To become a successful author, whether you are published traditionally or independently, you must follow a few key concepts. 

Success Is Up To You!

First and foremost, you must realize that your success is up to you. Don’t wait for your big break or for good luck to shower down upon you. You must actively pursue it. Don’t wait for the next breakout novel to skyrocket your writing career. Instead, build your business on the back of these core principles, and you will reach your goals.

Pace Yourself: 

Think like a marathon runner. They don’t start out running as hard and fast as they can. If they did, they would burn out a mile down the road. It’s all about pacing. This concept works for authors as well. While it’s exciting to launch a new book and host launch parties, it’s time to get back to work on your next project as soon as the parties are over. Don’t waste too much time in between. A successful writing career is about building up an audience and building up a backlog of books that fans love and will continue to share. While everyone wants to be the next JK Rowling with Harry Potter, it’s not likely that that will happen. And if it does, good for you. In the meantime, all of the successful Indie Authors are out creating valuable content and carving their own path to success.

Bring Value to the Reader:

Remember, you don’t get paid for time or products. You get paid for bringing value to the marketplace. When you are writing your book, keep this in mind. There are hundreds of thousands of authors out there that you are competing with. How is your book bringing value to the marketplace? You might ask, I’m writing a fiction book. How is that valuable? Entertainment is extremely valuable. Why do you think Hollywood gets paid so much? Is your book bringing value to your reader? If you’re writing for the fun of it or writing for your own amusement, then do yourself a favor and keep it in your notebook on your shelf. Otherwise, turn your focus to your reader. Write for them. Publish for them. Market for them. Sell for them.

Discipline Yourself!

Self-discipline is the master key to your success. No one is going to barge into your writing space and beat you with a rubber hammer until you sit down at your keyboard and start typing. It is your job to make yourself sit down and write regularly. You do not have a time clock or a boss to push you. You must push yourself. Create your daily writing schedule and stick to it. It’s up to you. Remember your success is your job.

Create Positive Habits:

Habits will either lead you toward success or keep you from it. Create a steady writing habit. Humans are habitual creatures. It may take a little bit of self-discipline to make yourself create a new habit, but once you do, you no longer have to fight to make yourself do it. Set aside the next 21 days to create a new writing habit. You will find after three weeks, this habit is already implanted into your habitual nature, and you won’t have to fight so hard to make yourself write.

Goals. Goals. Goals: 

I know you’ve heard it before, but you must have goals if you want to reach success. Create short-term and long-term goals for your writing career. Take the time to sit down and imagine what you would like your writing career to look like in 5 years. Then write it down so you can refer back to it periodically. When you find yourself distracted, you can pull out your business goals, review them, and get back on track.

Remember, whether you are traditionally published, or Indie published, marketing your book will be up to you. Your success is up to you. Are you going to be self-disciplined? Are you going to build the habits you need? Or are you going to wait for someone else to hand you success on the tip of their magic wand? 

Recommended Reading:

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Synova’s #1 Tip for Overcoming Writer’s Block 

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Successful authors have a major secret. Today I’m going to share that secret with you. Your book cover is the most critical design element there is. It doesn’t matter if you have an award-winning title and the best-written book on the planet. If your book cover sucks, no one will buy it. I know that sounds rough, but it’s the truth, unfortunately. You see, we’re so inundated with advertising that it takes people 14 times before they start paying attention to an ad. So we need to stand out from the crowd. How do you do this? Well, I’m going to show you how.

• It’s Not About You:

First and foremost, you must remember that your book cover is not about you. It is about your reader. I know that’s obvious. But unfortunately, too many new writers design a book cover they liked, but the book doesn’t sell very well, and they don’t understand why. Remember. The reader has not read your book. Many authors try to get clever with their book cover designs. The cover is what causes the reader to pick up your book in the first place. Keep it very simple. 

• Connect to the Reader’s Emotion:

Remember to connect to the reader’s emotion. It doesn’t matter what your genre, the image on the cover should make an emotional connection with your potential reader. If you can connect to them on this level, they will be more encouraged to open the book and start reading. 

•  Avoid the Clutter:

Avoid cluttering up the cover of your book with excess information, excess images, and various fonts. You do not want your book to look like a scrapbook. You want it to look professional. It means no collages, no random shapes, and only use at the most two different fonts. You need to save the calligraphy and all of the fun swirly fonts for another day.

• Highlight Key Words:

Choose which words you want to emphasize by using various colors, fonts, and sizes. You don’t have to make the entire title one color. For instance, in a video I made on the subject, I mentioned the book by Michael Franzese named BloodCovenant. His book cover is great, but I would have made the word “blood” red instead of white if I were designing it. This change would have drawn the reader’s attention to the most emotionally-charged word on the page.

• The Blink Test:

Finally, I suggest you use Derek Murphy’s blink test. If you can look at a cover for five seconds or less and still get a basic understanding of the topic, then you’ve done a good job. If it takes longer, then you might want to reconsider your choices.

• Keep It Simple:

Always keep the design simple. Don’t use too many colors. Don’t use more than two fonts. And definitely, don’t use more than a couple of pictures. If you would like more information on book cover design, check out my YouTube series on the subject, or you can check out my author coaching at Synova’s Simply Biz Facebook Group.

More Info:

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Can a local writer build a big enough audience to attract Hollywood? I did.

Can you publish independently and build a large platform that attracts the attention of a traditional publishing house? I did.

Can an indie author make six figures a year? Yes!

This go-to guide will show you how I built a business so large that a publishing house came to me and offered to buy reprint rights to three of my books. I got the chance to tell them “no” for one of the books. I made too much money.

Have you ever been able to send a rejection letter to a publishing house? It’s a lot of fun. Trust me.

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Study Like Your Life Depends on It! Why Successful Authors Study

Successful authors are continually studying. I know that sounds scary to those who hated school, but it’s easy when you find your perfect way of learning.

Whether you choose to self-publish or be traditionally published, you must learn how to market your book. When you have your manuscript completed, you are only 5% finished. Yes, you read that right. 95% of an author’s work is in marketing.

Hard Truth:

Publishers will NOT market your book for you!

I know it says on their website that they will help with marketing, but their idea of helping is uploading it to their website with all the other books they have published. You will be lost in the shuffle. Publishing houses spend their marketing budget on the top 3% of authors. That means unless you have a name like J.K. Rowling, you will not have one dollar spent on your marketing campaign. Trust me on this. I learned it the hard way.

Nowadays, the marketplace is flooded with books, and it’s your job to stand out from the crowd. If you can’t accomplish this, then you will be lost in the sea of want-to-be writers.

Don’t Despair. There’s Hope!

Successful authors know they have to keep an eye on their market. They have found their target audience and are actively studying their interests.

True Crime Example: As usual, I will give you an example from the true-crime side of my business. I wrote my first book Unorganized Crime and marketed it as the biography of an ex-gangster from Chicago. There is one problem with this. The market has been flooded with Mafia-style books, and now the public is more interested in cold cases, serial killers, and even the Dixie Mafia. The Italian Mafia is slowly becoming “Old News” in the marketplace. I will be rebranding this book and relaunching it after the first of the year.

The constant study is necessary to stay on top of these market trends. Also, you need to be studying delivery methods in the marketplace. Facebook Algorithms are continually changing. Youtube video guidelines are changing. Technology is always evolving, and a good marketer will change along with them.

I also make it a habit to study the best in my field. Find the leaders in your genre and model their business plan. Please don’t copy them, but find out what works for them and use it as inspiration to create your own business plan.

Self-study is the key to success in any field of endeavor, but some people hate book work. I understand that. Luckily, we live in the information age, and we can acquire the knowledge we need in various ways. Videos abound online, and most of what you need to get started, you can find for FREE on Youtube. Other video tutorials have a small cost, but it’s worth it when your business starts to flourish.

Audiobooks are a valuable resource, and you can get a subscription to Amazon’s Audible for less than $15/month. I recently found the Scribd App. It allows its subscribers to have unlimited audiobooks a month for less than $7/month. Look over the various options for audio programs. You can listen to them on your daily commute. Think about it. If you drive minutes to and from work, that is an hour a day that you could be studying. That hour will multiply to a whopping 260 hours a year! Do you realize the average college student only spends approximately 72 hours in the classroom a semester? This is the equivalent of 3.6 college courses, and all it cost was the price of an audiobook.

I listen to audio courses, seminars, and workshops on my earbuds while I clean the house. I particularly hate doing dishes and folding socks. Those chores, of course, have to be repeated daily, so I use my house cleaning time to study. I literally have a pen and notebook by the kitchen sink. I will be scrubbing my pots and pans and then dry my soapy hands to write down some notes.

...But I don’t have time

I hear this all the time, and it’s simply not true. Think about it. If you really want to do something, you will find the time. This sounds harsh, but believe me that I say it with utmost love and appreciation for you. I am a homeschooling mother of two. I do not have a babysitter, and so my children always want something from me. I run a cold case blog that goes out to half a million people each week. I blog twice a week, I have several books published, and I’m currently working on two more. I will launch a podcast series and a tv show soon, and I’m now launching my new “Get Your Book Done!” course. Yes, it is hard to squeeze in time for my study, but I know it is essential for my business, and I find a way.

Whatever you do, find a way to continue your education in your chosen field, and you will find yourself ahead of the pack. And if you would like a professional coach to help you level up as a writer, then check out my Synova’s Simply Biz Author Coaching Service.

As part of the launch week for my new course, I am giving away FREE 30-min coaching calls. I usually charge $500 for these guys, so don’t miss your chance to get a free coaching session!

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Today we’re going to be talking about the nasty word procrastination and how we can overcome it as writers. Nobody likes to admit they have a problem with procrastination, but honestly, we all do it at various times. Here are a few ways I have discovered to combat the menace of procrastination.

Discover the reason behind it: 

Once you discover the truth, then you will be able to work through it. Why do you keep putting it off? Do you feel your writing isn’t good enough? This excuse tends to be the underlying cause of stress for many writers. Keep this in mind. Most Americans read at a 7th or 8th-grade level. It doesn’t mean they can’t read a more complicated text, but they choose to read at a lower level for entertainment purposes. So as long as you can write as well as your teenager can comprehend, you are fine. Nowadays, some of the best-selling, highest-grossing books are not written in a literary or Shakespearean fashion. They are written in a conversational tone that people can relate to, enjoy and read quickly.

Rediscover Your Purpose:

Why did you decide to write this book in the first place? What would this do for you if this book took off and became a best-seller? How would you touch the world with your writing? Reignite that spark within you, that fire, that passion that made you want to become a writer in the first place, and you’ll find procrastination disappears.

Set Deadlines:

Another way to combat procrastination is to set goals and deadlines for yourself. Now, these goals and deadlines need to be kept, so if you can’t do it alone, then find yourself an accountability partner. Make sure it is someone who will hold you to your goals. Some people choose to use a writer’s group, and others hire a mentor or coach. Of course, Synova’s Simply Biz Author Coaching Service is here to help you with such things if you need help. 

Procrastination is Fear:

You must realize procrastination is based on fear. Nobody procrastinates on something that they’re confident doing, something they love doing, or something that comes easy for them. No, people procrastinate on things they’re afraid of or things they’re nervous about. Realize that you are more than capable of writing down your thoughts. You can choose to use a notebook as I sometimes do, or you can dictate your writing if you don’t feel comfortable with a pen and paper. That’s what I’m doing with this article right now. I found in my busy, hectic schedule, running my business, homeschooling my kids, trying to maintain a happy marriage and a comfortable home, that I don’t have a lot of time to sit down with a notebook and a pen. Although that’s my favorite way of writing, I have found dictation has been a lifesaver.

Realize Life IS A Distraction!

Don’t wait for a time completely free from distractions. I will warn you that time will never come. The only time you are entirely without distraction is when you’re in the grave. I know it sounds cold and harsh, but life itself is a distraction. So it’s up to you what you choose to focus on. Tony Robbins says, “where focus goes, energy flows.” I love that because it reminds me that what I focus on is what I’m going to do, accomplish, or become. So don’t wait for a time without distractions. You choose what you focus on.

That being said, there is a way to minimize the distractions. For one, if you find yourself getting distracted by your cell phone, then leave it in the other room shut off. If you find you’re bothered by the internet on your PC, then grab the old-fashioned notebook and write by hand. In my case, I have two kids running around the house constantly while I’m trying to work my business. If I wait for a time without distractions, I might as well wait twenty years until they’re grown up and out of the house. I’m sure there will be something else to distract me, though.

Build Writing Rituals:

Another way to combat procrastination is to build a writing ritual. I use the word ritual because it involves a different image in our minds than the word routine. Routine is something we do every day. Ritual is something more spiritual, more powerful. It has more life to it. 

Now, if you think about Arnold Schwarzenegger, he exercises like a maniac. He’s been doing this since his bodybuilding days. He used to work out for 5 hours a day in a gym. Now nobody I know personally works out like that, but I know now that Arnold is well into his seventies, he still works out twice today for at least an hour. Does he think about it? No. Does he have to push himself to continue? No. He has built a ritual. If you build a strong enough writing ritual, the procrastination will literally disappear.

Don’t Wait For Inspiration. 

“Don’t wait for inspiration. Go after it with a club.” – Jack London.

Many new writers come into my coaching program and tell me that they haven’t written this week because they just haven’t had the inspiration. Successful writers don’t wait for inspiration. They go out and create their own inspiration. If you start writing, the inspiration will come. Think of it as the faucet in your kitchen. If you want the water to wash your dirty dishes, you have to turn it on. It’s the same with inspiration. Get started, and it will come. 

When You Don’t Know What To Write:

Finally, I suggest you use my “Topics Method” to avoid procrastination. I have several videos and articles about this method and will link them below. The topics method is where you break down your book into 25 topics or sections. Now, these topics do not have to be chapters. They do not have to be any specific thing. Write down what you want to write about in 25 pieces. Put those topics on pieces of notebook paper, and place them in a hat. Shake them up and draw one a day. This method keeps you from having to figure out what you’re going to write without wasting time.

Whatever your reason for procrastinating, keep in mind that everyone experiences procrastination from time to time. You’re not alone. The important thing is to keep pushing through and don’t give up. You have not lost. You have not failed until you quit. Keep writing, guys! 

Synova’s #1 Tip for Overcoming Writer’s Block (The Topics

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