Measuring Success in more than just book sales
My self-published novel, Immortal Obsession has been "out" for several months now and recently, over dinner one night my husband hesitantly asked me, "so, is your book selling?"
"Well, yeah" I replied, and then proceeded to share how I am receiving postive book reviews, giving interviews on bloggers websites and doing guest posts as well while encouraging him, as I do all readers, to continue to visit my website. I explained some of my strategies of how I get the word out to readers and reviews about both myself and my novel. As I continued speaking I was left with something I could not explain to him, something that cannot be measured in numbers, graphs or royalties…..
In January of 2011 I discovered Everday Bright, an incredible website hosted by Jennifer Gresham who writes in her bio " I am the odd combination of PhD biochemist and award-winning poet." I signed up for her newsletter and also chose to sign up for her Everyday Courage Challenge, thinking "what the hell." She put together a series of challenges that help one boost their confidence and success. I visit her website weekly, respect her and innately trust her judgement.
In early April, Jen expressed that she was so impressed with my success with the Everyday Courage series, would I be willing to let her feature my progress as a part of an upcoming blog post? Though I was nervous, how could I say no? So we set up a time for an over the phone interview. It was great for me to finally speak with her.
On April 26th, her post went live. Titled Scared, Take Control Of Your Self-Confidence, she wrote about my journey as a part of a case study for building self- confidence. As I read her post and saw it all in black and white I realized how much my confidence level has changed over the past few months. I have taken more risks and more importantly, not been too invested in outcomes. Not to say, I don't want my business to grow, but I feel that if I do my part, the universe will take care of the rest. If my case study, assists another human being in their growth, then both Jennifer and I have done our parts. I thank her again for believing in me and sharing how this process works with her readers.
Has all of my risk taking been successful? Well, that depends on how you define success.
As my husband's innocent question resonates in my brain, I am honest enough to say, yes, of course I want readers to buy my novel! I plan to write more and I want people to enjoy each one, but there's more to what makes me feel successful than sales. Success is measured differently for each of us and for me, I have learned that opportunities come from the most unexpected people and places and I cannot predict or control the circumstances.
And for this I am eternally grateful.
