Fame, fortune and glory. Something that every writer dreams of, but no one is quite sure what being “famous” actually entails. Do you know who Robert Bloch is? How about Leigh Brackett or C.L. Moore? Each of these prolific writers hit it “big”: Bloch wrote the horror fiction that the movie Psycho was based on, Leigh Brackett wrote the screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back, and C.L. Moore’s groundbreaking contributions to fantasy and science fiction earned her the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Being a writer means that we have to continually remind ourselves why we write; to the fickle public it never matters “what” we’ve done. It always seems to be “when” we do it that counts. I’ll never forget the first time I joined a community of writers. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I was enthusiastic about how far I’d go as a writer and was eager to share ideas with other writers like myself. Then, I got told off by a very snarky writer who had written two books over 10 years ago–that I wasn’t a “real” writer because, at the time, I had zero “paid” credits to my name. To him, he was the “expert” because he had been published before and had gotten paid for it–but he was also bitter. Very bitter.

It’s easy for us to sit back and laugh at writers like this. Unfortunately, we are those writers. In 50 years, who will be remembered? Stephen King? Probably. You? Me? Probably not–yet.

As the title to this post, I asked the question, “Just How Long Does it Take to Make a ‘Name’ for Yourself?” How long do you think it takes? Well, the answer is: you can never stop working on your online reputation because even when you do “make that name,” you have to maintain it or it goes away.

I’ve been freelancing for over 10 years now, on-and-off, and I’ve always struggled with pursuing writing full-time because even though it’s rewarding–it’s also very unstable. Some days, you feel as if you are sitting in a glass-bottom boat. I got quite a bit of work in the gaming industry; the pay is on par with genre fiction and when the work is published–it can be quite rewarding. Yet, of the dozen or so credits I have listed, I’ve worked on over a dozen more that will probably never see the light of day. Do I feel I have a “name”? Nope, not at all. It’s something I have to continually work at because I hate to promote myself with a passion. I’d much rather be contributing to a community than tooting my own horn, so to speak, but it is a necessary evil.

The biggest benefit to making a name for yourself is not the fans, but the referrals. If you’re really trying to make a “go” of it, it might take over half of your time finding work than it will to actually get the projects done when you’re first starting out. That percentage decreases, of course, the more people get to know you, which helps you free up your time to write more or do sane things like see your friends.

Whether you have one book out there or twenty-five, I highly recommend making it a point to get your name out there in a tasteful and non-pushy way on a continued basis. Conventions, seminars, writer’s groups, forums, blogs, and a host of other online social media sites are invaluable tools that will help you establish yourself as a writer, editor or game designer.

Remember, that just getting online to scream “buy my books” isn’t going to help build your reputation as an author, either. Truthfully? That might get you banned from some forums and is just, plain rude and sometimes annoying. Everybody has a book to pimp; otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many writers out there. There are tasteful ways to do it, but in this case–keep in mind that you’re not only trying to sell books, you’re also building your “company brand.” Like all other companies out there, products can help you do that, but in this case? Your pen name is everything.

So here’s to fame and fortune my dear readers. Let’s clear out the clutter and pave the way so one day fate will smile.