The Truth About Visibility in 2025

In a world overflowing with content, one truth is hard to ignore: no matter how meaningful or powerful your work is—if it’s not seen, it stays invisible.

Whether you're a writer, fashion designer, visual artist, entrepreneur, or indie creator, promotion and marketing have become just as essential as the creation itself. This can be frustrating. You may think, “Shouldn’t good work speak for itself?”

But the honest answer in 2025 is: not anymore.

The most visible stories online aren’t always the most beautiful—they’re the most marketed. That visibility doesn’t come naturally. It comes with promotion, paid reach, and platform presence—most of which cost money.

And here's where it becomes heartbreaking.

I published my first novel The Quiet Between Us nearly a month ago. Since then, I've received countless messages from people and groups on platforms like Facebook and Twitter offering to promote my book—for a fee. Many of these “book clubs” or pages promise exposure, but they aren’t interested in reading or evaluating the story. They simply want money to mention your work once.

It made me realize, writing the book is not enough. Reaching your reader requires a budget—and honestly, I don’t have that right now. Probably most of us don’t.

Just days ago, I read a post from another indie author. She wrote her book at age 31 and shared how joyful the writing process was. But after publishing on Amazon, she spent days staring at her dashboard… and seeing zero sales. That crushed her. When she finally made her first two sales, she celebrated like she’d won the lottery. It made me wonder—where are the readers?

I haven’t used any official promotion tools yet. I’ve shared my book on this site and posted a few times on social media. But what I see is this: if you don’t have money for promotion, it’s nearly impossible to break through.

Everything—even words—seems to be valued by money now. Visibility is no longer tied to passion, or quality, or soul. It’s tied to popularity and investment. And it hurts, because we create with love, not algorithms.

Let’s Talk

Have you felt this too? Have you poured your heart into something, only to feel like it disappeared into silence? What helped you keep going? Or are you still searching for a way to be seen?

Please share your thoughts in the comments. Let’s talk honestly about this.