Whose Book is it?

One topic that has come up over and over again in the book community is the question of who a book belongs to, who authors write books for. It seems the most popular response to this question is “readers,” but I think we should challenge this idea. I’ve had instructors, mentors, writers, and other editors say that a book is, first and foremost, for the reader, but the more I talk and think about this topic, I’m not so sure the answer is clearcut.

So, if an author isn’t writing for their readers, who are they writing for? Well, I’d say that they’re writing for themselves. Of course, they have potential readers in mind when writing, and editors should advocate for their readers as well. But at the end of the day, everyone who writes does so because they have a story within them, a story they want to share with others. And if they didn’t write for themselves before anyone else, then they wouldn’t have a meaningful story at all.

If authors only wrote for readers, the stories they create would be two-dimensional and insincere. I’d argue that readers can tell when an author wrote a book according to what they think readers would want as opposed to telling the story inside their heart.

What does this mean for writers? Well, I often hear writers worrying that they’re putting too much of themselves into their stories, either by making a character too similar to them or in some other manner. While this is typically solid advice, I think the writing community sometimes takes this more seriously than we should. In fact, at times the best thing a writer can do for their story is to add more of themselves to it.

I’m not saying that writers should flip to the other extreme and put all of themselves into every story, but I think it’s important to recognize when a story could benefit from adding more of the writer into it. And I certainly think we should normalize the idea that writers are writing for themselves first.

My best piece of advice on the topic: Write for yourself first. Worry about writing for the reader during revisions or during the editing process.