Cover Photo: https://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/sisyphus_163171
https://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/sisyphus_163171

How to "Make it" as an Author

Literary Virtue in the Branded Age


Dear Charles, 

At the end of the day, and if you want to “make it” as an author, uploading your debut novel to Amazon in hopes of recognition is like recording a song on Garage Band, putting it on YouTube, and hoping it will go viral. (Of course, when I say "debut novel" I assume you’ve been through so many edits and drafts that if you look at it again you’ll scream like a banshee and punch the wall). As a personal accomplishment, I think it’s awesome you’ve got something “out there.” You did it, by god(s). You should be proud. Think about the ratio of people who say they’re working on a book to those who actually accomplish it--it's small. 



Be sure to share the work with others, listen to critical feedback (and digest it), get rejected (and understand the difference between someone rejecting your book and you as a person). Revise, rethink, get rejected again, and continue onwards. If you’re not writing every day, or at least thinking about writing every day, the math doesn’t add up: Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 Hours” idea may or may not be bullshit, but unless you’ve made writing an integral part of your lifestyle, it's fair to say you’re not well positioned to “make it" as an author.

Write on.


Writing novels in Paris. Music Too. Tweets are the Internet's. https://t.co/8Wsd7YqNJK