The Author Website Trap: Why Selling 75,000 Books Didn't Cure My Imposter Syndrome

AKA what technical writing taught me about selling fiction, and why I’m getting ready to start my web presence over again from scratch.

Every day, I set a goal to write a new article or note for WriterStead. Ideally, I want to write something that helps authors sell more books. But today, I want to talk about a dirty little secret that many successful authors don’t admit: Selling a lot of books doesn’t always make you feel like a "real" writer.

For the last decade, my husband and I have run Feldroy (formerly Two Scoops Press). We have sold a staggering number of technical books. We’ve dominated a niche market, built a loyal readership, and generated revenue that most indie authors dream of.

And yet, my author website has a glaring, gaping hole.

The "Safe" Success of Technical Writing

Here is the thing about technical books: They're the safe thing for us to publish. We have published so many of them that we have a formula now.

Because our tech books sold so well, it always felt weird to put our fiction alongside them. Feldroy has been a brand for developers. Mixing in fantasy novels felt incredibly awkward.

So, we didn't really promote our fiction books. We kept them hidden, and we never put the finishing touches on them that they deserved.

The Fantasy Series Gathering Dust

Here is the part of this story that hurts the most. I literally co-wrote a four-book fantasy series with my husband. It’s edited and complete, and we did all this before the age of AI writing and editing.

And it isn't on our website.

Why? I don't want to speak for Danny but personally when I was last working on our website I couldn't figure out how to fit it in. Also, because I feel like it doesn't meet my quality standards and I feel like I need to republish it first.

Honestly the root cause of all that is imposter syndrome.

Why WriterStead Exists

We partly started WriterStead to share our expertise on how to sell books online successfully. It all comes down to having a great author website in the end, a place to direct prospective and current readers to.

But personally another part of my story behind starting WriterStead was to force myself to get better at the messy part of being an author. The public and vulnerable part where you have to put yourself out there on your website completely.

A great author website is a home for your entire creative identity. You have to embrace what your books are really about and show that it's really a part of yourself. Even the stuff that you're shy to talk about, you can only succeed at selling your books if you embrace who you really are, as the author behind them.

The Hardest Thing About Being an Author

If you are a writer, you likely have a "secret" book. A genre you played with or a series that you are too scared to publish because it doesn't fit your current brand.

I’m here to tell you that your website is yours. You don't have to apologize for who you are or what you write. If I can put this essay out there as the first step toward promoting my out of genre books, then you can take the first steps toward putting your romance novels next to your business books.

The Daily Goal

My goal for "On WriterStead" is simple: I write an article or a note every day, as part of actively fighting my own hesitation and fears

I am going to republish that fantasy series. I am going to stop letting the success of my tech books overshadow the fiction I love.

And if you are a writer who wants to sell more books, I invite you to join me. Let’s build websites that represent the full scope of who we are.

Because the authors who sell the most books aren't the ones with the best covers or the cleverest marketing. They are the ones brave enough to be themselves completely online.