This is a challenging question for all writers. The fact is you really cannot please everyone and it is often useful to find yourself at odds with at least some audiences. The alternative is to so average yourself that you end up not standing for anything. It is far better to be respected as a leader or authority in your focal area.
Writing, tough as it is, is still the easy part. Getting published, a near impossibility, is also relatively easy especially if you self-publish or put your own money on the table. Those all represent big enough challenges, of that I have no doubt, but the greatest challenge, by far, is marketing your work.
I use marketers for my training and public speaking assignments, because I am, at best, only good at a few things. Marketers, eat, sleep and breathe their trade, and they are good at it, so it makes much more sense to be in partnership with them. However, for the sake of good stewardhip, I am very careful about who I partner with, for as Paul said, "That which we receive from God, we commit to faithful souls".
Without delving into what publishers and other marketing partners contribute to a writer's success, let me say that you can at least control your marketability ... and you better, because you won't get far otherwise - after all, how will a marketer or publisher ever discover you unless you get their attention and why would they take a risk on you if you can't sustain that. To achieve marketability, you must differentiate yourself from others, because being distinctive is the primary driver of effective marketing.
The trade offs between what various parties can do to contribute to your overall success as a writer or blogger, point to a vital principle. It applies to anyone who wants to make a difference in life, especially those who feel called to Christian ministry or service. It is the principle of "proving your ministry".
I have sat under numerous apostolic leaders, which taught me that a ministry had to be proved and recognised before it could be released. I contrast that against the orthodox practice of gaining and promoting a qualification or the more contemporary practice of self-advancement. Although I am not against qualifications, "qualified" ministries often lack the vitality of "unqualified" ministries. Maybe that is why so many "less likely's" impacted the bible, for it takes more revelation than qualification to shake the world.
However, qualified or not, nothing gives anyone a right to be heard - it has to be earned. Qualifications and paperwork often presume entitlement, which leads to the lowest form of leadership: positional leadership or leadership based on title, rank or position. The highest form of leadership, legitimate leadership, is always the product of years of proving, which culminates in winning the right to be heard.
Such a long-term project demands a focused life. You have to decide what you are trying to be, or more importantly, what God is calling you to be, and then go down that road, without deviating from it. Malcom Gladwell describes the "Tipping Point"as a golden ratio of 10,000 hours, the time it takes to accumulate sufficient experience and exposure before we "tip" into acceptance and recognition.
Jesus proved the point. In truth, He did not do many things in His short life, rather He did a few things exceptionally well, which ensured that His brief life-tenure was of eternal significance. Similarly, if you want to gain respect for your position or ministry, be prepared to do just the same. Don't try to be a jack-of-all-trades or a generalist. As Mrs Lincoln once said to Abe, "Be something".
To be that something, you must be guided by your heart, not by popular opinion. A great communicator is not someone who tries to appeal to a majority. On the contrary, they often start their careers appealing to an audience of one: the great God upon His throne. Someone once said to me, "If you win your audience through popular appeal, be willing to keep them there". That is a mug's game if ever there was.
However, the soul that resonates with what God intended them to be, is like a rare Stradivarius, a finely crafted instrument of God's grace, fashioned and perfected for His purpose, which produces the sweetest notes and the richest chords. To that end I can only say I am not a writer at all, I am merely a faithful scribe of what God pours into my heart during my times of intimacy with Him. I am just the pen of a ready writer.
I close with a simple but poignant illustration. A renowned orator was asked to recite Psalm 23 at a function. He agreed on condition that someone else would do the same. An old pastor accepted the challenge and so the orator steped up to deliver what was a rousing and much applauded rendition of the great Psalm. But when the old pastor concluded his recital, the audience was stunned into moist-eyed, silence. The orator softly added, "I may know the Shepherd's Psalm, but this old man ... knows the shepherd".
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