Things You Absolutely Don't have to do to be a successful Author

I went to an Indie Authors conference in London this year. I’ve been before, and I’ve also followed the organizer’s podcast for many years. The Self Publishing Show (if you are curious) has an excellent reputation and is worth the investment.

In previous years, attending the same conference left me with a ton of inspiration, but also a sense of dread, at the thought of implementing all the methods and processes and all the Things I Should Be Doing.

Inevitably at these conferences, you meet many helpful and generous people who want you to succeed, but also a few dicks who insist that their path is the Only Way. Yes, I’m looking at you, lady - the one who kept saying “Only an idiot wouldn’t do Amazon ads, I suppose you just want to leave money on the table?”

This year, it was interesting to see that they had a couple of sessions about self care and avoiding burn-out. There were also workshops given by authors who had taken vastly different routes to publishing success. For example, one lady had built a massive direct selling empire, starting with viral TikTok videos. She now leases two warehouses and employs ten people. In contrast, I also listened to an author who had chosen Etsy as his preferred platform, and made a nice living, thank you very much, in his living room, helped only by his wife and teenage daughter.

There were workshops for those of us who chose to delve into the mysteries of facebook advertising - and also Amazon ads ( I didn’t go to that one, because I am happy to leave money on the table rather than grapple with that complicated platform), there were authors who’d made money with Kickstarter, who wrote one book a year, or rapid -released ten books a year. All had achieved success - however they defined it.

The thing was, there was not (anymore) a set of “rules” or a formula for how to be a successful author.

In fact, the indie publishing world, since I first dipped in my toe over a decade ago, is unrecognisable. Back in the olden days, the rules were simple: write books fast, publish, and do it again. Don’t bother with paperbacks, don’t sell direct because Amazon is the only player in town, advertise on Amazon and facebook. That was it.

There are no rules today, and no one formula. That makes this industry both glorious and harder. We all have to make decisions, every single day. And some (most) of those decisions are what NOT to do.

For example, rapid release of a series of books was almost guaranteed to make money when I started. It meant that you had to write a bunch of books and then release them a few weeks apart, and keep on doing it. Those who were making money, were also writing to the point of exhaustion.

Johnny Truant, one of the pioneers of indie publishing and the co-author of “Write, Publish, Repeat” was a true believer in this system. Ten years later, after burning out, he’s taking it a lot slower and still making a decent living selling his books at farmer’s markets - yes, you can do that too. Lots of authors are selling books at local events. I even host an event in Spring and Winter, for my local author community here on Vancouver Island.

You don’t have to write every day. I know, it sounds like I’m messing with the Universe, tempting divine intervention in the form of lightning strikes - but it’s true.

Of course, you can if you want, but it’s not required. It will take you a little longer to finish that novel, but that’s OK. When you are done, you could run a Kickstarter campaign to fund the publishing of that novel. You could create all kinds of fun stuff to go with it, find backers who turn into readers, and then do it all again. It’s a longer process, but arguably, just as profitable.

The thing is, in today’s industry, even with the challenges we face, there are so many more choices than before. We can choose our own adventure to fit around our lifestyle.

This week, I posted on Threads that there are many benefits to not being a full-time author, and continuing to work at a day job, (if you are lucky enough to have one). I was not surprised to see many authors commenting and agreeing with me.

The trick is, to create a sustainable path that suits your own lifestyle, rather than worry that you are not doing all the things that XYZ authors are doing.

Not on TikTok? No worries. Don’t have an online store? That’s OK. You can meet readers everywhere. Half the battle is telling people that you are a writer and have books they might like to read.

This writer’s life is forever. We have chosen a career that can be part-time, full-time, a side hustle, a pension supplement, a hobby that makes money. We just have to decide what makes us happy and feeds our creative soul.