Goodreads asked Tom Secret:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Tom Secret Write from the heart. Don't settle for first draft or even 20th draft. Your readers deserve better. If you haven't bled a river writing your novel, then it probably isn't ready to be published. If you let your readers down, you've wasted their precious time, as well as your own. Make it as perfect as you can, then hire the best editor you can afford, and expect a lot more pain, until they also feel it is ready. Then, and only then, polish it again, before you publish. You might not get a million readers, but if you can have an impact on one person, who has invested their time in your work and enjoys it, you are on your way.

flag