The Three Ds

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind, with literally hundreds of emails per day. Many ask the same questions, so I thought I’d summarize some of my responses so that everyone can read my thoughts, for what they’re worth, on what it takes to be a success as a self-pubbed author. Pretty much the same things it takes to be a successful any kind of author, so I’ll lump them together.

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BREAKING NEWS: I just did my first radio interview. Aside from sounding like an old woman yelling from the bottom of a well, it could have been worse. Big thanks to Pam Stack of Authors On The Air – Blogtalk radio.

NEWS: For anyone who missed it, in the last couple of weeks I was featured in The Wall St Journal, The Times (UK), and interviewed by Examiner.com, the Huffington Post, Jeff Rivera, and Simon Duringer.

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I was asked yesterday by a newbie writer to summarize what I thought was required in order to make it in this business. Now, given that every writer’s journey is different, it’s hard to pop out with meaningful guidance – I mean, some have one great book in them, others have twenty, or if you’re me, you have a whole bunch of questionable screeds banging around in your head. But it’s a question I’m asked fairly often, so here’s my attempt to answer it (with the caveat that if you’re looking for step-by-step guidance, you should also read last year’s post, How To Sell Loads of Books):

Besides a burning desire to tell a story and a rudimentary knowledge of craft, beginning (and not-so-beginning) authors need to have the three Ds: Dedication. Determination. Discipline.

None of those sound particularly fun, do they? That’s because they aren’t.

Let’s start with Dedication. I’ve found that I improve in my craft every day because I’m dedicated to doing so. I don’t have a lot of other hobbies, and I’m singularly focused on writing as my primary creative outlet. Every time I sit down to write another novel it’s with one thought in mind: that I’m going to try to raise the bar on some aspect of my writing, be it description, dialogue, plotting, pacing. I believe the best authors have that single-minded dedication to improvement, and the creation of worthwhile prose – prose that moves their audience as nobody else can.

But along with Dedication you need Determination. A sort of dogged, relentless belief that it can be done, and that even if it takes just short of forever, by God, you will do it. That determination carries you through the low points, the crises of faith, the doubts, the setbacks and rejections. One could call it being bullheaded or stubborn, and that wouldn’t be too far from the truth. A major aspect of Determination is drive (maybe I should have called this the four D’s). Drive is your willingness to do whatever it takes and create your own momentum. To overcome any obstacle. To succeed in a business where the odds are stacked against you. To sacrifice and make it happen, to be relevant, no matter what. And to push yourself, even when you don’t want to write, when the whole thing seems pointless. Determination fuels your drive.

Which is all well and good, but without Discipline, it doesn’t amount to much. Being dedicated to creating quality, and being determined to do so, are fine, but they don’t have much chance of success if you don’t have the discipline to pull it off. Writers tend to procrastinate, to spend hours on the internet reading bullshit blogs about how to succeed, to overthink and analyze and coddle their artistic side, to the detriment of actually accomplishing something. Discipline ensures you get it done. I recommend setting aside a specific time for writing every day, a target word count that you will hit (and won’t stop until you do), and a reasoned, systematic approach to creating a body of work you’ll be proud of, whether anyone ever buys it or not. But to do so, I believe you need to be as disciplined as though this were a job, where you punch the clock and do the work, every day, for as long as you’ve determined is necessary to achieve the result you want.

The three Ds.

Now, there are some other things self-pubbed authors must have, such as having the discipline to divide your literary time into writing and marketing. I counsel 75% writing, 25% marketing, because that’s what works for me. You may decide you prefer to operate differently. In most cases I’d bet you’re wrong, but hey, it’s not my career, so do what you like. But remember that books don’t sell themselves, and that the book selling business is as tough a business as any on earth. So if you believe the level of success you desire can happen without you allocating reasoned effort into marketing your wares, good luck with that. There are far too many authors out there investing time and effort into getting visibility for you to succeed with a strategy that basically amounts to hoping for a lightning strike.

This is what I tell beginning authors who want my opinion on what qualities they have to develop to do well in this business. Being an author is hard, but being a self-published author is even tougher, because you’re faced with all the tasks a publisher would handle, in addition to the writing workload. But that’s the job. Nobody’s holding a gun to your head. If you want an easier gig, there are plenty. If you want a better paying one, ditto.

But if you want to be a commercially-successful author, those are my recommendations. Get comfortable with the requirements, decide whether you’re willing to do what it takes, and if so, examine the three Ds and internalize what they mean to you and how you plan to apply them to reach your dream.