Hustle Culture and Self-Publishing: You Are Not a Brand

When you began to dream of becoming an author, did those dreams include spending all your time keeping up with social media? Did you fantasize about perfectly staging your home to be “insta-worthy?” Did you plan on spending hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on seminars, podcasts, and conventions — all promising you could get rich if you just did this one simple trick?

What Actually Matters (and What Doesn’t)

Let me be perfectly clear: if you’re aiming for commercial success in self-publishing, you will eventually need to do some promotional work. You’ll need to master some basic skills in social media management, email management, reader outreach, and running ad campaigns.

But maybe you aren’t aiming for commercial success. Maybe you want to write what you want to write, and if people find it — great. If they don’t — great. And that’s perfectly OK. Perhaps writing is something you do for yourself, for your friends, for your family, and you hope readers who find your book enjoy it. This, in itself, is a worthy goal.

The Problem with Author Facebook Groups

You wouldn’t know this if you spent time in author groups on Facebook or other social media. There, you’ll find a slew of self-appointed experts who insist that even if you have ONE book on KDP, you have to run it as a “business.” You need to write 20 books. You’re not a REAL author if you don’t do X. You have to HUSTLE HUSTLE HUSTLE.

Sadly, you’ll rarely hear discussions about the craft of writing, developing your professional skills, and paying your dues as you would in any other artistic endeavor. I have yet to find a lawyer who one day decides to be a dancer and, in six months, lands a starring role. Talent alone is not enough. You need to practice. You need discipline. You need to write.

Being an Author Is Not About Getting Rich Quick

Being an author isn’t — or shouldn’t be — about “getting rich quick.” It’s not low-content books or rapid release (a valid technique if it’s genuinely your style) or 24-hour-a-day online engagement.

Whether you’re a wildly successful commercial author or an author with one story that needs telling, writing a book is a labor of love. The value lies not in the outcome but in the process of creation and the joy it brings. The work of being an author is the opposite of hustle culture. Don’t get sucked in. It will steal all the joy of writing and make you forget why you became a writer in the first place.

You Are Not a Brand

I know this is going to be controversial — but you are not a brand. At some point, you may have a brand, but this is not the same thing.

People are not brands. Coca-Cola™ is a brand. Levi’s™ is a brand. A brand is a product or a group of products. A brand represents objects. We live in a world that is quick to objectify us. Don’t help it out by objectifying yourself. You are a human being, a writer, a dreamer, a creator.

Don’t let hustle culture steal that from you.