I’ve seen this too much lately and I just had to say something about it. Tons of people seem to think that writing for publication, it’s just something that you can do on a whim, that you don’t have to put in any effort or cost, everyone owes you automatic success, so there!

It just doesn’t work that way. I’m here to set the record straight.

This morning, someone on Facebook published a list of things “writers wished that people knew“. Mostly, it’s a decent list, but as I pointed out in the comments, those are things that most amateur writers don’t know. Things like “you don’t get automatically published after one draft” and “writing isn’t easy”. Yet we continue to see people who assume that, just because you try, you’re somehow guaranteed success.

It doesn’t work that way.

This was further compounded by someone else posting a mindless meme that said “writers should support other writers”. Nope, that’s not true. That’s not to say that people shouldn’t encourage others to keep working, but the kind of mindless, meaningless platitudes that we see in amateur writing circles everywhere, the stupid “everyone can write!” nonsense. That’s not helping anyone!

It’s just that nobody wants to hear that it’s not helping anyone. They want to believe that throwing around these poorly conceived affirmations somehow makes the world a better place. It does not. In fact, it’s probably more harmful than anything else.

Writing is hard. I’ve always said so. Writing takes time. It’s a long-term effort, not something you do over a weekend. Just because you want to write, that doesn’t mean that you’re good at it. Just because you want to publish, that doesn’t mean that you should. Far too many people have really terrible expectations and it really feels like people are terrified to tell them the truth, for fear of hurting their feelings.

That’s not me.

Now I’m not being cruel, I’m being honest. It’s a lot better to learn from your mistakes now, before you go out there and make a fool of yourself. We see tons of amateur authors who rush to publication and then complain that nobody is reading their books. Of course not! They suck!

This is going to come off as racist, but it isn’t. There’s a particular group of people out there these days, people who come from a particular area of Africa, a particularly economically downtrodden area of Africa, people with names like Goodness Smith, who have shown up on Facebook looking, specifically, to publish books as quickly and easily and cheaply as they possibly can so they’ll make a million dollars without any real effort. I wouldn’t say, but these people keep showing up over and over and over. I understand their troubles. They are desperate to make money, but this is just not the way.

That’s especially true when they show up with a book cover that they’ve just outright stolen from someone else. Again, today, someone came along with a very clearly amateur cover, a single color, with a part of a well-known image, cropped and enlarged until it was almost entirely pixelated, telling people to buy his book. Sorry, you’re just going to get sued! There was some other guy, a couple of weeks ago now, who was complaining that Amazon killed his account and he couldn’t understand why. I told him to send me a copy of his ebook and he had Mickey Mouse on the cover! Did he have the rights? Of course not! Yet the second that you tell these people what they’re doing wrong, they don’t want to hear it!

Here’s the thing. Just because you want to do a thing, that doesn’t mean you’re good at doing that thing. The average published author writes 6 books before they get anywhere remotely close to being publishable. Brandon Sanderson wrote 13. In self-publishing, we get people who crap out an unedited manuscript in the morning and have it published by noon. Then, they complain that nobody is reading it and riding them around on their shoulders, celebrating their amazing accomplishment!

Unfortunately, we live in a world where we’re expected to lie to people, so they maintain their happiness. That doesn’t actually help. All the lies in the world about how easy writing is, how publishing is free, etc., that doesn’t change the reality that it’s all just a lie. They’re going to try it and they’re going to fail and then they’ll complain that it didn’t work as they were promised. Of course not. It’s all a lie.

The simple fact is, if you want to be successful selling on KDP, or any other online retailer, you have to start with a product worth selling. That’s the first hurdle. Wishful thinking doesn’t make it so. Once you have a book that’s likely to sell, since there are no guarantees, you need to make sure it’ll appeal to your intended audience. That means editing. A beginner is almost certainly not qualified to edit their own work.

That means you have to pay someone else. Yes, I understand that many people don’t have the financial wherewithal to do so. Too bad. It’s why the overwhelming majority of self-published authors, and a lot of traditionally published ones, have day jobs to pay the bills. The same is going to go for getting a professionally produced cover. Your cover sells your book. If your cover looks amateur. nobody is going to buy it. You have to figure out how you are going to fund your writing efforts. Wishes and dreams don’t do it.

Here’s the thing. This is a business, whether you like it or not. Really wanting to publish a book doesn’t mean you should publish a book. You need to earn your spot and if you don’t, then you’re just wasting everyone’s time. Worse yet, you are objectively harming others.

That’s the part that nobody wants to talk about. Amazon is a retail site. That goes for Barnes & Noble and all the rest. They exist to make money, just like any other business. Just because they will permit you to stick any load of crap up there that you want, that doesn’t mean that you should.

In fact, every time KDP shows your book to someone, a book that nobody in their right mind is going to buy, it blocks someone else, who has put in the time, money and effort on a worthwhile book, from making a sale. You are actively harming other authors, who are a lot more deserving than you are. Knock it off.

Now that doesn’t mean you should stop writing. I’m never going to tell you to do that. You just need to earn your spot and that comes through hard work and the ability to invest in your own potential success. There are no guarantees, but there are a lot of things that can maximize your chances. If you’re not willing to take those steps, you’re just wasting everyone’s time, including your own. If that’s not helpful advice, I don’t know what is. It might not make you happy, but your happiness is irrelevant when it comes to running a small business. Learn to write. Learn how the publishing game works. Follow the proper steps. Get to that place in your writing journey where you’re actually worthwhile. This isn’t a place to get rich quick. This is probably one of the hardest things you can do successfully. If you’re not willing to put in the time, then go find another hobby. This one isn’t for snowflakes. It’s for people who have the drive and the work ethic to succeed.

Hopefully, that’s you.