A Measure of Success

Writing and self-publishing is an interesting animal at times because people will mostly judge if you’re a success or not at it based on 1.) sales and 2.) reviews. That does make sense, I suppose. A lot of people bought a thing you made, and they liked it! Money AND acclaim! You’ve made it! You win!

But the problem I have with that mindset is that is dependent on other people’s actions. Other people have to do something in order for me to feel like a success or not. I can’t MAKE people buy a book. I can’t MAKE them read it. I certainly can’t MAKE them like it enough to say something nice about it. Don’t get me wrong, sales and positive reviews are certainly nice, but for most intents and purposes, it is out of my hands if either happen.

I’d rather base whether or not I am a success or not by measuring it against the goals I’ve set before myself, and I’m a strong believer that a goal is something actionable through one’s OWN actions. That’s why I refuse to set goals like “sell 1,000 copies of this book” or “get 100 5-star reviews.” Those aspirations are dependent on others, and it basically makes me a bystander in my own journey. That, frankly, sucks.

So, when I first set out to write and sell my own book, I set four goals:

1. Write a story to the best of my ability at the time
2. Revise and edit a story to the best of my ability at the time
3. Publish and Market a story to the best of my ability at the time
4. Do it again, taking what I learned last time and doing to the best of my improved ability at the time.

By the terms I set before myself, at this moment, I’ve achieved 75% of those goals and I’m currently working on achieving the other 25%.

I’m a #$@%ing astounding success, and to hell with anyone who tells me I’m not. You’re not my self-affirmation supervisor.