This is a guest post from Zoe Winters, author of paranormal romance and her latest book ‘Becoming an Indie Author’.
I believe one of the most damaging attitudes you can have is to believe that success is based on luck. Yes, successful people often have opportunities that seem “lucky”, but those opportunities rarely come without a lot of hard work and a strong foundation already built.
Your attitude is one of the most important factors in your success. Tony Robbins is one of my heroes. Yes, he’s pretty hyper-excited, and he has those crazy-big teeth, but he’s cracked the right-attitude code for life success. Watch this video.
If you’re not in a place yet where you have a strong belief in yourself, you may roll your eyes a bit if you watch that link. But I urge you to press on because there are things you need to know. It’s the thing that those who are making a success of themselves know.
The basic premise is that you must have a strong belief in what you’re doing and what you can do before you start. Otherwise you won’t put much effort in, you’ll get crappy results, those results will make you believe you can’t do anything… then Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Until insane. By contrast, if you do believe you can do something, you work harder, and every small success builds your confidence to do more.
When you have a strong goal and don’t let anybody sway you from it, your mind starts helping you figure out ways to problem-solve and get there. When you believe success is based on “luck”, you are putting up a roadblock.
I don’t know what you’re afraid of… success, failure, or something else. Yes, you can do everything to the best of your ability and it not be good enough. That kind of ego death is so crushing and terrifying to most people that they never break out of their comfort zone. But until you get out there and try, you don’t know what you can do. And nobody else does either. So don’t let anyone tell you who you are.
I’ve been there. I’ve been where I couldn’t even keep a McJob or make enough money to survive on without somebody else paying most of the bills. It’s an emotionally awful place to be. So I know that “I can’t do this anyway” feeling. But you have to dig deep and get over it, because if you don’t, that is your life, and that is where you’ll stay.
It’s very easy to start the indie thing and not shoot right out of the gate with success (like a few have), and then think… “They’re just lucky. Their books sell because they are lucky.”
You may or may not have heard my name floating around the Internet. You may or may not have heard that I’ve started making a living at my fiction. But out of the 2 years I’ve been doing this, for the first 17 months, I was making under $200 a month at this. If you think I’m just “lucky”, that is some really wacky luck that took a lot of hard work and persistence to get to.
Books sell well for two reasons: Marketing and Grippability (I made up that second word.)
Grippability is the quality where a book completely grabs and hooks the reader emotionally, so much so, that they have to tell everybody they have ever met about it. There are books many consider to be poorly-written (aka Twilight) which have grippability. And there are books which are wonderful in every literary way, which do not. The grippable books are the ones that become bestsellers.
The level of your book’s grippability and your marketing will determine its success. Not luck. It’s hard to teach someone how to be grippable, just like it’s hard to teach someone how to be cool. Because the biggest dorks often think they are super cool. (And before you say it, yes, I am a big dork!)
With regards to marketing, there are a lot of ways to get your books visible and in front of people on the Internet. Guest blogging, Tweeting, Facebook, MySpace, GoodReads, Kindleboards, contests and giveaways, working on your sales pages so your books show up in the searches for keywords at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
None of these things is “luck-based”. It’s all work and talent-based. If you’ve got the talent and everyone who reads your work (who isn’t your best friend or mommy) thinks it is so awesome they can’t put it down and almost peed their pants, but you aren’t selling… it’s your marketing.
If you’ve got a killer marketing campaign and the book isn’t selling… there is either something about the book that is turning people off, or something about how you’re marketing that is turning people off. i.e. Facebook is not an opt-in newsletter. Stop spamming everybody on your friends list.
One caveat: It can take time. As an indie, you don’t have a giant marketing department behind you. Grassroots marketing efforts are not instant. And books sold this way often take awhile to find their audience.
None of this is magic.
If you get marketing and some level of grippability right, you’ll do well. And you may start to get some “lucky breaks”. But don’t buy into that hype. The more you accept that a lot of your success or failure is in some way based on your choices, the harder you’ll work to make sure you positively influence the things you can control, and the more likely you’ll see your mistakes and fix them. (And I’ve made, and continue to make mistakes. It’s a part of being human.)
I’ve recently released a guide to help indie authors called: “Becoming an Indie Author”. The book is part motivation, part how-to, and part my personal experiences as an indie over the past two years. You can find out more information about the book here. I’ll also give away a free digital copy of the book to one commenter at this blog, so please leave a comment below to be in the draw.
Zoe Winters is an independent author of quirky and sometimes dark paranormal romance. She is a passionate advocate of the indie author movement and believes indie authors deserve the same consideration as indie filmmakers and musicians. Her favorite colors are rainbow and clear. You can find her at http://www.zoewinters.org/
***UPDATE 30 Nov****
The winner of the random draw for Zoe’s fantastic book is Tracy Staskevich from Pentacor Book Design, The Book Experts. Congratulations Tracy! and thanks to Zoe for a great post with lots of interaction in the comments.
Image: Flickr CC Stairs from Swisscan (I was thinking that success is a long climb but eventually you make it!)
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{ 88 comments… read them below or add one }
This is spot on! It can be really frustrating when people say that you’ve got something because of luck when you know how much effort you’ve put into it.
One of my favourite quotes:
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ~ Thomas Edison
HA! I love that quote, Tanja! It’s very true.
I think the line between when everyone is laughing at you cause you aren’t doing anything “impressive” and when that stops and people start quoting you, is so thin that it’s easy for people to assume any even small success was “overnight” and just “lucky”.
Really great article and absolutely spot on. Having the passion and belief in your writing and understanding that promoting your book will be hard work are key – going the indie route often gets bad press, but it’s so good to have you tooting the “you can be successful by going it alone” trumpet.
Thanks, Tracy! And I believe that indies are going to do HUGE things. Amanda Hocking got into the top 25 in the overall Kindle Store. Vicki Tyley got to number 6!! Karen McQuestion got a movie deal. R.J. Keller got an AmazonEncore deal. (I know male indie authors have done well too, but I just know more about the women!) I’ve sold over 31,000 ebooks.
It can be done. And I believe the most exciting achievements by indies haven’t even happened yet!
31,000 – wow! That’s fantastic Zoe
I shall aim to follow in your footsteps!
Thanks, Joanna! That’s spread across 6 titles and over a 2 year period. It was really slow for a long time. But it all adds up.
Great post. You have to start out believing in yourself and your work and you have to keep on believing. If your first book doesn’t make it big, write another and another. You will never find success if you give up too soon.
Very true, L.C. The exact same determination you’re told you must have to trad pub successfully is unsurprisingly what you need to self-pub successfully.
Agreed Zoe. With ‘Pentecost’ I evaluated the effort I would need to put into getting an agent, submitting to publishers etc and decided I would rather put that into marketing and indie publishing. I would like to attract Amazon Encore though, since they have the biggest list in the world of book lovers!
I had a similar thought process when I started, Joanna. I was looking at “5 years out” where would I be. And I assumed starting from the very rock bottom, to prepare a manuscript, find an agent, find a publisher, negotiate a contract, and get it on shelves in stores… that could take as many as 5 years (for some people it takes longer, or not at all.)
In that same 5 year period, I could release at least 5 books and be building my actual platform.
So it was either… several years just to get to the STARTING point, or just starting and building. To me it’s always been a bit odd to stand in line just to get permission to play the game.
Zoe,
Your advice is right on. Being an indie author is hard work, and yes, it takes a lot of work to get your book out in front of readers. If you’re not willing to do the work, then no one is going to know your book is there.
Deb
Yup. Thanks for commenting, Debra!
Grippability is an excellent word! Can I buy some of it somewhere?
Judy(South Africa)
Hey Judy,
Thanks! I couldn’t decide how to spell this imaginary word. But in the end I thought one P would make it sound like I was writing a variation on the word “Gripe”.
And I don’t think it’s for sale lol.
As someone who is both a marketer and an aspiring fiction writer, I want to shout my agreement from the rooftops. What may seem like magic from the outside is actually the carefully strategized and well executed result of a great deal of blood, sweat, and tears. You first have to have the inspiration or creative spark, then you need the passion (or you’ll never make it through to the end of creating your work), then you need the savvy skills to bring that work to the world in a big way. Overnight success? No such thing. Not unless your definition of “overnight” is years and years or believing the dream and working to make it a reality.
haha, yep, Jamie! People are generally myopic to the point that you don’t exist until THEY know about you. When more and more people know about you, they think wherever you are now is “instant” just because they haven’t checked into your history of work. It’s insane. But that’s how we think as humans. LOL.
Bravo, Zoe! A very inspiring post. I am a short story writer and so far I’m not making any money from what has been published, BUT I’m OK with that. I consider it resume and publicity building.
I have confidence in my work and I think that goes a long way in how successful I am/will be. Honestly, I think you need confidence in every part of your life to be happy, healthy and successful.
Hey Janel, are you publishing short story anthologies? If so, are you making them thematic so they aren’t a lot of random stories that don’t go together? You could also try doing stories that are all a part of a bigger and continuing story/series. Short stories aren’t quite as popular as novellas and novels unless it’s supplementary material for a bigger world. People have a harder time connecting when they read short stories because there isn’t as much time and space to get to know and get attached to the characters.
However, having said that… if you’re determined to write short stories however you’ve done it, don’t let anything you might perceive as “naysaying” from me stop you. (Though I prefer to think of the issue as troubleshooting because I’m not saying ‘don’t do it’ just that these are some of the issues that might be playing into things.)
Zoe, are you reading my mind?
What I am planning on doing is writing a collection of linked short and flash stories. I actually have two different ones that I’m mindmapping right now. All of the stories revolve around the characters in one main story. My plans are to develop (and write!) these this coming year.
For right now I’m happy racking up publishing credits. I’m bouncing around different short/flash story genres and having a blast. I am also aiming for publication in a big literary journal this year, one that pays fairly well.
Cool, Janel! Good luck!
This article is wonderful and totally inspiring! As an indie author who has joined three other indie authors to form our own small press company, we are all doing things we haven’t done before and we always have to keep that attitude of success that you talk about when we’re working all of those long hours to make things happen.
People may seem “lucky” only because they either set themselves up for the opportunity to find them, or they just created their own opportunity!
Hey M, thanks! And good luck on your publishing endeavors!
That is a great idea re the small press. I am thinking of calling myself a small press because then you can get into a lot more catalogs, but I guess if it is just me then that isn’t convincing
It’s still worth it to pursue and handle your own ISBNs and such. IMO. But probably most of your sales will be digital, anyway. That’s been my experience as well as the experience of many indies I know.
I just have print mainly for those who want to read me but don’t have an e-reader yet, and the hardcore fans who want a print book for their keeper shelf. To me it’s a subsidiary right and only a very small portion of what I’m focusing on.
“Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” – Seneca
That quote is my life.
Yep, that’s about the size of it, Belinda!
A great & timely post for me as I just embarked on my journey as an independent author. My marketing campaingn just rolled out last week & I’ve gotten 4 great reviews for my book, but they haven’t really translated into sales yet. I’m expecting about 20 more to come out in the next 2 months. Hopefully, things will pick up as more readers become aware of it.
Good luck, Lucie! I also think it’s harder for a lot of newer indies than it was when I started. When I first released Kept there were only 300,000 ebooks in the Kindle store and most people were saying: “Don’t self-publish, you’ll die in a ditch, and the person who gives your eulogy will say you were a fake author!”
But now we’re at the tipping point where everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. It’s harder and takes longer to build platform and sales velocity from that place. Doesn’t mean it can’t be done, just that it’s harder.
Thanks for the great article. You give some really great advice. Grippability should be a word.
I love Anthony Robbins too. I only just discovered him a few months ago and the first video I saw of his was actually the one you posted. Since then I’ve completely changed the way I do things.
Lovelyn,
Tony Robbins got on my radar with Buffy The Vampire slayer. Here is a part of the transcript:
ADAM: You feel smothered. Trapped like an animal. Pure in its ferocity, unable to actualize the urges within. Clinging to one truth. Like a flame struggling to burn within an enclosed glass. That a beast this powerful cannot be contained. Inevitably it will break free and savage the land again. I will make you whole again. Make you savage.
Moved, Spike has to blink back tears.
Spike: (awed) Wow. (composes himself) I mean, *yeah*. I get why the demons all fall in line with you. (sits up) You’re like Tony Robbins. If he was a big scary . . Frankenstein looking– (reconsiders) You’re exactly like Tony Robbins.
Joss Whedon fan here – I love that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was more in your world that Tony Robbins.
Great quote!
hehe, I love that quote! And I love BTVS.
That’s a great quote. I’ve never seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So many people talk about it being great. I must check it out.
Oh yes, Lovelyn, you’ll love it! It’s like crack.
It starts out really cheesy in season 1 but it gets better. Either way it’s still entertaining/funny. And Angel and Spike are hot.
I cannot agree with you more, Zoe. In “The Artist’s Way,” Julia Cameron makes a great case for audacity counting for as much as–or sometimes more than–talent. We know many artists not because they’re the most talented, but because they’re the most audacious. This includes writers. I practice my audacity every day.
My “luck”: I have fans who back me 100%, yet are honest with me about my work at the same time. They backed me to the tune of $2500 to produce and edit my book. I knew one of them personally. The book is out and doing phenomenally–”for an indie.”
Hope I get your book!
Ha! MeiLin, I LOVE “I practice my audacity every day”. Good words to live by! It’s part of the whole “squeaky wheel” thing.
That’s awesome! Congrats! It’s great to have such wonderful fans.
You know, some day that “For an indie” line is going to disappear. Too many of us are determined to make that line disappear!
It has been a lot of hard work so far. I’m just into month 2. I just have to keep telling myself it is worth it to keep struggling. When I get a positive review it makes it all worth the effort!
Jodi,
I made under $200 a month the first 17 months. I went from making enough money to pay an electric bill in a month, to this month making enough money to buy a car in a month. Definitely don’t look at what you’re doing right now as your full potential.
Great post! My “luck” is a lot of blood sweat and tears — it often rubs me wrong when people assume otherwise. I’ve a friend who assumes inspiration comes out of thin air, and that for me to sit down and write every day is lunacy (and also not the hallmark of a “real” author). Mention marketing and other things to him and his eyes glaze over. *rolls eyes*
Grippability. I like it
LOL A.M. I agree, all those things are annoying, but… the person who thinks you’re “lucky” when you worked hard will never achieve much in their own life. Unless they actually randomly get lucky. But for long-term, sustainable, repeatable success, you’ve got to have the right attitude. Anyone who doesn’t have the right attitude toward your success is unlikely to have it toward their own. That sword cuts both ways.
Belief in self is THE foundation for anything you want to achieve in life. If you don’t believe in your message or your ability to broadcast that message, no matter how lucky you are, you’re dream won’t happen.
Agreed, Susan! Unless you win the lottery, but that IS luck.
Hi Zoe,
I admire your determination to do what’s right for you, no matter what anyone else has to say about it. Liked your reply to a comment left above, that the line between people laughing because you’re not doing anything “impressive” and the line between people quoting you is thin. Reminds me of something Cameron Sinclair said, founder of Design Like You Give a Damn: Architecture for Humanity – “People will call you stubborn until they truly understand your intentions, then they call you visionary. You should take disappointment and lack of support as a challenge – it will make your success that much more rewarding.” Best wishes,
FSM
So true! Hecklers don’t realize they motivate me to try harder! Because nothing is sweeter than success after someone told you you couldn’t do something. It’s even better than success when someone told you you could.
I will be self publishing my first two thriller books – and I can’t wait! I owe it all to hard work – pounding the keyboard every day and reading blogs like yours and other successful people who have had great success self publishing! Good luck on the release of your book!
Thanks, Traci! Good luck on yours, too!
Isn’t it ironic that this post is about how success isn’t based on luck, but we all keep saying: “good luck” to each other? I think it’s kind of like “God Bless You” when you sneeze.
Hi Traci, I am writing a thriller too ! Do let me know about yours
Yeah, I have only been working 60 hours a week on my indie business, but I have a full-time other job so it’s the best I can do right now. Anybody who says “no”? Say “Thank you for your time, and good-bye.” That simple.
Scott Nicholson
LOL, Scott! Holy crap, if you aren’t exaggerating on that… (unless 60 is a typo), then you’re working much more than me. Maybe I should stop whining about how much I work. LOL.
I’m new to the whole Indie thing and still find it confusing because so many people say so many different things. It’s also difficult because hanging out on-line isn’t something I’ve always done either so I’m learning MANY ropes. lol I have been watching you do your thing and think I’ve learned more there than anywhere else – by example, not just what you share in blogs or appearances.
This was a great post. Thanks.
Thanks, Cher! So much of what you’re going to do will be trial and error, too. Some things that work great for me may work less well for you and vice versa. If you think of going indie as a big experiment it might be less daunting. Because that way you aren’t thinking: “I have to get this right, I can’t mess up”. Messing up will just be part of the process of figuring out what works for you.
Thank you so much for writing this book…It’s extremely hard to put yourself out there, but you will never know until you try…Even if I fail in my heart I’m a success, cause that is how much in love I am with the book I am writing and if only one person buys it then that is the icing on the cake…
Thank you again,
Heather
You’re welcome, Heather! Best wishes on your book! (I’m going to stop telling people Good Luck after I told them success isn’t about luck. LOL)
Zoe, your so right it isn’t about luck, it’s hard work and determination…I have enough will power to keep going and see what happens…Thank you for the wishes…
Heather
You’re welcome!
Having played both the NY and epublisher game, I have to say that you have been a tremendous influence and inspiration to me, Zoe, as I embark on my own indie publishing journey. Thanks for always sharing your insight!
Hey there, Sara!
Thank you! And you’re welcome. LOL. Some of you are making me feel like George Bailey at the end of Its a Wonderful Life. 
Wow, this is exactly what I needed to read today. I’ve been indie for over a year now with only my self-publishing as my job and I’ve had to squeeze groceries out of nickels before and it is a painful place to be. But I wouldn’t trade self-publishing or being an indie author for anything. Thanks for the great encouragement!
Hey David, you might look into Demand Studios. It’s not a great job, but if you can get in writing their content mill articles, you can use it as stop gap income. I was using DS articles to help fill the gaps before the self-publishing started to take off. And you’re welcome re: encouragement.
I’ll definitely check that out, Zoe. Thanks!
No prob! Hope it helps!
Thank you for the jolt of positive confidence that hit my e-mail this morning AND for the new word — grippability! For while I struggle with doubt, as many writers do, your post reminds me that I have TENACITY.
Tenacity is one of the most important qualities you can have.
This informative and very true post comes at the right time for me as I’m about to “self” publish a book of stories. I’ve decided to do it through Smashwords. (Yes, I know marketing will be the crucial thing here!) I also have a book soon to be published by a small press, but marketing is mostly up to the author, as I’m discovering and beginning to wonder why go with a press at all. Yes, there are reasons, but if you know you’ve got a good product that’s been critiqued honestly and well, why not go the e-route? You can learn to market! Even at my age (I’m 70) I’m learning!!!
Hi Ann, I highly encourage you not to make Smashwords your only venue but to use Amazon Kindle at http://dtp.amazon.com and Barnes and Noble PubIt at http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com
Zoe, you prefer going straight to B&N rather than through Smashwords for B&N distribution?
Hey, MeiLin. Yes, because with Smashwords you have less control over keywords, categories, and your description. You’ll be more likely to get found if you deal direct with B&N through PubIt. The same applies with dealing direct through Amazon. You also make a stronger royalty by cutting out the middle man for those two outlets.
I already deal direct with Amazon. Nice to know about B&N–I’ve done pretty well with them via Smashwords, and it’d be nice to do better still! Thanks for the advice.
I went ahead and bought your ebook. $2.99? No-brainer.
Thanks, MeiLin! Hope you find it helpful!
And I think you’ll be happy with using PubIt!
We are .99 for the holiday weekend. Have any of you seen a surge in sales when you reduced your prices?
Sometimes I get a surge when I do a holiday sale, yes. Though there are a lot of 99 cent ebooks out there, so you still have to otherwise promote, usually.
For the most part it seems my conversion rates (the percentage of people who view my page and then buy the book) remain fairly steady at 99 cents or at 2.99. It’s possible more people might click on the page to begin with in a search if they see it at 99 cents, though.
Wow. This really resonated. Writing is a nearly impossible field to break into and making a career of it is like becoming an astronaut. nonetheless, it is my dream and I am working everyday to do the work, keep my chin up and moving forward. It can definitely be discouraging if you let it, but like you say, its all in the attitude. Thanks so much for an awesome interview!
Hey, Julie Anne. LOL @ “making a career of it is like becoming an astronaut.”
No problem! Just keep swimming.
A golfer–I think it might have been Gary Player–once said, ‘The harder I practice, the lukcier I get.” Same thing really, isn’t it? Nothing worth having comes easy.
Nope! Thanks for commenting, JD!
I wish all of us success and that we are all the new crop of authors…:)
Happy Thanksgiving!
Heather
Happy Thanksgiving, Heather!
Zoe,
Hope you had a great one and not out fighting the crowds today..If you are, your a brave woman…:)
Heather
I do all my Christmas shopping on the Internet. The most I “braved crowds” today, was going to Starbucks. And, it wasn’t very crowded.
I’m not that much of a paranormal fan but bought the Blood Lust series on my kindle on recommendation. Loved it! And I totally get what you mean about *grippability*. You dont have to be the best writer in the world but you do have to have a story people want to read. (and a good editor). I think what you’ve done – giving readers something for free to build an audience- is also a good idea. I’m trying it myself with good results. People don’t comment but I know they’re reading – the stats zoom when I post!
Thanks, LA! Glad you liked Blood Lust.
And awesome on your freebie success.
Fantastic post – I’m so glad that I stumbled upon this as I my first novel hits the the world next week. I’ve been biting my nails and I’ve got to stop! We are writers, hear us roar!
I’m so happy for you…Congratulations and I wish you all the best…We are writers and we need to support each other…So stop biting your nails and enjoy the journey…
Heather
Thanks for commenting, Lena!
***UPDATE 30 Nov****
The winner of the random draw for Zoe’s fantastic book is Tracy Staskevich from Pentacor Book Design, The Book Experts. Congratulations Tracy! and thanks to Zoe for a great post with lots of interaction in the comments.
Thanks for having me!
This is AMAZING! I was looking the website of Tony, and saw the Interview with Frank and John. There I found the trackbacks
I’m buying your book, I would let you know and all the hispanic market, how great stuff are on this book for the selfpublish process.
This is my first book and It would talk about how entrepreneurs and internet.! Thanks a lot!
Thanks, Gabriel! Glad you found it helpful.