How to be a confident writer ! 😈 (6 tips)

Writing is a thing, but showing and talking about your writing is something completely different. Do you feel insecure and shy about calling yourself a writer ? Do you feel like you could do better at promoting your book if you’re a selfpublished author ? Me too my friend, me too.

To be honest with you, I decided to give my writing a real place in my life less than one year ago. Back then I had completely given up on writing, thinking this was just part of growing up and moving on with my life. I was 100% confident in saying that my writing had nothing special and it was not worth a try. Yep. And now I’m a proud selfpublished author, with my first poetry book, “Talking to the moon” (link -> here).

I’m not telling you this to boast, oh no I didn’t become some kind of famous author, far from it. I’m sharing this with you to tell you that… I’m not there yet. I’m not this super confident writer yet, but I’m working on it, so I wanted to share with you some of the things I realized and have tried. You can try it too or not, the choice is all yours. I just hope some of this will help my fellow writers.

So let’s start with our first tip #1 : Try out your work somewhere. I would recommend fanfictions because it’s the easiest way to try things out without investing too much (in terms of world building, character building, full history for the characters etc). If you think that your writing style is really nothing special and that no one would read it, fanfictions is the best way to challenge yourself. It’s quite easy to get feedback if you post in an active fandom, bless AO3 (Archive Of Our Own) for existing. It can also be posting extracts from your writing on social media, for example I started with an Instagram account for my poetry, but it can also be a Facebook page for example where you can post very short stories or extracts from your current WIP (work in progress).

Tip #2 : Get in touch with other writers. You shy away from actually saying you’re a writer ? Well, getting to know the writing community will help you feel like you belong. Talking about your writing, struggles and happy writing moments with people who actually get it is great to feel like yes I’m a writer too, I’m part of this. Published or not, if you write stuff, you’re a writer so own it ! I would personally recommend trying out the #WritingCommunity on Twitter, the community there is friendly and even if it’s easy to get lost in the massive flow (there are a lot of writers), try to get in touch with people and you will make friends there.

Tip #3 : Find your readers ! Not everyone is going to like your book, it doesn’t mean that it’s a bad book. It just means you have to find your readers, the ones who are going to be receptive to your style of writing. Let’s say you make your friend read your book, but they usually like horror books and you make them read romance… well, the chances are quite high that they’re not going to like your book, it doesn’t mean that your writing is not good. Of course on the contrary there will be people who don’t like your genre but will like your book, it happens for poetry for example, but when you promote your book, try to focus first on people who are likely to like your book. If you’re writing romance, try to find groups on Facebook for example specialized in romance books, things like this. Try to be present where your potential readers are.

Tip #4 : Have some beta readers. I know it’s not easy to find good beta readers, but it can be friends who are interested in reading your stuff for example, or maybe if you’ve posted about your writing somewhere you can just ask there, but be careful when you select them. You want people who can give a detailed opinion in an objective way, to build you up, so that you can improve. You don’t want people who are just interested in reading for free and will be out the door once they’re done. I personally think this can be very hard, to find good beta readers so once you get them, never let them go haha. A few good ones are enough. If you’re writing in differents genres, you can also have different beta readers for each genre. 

Tip #5 : Finish some projects. If you’re writing a novel, which is a long project, try to have little things on the side you can complete, related to writing (or not). It will give you this instant gratification you might struggle to get when working on a long term project. Or you can break down your big project in small steps, and reward yourself accordingly. For example, have some of your favorite chocolates once you finish a chapter. If you need a few ideas of small side projects : making videos on Youtube, posting on social media (about your writing, extracts, your life, whatever you feel comfortable with), having a blog, writing in other genres which allows you to have smaller projects like poetry or short stories. As you share online a bit of yourself, you will stay in touch with your readers and attract new readers, which is basically… marketing. And if you’re an indie author, selfpublished, you will need to promote your book and do this marketing before, and after the release of your book.

And last but not least, tip #6 : Get used to speaking about your book/writings. Days where authors didn’t need to show their face to sell are over. I don’t think it’s impossible to sell books without showing your face, but still… I don’t think it would be easily done. People need to see the human behind a book nowadays, and if you’re selfpublished that’s even worse. You can’t promote a book just by posting pictures and writing things about it. People will want a visual at some point, just because it will help them remember you better. So as a writer, try to get used to talk about your writings/books. You’re the one who can do this well, this is your work, you know it best. You can’t say something wrong, because this is yours. And the more you will talk about it, the more confident you will become, and the more confident you will look, the more you will attract future readers. Because then they can focus on the book and not on how nervous or ill-at-ease you look. It can be through a video on Youtube, a live on Facebook or Instagram, an interview for a podcast… if you’re truly promoting your book, this will happen at some point, so better be prepared ! And it’s only with practice that you will feel more at ease so… Let’s do this, people ! (It’s hard for me too hahaha)

So, what do you think ? Are there things you’re already doing ? Things you would like to try ? Let me know !

You will find below the video I made on the subject ! Please check it out as well.

See you next week for a new article ! ~

Marie.