The 7 Secrets to Becoming a Successful Writer Or Blogger!

Today I’m going to tell you how to be a successful writer. After reading Kozo’s post on Going Viral, I starting thinking about the criteria that the success of a writer can be judged by. Whether you are writing novels, short stories, articles or blogs I’ve come up with a list of qualities and conditions that I believe describe a successful writer. If you follow these guidelines and strive to meet all 7 of them, you will be able to call yourself a successful writer!

Let’s take a look first at a few things that are not required to be a successful writer:

* Make A Living: Being a profitable writer, while a great thing and something to strive toward if that’s your goal, is not the same as being a successful writer; one who succeeds at writing. Of course you need to be a successful writer to become a profitable one, but you don’t need to be profitable to be successful

* Write A Lot: Some people write fast, others write slow, some are prolific and others not. There are as many styles of writing as there are writers. Don’t measure yourself against anyone else. If you wish to improve in any area of your writing make it incremental, and only against your own personal best.

* Write a Best Seller: There are many successful writers, and even many profitable writers, out there who will never make the New York Times Best Sellers list. Writing a best seller is a great aspiration, but let it be a a wonderful bonus rather than the goal, otherwise you might sacrifice your integrity in the quest for fame.

And so with those out of the way I now present my 7 Secrets to Becoming a Successful Writer or Blogger:

1: Write Consistently - As stated above everyone is different. Some authors will release one or more books each year, others will release only 2 per decade, or one in an entire lifetime! And the same goes for bloggers, I know bloggers who post ever day and others who post only a couple of times per month. We all have limitations, both in how much time we can put into our writing and how fast or prolific a writer we are. There is no right or wrong here, the key is to be consistent. Write at a pace that suits your personality and circumstances, and don’t measure yourself against anyone else!

2: Cause a Reaction - One of the worst things any writer or blogger can do (and it’s still not the end of the world) is to elicit apathy from their readers. If people either love or hate what you do then you’re on the right track! If the response is a big “meh” then you might need to rethink a few things. I don’t want to encourage courting controversy for the sake of it through flaming, trolling and baiting. Sure you’ll get a reaction, but for what? Rather I suggest putting yourself into your work, your personal experiences, don’t try to please everyone, be opinionated, take a stand! And if you are not the type who get’s a lot of comments and feedback, be sure that if you feel strongly about what you are writing, so will others, even if they don’t personally tell you.

3: Enjoy Yourself - If you enjoy the process of writing your work, chances are others will pick up on that and enjoy reading it. If it feels like a laborious chore to write, this too will pass through to the reader. Writing is hard work but it should be satisfying, and exciting. Tell the stories you want to tell and don’t pander to trends or topical banalities (unless your blog or writing is specifically topical/news based and you enjoy that!). Don’t write the book you think others will like, write the book you will like and, don’t worry, others will too!

4: Create Value - Instead of thinking in terms of writing for money, think in terms of creating value for your readers. Think about everything that brings value to your life. The books you read, the films you watch, the trips to the zoo or the cafe, the nice food and clothing. People are always willing to pay for that which brings value into their lives and enriches their experience. So don’t think of how to increase profit, think of how to increase value and improve the way you spread that value around. As soon as I shifted my way of thinking to a value model I felt so much better, and as a nice bonus the financial side of things picked up as well!

5: Read - If you’re writing any genre of fiction read the classics. Also read the genre leaders and anything else you enjoy. Read articles and books on writing by authors you respect, but don’t take anything too seriously, everyone has their own way of writing, don’t lose your unique voice or style. If you’re a blogger read blogs, and read books written by your fellow bloggers. There is always something to learn in the work of others so be open to reading, don’t ever be a “know it all”

6: Be Authentic - Even if you are writing about aliens on another planet, in the end the stories we write are all about relationships. And guess what! We’ve all had relationship! Use your personal experiences of love, loss, fear, frustration etc. to give depth to your writing, and make it relatable whether fiction of non-fiction. If you’ve felt it, so have many others, and it makes us feel good when we read about experiences similar to our own. We feel connected and validated. Even if you think your life has been boring, no great adventures, that doesn’t matter. Many (if not most) writers are quite introverted and spend their days cloistered away penning their stories and articles. The point is you don’t need to be Joseph Conrad in order to write thrilling, adventurous tales. Just tell a human story, from your heart, and set it wherever you like. Make it honest and genuine.

7: Value Your Readers - Although it’s my belief that a writer should write primarily for themselves – that is to say they should do it because they enjoy it – our readers are our audience. If there is any form of monetary aspect to your writing, and even if there’s not, it’s important to appreciate those who support your work and engage with them to a capacity that suits you. This is not to say you should compromise your creative vision for the sake of a few fans who might have some “suggestions”. By all means listen to your readers, but don’t be pushed into making changes. It’s your work and you will never please everyone. Be honest and authentic with your audience, don’t be afraid to share your faults and fears, and always make it clear how much you appreciate their support

Those are my 7 tips! And you know what? Because I follow these rules I consider myself a successful writer (because I wrote the criteria lol!!). I also consider many of my author and blogger friends to be successful due to their adherence to the 7 secrets. By following these guidelines you will become someone who succeeds at writing, and if financial gain is a part of your reason for writing you will definitely need to succeed at writing

Thanks for reading! Have you got anything to add?

All the best.

Rohan.

PS. My Sunday post will be on Monday from now on! Just suits me a bit better

Thursday will remain the same.

Related Articles:

• What type of writer are you? 
• Playing With Space
• New Writing Space
• Competing With Friends For Writers Awards
• How not to be a productive writer of short stories

Rohan Healy is the author of “Greeks to Geeks: Practical Stoicism in the 21st Century”, “The 7 Things That Made Me Genuinely & Irreversibly Happy: And How They Can Do The Same For You” and Sci Fi Action/Adventure novel Gyaros: The Mice Eat Iron!

Click the book titles to visit their Amazon pages, read the reviews, and sample or purchase the books.