What is Success to You?

 The Underground Authors, of which I am one, just finished a promotional campaign and sale.

Twelve authors and 27 books, plus I tossed my Justinia Wright mystery series of 9 books into the mix, and that was a heck of a lot of books to be had for a buck during the 3 days of the promo.

But the question came up when it was over — was the campaign a success? Some said yes, and some said no.

However to actually determine if the promo was a success or not, we must first define success.

According to my old paper Webster’s New World Dictionary, Second College Edition, success means:

1. orig., result; outcome

2. a) a favorable or satisfactory outcome or result. b) something having such an outcome

3. the gaining of wealth, fame, rank, etc.

4. a successful person

Definition 4 begs the question, what does successful mean? The dictionary says:

1. coming about, taking place, or turning out to be as was hoped for [a successful mission]
2. Having achieved success; specify., having gained wealth, fame, etc.

It is easy to see successful definition 1 relates to success definition 2a. Successful definition 2 relates to success definition 3.

So I ask, was the campaign a success for me?

If I use the combo success 3 and successful 2, the answer is no. I gained no wealth, fame, glory, rank, prestige, recognition, power, what have you. Which means the campaign was a failure and I was unsuccessful.

However, if I use success definition 2a and successful definition 1, then the answer could be yes. The campaign was successful and I was a success. Because it all depends on how you define “a favorable or satisfactory outcome.”

The first 19 days of August were miserable. I struggled to sell books and get page reads. And then came the campaign and suddenly, in 3 days, I tripled what I’d earned in the previous 19.

The outcome was favorable vis-à-vis the previous 19 days of the month.

But I can also say the promo was a failure. Why? Because I tied my Justinia Wright mystery series to the campaign in order to get sales and KU page reads and I got not a single one.

You see, success depends on how you define it. For me, the promotional sale was a success on the one hand, because of its positive outcome. On the other hand, it was a failure because of its negative outcome.

So when you ask yourself, am I a successful writer — you need to define as specifically as you can what is success for you in this venture.

Ask yourself what do you want to achieve?

• Lots of money?
• Fame and glory?
• Power?
• Recognition?
• Lots of readers?

Once you’ve decided what it is you specifically want to achieve, then make a plan on how to get there.

If you achieve your goal on the first try, fabulous. If you don’t, revise the plan and try again. Keep trying and revising until you succeed. 

And don’t forget to check your goal. Perhaps you’ve set it too high. Perhaps your definition of success needs revision.

If you define success as selling a million copies of your book every year, that might be a bit lofty. And no plan is going to reach that goal.

Most books don’t even sell 500 copies in their first year, and then virtually nothing after that.

So a more realistic definition of success would be to sell 100 copies of your book in its first year and then repeat the performance in the second year and then for year 3 set a higher goal.

The keys to success are simple:

• Define success for you as specifically as you can so you can measure progress.
• Create a plan to enable you to be successful. Dreaming and wishing and hoping don’t work. Only work works.

Hope this is of help.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with three bestselling novels. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

And don’t forget to catch the latest book in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series: The Ransom Enigma.

And it’s still only 99¢ on Amazon.

Anthony Trollope, the Father of Writing Sprints

 

In his Autobiography, Trollope wrote that if he was to succeed at making money as a writer, he had to treat writing as a business.

To that end he set up a writing schedule that served him well throughout his writing career.

He got up at 5 AM every day. Spent 5 to 5:30 reviewing what he wrote the previous day. 

Then at 5:30 he put his pocket watch on his desk, took out a fresh sheet of paper, dipped his pen in the inkwell, and commence to write one 250 word page every 15 minutes. 

At the end of his 2 1/2 hour session he had 10 pages and 2500 words completed on the story or book he was working on. He’s been called the Victorian Writing Machine.

What Trollope did is to break down a 2 1/2 hour writing session into 15 minute increments. Fifteen minutes are much easier to manage than 2 1/2 hours. And 250 words a lot easier to accomplish than 2500 words.

By creating what we call today the writing sprint, Trollope paved the way for writers to be more productive and consistent in their practice.

He set aside the inner editor and just focused on writing. He had a mindset of getting it right the first time so he had little editing to do when he read over his text the next day.

I have some health issues that get in the way of my writing and I was pondering how to deal with those issues in order to increase my productivity.

The answer came from my mentor, Anthony Trollope. Writing sprints. 

Now Trollope wrote in one session because at 8 AM he left his study to eat breakfast and then depart for his 12 to 14 hour work day at the post office.

I am retired, so I don’t have a workday. My time is my own. 

So I thought to myself why don’t I spread Trollope’s ten 15 minute writing sprints throughout the day? That way the frequent breaks will ease the pressure on my hands and wrists, tailbone, and lower back.

So, for the month of July, starting tomorrow, I am going to set a goal of doing 10 fifteen minute writing sprints each day and produce one page (or more) in each sprint. The further goal being that of completing my novel by the end of the month.

Throughout the month of July I’ll give you progress reports on how it’s going. That way you can see if multiple short sprints will work for you to

• Increase productivity
• Shut down that inner editor
• End procrastination, and
• Kick writer’s block to the curb.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with three bestselling novels. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!

Defining Success

In any endeavor, we consciously or unconsciously define what success looks like.

When I was writing poetry, the writing of which is not financially lucrative by any measure, I defined success by such things as name recognition, the ability to get into certain magazines, the ability to write and get published, what was for me, a difficult form to write, and to be considered by my peers as the first amongst equals.

None of those measures of success involved receiving payment for what I’d written. Yet they were all determiners, for me (and most, if not all, of my fellow poets), of being a successful poet.

So how do we define success for ourselves in general and in writing fiction in particular? That question is no different than asking what is the meaning of life?

The answers are personal, and only you can provide the answer for yourself.

Writers, especially fiction writers, seem to think their work only has value if they get paid for it, and such payment that will enable them to quit the day job.

Is money, though, the only measure of fiction writing success? Can we define success some other way?

Of course we can. We can define success anyway we so desire.

Ask yourself this: if I were to never get a dime for any story or novel that I wrote, would I keep on writing? Or ask yourself this: Do I love writing? Or do I love the dream of getting rich from writing?

If most aspiring novelists were honest with themselves, they’d admit that they see writing fiction as being like the gold rush, or the lottery. They just want to get rich in what they think is a very easy way to do so. 

What they soon discover is that writing, especially indie writing, is a job — not a get rich quick scheme. Writing is work. Rewarding work, in my opinion. But work, nevertheless. And as with the gold rush and the lottery, the middleman is the one who makes the most coin.

Here’s another question: What do you love to do, even though you get no money for doing it? In fact, you have to pay money to do it. What is that activity? Whatever it is, that’s how you should view writing. You love doing it, even if you have to pay money to get your books into other people’s hands. And in the process, if you’re good enough, or lucky enough, you might make some money at the writing gig.

I’m going to let you in on a secret. Writing fiction — if you want to make serious coin by writing — is a business. And if you aren’t good at business, you won’t be good at making money from your pen.

But if you’re willing to put in the time to educate yourself on the business part of the writing gig, then, like any other self-employed person, you might make a living at writing. Probably won’t get rich, but you might make a decent living. Might. Just keep in mind that most businesses don’t succeed. They fail.

Which brings us back to defining success in writing fiction some other way than monetarily. It might be helpful to see ourselves as entertainers. Entertainers who make people laugh and cry just for the pleasure of giving them a brief respite from their lives.

In the nearly 7 years that I’ve been doing this writing gig, I’ve sold 929 books. It’s not a million, but it is more than none. And to my mind, that is something.

If I add in the 61,291 Kindle Unlimited page reads, and figure them to be equal to at least 300 books, then I’ve had people pay me to read over 1200 copies of my books. Incredible. That is, simply incredible.

I’ve also given away over 3300 books as lead magnets, ARCs, and gifts. Which means even more people have at least one of my books in their hand, and hopefully found the read a pleasurable and entertaining experience.

You see, on July 1st of this year, 2021, I had an epiphany. And it was simply this: focusing on trying to make money was destroying what I love. The pursuit of riches was making me hate writing.

And I truly love writing. I love the very act of holding a pencil or pen in my hand, and putting words on paper. I love the experience of the mystery of the creative process and seeing the results appear on paper. That, in and of itself, defines success for me: getting the story out of my head and onto paper.

Marcus Aurelius, the last of the Five Good Emperors, wrote, Life is opinion; or, Life is what you decide it is. One can define success the same way: success is what you think it is.

If you define success as being the second James Patterson, good luck. You might have a better chance of winning the lottery. Why set yourself up for what is surely to be failure? Then, again, who am I to say you won’t be successful? Because you very well may be.

You see, I’ve never had much interest in being a bestselling author. I simply want to sell books, have people read them, and like them enough to buy more of my books. To me, that is plenty of success. But it might not be for you. On the other hand, I encourage you not to define success in such a way that if you don’t achieve it that lack of achievement destroys your love of writing. Or your love of anything, for that matter.

Nor have I ever had an interest in being an award winning author. That’s just someone’s opinion, and most people’s opinions aren’t worth a tinker’s damn because they are subjective and not based on evidence. Which is certainly true about art, and fiction writing is art. But if awards float your boat, go for them. Just don’t be disappointed if you don’t get one, and quit something you love.

In my own eyes, and I’ve come to realize at the age of 68 years and 9 months that those are the only eyes that matter, I’m a successful writer of fiction.

Have I climbed the highest mountain that’s out there? No, I haven’t. But you don’t have to climb Mount Everest to be a mountain climber.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading (and writing)!