According to CliftonStrengths, my #1 strength is Strategy, so it’s no surprise that 1) I’m writing this series on author strategy, and 2) I love the Enneagram.

If you want to know how to work with a person, you need to know what motivates them at that core level. What are they running toward, and what are they running away from, essentially. And the Enneagram is all about motivation.

So let’s talk about what motivates an Enneagram Type Four and how to build a comprehensive and compatible author strategy around it.

Type Four, the Individualist, can feel like a bit of an outsider looking in on the fast-paced, high-output indie community. But considering you Fours usually feel like the outsider in any scenario, I know you’re not panicking right now. This is home for you.

Let’s revisit what a Type Four looks like.

Type Four: The Individualist

Fours are the typical eccentric artist type. Not only do they tolerate suffering for their work, they sort of prefer it. Their core fear is not being seen as unique, and their core motivation is to figure out their place in this world. Trying to convince a Four to write to market is usually a futile pursuit.

Some things Fours will care about:

Expressing themselves through their books
Standing out from the crowd
Unconventional marketing
Being authentic with readers

If you’re a Four, this list will seem super obvious, and to care about things that don’t fall into this general category might seem like sacrificing quality or just plain selling out.

Unfortunately, the things you care about most aren’t always what make the big bucks in this industry, and if you want to do this as a career (and it’s totally okay if you don’t), then it can help to make peace with a few things that might feel like artistic compromises.

But before I press that subject, let’s look at some of the reasons you Individualists might want to become indie authors in the first place.

“I want to plumb the depths of the human experience and share my discoveries with the world.”
“I like the creative freedom afforded by publishing independently.”
“Sharing my discoveries of self could help someone else feel less alone.”

There will be other reasons, since most people have a few for why they decided on indie publishing, but at least one of these will resonate with Fours.

It’s all about your unique art, basically, and indie publishing is a great environment for creative visionaries who don’t want an editor or publisher telling them what they need to change and tone down.

That being said, I do need to have a word with you Fours. Writing to market may not appeal to you, but it isn’t the dirty word you think it is. No matter what genre you’re writing, there is a market for it. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that unless your desire to write is 100% self-indulgent, meaning you want to create and you don’t care if anyone consumes, then you need to shape your vision to something recognizable to the audience you want to reach. That can be as simple as a few character archetypes for them to grasp or even just getting the general page-count close to what readers expect for the genre (for instance, stay away from1,500-page cozy mysteries or epic fantasies under 200 pages). It doesn’t have to be confining or crushing.

Individualists are out-of-the-box thinkers, and as such, you should be creative enough to take the important truth you need to share and work it into a package that readers will buy (or download for free, if that’s your thing).

You’re not selling out when you sell. You’re just selling. And pardon me for being blunt, work that nobody reads isn’t worth a damn. It’s just onanistic. You have something important to say, so be realistic about what it’ll take for it to reach others.

So, let’s return to the question. What do you want to accomplish with your books? What’s your goal?

Here are a few likely possibilities:

Attract readers who will understand my unique vision.
Use my unique ability to distill and express complex emotions to help others who feel similarly lost in them.
Contribute something truly beautiful to the world.

This first goal exemplifies the struggle of the Four. You want to be recognized as the unique individual you are, but when that happens, it can leave you feeling alone and misunderstood by the world. Attracting people to you who understand you is crucial not only to building a strong tribe, but to living a content existence as an Individualist.

The second goal is one of the many noble pursuits of the Four. You feel big things, and your emotions can frequently overwhelm you. You know you’re not the only one experiencing this, and if you’ve found ways to express those nebulous feelings, you’ll want to tell the world to help the other lonely travelers lost at sea. This is an incredible contribution you can make to the world, and while most indies will not understand it in the least bit, it’s a worthy magnetic north for you.

The third goal is just as noble. Fours have created some of the most remarkable true beauty in this world. They can also express horrifying darkness in just as elegant of terms. Tennessee Williams, Edgar Allan Poe, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan are your Individualist kinfolk, if that gives you any idea. You were made for telling stories that evoke and provoke. And I don’t think that anyone would call Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell a sell out just because they sold well.

Now that you have considered the things in this business that will matter to you, why you got into it in the first place, and what your goal might be, you’re inches away from putting together a great strategy.

Example:

I got into this business because: I wanted tell people stories that jolt them from their mundane, sanitized lives into the rough and rugged waters of deep human emotions.

Things I care about: Telling my story my way. Taking the time I need to get my manuscript where I want it. Being authentically my broody self.

Goal: To touch as many people as I can with my passionate prose.

Because you Fours love being unique, I’m going to point this out: that money isn’t mentioned anywhere in this goal is among the list of things that make you so unusual. While Threes are the only type that values money itself, most of the types mention money in their goals as a means to an end. And maybe you will, too. But most of the Fours I know would actually prefer not to associate their writing with money if they can help it. Profit can be a byproduct, but it shouldn’t be the goal.

So, this might be the strategy that goes with the above information:

I will be daring and vulnerable in my stories in a way most people are unable or afraid to be. I will create a central hub where people can connect with me and I can be my most authentic and unique self, not encumbered by anyone else’s judgment of what my art and life should or should not look like. And to reach the people who need to hear my message, I’ll make my work easy to find and obtain (key tactics: affordable (or free), and available on every retailer).

Now, this strategy is specific, but there’s a lot of wiggle room. If you want to make enough money to live on your writing alone — while this will complicated your relationship to your art, not having a 9–5 sure does free up more time to create said art! — then you’ll add in something for that. Maybe you want to follow Amanda Palmer’s lead and start a Patreon or make your published work pay-what-you-can. Fours can thrive on unconventional pay models. But don’t get lost in those tactics before you have your strategy nailed down!

So if you want to build your strategy for your Enneagram Type, be sure to start small, with the things you care about (authenticity, beauty, unimpeded self-expression) and don’t be afraid to accept money for it if people want to give it to you — it can allow you to do even more of what you do best.

You don’t have to conform to the strategies of those around you, but you do need to have a strategy if you want to get the most out of your short time on earth.