Top 6 Success Tips for Authors
To become a successful author, you must follow a few key concepts, whether you are published traditionally or independently.
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, that will not likely happen. And if it does, good for you. In the meantime, all 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’s a lot of competition. You need to set your work apart from the crowd by bringing value to the reader. 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 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 your work 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.
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?
Here’s a poem that I found in Bob Proctor’s book titled, “You Were Born Rich” it was written by James J. Metcalfe. I do not own the copyright for this poem, but I wanted to share it with you. No copyright infringement intended.
It’s Up To Me
I get discouraged now and then
When there are clouds of gray,
Until I think about the things
That happened yesterday.
I do not mean the day before
Or those of months ago,
But all the yesterdays in which
I had the chance to grow.
I think of opportunities
That I allowed to die,
And those I took advantage of
Before they passed me by.
And I remember that the past
Presented quite a plight,
But somehow I endured it and
The future seemed all right.
And I remind myself that I
Am capable and free,
And my success and happiness
Are really up to me.
Poet: James, J. Metcalfe
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What’s included:
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Synova starts at the heart of the problem; your mindset. If you do not have a success mindset in place all the schemes, business plans, and marketing in the world won’t help you.
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Synova dives into the purpose of your writing. Why do you want to write and who do you want to write for?
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That leads right to finding your target audience and having them in mind WHILE you write your book.
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How to research your book (YES, Fiction books require some research too!)
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Introduction into how to set up an author platform so when your book is ready, your marketing trampoline will be too.
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Editing tips
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Publishing options: Traditional and Indie Publishing
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Intro into author marketing
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