(LOGO)
Hellooo, everybody! A huge thank you to everyone who participated in my cyborg photo
challenge. I absolutely loved checking out all of your pictures. The winners are listed
on Instagram right now, so be sure to check to see if you're on the list. Additionally, I may or may
not be announcing another giveaway at the end of this video, so stick around for that. But first,
as many of you know, I published my debut novel a couple of years ago and I'm in the process of
publishing my second novel, The Savior's Champion right now. It's been a super exciting journey. I
can honestly say that I'm living my dream and I have no regrets. So far. I've also learned a lot,
both during the process of publishing my first novel, as well as while writing my second,
and that's what we're talking about today. I'm breaking down the different things I
learned during the writing and publishing process, so you can hopefully learn from me.
Number One (1): People can be phony. This was probably the most frustrating thing I learned.
And it comes with certain levels of exposure. There basically came a point where my platform
grew to a certain size and I realized I couldn't make friends the way I used to,
because most of the time these people didn't see me the way I see myself. To me, I'm just a Jenna,
to them I'm an opportunity. It was a lot harder than it probably should have been for me to accept
this, but it eventually became too recurring for me to ignore. People would hit me up saying they
wanted to be friends, but really, they wanted me to promote their book or their channel,
and if I refused, I was dirt. It's honestly a really lonely feeling to be commodified,
especially by people that you genuinely liked, but I now have an even greater appreciation for
my true friends who like me for me, and not for what I can offer them. Number Two (2): Stop giving
a shit. There are so many things to stress over during the writing process that at some point,
you just gotta say: oh, fucking well. When I wrote my first book, I was stressed about everything.
Will people like this scene? What about this character? Should I throw myself off the roof now,
or later? It's honestly such a waste of energy because quite frankly, there are far worse parts
of the publishing process to worry about. Bottom line, some people are gonna like your story,
some people aren't. Woopdie-fucking-do. I'm selling this book no matter what. So whatever,
eat a dick, I don't care. With the second book I just stopped giving a shit. I wrote what I wanted
to write without worrying about it. And it's not that my audience's opinion no longer mattered,
because it matters a lot. But that's what beta readers, critique partners and editors are for.
I learned to reallocate my anxiety rather than perpetually stressing throughout the whole damn
process. Number Three (3): Standards matter. There are a lot of trends in the writing industry, and
it can be easy to assume that in order to make it, you gotta hop on board. I've always been the type
to march to the beat of my own drum. If you tell me I have to do something a certain way, I'll do
the exact opposite just to be a dick. Ain't nobody telling me what to do! But that doesn't mean I
don't get nervous from time to time. Sometimes I look at people who are doing so well within
these trends, and I think, ‘Shit, what if no one reads my book because I didn't write the male love
interest to be a complete shitbag?’ There were times when I was afraid that my unwillingness to
compromise my ideals would prevent or impede my success. But it ended up being the driving force
that propelled me forward. Readers want to see something different. They want someone to break
the trend, and doing so will often separate you from the pack in a positive way. Writing
my second book was really eye opening regarding how important it is to stay true to yourself, and
how the reading community genuinely appreciates and rallies behind it. Number Four (4): Say no.
When you first get started in this industry, it's important to gobble up every opportunity you can
get. Wanna be a guest on my podcast? Yes! Wanna write a post for my blog? Absolutely! But once
you've developed an audience, gobbling up every opportunity means a few things. One, you're going
to exhaust yourself. Two, you might be doing your platform more harm than good. A larger
audience means greater exposure. So you need to be selective about the sort of events, people, and
products you choose to align yourself with. Does this reflect my platform in a positive way? Does
this benefit my audience? Is this indicative of who I am and what I want to represent? These are
the sorts of things you gotta ask yourself once you gain more experience in the industry. Number
Five (5): It gets easier. The larger your platform gets, the more opportunities roll in. Suddenly,
all you need is an email address and bam, the gigs arrive in your inbox like clockwork, it's magic.
I've worked really, really hard to carve a place for myself in this industry and sometimes there's
that worry that it'll always be like this. I'll be breaking my back for the rest of my life. So it's
a relief to know that this isn't the case. The hard work does pay off. And one day you won't have
to hustle as hard as you used to, keep hauling ass because at some point in the future it'll all come
back to reward you, trust me on this. Which brings me to. Number Six (6): It's still really hard.
It's just hard in different ways, mostly in terms of exposure, invasiveness, and pressure. I receive
hundreds if not thousands of messages and comments a day, and people expect me to respond to all of
them. I can't humanly do that. And sometimes, people get really mad because of it and tell me
to go kill myself. Awww, thanks, guys. When I am able to answer questions, people will get really
angry if I don't give them the answer they want to hear. Or they'll ask me really personal stuff,
like they're entitled to my private information. People will nitpick over the way I talk,
the way I look, they'll make assumptions about me. Jenna’s playing with her hair, that must
mean she's nervous. Jenna is an introvert, that must mean she's a cat person. Where do
you get this stuff? And of course, there's the trolls. I received death threats, rape threats,
all kinds of threats. And while this may sound like the worst, to be honest you get used to
it real quick. If people hate you, it means you've probably stood for something at some point in your
life. Number Seven (7): Be honest about mental health. Mental illness does not care how great
your life is going. Things could be fantastic and mental illness will be like, that's awesome,
I'm still gonna ruin your week. As my platform grew, my mental illness, particularly my anxiety,
got a lot worse. I was having panic attacks over the number of messages I was receiving. I would
begin shaking when I’d open my laptop. Platform growth is a great thing. All I've ever wanted is
for readers to appreciate my writing, and I was getting that. But mental illness don't give a
shit, and for a long time I believed that if I accepted help for my depression or my anxiety,
I was being weak. But there came a time when I realized, what is the point in pursuing my dream,
if I can't even enjoy it. Being honest about the help I needed was a huge weight lifted, and
since then I've been so much happier and even more successful. There is no point in allowing yourself
to suffer when there are so many solutions available. And Number Eight (8): Excitement
is contagious. I think a lot of writers are afraid to be openly passionate about their work. I know
when I wrote my first book, I felt a little weird talking about it, like it might come off
as conceited. But with my second book, since I was no longer giving a shit, I talked about it as much
as I wanted to. I didn't care if it came across bad because really, shouldn't people be passionate
about their career? If you're not happy with your job, you've got the wrong job. And what I found
was people weren't put off by my excitement, they just became excited with me. They were more eager
to read my work because they wanted it to be just as hyped as I was. Really, all that fretting over
‘How will this come across? Do I look stupid?’ was for nothing. Excitement is like mono, spread
that shit around, infect the whole damn planet. So that's all I got for you today. I'm truly grateful
for all the amazing experiences I've had since becoming a full time author. And I've learned
so much both from my failures and successes. Hopefully you can take some of these lessons to
heart, or ignore them completely, I don't really care. Now it's time for a giveaway. And this one's
super easy. As many of you know I have a super awesome mailing list and everyone who signs up
for it receives a monthly newsletter detailing upcoming events, contests, and tons of other
goodies. And now everyone who joins my mailing list within the next week will be entered in to
win a prize, from yours truly. If you've already joined my mailing list, then congratulations,
you're automatically in the running. I've got a link to my mailing list in the description below.
Join now. The winner will be announced in this month's newsletter, so be on the lookout. That
said, don't forget to subscribe to my channel. I post new videos on Mondays and Wednesdays. And if
you want to be alerted as SOON as I upload, ring that bell. And be sure to follow me on
social media. I'm on Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook and of course you can tweet me @JennaMoreci! Bye!