Failed Authors vs. Successful Ones: Why So Many Authors Fail (and What to Do Instead)
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It’s time for some tough love.
The hard truth is that out of all the people who write a book, only a fraction of them will actually see it published — and then only a fraction of those people will actually feel that their publication was successful and will achieve the number of sales that they envisioned for their book.
Please know that I don't say this to discourage you at all. If you are an aspiring author and you are on your way to establishing your career, I want you to remember that simply finishing a book is a huge accomplishment. There are way more people who say they want to write a book someday than people who actually do the work and get it done, and you are in that coveted latter group.
All of that said, the reason why I want to give you a little bit of tough love today is because I do see a lot of “failed” authors expressing disappointment and frustration about how their publishing journey is not turning out as they intended, and I want to give you some tips on why that might be the case.
If you are in the boat of feeling discouraged about your publishing journey, hopefully this will help you shift your mindset a bit so that you can be more intentional and also more optimistic when it comes to publishing your book — which should be an exciting and rewarding process! I don't want you to feel like you're a failed author because again, finishing your book is a huge accomplishment, and I want you to be able to focus on enjoying and reveling in that.
I'm going to structure this post as a list of reasons why authors fail (or feel like they are failing) with their publishing journey and offer some tips on how to turn that around.
Failed Authors Have Undefined Goals
The first reason why so many authors fail is because their goal is undefined. After you finish your book, it is critical to ask yourself honestly what your intentions are for this story. Did you write it just for yourself? Did you write it so that friends and family could enjoy it? Or is it important for you to get it in as many readers’ hands as possible and build a career as an author? Is that what you envision for yourself?
The answers to these questions should dictate what your next steps are and your plan for publishing. I often see authors finish a manuscript and then not really know what they want to do, or maybe they have a vague sense that they want to get it published, but they're not sure how; they're not sure if they want to go with traditional or self-publishing. But you really do need to take the time to make this deliberate decision for yourself because it is going to inform whether you enjoy success or whether you feel like a failed author.
Publishing is not for the faint of heart, no matter which way you go (traditional or self/indie publishing), so I want you to be deliberate and intentional with your plans to publish your book. Otherwise, you are likely going to be met with disappointment and frustration.
Authors often get the sense that they failed because maybe they self-publish their book and it didn't get a lot of sales, or maybe they tried querying literary agents but then they never got a response. But remember that you can only fail if you actually set a specific goal for yourself and then it didn't pan out. If you didn't set any goals to begin with, there's nothing for you to check your failure against. If you don't set a specific objective for your book from the outset, then frankly, everything is probably going to feel like a failure because book publishing is just a tough business.
So, I strongly recommend setting an optimistic but realistic goal for your book. Perhaps what you truly want is to publish your book with a Big Five publisher, but if that doesn't pan out, you are also open to going with a smaller publishing house that accepts unagented submissions. Remember that your goal can always be fine-tuned and change as your publishing journey continues and as your personal circumstances change, but you should have some intention for your work and a vision for how you want your story to get into the world.
Failed Authors Don’t Read Widely in Their Genre
If you decide you want to embark on publishing your book, then it is going to be critical for you to read widely in your genre, and by that, I mean read books that are currently being published by debut authors in your genre — not books that were published 10 years ago in your genre, not books that are part of a high school or college curriculum that were published decades ago, not books by highly established authors who are decades into their career.
Do your research on the current book market and what readers are gravitating towards right now, because this is the publishing landscape you are trying to sell your book in — not the publishing days of yesteryear. It is certainly helpful to read authors that you admire, but you shouldn't only be reading the huge, best-selling authors or the masters of the literary craft. Remember that the debut authors who have published in your genre in the last few years are actually your cohort and your writing peers, so make sure you are reading them as well.
A good place to check if you don't really know where to start on finding contemporary debut authors in your genre is the Goodreads Choice Awards list. Every year they put out an award, and you can look at the list of finalists, semi-finalists, and winners from the past few years in their debut category. They have a specific category just for debut authors, but also go ahead and check your specific genre category as well.
Think about this analogy: A new restaurant wouldn't open up in a new location without doing their research on what other restaurants are also in the vicinity, right? So, you really do need a comprehensive understanding of what your publishing landscape looks like to publish successfully. That way you can best target your audience and reach readers.
Failed Authors’ Manuscripts Aren’t Ready
The next reason why authors fail is because their manuscript just isn't ready yet. Writing a book is hard work, but revising your book is potentially even harder.
Successful authors will tell you though that revising is actually where all of the magic happens — where your story becomes the strongest version of itself, where you can refine your story into the actual vision that you had for it when you dreamed it up all those years or months ago. Revising is when you should truly be able to manifest your dream for your book.
I would say, at a bare minimum, before you publish your book, it needs to go through four drafts — and I'm telling you that is on the very low end. That would be:
The original draft
The draft incorporating developmental edits
The draft incorporating copy and line edits, and
The draft incorporating proofreading
But you will find that most successful authors have several rounds, especially of developmental editing, that do a lot of heavy lifting at the early phases of their book. Often, they will have closer to a dozen — even more than a dozen — drafts!
Now, you should not embark on the revision process alone. It is extremely challenging for you to see issues in your own manuscript, which is why it is essential, as part of your publishing process, to get external feedback from a trusted source. This could be a beta reader who has a lot of experience in your genre or, even better, it could be a critique partner who gives you really helpful constructive feedback. Or, if you have the ability to invest, you can work with a professional book editor who will give you a lot of editorial expertise on how to strengthen your book.
Failed Authors Don’t Know How to Pitch Their Book
The next reason why so many authors fail is because they don't know how to pitch their book. Even if you have the most polished manuscript possible, it is going to be impossible to sell it if you don't know how to pitch it.
Think of it in terms of a movie trailer: if you watch a trailer that completely bores you, are you likely to go see that movie? Probably not, unless it is featuring an actor or a director that you love — which is kind of the equivalent of an author that you love.
If you are reaching out to literary agents, then your pitch will take the form of the query letter. This is where you describe your book, and you want to make sure it is concise, snappy, and that it piques the agent's interest in wanting to read more. You want to illuminate what is intriguing about your book's premise and what sets it apart from others.
If you're self-publishing, your pitch will take the form of the book blurb that goes into the online description copy or on the back cover or inside cover of the book itself. That's what a reader is going to read before determining if they want to buy the book, so it is critical that you craft an intriguing blurb that hooks readers. My advice would be to read other blurbs of books that are in your genre and then model yours after those.
Failed Authors Don’t Realize How Random Publishing Is
The final reason why many authors fail is because they don't realize just how random publishing is. As much as big publishing houses try to drive sales to specific books based on splashy marketing campaigns or by publishing authors with big social media followings, there is truly no formula for what makes a book successful and take off with readers. So much of it actually just comes down to chance.
Once the book is published, that means that a lot of your book's success actually is out of your control. That can be really scary to new authors, and rightfully so — you're being asked to put your heart and soul on the page, to put so much time, energy and potentially money into your book, only for the chance of it finding success. But know that pretty much every successful author that you see or that you admire has been in your exact position. There are so many examples of high-profile authors who “failed” at first when their work didn't actually take off until their third, fourth, or fifth book.
It is very common for an author's debut novel, or even their second novel or third novel, to have a very quiet release, where there aren't a ton of sales and they're certainly not a recognizable name. Then, suddenly, they may have a breakout hit with their third, fourth, fifth, or sixth book, and at that point, they're able to really enjoy a fruitful career. Ultimately, what makes successful authors different from failed authors is simply perseverance. They plowed through the disappointments. They plowed through the frustrations and the rejections that go with publishing. And they accepted the randomness of publishing — that a lot of it is up to chance, and you have to keep putting yourself out there and your readers will eventually, hopefully, find you.
I hope this helped you feel a bit more optimistic about the book publishing landscape and how to find your own place within it. I want you to feel empowered to position yourself for success in your career as an author, and I don't want you to give up or feel like a failed author because of these common mistakes.
Thanks so much for reading and happy writing!