I have been putting out my dream comic series for several months now. It’s managed to garner a small audience, and I’m super grateful. Though, no matter how much I enjoy making it, it sometimes feels like nobody reads it. I love listening to your videos because they really encourage me to push forward, and this one was no different. Thank you for always being positive and offering support to anyone just starting out!

can I tell you one thing I like about you? you're just very stable and grounded. When you speak I know that I'm listening to someone who is helping me understand that good things that last take time. And it's very healing for my heart because even though I want to do things quickly and for everything to be easy my body feels the truth in your words.
Thank you for being you.

I published a comedic fantasy series under my pen name a couple of years back and it released to crickets. But it really captured my sense of humour and has plenty of real emotion in there. It still hasn’t “taken off” but the people who’ve read it typically love it or don’t get it, and that actually feels better than a universal “meh”!

As someone who has loved Octavia Butler since the late 90s, when she was already big in some ways (genius grant, taught in speculative fiction / SF creative writing and English classes) but still very much a “those who know know” author, seeing her books burst the genre-fiction containment wall and hit the mainstream in a big way in the last 5+ years has been amazing, but also sad. I had the chance to meet her a couple of times back in the day, and she just came across as the loveliest, most thoughtful person, who cared about her books and their readers. I’m so glad that so many more people have gotten to connect with her, but I wish she’d had the chance to see how successful her books would become. (Spotted“Wild Seed” on your bookshelf! Truly one of my favs)

My editor convinced me to wait to release book one of my trilogy only when book two is finished because once you release a book, you have to continuously market it, and when you're writing sci-fi or fantasy especially, it can be overwhelming to try to write and market your books. Lemme tell ya, I didn't need much convincing.

One thing I notice is once something is popular, it is kind of destined to become insanely popular. Something I see all the time is "I tried reading a Brandon Sanderson novel but didn't really like it, so I tried another one and didn't like it either, so now I'm gonna try 4 more and see if I like those", or something to that effect. Basically the sentiment is- I hate it, but because it is popular I must be wrong, so I am determined to keep trying until I like it. If it wasn't popular they would have just decided it sucked half way through the first page and thrown it in the trash. Popularity affords an author an immense benefit of the doubt. People will not only read you to see what all the fuss is about, they'll also force themselves to like it, and use mental gymnastics to give your work the most generous interpretation. Getting the boulder in motion in the first place is the hardest part. I think it pays to do something jarringly weird and/or dramatic or controversial or ... something, just to get your foot in the door. The momentum will do the rest.

This was like the signal that I just need it to write what I love dear at my heart even if it doesn't get pick up. I have a series of cozy witchy mysteries  in Spanish and you know they are dear to my heart 💜 thanks for this video

Dear Lidiya, as a long time hobby writer, I love your videos and got so much out of them, thank you so much! And because I like your content so much, I also picked up one of your books, A Taste of Magic - and I absolutely love it so far! You said in a video that your doll people universe is the world you carry within you since you've been a kid, and it absolutely shows. I love the richness of your world building, I love the culture you created, the internal logic, and that you do not shy away from heavy topics despite the story being a cozy fantasy romance. I did not believe originally that I would like cozy fantasy, but the way you write it, I do. So on the note of you once saying that your world is 'too weird' to be successful - I think it is marvellous and I hope that you become the steady success yourself that this video is talking about. You surely deserve it. Keep going!

"If you do what you love, and the money might follow, but if it doesn't, you're doing what you love to do." - George Saunders

This summer I've finally had to time to read Moby-Dick, and that's also an example for the book type of 'peculiar but well crafted one that eventually somehow found its way to the audience'. Indeed, the White Whale is a mighty beauty.

Wonderful concept.  Thank you.  
As a hobby writer, I have made peace with not writing as a career (at least for now... other things require my time investment).  But writing is my decompression and maybe I don't want to write as a career?  It brings me joy and the stories keep coming.  So I try my best to put them down.  A flame I hope to keep feeding.  But not my whole way of life and hearing your video that focuses on just the love of writing was good for my heart.
Thank you.

(For the record, your other videos are very appreciated as well.  They are inspirational as I am busy doing things other than writing for myself).

I wish you so much success!  Thank you.

8:43 very powerful and encouraging to hear

Your haircut is so cute. I have tried to refrain from leaving this shallow comment, but it just keeps getting better. I also love the content. 🤭

I love your videos, they have helped me feel like I'm not the only one out there with similar dreams. They're also very useful and deep, which is very uncommon nowadays.

I love this video and totally agree with you about so many points. I think that books that take a while to find their audience are important because, like you said, they tend to be a little less traditional than all the trends going on at the time. They feel fresh and unique and readers crave that, just as much as they crave the trendier topics in books. I've felt this way with a few books that I've read and loved before they became relevant to mainstream media, and it's always so interesting to watch happen! I think that this video really did highlight the importance of championing the books you love, because you never know how your voice will impact the larger marketing and success of said books!

I read a book recently called I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman.. It was written in the 90s but I just heard of it recently on a Facebook group I'm in. If I remember right it is having a resurgence in popularity recently. I don't know how it fared back when it was released. I really enjoyed it. I'd call it dystopian fiction. Wikipedia says it had a surge in popularity partly due to reviews on TikTok

Yes, if you are going to keep writing no matter what, then maintain your vision, maintain your quality, do your marketing and don't be afraid to change it up every so often, and hope. The work is its own reward, but slow burn success would be a delightful bonus! Hidden Lands bumper stickers for the win!

What a lovely concept for a video. ❤

I think DCC was also helped by the audiobook version.  Jeff Hayes’ narration is phenomenal.

Wow, I'm 2nd comment! Love you videos because you are grounded and have a depth of experience to speak from. I love the collection of subjects of writing business, craft and writer adjacent topcis.