Measuring an Author’s Success

Posted by Rhemalda Publishing on Nov 1, 2011 in Authors, Blog, Writing | 5 comments

Every author must measure their success, but the question is, what should they measure it against?

Happiness.

That’s right, I think that every author should measure their success by nothing more than the happiness that they have in their life.

It does not matter what you drive, how big your house is or how much money you make if you are not happy with  your life. If you are not content with yourself and your situation in life then what are you doing?

How does one gain inner happiness? Can you order it from a catalog? Can you Google it? No, you can’t. You have to choose it.

Happiness is not something that you can seek, you will never find it. Instead you must seek the things that ignite it within you–and then do those things.

For me, as a person who works with authors on a daily basis and who dabbles a bit with writing myself, the one thing that I see bringing myself and authors joy is the time that is spent with family. Each book written and sold, each book signing attended, each event that an author speaks at, brings joy. I think these events bring joy because the author has their family either with them or nearby cheering them on, encouraging them. Their family tells them that they believe in them and when that happens the author feels  contentment, joy and most of all happiness. The relationship that an author has with their family, spouse, children and close friends is often the basis of their happiness.

Although it is a major player, family is not the only element that promotes an authors happiness, it is so much more.

When an author takes care of themselves by being healthy and fit they also become a happy author. Being healthy and fit gives more energy that can be directed towards a passion of writing. I have learned from my personal writing that my creativity is often at its peak when I am exercising and I let my mind wander. I create some of my most exciting scenes when exercising.

When I have a positive outlook towards the people and events around me it allows me that same outlook towards my writing and makes me more productive. If I allow negativity to creep in then my writing dwindles and I have trouble completing my novels.

For me another layer of happiness is my spiritual faith. Each author must choose their own belief system. That system must bring them peace, contentment and most of all give comfort to a restless mind when needed.

The present economy in the USA, in the world, is one of instability and confusion. There are men who, not long ago, wore suits and dress shoes to a job that they carried a briefcase for. Now these same men have lost those jobs and either are out of work or have accepted any means to support their families, even if they now wear gray flannel shirts and work boots. The sadness that surrounds this scenario is this… it is likely that neither of these positions brings happiness to the man. Not doing what you love, or living your dream is a true tragedy.

Each person, each author must create their own destiny and there are no limits to that destiny if the author allows their own creativity to shine. With the popularity of the internet and social media it has enabled people to get back in contact with friends or family that they would otherwise rarely see or speak to. It has also enabled the depths of creativity to be breached and unnumbered new opportunities for authors has flowed forth. As an author, your network is your greatest asset and the larger that asset the better.

The world is a large and often scary place, but on the flip side people are generally good. If an author can open themselves up to the world around them, expand their relationships with their family, expound their relationships with new friends wherever they go then they will reap success–because they will have found happiness.

I just read a manuscript submission that the underlying theme of the novel was choosing to find your own happiness. The MC had to choose to overcome her past. A past with much sorrow, much loneliness and much depression. She did it in much the same way I just laid out before you. She choose to open herself up. She choose to let people into her life, become their friend, perhaps even learned to love. She had to overcome her fear of that love and first accept that she could love herself and that she could have the same happiness that she saw in other people’s lives but thought that she could never have.

The journey that the MC took was so similar to that of an author. As an author, as a person, I can relate to the MC and the journey that she was on. I am glad that I have learned that the surest way to be successful is to help another person succeed. Likewise, the surest way to become happy is to help another achieve happiness.

To me, this is only one way to measure an authors success. How else do you think an author should measure success?