My sons are runners. I am not. But one thing about their running has translated over to my writing and my perspective on success. That one thing is called Personal Best. The concept is to always strive for bettering a runner’s time. Yes, runners compete against other runners. But when a runner continues to obtain a personal best, he or she is improving their own time. The runner runs for themselves and finds pleasure in improving. By focusing on always seeking ways of improving their personal best, runners find constant inner inspiration and, to use a cliché, go the distance.
This concept is not a secret to acquiring a publisher or agent or increasing sales. But resetting your writing goals can influence your personal satisfaction and bring new doors into your perspective. When I realized the personal best concept could go to work for me, I refocused where I put my energy and accepted that I had to try new things. You’ve probably heard the saying: Old ways won’t open new doors. Sometimes it’s time to reassess our dreams. Maybe your dream has always been to see your print books sitting on shelves in bookstores. That is a common dream and one I share. But if traditional publishers aren’t giving you much love, look for other doors. Could you write for game companies or reading phone apps? Could you write for BookRiot, for example? Imagine the size of your audience and what effect that could have on your book sales.
Maybe your books are on shelves or at least on retail sites but they’re not getting much attention. What other doors can you find for promo? Think broadly. Put your face out into the readership spheres. How about turning something you know well into a topic you can speak on? Again, consider other avenues for which you could write differently but that put your writing in front of a large audience, such as the Chicken Soup for the Soul books.
While your primary focus may remain on writing and selling books, you can improve your skills in other areas, expand your knowledge base, and extend your reach while having fun doing different things.
About a year ago I was facing disillusionment with writing, or to be more specific, publishing. The publishing world has changed over the years I’ve been writing. I hear and read about writers getting discouraged with the way of publishing. It’s challenging to make a career out of it and it’s dispiriting when sales are low. As writers we want our work to be appreciated and validated. Good sales numbers and an expanding readership prove to us that our efforts are worthwhile.
It’s natural to look to sales for validation, but when we look outside of ourselves for validation, we’re putting our satisfaction in others’ hands. It can lead to hopelessness, because we have little control over anything outside of ourselves. We can submit, we can promote, but we can’t make publishers or agents love our work or make people buy our books. That is when seeking our personal best can save the day and sustain our career.
It’s natural to look to sales for validation, but when we look outside of ourselves for validation, we’re putting our satisfaction in others’ hands. It can lead to hopelessness, because we have little control over anything outside of ourselves. We can submit, we can promote, but we can’t make publishers or agents love our work or make people buy our books. That is when seeking our personal best can save the day and sustain our career.
This concept is not a secret to acquiring a publisher or agent or increasing sales. But resetting your writing goals can influence your personal satisfaction and bring new doors into your perspective. When I realized the personal best concept could go to work for me, I refocused where I put my energy and accepted that I had to try new things. You’ve probably heard the saying: Old ways won’t open new doors. Sometimes it’s time to reassess our dreams. Maybe your dream has always been to see your print books sitting on shelves in bookstores. That is a common dream and one I share. But if traditional publishers aren’t giving you much love, look for other doors. Could you write for game companies or reading phone apps? Could you write for BookRiot, for example? Imagine the size of your audience and what effect that could have on your book sales.
Maybe your books are on shelves or at least on retail sites but they’re not getting much attention. What other doors can you find for promo? Think broadly. Put your face out into the readership spheres. How about turning something you know well into a topic you can speak on? Again, consider other avenues for which you could write differently but that put your writing in front of a large audience, such as the Chicken Soup for the Soul books.
While your primary focus may remain on writing and selling books, you can improve your skills in other areas, expand your knowledge base, and extend your reach while having fun doing different things.
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