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Self-Publishing Success: 3 Tips to Finding Your Definition

May 16th, 2012 by Shannon

success (noun): 1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors. 2. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.

Fact #1: We all have a speech prepared in the event that Oprah selects us for her book club.

Fact #2: Oprah will probably never call.

Fact #3: We will go on writing anyway.

photo by rubendn

Every one of us has an ultimate, higher-than-the-summit-of-Everest dream for our writing career. Something that would mark us as eternally successful in the eyes of all our believers and doubters alike. There’s nothing wrong with that — it just shows how much we believe in ourselves and our talents — as long as we don’t base our entire definition of success around that one lifetime achievement.

Don’t take my word for it, ask Dan Marino. For all the non-sports fans, Marino is considered one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time (that’s the guy who throws the ball to the other guys). In his 17 NFL seasons, he set a lot of records, was named NFL MVP & NFL Offensive Player of the Year, got selected to the Pro-Bowl nine times and took his team to the post season 10 times.

But he never won a Super Bowl.

Yet, when considering the scope of his career including all 31 of the Dolphins’ franchise records he set that still stand today, no one would consider Dan Marino a failure. He’s a sports commentator, multi-millionaire, NASCAR owner and he gets to make appearances in movies like Ace Ventura and Bad Boys. Dan Marino has had an amazing life and career, even if he didn’t reach the pinnacle achievement of the NFL.

That’s because the best and worst thing about success is its total subjectivity. What you count as a success might be considered a failure to me. It’s all about the criteria by which we judge ourselves and the goals we aim to reach, which is why we have to be so careful when sculpting our definition of success. We don’t want to set the bar so low as to give ourselves a fall sense of ego, but we don’t want to set it so high that we get depressed and have to eat a lot of Oreos to feel good about ourselves again.

So how do you set your expectations at a level that will allow you to feel super accomplished at the high points, but not overly discouraged at the low points? We have a few tips that can help you carve out the perfect definition of success for your unique talents, skills and dreams as a writer.

3 Tips to Defining Your Success

1. It’s not all about the benjamins.

Everybody wants to make money doing what they love. But defining your success by dollar signs is a quick way to lose faith in yourself. There are other, bigger dreams out there that will probably make you feel better than earning an income from your book. The pride that comes from sharing your work with others is incredible, especially when they respond positively to what you’ve worked so hard to do. Making your family proud is even better (and sometimes easier) than pleasing yourself. Set your focus on the intangibles, the good feelings that come from doing something you love, and you might find that it brings financial gains along with it anyway.

2. Do your research.

Find out what other self-published authors in your genre have achieved in terms of sales, fan following, reviews, etc. This will help you set realistic expectations for what you can do, but also to push yourself to take things one step beyond what other authors have been able to achieve.

3. Keep making adjustments.

As several of you mentioned in the comments of our discussion post on Monday, the key to defining success is to write your definition in pencil. With every achievement you reach, add something new to your definition. Start with finishing your manuscript and then update it to cover the publishing of your book and then update it again to reflect a new sales goal. Keep growing as you go and your definition of success will grow along with you.

Any other advice for your fellow authors?

What other ways do you define success in self-publishing? What helps you stay motivated and keep pushing even when things aren’t going your way? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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Q & A with Jesse Grillo: Diving into the Details

May 15th, 2012 by Shannon

How much research do you usually put into your writing?

I’m not talking about Internet research — forget Google, Wikipedia, and MapQuest. — I’m talking about real, down deep, get your hands dirty research. The kind of exploration that really helps you get into the mindset of your characters or the surroundings of your book’s location. Research that can lead to discoveries both exciting and dangerous.

That’s the kind of in-depth digging that author Jesse Grillo is doing to research his upcoming novel Gold Lined Storms. The book follows Joshua Blackwood, a man on a journey to find himself before his schizophrenia can take away all that he is. To get as accurate a viewpoint as possible for a character with so much depth and complex emotion, Jesse took a road trip of his own last December, living out of his car and at times completely without a home to get the full experience that his character would endure.

Jesse’s first trip was a powerful experience, but to finish his project he’s planning a second research excursion from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon, later this month. Before departing, Jesse took time out to do an interview with Duolit about his writing project and his experience using kickstarter and indigogo to fund his in-depth research.

Duolit: First of all, your novel idea is so unique! How did you come up with it?

Jesse Grillo: There is a lot of me in the story so that made it easier. Back in December I was working on a film and there came a point where I felt like I was over the film business. At the time, I never wanted to work on a film again. The movie I was on finished in mid-December. I had Christmas with my family and I went on the road a few days later. 

I knew I was going to do a lot of writing and self-reflecting, but I didn’t just want to write a journal of my trip. I had a rough idea of what I wanted the story to be, but it wasn’t completely formed. I didn’t bring much with me. About four changes of clothes, a few books, and three notebooks with pens. That was about it. I didn’t want anything to distract me.

My mother was bipolar and right before the trip I was talking to a friend about my childhood. He was telling me that children of parents with mental disorders have a higher risk of getting the same type of illnesses. He also said that signs generally show in the teens and late 20s so for many of them, so 30 is the magic number because if you make it to 30, you’re safe.

I thought about that for a while. About what it would be like to have a parent with a mental condition and then wonder your whole life if you were going to develop the same type of issues. And then one day you’re 30 and you can relax. But then you start to show signs that the condition is affecting you. How would someone react? How would I react? 

Between that idea and what I was going through with my career, the story formed about a writer that finds out he has schizophrenia so he goes on the road to find himself. (more…)

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How Do You Define Success As an Indie Author? [Discussion]

May 14th, 2012 by Toni

In its second weekend of release, The Avengers made over $100 million here in the US. Add that to its ridiculous total from last week, and the movie has made almost $400 million in two weeks. By any measure, I think we’d call that a success!

But, what about you as an indie author? How do you measure success, both for yourself and your book? While most of us don’t expect careers or sales along the lines of those richie-riches on top of the New York Times’ Bestseller List, we would like to feel as if the time, effort and money spent publishing our work were worthwhile.

We’ve talked a little about this before on the blog, that setting reasonable expectations and planning ahead can make that road to success easier. After all, if success is selling 100 copies of your book, that’s a heck of an easier goal to achieve than selling 10,000.

Success, however, isn’t always a sales goal (or even a number). So, we want to know:

  • What has to happen for you to consider your book and/or writing career a success? Do you have more than one measure of success?
  • What obstacles to success have you come across so far? Has anything made the path easier?
  • How did you settle on your definition of success? Has it evolved over time?
  • Does your definition of success differ from that of your author friends?
  • What advice would you give to other authors struggling for that sweet moment of success?

We can’t wait to hear your responses! To join the discussion, please leave a comment below addressing any (or all) of the above questions. Also, mention the discussion to your indie author friends — we’d love to hear from everyone!

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Giving It Away [Guest Post]

May 11th, 2012 by Toni

The followng is a guest post by Grant Piercy. Check out Grant’s previous guest post, Quoting Lyrics and Dodging Copyright Issues. Want to submit a guest post? Read our overview and drop us a line!

It might interest you to know that even though I consider myself a writer and an author, I’ve never submitted a manuscript to a legacy publisher. Neither have I ever attempted to get an agent for representation. This might seem like a strange approach for a so-called writer and author, but this is the way of the world now. It’s not just the state of the publishing industry, but the state of most mass media outlets.

Over a decade ago, Napster was forced to close down by a U.S. District court, and was only truly active for about two years in its original form. By then, the damage was done. Napster exposed an unfair pricing model for the music industry. People wanted music, single songs most of the time, but were always forced to purchase entire albums (usually with sub-par content) for anywhere between $13 and $20, depending on the chain store (most of which are now out of business, after having put many small, independent record stores out of business themselves). Napster showed the true power of the Internet — sharing information and media content between a host and thousands of users. And it was all free.

This all seems like ancient history now — a mere reality of a zeitgeist that’s been in upheaval since the start of the new millennium. Music was just the beginning. With increased networking capabilities and the availability of high-speed, broadband internet in the years since, enormous files are downloaded in mere seconds — where megabytes in the old Napster days used to possibly take hours. Music, movies, radio, television shows, podcasts, books — they’re all available from anyone who wants to give them away.

Then there’s the legacy distributors: music labels, movie studios, and book publishers. It started with music, which already had a nice free component in radio and television distribution (at least when MTV played music). Movie studios and television networks got scared (rightly) that it would soon be as viable to pirate movies and shows as it had been to pirate music. The RIAA and MPAA began to go after these pirates pretty hard. What they really did was show the contempt they had for people who were fans of their products, and here’s why: they were prosecuting people for being fans.
(more…)

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Think Fast! 10 Minutes to the Perfect Elevator Pitch

May 9th, 2012 by Toni

Picture this: you’re chilling in an elevator, minding your own business, when Matt Lauer (host of the Today Show and my favorite celebrity example) hops onboard. He’s yammering away on his phone, lamenting the loss of an author guest. As the doors close, he tells the person on the other end to find a replacement quickly and hangs up.

He turns toward you and catches your eye, prompting him to ask, jokingly, if you’re an author. Your heart leaps! This is your moment, your chance to make it big!

You clear your throat and say, “Actually, I am an author.”

“Really?!” he exclaims. “What’s the name of your book? What’s it about?”

Crap. Your mind goes blank. How can you possibly condense the merits of an 80,000 word novel into a few sentences? How can you convince him to learn more? Before you know it, 20 seconds of silence have elapsed and your floor is rapidly approaching. You rush to get the words out.

“Well, ahem, see, there’s this, well, girl — and, um, she –” *ding*

The elevator arrives at your floor.

Matt gives you a wary look as you step out, sheepishly. Your moment, your golden opportunity, is gone.
(more…)

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