Defining Success

[T.S.]

Hi everyone, I was eating lunch today watching the rain and thought about my evil plot to become a successful writer. My mind went wild with possibilities but after a few bites I returned to reality. I began to think of the question in a different way. Sure, I could get a job writing for Marvel, or create a best-selling novel that influences society and culture for the next century, but what if all I can do is sell to a small audience and maybe only sell a dozen books every once and a while? Do I consider myself successful based on popularity/income or for the fact that I am writing in general?

I know this is a question all emerging writers ask and that is why I ask you all. For those who have been there and done that, and for those like me who want to do it.

How do you define your success as a writer?

[Jason]

Hi T.S.,

Great subject here.

Like most of us, were I to suddenly sell a million copies of my novel I certainly wouldn't be complaining, but in all honesty at this stage of the game, I'm just happy to have put something that I find meaningful out there.

- Jason

[A.F.]

I'm just happy if someone actually reads one of my books and likes it. Doubly happy if I get repeat business.

[T.S.]

It seems like the question is a personal one that can't be answered with measurement and standardization.

So here is another question, if so many people seek to become a professional author, and if it is such a huge industry (the literate entertainment), then how come it is so difficult for people to enter it? What are the obstacles and who puts them up?

[A.F.]

What are the obstacles (assuming you have talent) to being an author?

Let's see, there are (just to name a few):

rejections from agents and publishers
writer's block
lack of support
lack of money
marketing inexperience
newbie mistakes of technique
occasional bouts of low self-esteem
inability to survive criticism
frustration


To be an author, one must have patience, a thick skin, tact, know how to sell themselves and their writing and most of all be slightly insane.

[T.S.]

Excellent list A.F., I hope it becomes the beginning of a checklist for every emerging writer (like myself).

I'm glad self-publishing and ebooks are becoming popular because it seems to release the stress of confronting the Wall of Traditional Publisher, but they can seem just as daunting as anything else.

[A.F.]

Self-publishing is a very effective way to "get your feet wet" in the publishing industry. It's hard work, but (at least for me) it gives insight into things like marketing which every author needs these days. It also allowed me to publish books that probably wouldn't have been touched by a traditional publisher.