word of mouth is better. but you can't be just anyone. trust is important.

so a reader asks for recs from their friends, their trusted book review sources, and from *writers whose books they already enjoy.* a kind word about a book from @StephenKing on twitter will make an author's day.

a reader's favored writers are a great source for discovery.

so it's easy to see that other writers are not your competition, but rather, a source of support for you and your work.

but here's the thing. writers are people who operate as a community. we are not lead generation resources. we are a group of people who support people we like.

so if you walk in thinking "you're my competition" you're shooting yourself in the foot by exiling yourself from the group most able to become your finest friends right off the hop. you are actively sabotaging your career with that mindset. and no one likes to be used.

so you also should not think, "i'm going to scope out the most successful writers in the room and befriend them."

listen, that's ferrengi talk. everyone can see what you're doing, and nobody likes a climber. and since writers run in packs and they live on gossip...yeah.

so what do you do to capture this valuable discovery vector?

FORGET ABOUT IT. it is the accidental consequence of being a good member of your community. here's what you should really be doing:

1. Be excellent to each other
2. Party on, dudes