Pouring words onto empty pages, creating new characters, and building worlds that readers want to jump into, is not for the weak.

Authors still have to pay bills, clean, and try to find time to sleep just like everybody else. Yet, they still manage to write memorable books that change people’s lives. Still, there’s one mistake that can make or break the success of their work:

Keeping their journey private.

Safe vs Private

Having a safe space is fine but hiding your writing journey while quietly dreaming of producing a bestseller is not an ideal option.

A safe space as a writer is necessary to keep your sanity but it doesn’t need to mean going into hiding. It can be as simple as creating separate social media accounts to showcase your writing journey or not showing your face on camera.

CG Drews is a great example of the latter, creating a stylized and interesting social media profile without revealing their face.

View this profile on Instagram

CG Drews (@paperfury) • Instagram photos and videos

You can have personal social media accounts for your family and friends while you showcase your writing journey to the world on profiles created specifically for marketing yourself and your future book.

If you’re looking to take a small step to showcase yourself as an author, you can start sharing small writing projects on sites like StudioLink to connect with readers and other authors.

Privacy Won’t Sell Your Book

You may not have a finished manuscript yet but it’s easier to sell your work to people who are already listening. That’s why agents and publishers have turned to looking at the followers and engagement of the author’s profile.

If you aren’t posting about yourself as a writer or are hiding behind a private profile, you aren’t cultivating an audience of people who will appreciate your process and be excited to read your book when it comes out.

Being private is great but it’s often not the privilege of a writer. That doesn’t mean there aren’t more ways to preserve your privacy to make you more comfortable.

The Alternative

There are options for writers who have been thinking that being anonymous is the only way to protect their writing. There’s creating separate socials and not showing your face but there’s an even better option that could combine both.

Using a pen name.

You’ll be able to share your process and connect with future readers without having to relinquish your personal life.

That doesn’t mean that once you become a published author people won’t dig into who you are but at least while you’re on the journey you can have a smidge of peace.

Being an author means putting your work out there and learning to market yourself. It’s part of the job. It can be difficult to handle the pressure of sharing your journey but your future book won’t market itself and, regardless of your publisher, you’ll have to put in at least some of the work yourself.

Third Wheel Publishing doesn’t care how many followers you have or if you’ve previously published any work. We’re here to help authors bring their books to new readers.

Not only will your book go through editing, design, and marketing, but our team will be by your side to help you make the most of your new release.

If you’re ready to publish your book, we are open to new submissions and encourage first-time authors to send us their work as well.