You want to think that success is measured in the number of books sold or a financial goal set and achieved, maybe even with a bit of notoriety mixed in. It isn't until you really get out there and things start coming back to you that you realize, while those things are great, they are not the end all be all of your success. They barely scratch the surface.
We all step into authordom with the hope and desire to be rich and famous like Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and J.K Rowling some day, but we quickly figure out that a ton of work not actually writing, and even more luck is needed to reach those dreams. It's not impossible, but it's not as simple as crank out a story, do a few edits, create a cover, hit publish, and sales come rolling in.
No one really talks about the headaches, the months of 15 hour days spent working for no pay, the full time job that is marketing again with no pay, the missed deadlines, the uncontrollable ball drops, or any of the other stuff that would prevent anyone from wanting to become a writer, ever. For good reason. It takes a love of the game and a total change of perspective to do this job.
You have to come into it knowing that you are going to spend the majority of your time, working for free. It is really and truly a labor of love. If you don't do it just for the sheer love of it, you aren't doing it for the right reason. It is going to try to defeat you at every turn and you have to have the determination to keep going, no matter what. Financial worries are going to be your biggest downfall. Decide right now that you are not doing it for the money because it won't get you any.
This is essentially where your change of view on success comes from. I came into this wanting to make a career of writing. I wanted to make enough from book sales to support myself, I won't lie. It's been 3 years, still hasn't happened. It's coming, but it doesn't matter now. I've hit my non-financial goal, and I didn't even know I was shooting for it. When someone I didn't know ahead of time, bought my book and sent me a message telling me that a weather phenomenon immediately made them think of me, that was my moment.
From that moment on, my goal was no longer to be famous or earn a ton of money. It became to publish more of what would move my readers to reach out to me and say, I thought of you. That is my focus now. That is why I write. That is why I publish. Yes, the money is needed because books cost money to make and I've got to be able to survive, but that isn't my driving factor.
Shameless plug, on my own blog. Are you ready? All 3 of the ebooks in my Fogoyle Series are free to download from May 1st to May 3rd 2018. You should go grab a copy! I'll wait!
