It's no joke the indie publishing world, well, the publishing world in general, is a crowded place.
You have ten other authors writing the exact same thing as you.
But i feel those authors aren't my competition.
In a year where i've made the most money to date in my career, it hasn't happened easily. And it certainly didn't happen overnight.
It's taken 11 years and hours and hours of hard work, of networking, blood, sweat and tears to get to where i am now.
Being an indie author, you have to wear many hats. Being indie means you do EVERYTHING yourself. There's no one else who will get you book store consignments, who will get you promo spots, who will write the books, who will market the books.
YOU, the author, does all of that.
And then there's social media and in person events, where we occassionally have to leave the comforts of our writing cave/ office / home to talk to people! gasp! We have to socialise with actual people?!
Most authors are introverts like me. While live, in person events are incredibly draining emotionally and physically, I thrive at them. It's where i make most of my money.
It's not to say i don't have to take several days off to recuperate afterwards.
But if i want to succeed, i have to put in the work. I have to put in the hours. The man power, or woman power, is all me. My family do help with logistics of travelling to and from events, and without them i wouldn't be able to do this. Given my disabilities of Aspergers (autism spectrum disorder), and low vision from congenital cataracts, they are my transport and support team.
But what is success to you? Does it look different to what success means to me?
To me, it means passing a milestone, a personal goal i placed for myself. One of those goals this year was hitting 5 figures in income. And i did that!
I also hit selling 100,000 books.
To me, hitting certain bestseller lists isn't important. Bank over rank!
I love this job so much. it's been my best and most favourite job i've ever had.
And in 11 years, i've been lucky to make this income from my art, something i created myself. it might not be much to some people, but as someone who began with $0 in her bank account, it's a lot to me. i will not be comparing myself to other authors who are making much more money than me. Comparisonitis only puts me in a negative mindset and headspace. Over the past year or so, i've been into manifesting abundance. (Go read Renee Rose's book Write to Riches (or Right to riches.) It's a gamechanger! and no this is not a paid endorsement. I just love this book)
I think having a positive mindset, especially a positive business mindset, has gotten me to where i am today.
I've gotten a bit off topic. The point i came here to make is i've seen a lot of people lately, especially aspiring and new authors having this sense of entitlement that their poop doesn't stink, and if they ride the coattails of more successful authors that they'll also reap the benefits.
I want to let you in on a little secret: it doesn't work that way.
If you act rude and entitled, you're not going to make it very far in life, honey.
So be nice, act professional, have a positive business mindset, treating your business AS a business, because it is, and do the damn footwork yourself, and you'll go far.
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