by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author

When did being an author get so complicated? At least, it feels more complicated now than it has ever been. There’s more data to track, more analytics to record, more marketing strategies to learn, the list can go on and on. It is a huge challenge to know where to focus your effort, your time, your finances.

As the industry changes and bookstores adjust and social media marketing grows more complex, what is the most efficient use of your resources?

And it’s not just the marketing tactics we have to use as authors that’s complicated. With the introduction and continued growth and popularity of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), now there’s a constant, looming anxiety about the future of being a career author.

Making a living an author was hard enough before A.I., but now are we going to have to jump through a whole new set of hoops to distinguish our “organic” writing from artificial sources? Can we still be successful as professional storytellers when it seems that culture is perfectly satisfied with technologically generated content?

Yes, that is a loaded question, and it’s certainly debatable. As authors and publishers, we can often identify A.I. generated novels and books because we have been trained on what makes a good story. But if you spend any time among the reading public, many of them can’t tell the difference between a poorly written story and an excellently written one. And as A.I. systems continue to grow in vocabulary and execution (they are, don’t kid yourself), a day is coming when “organic” human writing may become obsolete.

How much do we need to prepare for the A.I. revolution? Or is it even worth the time to concern ourselves with it?

But maybe A.I. isn’t what we need to be focused on at all. What if we need to be more intent on the shifting cultural trends and popular tropes. After all, doesn’t it make sense to write what people are going to read?

Regardless whether you’re writing for the Christian market or the general market, popular tropes attract readers. Being able to use comp titles to help potential readers know whether they’ll love your story or not is a great tool. But writing to market requires research, and research takes time.

So if you’re going to follow trends, which one should you choose? If you’re going to use tropes as the basis for your novel, which one will work with your strengths as an author?

There are so many marketing strategies. There are so many major concerns about A.I. There are so many types of books you could write. What do you choose to focus on when there are so many options?

So what is the most important thing we need to know as we move forward with our author careers in 2024? I’m going to answer that question with another question: Why did you start writing?

What was it that made you take the leap into storytelling? Because I guarantee it wasn’t becoming rich and famous. Or at least if you are still writing, it wasn’t because you wanted to get rich quick.

What moved you to tell your story? What drew you to the concept of putting words on a page to communicate something true to a stranger?

I don’t know about you, but I can tell you why I write. I write because words have power, because stories have the extraordinary ability to get their claws into the human soul. Stories mean something to us. They help us understand truths that we might night otherwise be able to apply. Stories are how I understand the world.

I have to write. It’s how I process. It’s how I understand my own mind. And when I have the opportunity to use story to help someone else understand life or faith, that is the moment I feel most fulfilled.

I love story, and I love using stories to help other people get to know Jesus just a little bit better.

Why do you write?

That’s the most important thing an author needs to know as we enter 2024. Why did you choose this field? Why do you feel the urgency to write? Why does the story you’re writing matter?

Why?

It’s an under-rated question in most circumstances. Knowing why you write will help you know what you should write. Knowing why you write will help you know who you should be writing to (your audience). And while knowing why you write may not alleviate anxiety about A.I., it will remind you of your purpose.

Your Why will sustain you when you want to give up. Your Why will give you direction when you feel lost among all the marketing tactics and social media strategies.

It’s not that tropes and trends don’t matter. It’s not that A.I. isn’t a problem. It’s not even that marketing strategy isn’t worth studying. But before you dive into the deep end of all those complicated elements of the author life, go back to the basics.

Stay simple. Know your why.

Award-winning author A.C. Williams is a coffee-drinking, sushi-eating, story-telling nerd who loves cats, country living, and all things Japanese. She’d rather be barefoot, and if she isn’t, her socks won’t match. She has authored eight novels, three novellas, three devotional books, and more flash fiction than you can shake a stick at. A senior partner at Uncommon Universes Press, she is passionate about stories and the authors who write them. Learn more about her book coaching and follow her adventures online at www.amycwilliams.com.