Well, multiple factors are in play here. First, this is an older post, written before NYC publishing and B&N committed business suicide. This is why I frequently post on the same topics, especially when it comes to the publishing business. So first of all, some of this information is arguably outdated. We (authors) had a bit more control over the odds before Amazon took total control.

The second factor will be what genre are you writing. To be blunt? Romance is a good 70% of the market and odds are better for becoming successful in romance. Then thriller and suspense are next. They are commercial fiction, and (other than non-fiction), these genres sell very well to the masses of readers and ‘non-readers.’

Thirdly? There is just plain damned dumb luck. I have read books that were BRILLIANT and yet they languished in obscurity. Other books that I felt should have been burned simply because of the insult to my native language? Became 50 Shades of pop culture phenomena.

*bangs head*

The point with this 5% exercise is to bring things into focus. If we look at the BIG, HUGE picture, it seems impossible. But break it down into pieces and it suddenly is at least doable. No one can control the stars aligning just right, but the problem is too many authors fixate on ads, newsletters, and marketing (all of which have a terrible ROI without an established brand and books for sale) without writing more books and becoming better storytellers. They worry about all the stuff they can’t control (dumb luck) when that time would be better spent doing the hard work.

As for the money side of things, as an author you are self-employed and you might consider becoming an LLC, because almost everything is a deduction. You can deduct a portion of your house payment, car payment, utilities, internet, phone, travel, all the expenses for ads and marketing and on and on. Get a good accountant–because I am NOT an accountant and laws vary by state and country–and you probably will pay very little in taxes because you can take advantage of a lot of the same breaks small businesses enjoy.

But yes, you are correct. In fact, it is odd you replied because I was just talking to a friend about defining success. If your goal is to simply write your life story to hand down to kids and grandkids? Then when you finish that book, have it edited, formatted, buy a cover and get it ready for POD? You are a success!

Yet, I see SO many authors (and been guilty myself) who CLAIM to want to be NYTBSAs but they don’t want to do the work or make the sacrifices LONG-TERM to get to that spot.

Thanks for the comment. I always love a great discussion and fabulous to meet you!

Thank you so much…. I’m at chapter 7 in my first book. It was going great. What I have written so far is soooo awesome! My best friend for 30 years was the only reason why I would put pen to paper I never dreamed of writing a book. When I would tell him all my stories he kept telling me dude you have to write a book. He’s done this for years and I just told him he was crazy. So I finally took it seriously and began. I told him we would be 50 50 business partners with my writing. He would handle the whole business part of the Venture in I would just write because that’s all I want to do is write. He works a 60 hour a week job so he won’t have time to get my book in front of people. My wife is awesome at things like that so I called him and told him that I’m not going into business with him. I told him I already have a publisher I already have someone to do the artwork on the cover I already have someone to edit the book so I don’t need him. He obviously was very pissed. It was the first time we’d ever fought in 33 years of friendship. I almost scuttled the whole book and stop writing because it wasn’t worth our friendship. When I hung the phone up from that conversation I felt like I wanted to vomit. I couldn’t believe money came between our friendship. But by the grace of Jesus Christ we have worked it out and I’m just going to pay him a finder’s fee. I was so upset about this that my head was messed up and I couldn’t even hardly write it all. So now I’m starting to write again. Your blog was so inspirational and gives me a lot of hope that I will one day be a New York Times bestseller. I was so deflated. But now I know I will succeed and I will be a best-selling author. It was by the grace of Jesus Christ that I happened upon your website and blog you really really really changed my perception of success. I was feeling really low and you really picked me up and energized me. Thank you so so much and May Jesus bless you?

Awwww…me too! LOL.