7 Motivating Ways To Keep Your Writing Motivation When You Have No Readers

If you are wondering how to keep fueling your writing motivation when it often feels easier to give up, and are wondering how other writers can seemingly write forever and not give up, even when they too aren’t gaining any recognition or reward, then you’ve landed on the right article.

There would be a twisted irony if no one ended up finding this article, but if that were to be the case then it should make no difference to your writing output anyway, as we’ll discover.

Here are 7 motivating and valuable points to remember when you might feel like quitting.

Writing Motivation Tip #1 – Take A Break And Come Back To It In A Bit

The first thing you can do when you feel your writing effort is leading nowhere is to simply take a break. Negative thoughts will only fuel more, and while negative emotion can actually be very useful material towards some writing projects, you are undoubtedly negative because your writing feels like it’s getting nowhere, so writing more will hardly help (at least straight away).

Take a step off the writer’s train for a minute or risk leading yourself down to writer’s block (tip 7).

To think that writers never give up is nonsense. Writers give up, all the time, but a strong trait in a good writer is how they always get up again. That’s the perseverance that is required to be a successful writer, and if you have no readers, that’s even more reason not to give up.

It may help to think of the times we feel like giving up like ‘mini-quits’.

We know deep down we aren’t going to quit on something that drives us underneath, yet quitting is associated with failure, so when we feel like quitting we almost feel guilty for it, which only makes things worse.

So, quit. Have a rest. Go do something else. Allow yourself to. And anyway, you will find that having no readers or a million readers actually has little bearing on your writing self-esteem when you acknowledge this second tip.

Writing Motivation Tip #2 – You Aren’t Really Writing For Recognition Or Reward Anyway

Think about why you started writing something. Was it to ‘get rich quick?’. Highly unlikely. There are far easier ways to do that than writing. Was it to gain recognition? Possibly it was, but it’s more likely that you want recognition for your writing and knowledge, not just to be known as a writer.

Imagine a top novelist who only wrote because they wanted attention. Where do you think the motivation and inspiration for chapters and chapters of interesting material would come from if their motivation was only surface level?

People likely do want readership so their writing feels more successful, so it’s recognized and acclaimed, but it’s often because writers want to add something of value to the world (number 3). and not because they just want to become known through their writing.

Think about what got you writing in the first place. Imagine if I already knew that nobody would read this article. Would I just skip past it and onto another one that had a stronger readership?

Well, some would think that would be a more productive use of time and energy, but writers often aren’t motivated to write purely because it ticks clickbait checklist requirements – some are, but our writing motivation often stems from a deeper purpose.

While it can be demotivating when you spend hours and hours of blood, sweat, and thoughts on an idea for an article or a book, only to find that no one is reading it, it certainly doesn’t mean that it wasn’t meaningful to you when you were writing it.

If on the other hand, you write solely to fill in popular trending articles you have no interest in but are doing so because it is more likely to lead to likes or followers, then you will find a different problem at the end of the writing tunnel – you will lose motivation entirely because it feels like a job rather than an interest.

Writing Motivation Tip #3 – Think About The Value Created, Not The Time Or Energy Lost

The flip side to seeking recognition or reward is to add value.

When we write we may find that something feels valuable or personal to our interests. It’s always better writing about what you know and your experiences, as this allows you to translate those experiences into stories, tips, or guidance for others who read it. Its value goes beyond yourself, it passes on to inspire or educate others too.

But what if your hard work is not getting any eyeballs? How can you add value if others aren’t seeing it?

We can sometimes assume that adding value has to be now, right this second. That is the ingrained approach from an instant gratification society that wants something yesterday.

Writing, or creating any kind of content, doesn’t have to be consumed immediately though. It does depend on the type of writing, as if you are creating news-related posts then news becomes old news pretty fast, but if you are creating stories, guides, or tips that aren’t timestamped to yesterday, then people may find that really useful in a year, or two.

You can read a novel that takes you back in time, or into the future. Very few focus solely on the now. So, when you write something that puts all your time and energy into it, you may find that the value it creates accumulates over time rather than was wasted because it didn’t get instant attention.

If you focus on value creation then it will eventually find a home in someone’s life.

Another aspect of value creation is how you evolve as a writer the more time and energy you put into it. You are undoubtedly a better writer than when you started, so you have already added more value through practice. It would be a shame to give that up overthinking your readership defines everything about your writing.

It doesn’t, but if you are still concerned over the lack of readership then tip 4 may be useful.

Writing Motivation Tip #4 – Look Into A Variety Of Readership Avenues

It seems likely that those who are receiving no readership would ensure they are working on finding platforms and avenues to gain more readership, but we all know how time and energy-consuming this can be these days.

Each time a new platform comes along a writer (or content creator for that matter) feels that their workload just doubled, with the only ones truly profiting being the platform developers themselves.

We need to remember that these platforms are not solely designed to help us, writers or readers, they are designed to keep eyes on the table.

While it can feel like the easiest and most obvious choice to try and build up a readership in a place that has readers, it can also lead to writer’s fatigue and writer’s block (tip 7) if you end up spending the majority of your time trying to cultivate more readers through only writing what ‘sells’.

It can feel disheartening to not only be lost in a sea of competition who are doing the same thing but in realizing that the original reasons you got into writing are falling by the wayside.

Of course, to some people gaining readership is important. If writing is your only income stream then you have to eat. You will likely write for publications and clients requests, and not for your own imagined novel (at least at first) if this is the case, but it can end up sucking you down a path of writing as a job, rather than writing for many other forms of value (such as to communicate, to express yourself, to bring joy, humor or intrigue to life etc.).

If you are needing more readers then really think about the type of readers you are targeting. It’s too easy to join a big network and hope that there’s enough eyes there to read your piece and then suddenly traffic will flood your way through social shares.

If that happens, great, but that will be because of the value the piece had, and not because you targeted the appropriate readership.

Getting into forums around your interest or expertise can help. Guest posting where appropriate. Going to events and sending out free value as a teaser to what your writing is all about. Self-publishing to a niche crowd.

While writing is the joy, marketing is the necessary. Finding ways to streamline that process can certainly help, as can ensuring you don’t spread yourself too thin or too far.

Too thin and you are completely reliant on one platform, and if they change or go under, so do you. Too far and you simply don’t have enough time or energy to keep up, and you will be too tired to write anything in the end.

Finding a variety of streams to promote your writing has to be balanced. You have to dedicate more time to your craft to ensure its meaning is still there, but also find a few platforms that hit your target audience requirements.

Writing Motivation Tip #5 – Note Life Happen Around You For Inspiration

Now back to finding writing motivation. Regardless of readership, we all need inspiration to write as writers.

A personal tip of mine is to develop a habit of noting daily life experiences around you each day.

If you don’t go outside then you can find inspiration online, but the most inspiring stimulus seems to be from when we just go about our day. Many people might just see the same day as the same routine, but this doesn’t have to be the case.

We always have thoughts merging in our minds. We might be thinking about one thing because of a program we just watched, or because a friend just called us and talked about an event two years ago, which triggered a memory, promoted a thought, and then combined with a new experience or interaction today, and which all then merged and formed a new idea.

Ideas are everywhere. They are constant. It’s not just the stimulus in front of us, but the stimulus from our imagination and our memories. When we learn to see beyond our same four walls as just four walls and instead see them as a potential part of stimulus to new ideas and new findings then our curious brain can get to work.

Our job is simply to note down when ideas come about. If we didn’t waste so many ideas throughout our life by letting them pass by unconsciously, instead of allowing them to manifest, then we might all find we have a whole world of untapped imagination within us, and a whole bag of potential material for our writing.

Not every form of writing is about stories though. Sometimes we might be writing articles like this one, which is more about informative tips and suggestions. The same applies though.

We can gain inspiration as we allow our minds to wander our own experiences, the experiences and knowledge of others, and imagination of the unknown. It may lead to a discovery or suggestion that was just under our fingertips.

Voice recorders are very useful for noting down ideas on the fly. It’s worth having one on your phone as there’s ALWAYS something to write about when you allow your mind to wander and find it.

A final point on inspiration.

It may feel like having no readers is the reason for losing motivation but it could well be that you just aren’t inspired enough in your day to find something original that would captivate a reader’s attention (and not by clickbait, but by original value), so noting down life happen around you just might change that.

Writing Motivation Tip #6 – Remember How Writing Is Therapy

It may be easier to worry about how no readers is meaning no income, but the benefits writing gives you is saving you a potential fortune in other ways. Writing is potentially saving you thousands in therapy or counseling.

That might sound presumptuous that you need therapy, but the truth is we all can benefit from therapy. It doesn’t have to be expensive counseling but we all need a way to release stress or thoughts.

Some people meditate or exercise to calm, but writing has an interesting connection that is directly linked to our cognitive memories and interpretation of events.

Writing is therapy itself.

When you write something down you are cementing it into your understanding, and it makes something that might seem unfamiliar to you at first become familiar, and thus, less threatening.

Humans have been writing for centuries, and long before video mediums came out. Video may seem easier and quicker these days, but there’s a good reason many people still choose to write as their preferred productive medium (and read as their preferred receptive means).

While writing is a truly magical self-help tool, it can seem like an introspective one, but often when we write we are seeking extrospective reassurance subconsciously too.

Therefore, it can be more motivating to hear from fellow readers who are stuggling and trying rather than from those who are already successful in what they are looking for.

We all can benefit from finding mentors in life, and we do gain knowledge from those who have been there and done it, but we can also benefit from working alongside someone else who is feeling the same pain.

It’s no coincidence that pen pals were such a source of therapy for many people long before technology changed our interconnected relationships, but even today finding writing buddies is a very motivating tool.

Writing Motivation Tip #7 – Change Up Your Writing Time & Environment (And Promote Creativity In The Process)

There’s been a lot of conventional wisdom that suggests that getting up really early is more productive but I’ve found that challenging conventional wisdom certainly has its place too, especially when promoting creative thinking.

Let’s face it, do you need to get up early if that routine isn’t helping you get more out of yourself anymore?

After a while, anything can become routine and what may have looked like good conventional wisdom to follow at the time might end up being the opposite of what you now need.

When concerned with writing then change is actually good for you. It provides potentially new stimulus in a place you haven’t been before, but the real key is in how it just prompts your mind to wake up from autopilot routines.

As well as changing your writing environment, you could also gain more writing motivation from changing your writing time.

One idea that works really well for me is to write at the END of the day instead of at the start.

We are more creative later in the day but besides this studied fact we also will have much more material from the events of our day to draw upon.

This can lead to more inspired and better writing, and better writing could catch the eye of more interested readers.

It may also lead towards a final benefit of being able to write so much more than before.

If you want to know how some people are able to write so much (books, articles, screenplays, etc.) so rellentlessly then it’s largely down to their focus and motivation, as well as their vivid imagination of course.

If your environment is cemented in routine then you can end up stifling your creativity, and your writing just becomes so much harder. You end up fighting with it. You spend more time worrying about what you ‘should’ be doing to make it fit into all the logical guidelines of what an article/book etc should format like, and you can end up losing the flow of the article/story itself.

It’s therefore vitally important we find opportunities to allow our imagination to flow and not suppress our creativity, otherwise, we will suffer from writer’s block or have very little writing motivation at all, never mind be worrying about a lack of readers.