If You Write the Book, Will Anyone Read It?

Well before I begin to answer that question, I need to point out the most obvious fact for contemporary authors, let alone, authors of naturist fiction – don’t quit your day job! This isn’t meant to discourage you. Rather, it is a reminder that you are really writing for a different purpose. For Paul, Will, and myself the reason for writing is actually quite simple. We love to write, we even need to write. All three of us write in more than one particular genre. Though each of us take pride in our naturist fiction, perhaps even find it to be the jewel in our library of works, it isn’t nudity that becomes the focus of writing.

At times, as you can tell through our books, nudity fits in “naturally” within the story lines. When nudity gets in the way of telling a story that is being pulled out of our heads, then nudity doesn’t become part of the story. It all comes down to the story whether the story is fiction or non-fiction. A person writes because a story is pressing on the psyche, demanding to be attended to through the act of gathering the puzzle pieces being presented by the psyche. Resisting the pull to write typically results in some sort of dis-ease for a writer, an uneasy feeling that does go away when an author takes up the pen, or in our modern world, the keyboard. We need to write to get balance back in our lives. Of course, that means that if all we do is write, there is no balance.

As you can see, nowhere in all of the above, does money come into play. I had one particular author who I met in a bookstore, wonder if he will ever make any money at all. Since he published with a Vanity Press, an approach that costs an author anywhere from one to ten thousand dollars, the honest answer is no. If you’re going to sell books, you need a business license, you need to register your business with the government, you will incur costs for advertising, travelling, meals and lodgings, printing, business cards, website, and various paid social media services so that you can have your book advertised to the right market. It’s daunting. Obviously this is a profession that is about something other than selling books.

All that said, it is a good feeling when I place a copy of my book in a buyer’s hands. Someone was willing to pay to read my book. Priceless!