I recently read a blog post weighing the pros and cons of hiring a publicist for your novel. In the article it said, “But in a sea of authors, how will potential readers know about your book?”

This comment really struck me. Visually.
A SEA! Vast, cresting, full of creatures.
But in my vision, the sea is READERS, not authors.

I believe there is a sea of readers hungry for books.
My book.
Your book.
My next book.

A sea. Swelling, frothy, wild.

As a writer, I am surrounded by a lot of writers. But in the real world, most people aren’t writers. In the real world, a lot of people want to be a writer, but very few are actually doing it. A conference speaker clarified that for me several years ago. A keynote at a writers conference, with a room packed full of writers, asked us to think about the people in our lives. Were there more writers? Or readers?

There are more readers in my life.

A sea of them.

I am in my author boat, offering the roiling masses my novel. And they are hungry for it.
Sure, there are a lot of other author boats, each with their own bait, and sometimes the readers in my vicinity are sated, or finicky, but it’s a SEA of readers, for goodness sake. And I’m giving them what they want.

Sure, my little author boat is not the New York Times best seller list, or Publisher’s Weekly, and for those kinds of aspirations, hiring a publicist, the cruise ship of author boats, is necessary.

But for me, right now, I’m content in my dinghy, generously offering my debut novel Pocket Money as your reader sustenance.