What Is The Biggest Obstacle For A Writer Today?

The answer to that question may differ from author to author but most people think that with all of the self publishing outlets available today it would be easy to get a book published.  It is but that isn't the hardest part.

Writing the book in the first place is a major obstacle for some writers, it isn't mine.  I have never had writer's block and it doesn't seem to be looming on the horizon for me so I dodged that one.  Simply by having been a prolific daydreamer for my entire life I have over sixty years' worth of short stories, novellas and novels just waiting to be put down on paper or on the Internet.  You can put them out there for no cost at all, now for the major obstacle.

Getting the work into the hands of readers is the most challenging part, especially if you have no budget for advertising.  You try to count on your friends and many will buy your book and have you sign it but they may not get around to reading it for a very long time and you need reviews!  Reviews are a great way to boost sales, very few people are willing to risk their hard earned money on an unknown author and publishers are very much the same way.

You never see a TV spot for an unknown author but you do for James Patterson and John Grisham whose fans are already anxiously awaiting their next release.  Avid readers should be the ones to jump at a new author, a chance for something truly different and fresh but they are among the biggest followers of authors.  I have to admit that in my very early years of reading, before I started to school, I read the complete works of two authors before I moved on to anyone else.  Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are still among my favorites.

We all do it, we go to the same restaurant and order the same meal time after time.  Try someplace new, a different cuisine entirely.  You might love it, you might hate it but if you never try it you will never know.

Buy a book by an author that you have never read before, take a chance and if you like it do the author a favor and write a review.