What Does It Take for an Author to Be Successful?
When I first met T.W. Bright on Twitter, I could tell he was a little unsure about his (awesome) ideas and capability of creating a book that would convey his message.
I was not only drawn by the message in his story, but by the fact that he wanted to do something different, and wanted to reach people with something innovative, honest, and good.
T.W. Bright wrote a super hero book for children that shows kids they can deal with bullying without using violence, that they don’t have to wear a cape to be a hero, and he wanted to give children of color a story with kids who look like them.
Take a look to see Bright and the Bully.
After several conversations, query letters, editing, and delving into the act of publishing his story, T.W. Bright became just as much of an encouragement for me as I was to him.
His dedication and commitment were one thing, but he’s also fearless in marketing himself, which is truly inspiring to me and helped me to stop hiding behind my computer screen, worrying whether or not I’ll come across as I intend.
That was a couple years ago now, and prior to T.W. Bright publishing his book, I ended up moving 100 miles while he secured his illustrator. After getting myself situated we got straight back to work and published his book and website.
He decided to go with self-publishing so that his message wouldn’t be tainted, and we worked and worked to get the formatting right. Have you ever done a full-color, full-bleed picture book on Amazon – a single page at a time? It was a great time though.
He might not even know all the nights I stayed up late making sure each image was perfect, or how many times I forgot to eat because I was working, but that’s ok, because I loved doing it. 🙂
Not only did I gain experience, but I gained a lifelong friend, whom I will be forever grateful to.
Because of him – his faith, persistence, and dedication to his work, as well as encouragement, he also helped me to grow and be more successful in what I do.
So, what does it take to be successful as an author? It’s very simple really. Faith, trust, and fairy dust.
There are other things too – like dedication, persistence, and learning how to make your work better, we don’t want to leave that out.
But, my job is to supply the fairy dust – encouragement, positive attitude, support, information, and whatever else it is you need to learn to fly.
Everyone I’ve worked with has been an encouragement to continue doing what I do, to grow myself, my business, and to be here for those who feel they don’t have anyone in their corner.
Every success fuels my fire, and T.W. Bright is a shining example.
What every author needs for success:
- Support and encouragement
- Information and knowing where to find it
- Dedication, commitment, and persistence
- Marketing ideas
- Faith, trust, and fairy dust. 😉
Do you need some help with your book or need marketing ideas? Send me an email with your questions and I’ll help you in any way that I can!
Have a successful day!
