Something I have seen discourse around lately is if authors are each other’s competition.

My take on it? We are all on the same team : team reading books is good!

As a reader I know I won’t be picking just one or two books and reading those ones for the rest of my life, ignoring all others in the same genre. So why, as an author, would I think of other authors as my competition? If they have books in the same genre, with the same subject matter, that’s good for me. I can let readers know ‘hey, if you liked this author, you’ll enjoy my book, too!’.

Books from other authors can act like a bridge for readers to find me and my books. In the same token, my books can be a bridge for readers to find other authors in the same genre.

My bookcase can confirm that the more the merrier. I want other authors to succeed. Maybe they can reach a reader and bring that reader into our genre, and then I can help extend their stay.

The amount of fantasy books I have based on the same summary – fantasy stories with human woman and a variety of fae men. Do I think I have all I need in this genre? No! There are hundreds more out there, and I’ll keep searching them out.

It’s not a competition. If anything, it’s a team sport. Does that mean that some authors will do better before I find success? Probably. Does that mean my work is any less worthy than theirs? Nope. And that works both ways. We’re all on the same map, just on different journeys.

The worth of my book does not diminish because another author has a similar story line.

That’s all I wanted to say.

What do you think?