by Tiffany Yates Martin
In my 30-year career in publishing I’ve learned something about pursuing writing as a career: It’s not just about writing.
In fact I’d venture to say it’s not even mostly about writing, at least when you factor in all the other elements involved cumulatively in creating a sustainable, fulfilling long-term writing career.
Writing is the heart of it, true, the source and the nexus of everything else involved, and writers must master the craft of storytelling and good writing—along with publishing cornerstones such as marketing, publicity, platform building, and technology.
But those considerations don’t factor in what I call the “squishy skills” of writing, the ones that enable authors to pursue their craft at all. These areas are perhaps the most crucial in forming a firm, unshakable foundation for a successful, sustainable writing career. Writers who understand and master them are what I call Intuitive Authors (a concept I believe in so strongly, I named my new book after it).
When it comes to creating a successful, happier writing career you can sustain for the long haul, here are four of the biggest factors that set intuitive authors apart:
1. They understand that while their creativity is an art, building a writing career is a business—and approach it that way.
Creating a successful writing career isn’t about how much money you make from it. If you write and you’re pursuing the act of sharing your writing, you’re building a writing career.
But if that involves publication—in any path: traditional, small press, indie pub, or hybrid—then your writing is no longer just an art: It’s a product, a commodity on the market. Successful, satisfied authors understand that fact and the realities of our industry, the most sobering of which is this: Most writers don’t make a living from their writing.
If you accept that, it frees you to define your career based on intrinsic rewards, those that are within your control, rather than on external ones which are not, like getting an agent or publisher, or positive high-profile reviews, or high sales.
And that allows you to chart a course for your career that fits your motivations and goals, your values, rather than feeling as if you’re constantly at the mercy of the mercurial forces that define our industry. That’s what creates a sense of agency for writers, of autonomy: You’re no longer dependent on the nod from outside sources, but rather the captain of your own career.
2. They learn how to deal with the inevitable roadblocks.
Writing and publishing are riddled with challenges, obstacles, and constant ups and downs—and yet so many of the pitfalls and roadblocks that may stop us in our tracks are internal ones: impostor syndrome, procrastination, comparison, competition, perfectionism, “writer’s block.”
We may face external speed bumps too: criticism, rejection, failure. Disappointing sales, loss of a contract or editor, detours and dead ends and derailments.
Successful authors don’t avoid those ubiquitous issues of any creative career; they learn how to recognize and handle them more effectively. They understand that no matter how rocky the road or how vicious our inner voices, they are the ones in the driver’s seat of their own careers, and they manage and navigate these setbacks actively, not reactively.
3. They know how and when to advocate for themselves and their work—and they do it.
Successful, happier authors are not only confident in the value and worth of their work, but they are their own strongest and most constant champion.
- They welcome critique and editorial feedback because they understand it’s not a judgment on the quality of their work or their talent, but a tool they can utilize in discerning where their intentions aren’t coming across on the page and helps them realize the best version of their vision. But they also know when outside input is right for them and their story versus when it doesn’t jell with their intentions, and they’re comfortable taking what works and tossing what doesn’t.
- They are comfortable asking for more money, or better terms, or to retain more rights for their work when offered a contract that they aren’t satisfied with, knowing that a publisher (or agent) wouldn’t have made an offer if they didn’t also see the value of the author’s work and not fearful of it being retracted. And if the parties can’t come to mutually agreeable terms, they’re comfortable finding another avenue that does value their work appropriately.
- They’re able to talk about their work with enthusiasm and eagerness because they believe in it, and trust that readers will enjoy it. And if some readers don’t, they know better than to take that personally or undermine their own work. They accept that as with all art, writing is a deeply subjective business, and that trying to please all palates results in homogenized, flat writing, and puts other people in the driver’s seat of their career, rather than maintaining the wheel themselves.
4. They understand that while their writing may be a calling, art is not life, and they balance their careers with their other values.
Successful authors know that happiness doesn’t—cannot—reside in only one area of their lives, and that they are far more complex and faceted than that.
They are deeply in touch with their core values, and they consciously carve out a career that aligns with them. They dedicate themselves passionately to their careers, but they don’t neglect other interests and hobbies. They don’t forget self-care, and they treat themselves—and their Muse—with gentleness, respect, and seriousness.
They make time for the people (and pets!) that make their lives whole: families, partners, children, friends, their writing community.
They don’t define themselves or their happiness by one narrow definition of success in their creative career; they understand that a joyful, satisfying, fulfilling life is an amalgam of many factors, and they give their time and attention to all the things that bring meaning to their lives.
If all of the above points resonate with you, but you wish you knew how to better cultivate these skills, then you are one of the many authors I had in mind when writing The Intuitive Author. My new book was born from watching countless authors at every level navigate their careers—and from answering their call for a survival manual that helps them understand and master these key skills. It offers practical, concrete tools and techniques for dealing with these and many other challenges of the writing path so that you can forge the career—and life—you want.
