I stood behind two writers in the buffet line for lunch at a writing conference.

I was eavesdropping on their conversation while I waited for my turn at the sandwich platter.

They were talking about their novels. Both were at the conference hoping to attract the attention of an agent.

The first woman explained, “My book is about a BDSM relationship between a powerful corporate woman and a naive young man, who is really an alien. It’s like a reverse Fifty Shades of Grey meets The Day the Earth Stood Still.”

“Huh,” the other woman said. “That sounds….. interesting.......”

Which in polite writer-speak for, “That’s the worst sounding idea I’ve ever heard.”

And then she became very involved in getting through the buffet line as quickly as possible.

As she walked away, the first writer shrugged and smiled at me. “I like it.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I’ve never heard that one before.”

I loved how she totally didn’t care about the other writer's, or my, reaction to her novel.

She didn’t try and apologize or start explaining to me why her novel was different or better or how no one understands what she was trying to do.

This is what I tell my clients:

Not every reader is going to love your story.

For every story you love, there’s someone who will say, “Nope. Not for me.”

Or even, “I hated that book. Someone should douse it in gasoline and light it with a match.”

I have no idea what happened to that writer from the conference and her 50 Shades of Aliens novel.

All it would have taken is the right agent to hear the story, love it, and know they could sell it, to sign her.

Or maybe she decided to self publish and she’s now making seven figures writing from a castle in France.

Maybe nothing happened with it.

Should she have written a novel that everyone would love?

Hell no. Because that’s impossible.

Even mega-bestselling stories aren’t loved by everyone and those books are selling just fine.

Don’t write your novel for every reader out there.

(This goes for writing critique groups and beta readers too. Don’t get snookered into writing to please them either.)

Write with all your heart for the readers who will love what you’re writing.

The trick is figuring out who your readers are.

We’ll talk about that next week.

Hello!
My name is Jocelyn.

Story warrior, book lover, day dreamer, gardener, and creative. I help serious writers roll up their sleeves, get their novel ready for publishing, and reach readers. When I’m not elbow-deep in the story trenches, I’m outside world-building in my garden and battling weeds with my three criminal mastermind cats.