How to Become a Successful Writer

So, this weekend, I got to watch some videos about indie authors, presumably with the goal of informing me how to become a successful writer.

Well, to be brutally honest here, most of the videos dealt with things I already knew. So really, a lot of it was for complete beginners to the world of self-publishing. I may be a lot of things, but the complete beginner is not one of them.

But can I tell you how to become a successful writer? That’s a more complicated question than you might imagine.

A lot of it depends on what you consider to be success. Defining your metric for success is the first step.

For some people, just getting up in the morning and doing anything means they’ve been successful. I know. I have plenty of those days.

One thing I can tell you for sure: you can’t measure your own success by comparing yourself with others. So when someone tells you what you have to do, just remember that it’s a guideline, not a hard and fast rule.

Hell … if I’d paid attention to rules, I wouldn’t have self-published a book at all.

So my advice is to succeed as a writer, the best thing you can do is begin. To write that is.

Now, if I recall correctly, November is NanoWriMo month. Some people find this helpful for getting started—trying to write a novel in a month. It doesn’t really work that way for me, but if it helps any, I’ve put up an online course about writing mystery fiction.

In fact, I’m offering the course at half-price now until November 1. Just in time for NanoWriMo. Or, really, anytime at all. Just click here if you’d like to try it out.

I encourage you all to start writing and find your own way to writing success.

PS: I want to thank Mark Bacon again, for this lovely shout-out on his blog!

You may remember this book! 🙂