*heavy sigh*

It was kind of a rough week for me. Between the constant bombardment of harassment from "promoters" and book sales slumping across the industry, I was a feeling a little grumpy. I decided to post a small pity post on Threads because I knew I wasn't the only one having an overwhelming week. In between some interesting conversations with other authors, I received some bad advice from one particular book cover artist/promoter.

She stated that if my book sales were in a slump I needed to dump poetry and write in a different genre. Now, this is not the first time someone has given me this unsolicited advice and I'm sure it won't be the last, but I feel this advice is a really shitty point of view.

While there are authors who write books based on highly profitable themes in specific genres, that isn't how I write. I don't want to sit here trying to predict what might make me the most money in three months' time and throw that book together in a couple of months. I do not want to follow the 5/20 scheme, writing five books every year for the next twenty years, hoping I strike it big, while writing something that isn't exciting for me. I know a lot of authors who do that, and while some of them are exceptional writers, there seems to be a lack of passion and originality. Their books are based on a cookie cutter formula, and even for me as a reader I find that boring, so I can't imagine writing like that.

I know, and have always known, that poetry is not the top genre for sales, and it never will be. I never anticipated that I would become wealthy writing in the style I do. But what it really boils down to is me not wanting to wait to write what my soul longs to. I don't want to watch my passion for writing my heart down on paper, slowly wither away, while I try to chase money.