When Do I Consider My Author Journey A Success?

Happy Monday Soul Questers!

Today, I want to talk about something that’s been on my mind for a while now: When do I consider my journey as a budding author to be successful? This is a bit of a deeper topic than some of my recent blog posts, but I also think it’s an important one.

As a teen getting ready to self-publish her first book, I’m constantly looking at the platform I’ve built, and the followers I gained and wondered if it’s really enough. I know I’m not popular enough to have tens of thousands of followers like Sara J. Maas or Sasha Alsberg. But maybe another 100 will do the trick. Maybe if I get my first 1000 followers on Instagram, then I’ll truly be successful. Maybe if I have that many followers, then my book will sell well. Maybe I’ll even become an Amazon bestseller.

Those are a lot of maybes.

But let’s be honest. When we first started our writing journeys, we weren’t thinking of the about of followers we wanted, or how many people liked our status update on Facebook. We just wanted to tell our story. We wanted to actually write.

Social Media has become both the best and worse thing to happen to an author.

It’s true. Because of Social media, we have the chance for our books to be seen by millions of people. We can promote ourselves without having to spend a bunch of money. But just like girls staring at models in a magazine, wishing that our bodies could be as perfect as them, we also can look longingly at other authors and wonder: Will I ever be as successful as them?

Of course, no one said it ever hurt to dream a little. But if we let our dreams get in the way of our reality, we aren’t ever going to get anywhere.

Every Author started with 0 followers. That’s right–zero.

They too had to watch that number slowly go up and up and maybe even down too before they got anywhere. But why do they have so many followers? Because people liked their story.

If I want a million people to follow me on social media, then I need something to offer them. A reason for them to follow. But if I care too much about being a successful author, then I probably won’t put in the real amount of effort it takes to write a good book.

In short, The journey is never truly over for me. I considered myself a success when I got my first 50 followers. And then my first 100. But I was always looking at the future, and how many followers I was striving to gain, and not the quality of the story I was telling.

If you’re like me, always wishing for more–don’t. Remember that every author–even J.K. Rowling–started with zero. And even if you don’t gain hundreds or thousands of followers right away, or maybe at all, that doesn’t mean you weren’t a success. It just means the that’s the path God has placed you on, and that’s OK.

Do YOU Consider your journey to be a success as it is, or are you currently striving for more? Let me know in the comments. I always love reading your responses!

In HIS Joy,

Gabriella Slade

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