Today, it's time for some tough love. The hard truth is that out of all the people who write a book, only a fraction of them will actually see it published, and then only a fraction of those people will actually feel that their publication was successful and enjoy the amount of sales that they envisioned for their book. Please know that I don't say this to discourage you at all. If you are an aspiring author and you are on your way to establishing your career as an author, I want you to remember that simply finishing a book is a huge, huge accomplishment, and there are way more people who say they want to write a book someday than people who actually do the work and get it done, and you are in that coveted latter group. All of that said, the reason why I want to give you a little bit of tough love today is that I do see a lot of authors expressing disappointment and frustration about how their publishing journey is not turning out as they intended. So, I want to give you some tips.

on why that might be the case. If you are in the boat of feeling discouraged about your publishing journey, hopefully, this will help you shift your mindset a bit so that you can be more intentional and also more optimistic when it comes to publishing your book, which should be an exciting and rewarding journey. I don't want you to feel like you're a failure as an author because, again, finishing your book was a huge accomplishment, and I want you to be able to focus on enjoying and reveling in that. I'm going to structure the video today as a list of reasons why I see authors fail or feel like they are failing with their publishing journey and offer some tips on how to turn that around. If you are currently in the process of publishing your book or you're thinking about publishing a book, I recommend subscribing to my channel. Every week, I either post videos that talk about the book publishing journey like this video, especially from the background of traditional publishing, or I give tips on how to improve your manuscript. So, if any

of that interests you. I would love to have you around. I also have a free resource for anyone watching who has a current work in progress. It is called my story self-assessment worksheet, and it is designed to help you see your manuscript from a new lens, which can be so hard when you are so deep in it. It's a short, fun quiz that will hopefully help illuminate points in your manuscript and elements that could be improved, so you can make sure it is as strong as it can possibly be for readers. Downloading that resource is also going to sign you up for my newsletter, where I give even more exclusive tips and insights from published authors and publishing industry professionals, so you don't want to miss out on that. If you want to go straight to the newsletter, I have the link in the description below. So, the first reason why I see authors fail is because their goal is undefined. After you finish your book, it is critical to ask yourself honestly what your intentions are for this story. Did you write it just for yourself? Did you

write it so that friends and family couldn't enjoy it, or is it important for you to get it in as many readers' hands as possible and build a career as an author? Is that what you envision for yourself? The answers to these questions should dictate what your next steps are and your plan for publishing. I often see authors finish a manuscript and then not really know what they want to do, or maybe have a vague sense that they want to get it published, but they're not sure how. They're not sure if they want to go traditional or self-publishing, but you really do need to take the time to make this deliberate decision for yourself because it is going to inform whether you enjoy success or whether you feel like you are failing. Publishing is not for the faint of heart, no matter which way you go, traditional or self/Indie publishing. So I really want you to be deliberate and intentional with your plans to publish your book; otherwise, you are likely going to be met with disappointment and frustration. Authors often get the sense that they failed

because maybe they self-publish their book, and it didn't get a lot of sales, or maybe they tried querying literary agents, but then they never got a response. But remember that you can only fail if you actually set a specific goal for yourself, and then it didn't pan out. If you didn't set any goals to begin with, there's nothing for you to check your failure against, right? If you don't set a specific objective for your book from the outset, then frankly, everything is probably going to feel like a failure because book publishing is just a tough, tough business. So I strongly recommend setting an optimistic but realistic goal for your book. Perhaps what you truly want is to publish your book with a big five publisher, but perhaps if that doesn't pan out, you are also open to going with a smaller publishing house that accepts unagented submissions. Remember that your goal can always be fine-tuned and change as your publishing journey continues and as your personal circumstances change, but you should have some intention for your work and a

vision for how you want your story to get into the world. If you are still undecided on what publish path you want to go down, I recommend checking out my video where I break down all of your publishing options and how to choose between them. The next reason why I see authors fail is if they haven't read widely in their genre. If you decide you want to embark on publishing your book, then it is going to be critical for you to read widely in your genre. And by that, I mean read books that are currently being published by debut authors in your genre, not books that were published 10 years ago in your genre, not books that are part of a high school or college curriculum that were published decades ago. Do your research on the current book market and what readers are gravitating towards right now, because this is the publishing landscape you are operating in and you are trying to sell your book in, not the publishing days of yesteryear. It is certainly helpful to read authors that you admire, right? But you shouldn't

only be reading the huge best-selling authors or the masters of the literary craft, right? Remember that the debut authors who have published in your genre in the last few years are actually your cohort, and they are your writing peers. So, make sure you are reading them as well. A good place to check if you don't really know where to start on finding contemporary debut authors in your genre is the Goodreads Choice Award list. Every year, they put out an award, and you can look at the list of finalists and potentially even semi-finalists, and of course, the winners from the past few years in their debut category. They have a specific category just for debut authors, but also go ahead and check your specific genre category as well. Think about this analogy: a new restaurant wouldn't open up in a new location without doing their research on what other restaurants are also in the vicinity, right? So, you really do need a comprehensive understanding of what your publishing landscape looks like to publish successfully. That way, you can best target your audience and reach.

readers, the next reason why authors fail is because their manuscript just isn't ready yet. Writing a book is hard work, but revising your book is potentially even harder. Successful authors will tell you, though, that revising is actually where all of the magic happens, where your story becomes the strongest version of itself, where you can refine your story into the actual vision that you had for it when you dreamed it up all those years or months ago. Revising is when you should truly be able to manifest your dream for your book. I would say, at a bare minimum, before you publish, your book needs to go through four drafts, and I'm telling you that is on the very, very minimal low end. That would be the original draft, the draft incorporating developmental edits, the draft incorporating copy and line edits, and the draft incorporating proofreading. But you will find that most successful authors have several rounds, especially of developmental editing, that does a lot of heavy lifting at the early phases of their book, and often they will have

closer to a dozen, even more than a dozen drafts. Now, you should not embark on the revision process alone. It is extremely challenging for you to see issues in your own manuscript, which is why it is essential, as part of your publishing process, to get external feedback from a trusted source. This could be a beta reader who has a lot of experience in your genre, or even better, it could be a critique partner who gives you really helpful constructive feedback. Or, if you have the ability to invest, you can work with a professional book editor who will give you a lot of editorial expertise on how to strengthen your book. I have another video that goes into the differences between a beta reader and a book editor specifically, so if you are wondering how to get feedback on your book, that is a good resource to check out. The next reason why many authors fail is because they don't know how to pitch their book. Even if you have the most polished manuscript possible, it is going to be impossible to sell it if you

don't know how to pitch it, and then readers are not gravitating towards it, right? Think of it in terms of a movie trailer. If you watch a trailer that completely bores you, are you likely to go see that movie? Probably not, unless it is featuring an actor or a director that you love, which is kind of the equivalent with an author that you love. If you are reaching out to literary agents, then your pitch will take the form of the query letter. This is where you describe your book, and you want to make sure it is concise, snappy, and that it piques the agent's interest in wanting to read more. You want to illuminate what is intriguing about your book's premise, what sets it apart from others, and if you're self-publishing, your pitch will take the form of the book blurb that goes into the online description copy or on the back cover or inside cover of the book itself. That's what a reader is going to read before determining if they want to buy the book, so it is critical.

that you craft an intriguing blurb that hooks readers in. My advice would be to read other blurbs of books that are in your genre and then model yours after those. I have a whole other video that goes into how to pitch your novel successfully, so check that out if you are worried about your pitching abilities. The final reason why many authors fail is because they don't realize just how random publishing is. As much as big publishing houses try to drive sales to specific books based on splashy marketing campaigns or by publishing authors with big social media followings, there is truly no formula for what makes a book successful and take off with readers. So much of it actually just comes down to chance once the book is published. That means that a lot of your book's success actually is out of your control. That can be really scary to new authors, and rightfully so. You're being asked to put your heart and soul on the page, put so much time, energy, and potentially money into your book, only for the chance of it finding success. But

know that pretty much every successful author that you see or that you admire has been in your exact position. There are so many examples of high-profile authors whose work didn't actually take off until their third, fourth, or fifth book. It is very common for an author's first debut novel, or even their second novel, or third novel, to have a very quiet release where there aren't a ton of sales and they're certainly not a recognizable name. But then suddenly they have a breakout hit with their third, fourth, fifth, sixth book, right? And then they're able to really enjoy a fruitful career. So ultimately, what makes those authors different from authors who fail is simply perseverance. They plowed through the disappointments, they plowed through the frustrations and the rejections that go with publishing, and they accepted the randomness of publishing, that a lot of it is up to chance, and you have to keep putting yourself out there, and your readers will eventually, hopefully, find you. I hope this helped you feel a bit more optimistic about the book publishing.

landscape and how to find your own place within it. I want you to feel empowered to position yourself for success in your career as an author, and I don't want you to give up or feel like a failure. So, let me know in the comments where you are currently at in your publishing journey. Have you published a book already, or are you querying? Do you have a work in progress that you're not sure how to publish yet? Feel free to share what your intention for your book is with this community. I love seeing everyone interact in the comments, so please feel free to use this space to support each other. If you're looking for some more tips on how to be a successful author, I have another video on how to become a best-selling author that gives you some more practical tips. If you liked this video, please go ahead and hit that thumbs-up button. It really helps out my channel. Hit that subscribe button if you haven't already, and don't forget your free resource in the description below and the link to my newsletter. Thanks so

much for watching, and happy writing. foreign [Music]

Why Most Aspiring Authors Fail

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