How Not to Fail as an Author

No one starts a career with the hope of failing; in spite of that, lots of people fail in their career, and authors are not an exception. Many authors have never made a dime from their writings or achieved any form of success. Some of the reasons failure is imminent are as a result of over-expectation, laziness, inexperience, and over-confidence. Now, here are 5 ways to prevent failing as an author:

1. Learn about the Industry: Aspiring authors need to learn about the industry they intend to operate in. So, as soon as a writer decides to become an author, he should learn about how things work in the industry he intends to operate, and use that knowledge as guidelines in his decision making processes.
2. Do your Research: Researching about anything one intends to venture into is one of the smartest things to do. So, as a writer, before you even invest a lot of money, time and energy on any book idea or project, you need to ensure that you do a research on your target audience, the genre you intend to specialize in and know if people are still interested in that particular genre or it’s fading out.
3. Take Feedback Seriously: At a point in time, every author would receive a feedback on the book idea they intend to run with, maybe from a critic or an editor; and it is very important to take the feedback seriously. At this stage, the writer needs to keep his or her ego in check and work with the feedback he or she has gotten from an individual or several individuals.
4. Surround Yourself with Credible Resources: Resources could be books or even human beings, and as an author, it is important to surround yourself with the right people; such as successful writers and authors, book critics, creative graphic designers and intelligent editors. It is also important to read books relevant to your career and draw deep insights from them.
5. Have a Realistic Expectation: Also, it is important to have a realistic expectation as an author on how many endorsements you intend to have, how much book sales you intent to make, and how many awards you intend to receive.

At the end of it all, if you don’t want to fail as an author, you need to define what success means to you: Is it recognition, money or relevance? When you have determined what success means to you, work relentlessly towards that success and stay focused.