3 reasons why young writers need powerful community

Recently, I had the opportunity of attending a writer’s conference.

But this wasn’t any old conference–it was the YDubs conference.

If you’ve never heard of YDubs, you’re probably in the minority of my readers. YDubs is short for YWW, which is short for the Young Writer’s Workshop. When I’m talking to people about YDubs, I usually describe it as “Facebook for Christian young writers.”

Essentially, that’s what it is. There’s a massive community and an even larger content library full to bursting with expert opinions and writing advice you won’t find anywhere else. There are also lots of people who probably make the general population wonder what’s wrong with them–but it’s okay, they’re just writers, and brilliant ones at that.

Anyway, YDubs has been a part of my life for a little over two years now, and I have needed it so desperately for most of those two years. Let me tell you why young writers need like-minded community.

1. to encourage and support

Writers, regardless of age, need encouragement. Community can give this. On YDubs, we have a whole space for encouragement and motivation, and sometimes just going through a few posts in that space is a huge pick-me-up. If you have a couple of friends who really care about you and want to read what you write, they can cheer you on when you’re feeling down about your book.

2. to answer questions

This is where it helps for young writers to have older community. I’ve met lots of published authors, some who have very successful books, on the YDubs community. They’ve helped me grow in my craft by answering the (many) questions that I have.

And you don’t even need experienced writers to answer questions! Sometimes you just need someone’s opinion, and anybody can do that. Lots of YDubbers like to post polls on the Community for character names, worldbuilding, title ideas, and the like. One thing I like about polls on YDubs is the large sample size–there are almost 800 people on the Community, and while not everybody will respond, you’ll still get a decent number of responses.

3. to stretch you

I’m not talking literally here. No torture devices involved (yet). I’m talking in the mental and emotional sense.

Your comfort zone is only so big, but it can grow. The more you do things outside of your comfort zone, the more it’ll stretch and expand to fit the new things you’re doing. And I guarantee you that 90% of the factors that will help push you out of that relatively tiny circle is your community.

Starting this blog way back in October of 2020 was way out of my own comfort zone–and it was a direct result of YDubs and my new community. I realized that I needed a way to grow my platform, but I wasn’t sure how, and as soon as I asked about it a bunch of people told me to start a blog. I was skeptical and kind of scared at first, but I quickly learned the ins and outs of WordPress and blogging and decided to give it a go. So here I am now!

Community is absolutely vital to all writers, but especially young ones, because we’re still learning and growing. These are our formative years, and we need people around us to balance it out.

I realize that this entire post has basically just been an advertisement for YDubs, but if you’ve never heard of it and you’re a young writer needing to grow in a community, I can’t recommend it enough. You can check it out at theyoungwriter.com. I’ve met some of my best friends on there, and I’ve loved every second.

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you next Wednesday!

five ways you can support indie authors

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Quote, Unquote!

Many authors, especially young authors, begin their career with indie publishing. Some later move on to traditional publishing, while others remain independent for the rest of their career. It’s up to the author whether they want to sign over their book to a publishing house or pursue independence with their writing.

In this post, I’ll be showing you five ways you can give back to the indie authors who worked so hard to get their book out into the world. Let’s go!

1. buy their book

This one is pretty obvious. Most indie authors make their living entirely off of their books, and it can take a lot of sales before they even break even on the investments they made on a cover designer or editor, much less make a profit. Buying their book helps them along in a monetary sense. Plus, they get the opportunity to touch your heart and soul with their book’s message, and hey, you get a new book! Who doesn’t love new books?

2. gift their book

If you read an indie author’s book and know someone else who would enjoy it, why not gift it as a birthday or Christmas gift? It doesn’t even have to be for an occasion! I would love it if someone randomly bought me a book they thought I would enjoy. This helps because not only are you buying their book and putting a few dollars in their pocket, you’re spreading the word to people who might then recommend it to others.

Alternatively, if no occasion is coming up, you could…

3. recommend their book

Even if you don’t have the budget for it (books are expensive!), recommending a book to someone you think will enjoy it will help the author reach new readers. One of the bigger downsides of indie publishing is that there’s no publishing house to supply marketing. Promotion can be an obstacle that indie authors face, due to not having a well-known corporation to back them up. It’s just them trying to put their book into the world. Recommending their book will help them overcome this and put their books in new hands.

4. follow their blog and/or social media and interact with it

Again, because indie authors don’t have a publishing house to back them up, their social media presence might be very small. And the real kicker here is “interact with it.” One thing I’ve recently learned about social media–YouTube in particular–is that it doesn’t matter how many subscribers you have if you’re not getting any views. If you’re following an indie author’s Instagram or Twitter or Facebook page, interact with what they post! Like their posts, leave thoughtful comments. Interaction is one of the best parts of being an author.

5. leave a review

I’ve saved the most important for last. Leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads (or, frankly, anywhere it’s possible to leave a review) is possibly the most important thing you can do for an author. Let them know what you think of their book, even if you hated it. The more reviews a book gets, the more exposure it gets, the more readers it gets, and the more validation for the time and energy the author put into it it gets. That was a little confusing, but you catch my drift, right?

Indie authors work hard. They invest a lot into their books, and I’m not just talking about money. A lot of times, it’s just them against the cruel marketing world. (Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit.) But you, as a reader, can help them out in the smallest of ways, and I hope I’ve helped you see that.

Thank you so much for reading, and I’ll see you next Wednesday!

Until next time,