Published authors I train have all of these qualities and, quite simply, the sum of these qualities is how they succeed. These qualities also explain why they succeed.
It’s not enough to have a good idea. It’s not enough to have spent a lot of money on your education. There is still so much a writer must learn and do to succeed in the long run in publishing.
Entrepreneurial types might be born with some or most of these skills, but writers…not so much.
Despite a proliferation of Internet and guru advice, I still find a good writer with all these skills to be pretty rare to find.
If you are a writer and you want to be an author, and you don’t have these abilities, then get your cookies in gear and them.
I’m going to lay it out for you, pretty plain and simple.
You’ve either got these, or you need to work on them. Here we go:
28 Things You Must Have To Succeed In Publishing (Traditional & Self) In The Long Haul:
- Determination: Another word for ambition
- Chutzpah: Another word for resiliency
- Curiosity: Endless
- Personal experience: An interest in and attention to your own thoughts
- Writing experience: Professional quality
- Integrity: Good karma
- Can-do Attitude: One that just won’t quit
- Good energy: And a desire to share it
- Business mindset: An awareness of the basics
- Genuine desire to help: If you don’t care about others, quit now
- Money: You’ll need some, but not a ton
- Intelligent boundaries: You’ll learn the hard way if you don’t have them
- Organizational skills: Some, even if you are very right-brained
- Leadership skills: Authorhood is political, don’t kid yourself otherwise
- Research skills: So you can make smart choices
- Willingness to delegate: You’re going to have to
- Individuality: Way better than shallow cronyism
- Self-esteem: A desire for excellence for the sake of excellence
- Tolerance for repetition: Hope you like it!
- Niche-focus: Your little corner of the world
- Platform development: A place you call home on the Web
- Awareness of the larger marketplace: And your place in it
- Service to an audience: Make that consistent service
- Depth and breadth of content evolution: If you want to stick around
- Efficient Web Design: Keep ‘em clicking!
- Responsiveness to challenges: There will be many
- Media exposure: Reach out to those who cover your beat
- Google-able: A little SEO won’t kill you
• • •
The Writer’s Workout, 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques From Your Writing Career Coach is written by Christina Katz for Writer’s Digest Books. For sale everywhere quality books are sold, including: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s, IndieBound and Writer’s Digest. Listen to the introduction. Download an excerpt from Scribd. Get motivated by The Writer’s Workout Motivational Poster. Let’s write the future…together.