The One Thing *Your* Readers Always Want More Of...

✏️ Why Authors Don't Compete ✏️

I’ve been thinking a lot about marriage lately. I’m not planning on getting married anytime soon and am currently single as a pringle 😂.

But, a rabbit hole of watching a 3-hour podcast from a divorce lawyer led me to one of the most powerful realizations about the business of authorship.

Before I share that realization with you 👇

First, I’m hosting a Story Supper in San Francisco this Friday and one in New York City in two weeks. It’s a chance to meet fellow writers in your city for dinner 💙. You can register for free here.

Now, onto why I’ve been thinking about marriage so much, and how it led me to understand the core reason why, as authors, we DON’T compete with each other.

One Year Out From Rock Bottom

Many of you who have followed my story closely will know that just about a year ago a shit show of events led to me not being the CEO of a company I co-founded that was quite prominent in the publishing space.

My life was already pretty insane. The last year has been by far the wildest and most transformative in my life.

I went from the rock bottom moment of my entire life after just having graduated college to calling up a friend in a desperate plea for help.

My friend ended up getting me a job working with the Chief Strategy Officer at MrBeast. I’ll forever be grateful.

I moved to Seattle. Then moved to Chicago.

Overnight, I was in the belly of the beast, on the inside, helping push forward one of the fastest-growing companies in the world and most recognizable brands (nearly 1 billion people follow MrBeast across social media platforms).

After 7 months full-time working for MrBeast, I was itching to get back to serving authors. I knew it was time for me to start a company again.

This time I had more skills, knowledge, and people in my corner than ever.

“I’m doing this alone.”

No need for business partners again. No need to risk a divorce.

This would be a company and vision that only I would control.

Except here I am, just over 5 months after quitting my job at MrBeast to go back full-time to helping authors, and I’m about to draw up the paperwork to incorporate a new company with 2 business partners. That company is Creatorwood (it’s by far my biggest launch ever).

In preparation, instead of reading business legalese (I know all of the jargon by now, probably could be a corporate lawyer lol), I was studying what makes marriages successful.

This brought me to the work of James Sexton.

He’s one of America’s Top Divorce Lawyers. He’s seen a lot of marriages end… some messier than others.

One thing he said in a podcast interview (linked below) shocked me: “86% of people who divorce remarry within 5 years.” What the hell?

After having a marriage blow up… why does nearly everyone still return to not just having a partner, but getting married?

Love. All of us want to experience love more than anything… so much… that the pain of the loss is worth it.

He brought up another example, this time about dogs.

I adore my dog. She’s a fluffy golden doodle. She’s coming up on 9 years old.

I know at some point, I won’t be able to cuddle with her again

It’s going to break my heart.

The pain will be unbearable.

But will that prevent me from adopting another dog? Of course, not.

I’ll adopt another dog, fall in love with them all over again, and then have my heart shattered into a million pieces when I lose them.

I feel the same way about starting companies. You probably feel the same way about writing stories.

It’s your way to share your love with the world.

I’m that guy who got divorced and remarried again. This time not within 5 years, but 12 months. Why? Cause the power of giving your love not just to a mission and a team, but people who are your partners along the way is one of the most powerful feelings.

My personal life mission is to die knowing I gave as much love as possible to the people around me.

My heart will be broken. It already has. Sometimes I’ll be screwed over. I already have.

But life is *so* much better when you let the love inside. The world is so much better when we let love shine.

And guess what? Your readers feel the same way.

Every Reader Has An Infinite Capacity for Love

Now, we finally get to connecting my recent lessons about marriage and partnership back to readers.

Every reader has an infinite capacity for love.

When we read a story we fall in love with we are transported into the life of a new character. They become a part of us. And when the story ends?

It’s heartbreaking.

I still remember the feeling of compulsively reading the Hunger Games Series in middle school. I couldn’t stop reading cause I loved the books so much, but with every passing page, I knew I was one moment closer to the end and it was slowly destroying me.

Sometimes it hurts to love a story so much. And the best antidote for that pain? Another story.

This is why we don’t compete as authors.

When readers fall in love with a story, they are more likely to spend more time reading. And if they fall in love with a story similar to yours, there’s an even greater chance they will end up reading yours!

We all want to fall in love. Whether it be with a person, a pet, a place, or a story.

There are no limits on love. We all have an infinite capacity for it.

And we can work together as authors to spread more love to our readers.

If there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s that especially right now, the world could use more of that.

Want to learn more about how to get readers to fall in love with your stories?

I recently recorded a free webinar for the AuthorTube Writing Conference all about the 5 Reader Secrets to Transform Your Author Life.

You can watch the recording here.

It’s all about how to get a reader to fall in love with your stories and keep coming back for more.

In the meantime, I’ll be back shortly with another episode of Beyond the Book. We have 3 locked and ready to go. Just need to press upload :).

In the meantime, don’t forget…

Together we are boundless,

Michael Evans

The Author Sidekick