The first Wednesday of each month is the perfect opportunity to share my insecurities on the #IWSG therapy couch, get encouragement and support about such insecurities, and to read how other writers are faring.
My biggest insecurity right now is the moving bar of independent publishing success.
When I published my first book, every post I read said it took three books to start really seeing indie success. It made sense... those who stuck with it, and didn't just publish one book hoping to hit it big, would win the tortoise and the hare race.
In May, I published my third book. Yay, time for the slam dunk success. I was ready. So, of course, now I'm reading it takes five books. What?! My fear... it's an ever-moving target, and I'll never catch it.
Don't get me wrong, I've seen increasing sales with each book. Chasing Shadows has outsold its predecessor already. I appreciate the movement in the right direction, and I still believe I'm doing what I need to do, but...
More than anything, it's defining what success is. Although I understand success isn't all about money, it is one of the measurements. And I'll be honest... I'd really like to reach bestseller status, although I'm not sure I completely understand how to define that, either.
Guess I'll shoot for the fifth book! If nothing else, these moving targets are keeping me writing.
Do you ever feel like "success" is just beyond your reach?
*****
A Round of World in 80 Days (ROW80) Update
Wednesdays are also my check ins for ROW80. I'm a bad girl. I missed Sunday's check in, but I do have happy news to share. Chasing Shadows won as a Finalist in the Young Adult Paranormal category of the 2014 Reader's Favorite International Book Awards. I'm so proud!
Also, I finished an edit and proofread last week. I have another edit starting next Monday, so my goal is to kick out some words on Chasing Forgiveness between now and then. After all, I need to get books four and five out soon!
Don't forget to check my blog every Monday and Friday through October for my Meet Some #UtopYA2014 Lovelies (Unofficial) Series. I have a great line up of authors, bloggers, and more. To see the schedule, please click here.
Oh, and Chasing Memories was selected to be in an amazing box set, Destiny Calling, to benefit Love is Louder. Please stop by tomorrow for more information.
12 comments:
I've been hearing it takes 5 books too. A number that sometimes I feel like I'll never reach. I guess all either of us can do is keep writing and looking for readers.
I put all of those pieces of advice (like it takes 3 books, or it takes 5 books) as ever-changing bits of information to be taken with a grain of salt. As more and more (quality) books are published independently there is more competition, so maybe it does take more... but like everything in writing, those are just general guidelines, not a magic number that will make it all come together. Create your own definition of success :)
Okay, now I'm trying to do the maths... by the time I get to my first/second book, then they will say it takes 6 to 7 books...?
(... and my maths is very poor...)
Happy IWSG Day!
Heck yeah! Wait...
You published ONE book. That's success. Most people never even get that far. Pat yourself on the back.
Bestseller can be in a genre or over all of Amazon. Basically, if you hit top 10, you're a bestseller. :D
I've done it twice with I, Zombie in the YA Horror category. But, for me, if I don't hit top ten over all of frikkin Amazon, it doesn't count. LOL! Yeah, I set the bar high.
Happy dancing for your edits!
WRITE ON!
Thanks everyone! I love this group and hope you are all getting lots of encouragement on your own posts as well. I'm going to visit as many as I can. Off to read...
Congratulations on your successes! And that is what they are. I know you're reaching for bestseller status, but it sounds like you are well on your way, and doing exactly what you should be doing.
I'm at five published books with independent presses. I've got some new ones in the works, which is exciting. As a fellow member of IWSG I wonder about the moving targets too. I set them for myself. I ask, am I moving forward as an author? Was my last book better than the first? (the first is my only award winner and one people can't stop talking about). Will the new one be better or worse than the other five? And so it goes. The essence of insecurity. Thanks for getting me to thinking this morning.
congratulations on the book award! did you join the FB page? all finalists can join and it's a great place to meet people and do some networking :-)
I only check in once a week. There's not much time between the two checkins to get anything done.
Congratulations on the book award.
Congratulations! You give yourself the answer, when you ask how you actually define success.
Yes, the self-publishing bar keeps shifting, but so does the success bar. Five years ago, when all this was very new, a self-published author may have considered 100 sales success, but now, when it's more established and people are making it big in the self pub world, that bar may be more like 1,000 (I'm just picking those numbers randomly from the air btw). But you see my point; I think that self pub writers' expectations have shifted, so that success bar has shifted.
The only thing that matters is this; what does successful mean to you?
I feel this way even more so since my 3rd novel came out. I think we're too hard on ourselves sometimes, Tia. I mean really!--3 books! We are woman, hear us roar. I guess it's a good thing we have IWSG. I'm here today to say, "Wow! Three Books! Excellent, Tia"
Congratulations, Tia. Three novels really is a huge accomplishment. I've heard it takes 7 before the big bucks start pouring in. LOL
Success is all in how you define it for yourself. I wouldn't spend any energy on whether others consider you successful or not. It sounds like you have plenty to feel proud of!
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