As a writer, it’s inevitable that you will come across some challenges at some point. Maybe you’re stuck writing a particular scene. Rejected by a publisher. Not getting any sales. Receiving poor reviews. Or maybe you’re just dealing with a personal matter in your daily life. Am I stressing you out yet?
For me, it was when I launched my first book, How to Hunt a Menacing Magical Shadow. I spent countless hours writing, re-writing, paying editors and illustrators to make the perfect book come together. I thought to myself “Yes! I finally did it! I finally published a book!” And then I launched, and the negative feedback came rolling in. Your formatting is all wrong! The cover isn’t on genre! It’s too long!
Where the hell were all you people two months ago!? All the editors and beta readers gave me such great feedback.
The truth was they were all right. By this point, I had already spent countless hours (and hard earned cash that definitely didn’t come from any book sales) writing and publishing this book and my stubbornness wasn’t about to give up now. I went back to the drawing board determined to make this work.
While I was going through this frustrating situation, I kept one piece of advice in mind. No, it wasn’t “Hang in there.” or “Don’t give up!” It wasn’t even positive. But I’d still like to share it with you because it helped ground me and keep me somewhat sane while I was trying not to rip my hair out.
Expect to fail.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. This chick gives the worst advice ever. But in fact, in order to succeed, in order to “hang in there” or “don’t give up” you have to fail in the first place and learn from your mistakes. This phrase reminds me that it’s okay not to be perfect, and that if something can go wrong, it probably will. Not all of us are born exceptional writers. I know I can’t sit down and write half a book a couple hours like some people can. Sometimes, I spend an entire day struggling with one scene.
Whether those book changes made any difference is still yet to be determined. But I do know that being a self-published writer is a tough job. Even if you’re lucky enough to write for a publisher, their demands and deadlines can be stressful to keep up with. Whatever your challenge is, remember that you should expect to fail at some point, and that’s quite alright. While I would very much love to be making millions off my work, I am fairly confident Netflix isn’t going to be making an original series out if it any time soon.
And now some good news!
Okay, now that I have crushed your soul, I have a bit of good news for any of you newbie authors out there. Like many of you, I struggle as a self-published author (still do!) and I while I know this isn’t going to be a life changing event for you, I want to help get you off the ground by featuring you and your work on my blog. Free, because let’s face it. Many new authors are lucky if they ever recover their publishing costs. Sure, I don’t have millions of readers, but I do leave my (honest) Amazon review which I know is gold for any author.
Remember, this is for new authors. If you already have fifteen books published and hundreds of reviews, you don’t need my help. Head on over here to read the requirements and submit a request.
