You are here:Home Discussion How Do You Define Success As an Indie Author? [Discussion]

Hi there! Duolit is on hiatus, but please feel free to explore our extensive archive of posts and our free Weekend Book Marketing Makeover. Thanks for visiting!

May 14, 2012

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

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!

Filed Under: Discussion

  • I haven’t reached any of my goals and yet I still consider my book a success. One reason is that it lives on and has many years to touch a reader in some way. I have learned a lot about building a platform and have connected with a lot of excellent people in the process. Writing as an independent author is a process and I’m sure I’ll never stop learning. As long as I’m moving forward, I’m successful.

    • That’s a great way to think about it, AJ! You actually mentioned one of the best arguments and motivations for self-publishing, in my opinion — what better accomplishment than to have your work live on after you? Thanks for sharing your perspective! 

  • I would consider myself successful writer if I was able to pay all my bills with money made from writing. Right now I can only pay my rent (which, I suppose is a success itself) so there’s some improvement to be made. But I’m on the right track :)

    • Congrats on your accomplishment, Jane! Being able to pay your rent with money made from writing is nothing to sneeze at — keep going down that road and you’ll reach your marker of success in no time. Good luck! 

  • Heidi_g

    To be honest, I haven’t published anything yet, but I feel successful in that I have been able to receive criticism, hear it, accept and use it to make my work better. This has kind of been a huge hurdle for me, and to be able to keep going and knowing my writing is continuing to improve feels like a huge success to me. Also, creating a community of fellow writers feels like a huge success. I hope one day, the first novella I publish is successful and that many readers love it, but until then, the “intangible” successes do seem to be piling up:) I love your content, thank you for all that you provide

    • Thank you Heidi! I think that’s a great perspective on success. Every step should be celebrated and you are definitely on your way to a great writing career if you’ve learned to grow from your criticism. Keep pushing on and let us know when your novella is published!

  • When I first started writing, success to me was simply finishing a novel. I accomplished that two years ago, so my definition of success has since changed to getting my novel published. With the focus being on self-publishing, achieving this goal is not a question of if, but of when. I’m certain that once I succeed in that, my definition will change once again. Eventually it’ll settle down and I’ll be content with what I’ve achieved, I’m sure.

    • That’s so true that our definition of success changes as we move forward in the process. But it’s good to set goals along the way instead of just focusing on the big picture all the time — every little accomplishment is a success. Thank you for taking the time to comment Dimitri!

  • I set a number of 5000 sold copies and an average of 4-star reviews as a measure of success for my two indie-published novels. I’m happy to report my goals have been set. Matter of fact, two of my books may actually hit the magic 10k mark by the end of the year.  :-) We used the price range of 0.99 to 2.99 (alternating every other month) to reach our goals. 

    • Congrats on your success, James! Oftentimes I think it’s actually better to set more audacious goals, because you’ll work much harder to make them happen. 10,000 books sold so far is amazing, and a great inspiration to others!