Guest blogger Chris Mawbey on small successes.
A friend recently asked me if I would ever become a successful writer. I thought about defending myself by reminding her of my previously published work. Instead, I took her question on the chin and asked her how she defined success.
Her definition basically involved being called J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, or (in my friend’s words) the person who wrote Twilight.
When I mentioned Amanda Hocking, Joe Konrath and Stephen Leather her face went blank. Encouraged, I went on a gentle offensive evangelizing about what success can really mean for the Indie Author. In my opinion, success happens when -
Someone (you don’t know) downloads your e-book;
Someone (you don’t know) takes the time and trouble to visit your blog and leave a comment saying how much they enjoy your writing;
Someone (you don’t know), who has more followers than people they are following, follows you on Twitter.
The common theme here is ‘someone (you don’t know)’ - the reaching out and connecting with potential readers. Though these are small successes, they are also the bricks of the foundation we can build on to reach for bigger and better things. Without this foundation we will always struggle to grow our readership.
Success, however small, should always be celebrated; after all it can be a long time in coming.
Keep writing – stay determined – and enjoy the journey.
Thanks to Dixon for inviting me to share my thoughts with you, and thanks to you, reader, for giving me your time.
Learn more about this writer at Chris’ blog.
Very nice. I wonder if the Ann Rices' still gets the thrill of actually being read by other people or not, the thrill of someone else allowing you in. I hope they still do. I would also define success as being read. But this is a business, always remember that.
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