Mahu lihat sesuatu yang menarik
senarai tag
Columns

Curry Zawa Kaoru's Creative Counseling - "Do I need to socialize to sell out my stock?" Socializing isn't the first step.

Article by Curry Zawa Kaoru

Do I really need to talk to people to sell all my goods?

Hello, Curry Zawa. It’s nice to meet you. I’m currently struggling with a serious problem.

I love making books—or rather, bookbinding—and I even sell novels. However, because I have ASD, I have zero followers on pixiv. On X, I only post to myself, so I have zero followers there as well. Since I live in a rural area, I can’t attend events, so my only current distribution channel is through bookstore consignment.

With bookstore consignment, while other authors’ books are constantly selling out and restocking, my stock barely moves at all. It's painful. At first, I thought it was okay if it took a few months as long as my book reached the people who liked it, but I can't handle it anymore—I’ve lost heart.

Even if I print just 10 copies, I want to sell every single one. Do I really have to interact with people to do that?

The sudden statement about not having followers on pixiv and X came so out of nowhere that for a moment I was taken aback. Like, whoa?! But as someone who’s received a similar diagnosis, I sort of get what you’re trying to say. Presumably, because of those traits, you’ve caused people around you to react with "Whoa?!" in the past, leading to relationship troubles and intense stress.


If, based on those failures, you’ve cut off all interaction in your creative work to avoid trouble and stress, then that decision is the right one—and it’s admirable that you've taken thorough precautions based on that self-knowledge. People who can’t do this overestimate themselves no matter how many times they fail, repeat the same mistakes, and frustrate the people around them again and again.


It’s not uncommon for people to avoid socializing as much as possible in their hobbies to steer clear of unnecessary issues and anxiety. While this may be easier, many people admit that it does make them feel a twinge of loneliness. In particular, those involved with doujin activities—who might agonize over seeing after-party photos on social media right after an event ends—seem especially prone to falling into the dilemma of balancing the hassle of socializing with feelings of loneliness.


In that regard, since you don’t feel any longing for human connection and seem to feel lonely solely because your books aren’t selling, it’s easier to solve your worries than it is for someone who doesn't want to socialize but feels lonely not being invited to after-parties or anthologies. At the very least, it’s a lower-karma question.


Why is it easier? Because the answer to “Do you have to socialize to sell your work?” is “NO.”


So, does that mean your work isn’t selling because what you write is boring? That could be it, but it’s not the whole story. Doujinshi in novel form are especially hard to sell, and on top of that, their sales fluctuate greatly depending on the current popularity of the original work. That means there are various reasons why your work won't sell.


I expect that you might be the kind of person who feels some relief to hear you just have to write something more interesting (no matter how snidely) rather than being told, “No matter how well you write, you’ll never sell unless you socialize.”


In other words, congratulations! There are many things you can do before tackling the daunting challenge of socializing!

First advertising, then marketing

Furthermore, compared to other fields, the creative world offers a high likelihood of success even for people who prefer not to socialize. In fact, if you look up recommended careers for people with ASD, creative professions almost always come up.


This doesn’t mean you have to have creative talent. It’s because these fields require relatively fewer social skills and teamwork compared to other industries. So, while your aptitude for other jobs might be a Z, with some effort, you might be able to reach an F level in the creative industries, especially if it involves a hobby that suits your interests and skills. You also certainly shouldn’t force yourself to tackle social interactions you struggle with and turn your hobby into something that is a Z-level challenge for you.


As for things you can do besides socializing, promotion is probably the first thing that comes to mind. If your X account is private, you should make it public and actively share information about your books, such as links to your pixiv page as samples.


The main reason good works don’t sell is usually a lack of promotion. If people don’t know you exist, there’s no way they’ll even be able to buy your work. You might think that using pixiv or social media inevitably requires socializing, but promotion and socializing aren’t necessarily the same thing.


By actively promoting your work, you might get people leaving comments on pixiv or replying with feedback on X, but unless it’s a business-related message that absolutely requires a reply, there’s no need to force yourself to respond.


In fact, I often promote my work on X myself, but I hardly ever reply to anyone except those who send me cat photos—and even then, my replies are strictly directed at the cats, not the people. Readers who send feedback aren’t necessarily looking for a reply or interaction, so they usually don’t mind much if you don’t respond.


Rarely, someone might get angry about not receiving a reply, but in that case, they’re likely just as much of a Z-Fighter as you are, so you're better off not replying to avoid a Great Ape Showdown you didn't sign up for. If you’re concerned about it, either state in your profile upfront that you can’t reply or just periodically mutter into the void, “I can’t reply, but thank you for your feedback.”


Also, if you’re just into bookbinding and don’t care much about the novel’s content, you could try focusing on marketing—like releasing a book featuring a niche pairing in a popular genre or writing a story that’s insanely erotic.


That said, it’s not as if interaction has absolutely no bearing on sales. To put it bluntly, if you have 10 friends, your goal of selling all 10 copies isn’t entirely out of the question. However, we’re the kind of people who’ll be met with screams of horror from 1,000 people on the way to making just 10 friends—but we’ll die of stress long before that happens.


Given your unique circumstances, you’ve likely faced various hardships in your daily life. So, at the very least, in the world of your hobbies, it’s best to thoroughly avoid anything you’re not good at.

No matter how many strategies you try, your book might still not sell, and networking might be your only remaining option. Even then, keep in mind that deciding that you'd rather not sell a single copy than have to network is by no means the wrong choice.

↑ Feel free to send your troubles in languages other than Japanese, too.

This column was made into a book!

To celebrate the release of the book, we had a chat with Curry Zawa and Tsuzuru Sanada (author of Doujin Onna no Kanjo). Give it a read!

Can’t get enough of Curry Zawa Kaoru? Check out the following articles!

Read more Curry Zawa Kaoru’s Creative Counseling articles here
Curry Zawa Kaoru
  • Curry Zawa Kaoru
  • Born in 1982. Unemployed. Her works include Kremlin (Kodansha), Makeru Gijutsu (Kodansha), and Busu no Honkai (Ohta Publishing). Her hobby is egosurfing.

Tag artikel ini