Yearly Archives

2021

Which Book Cover Designer do I Recommend? (My Answer!)

Which Book Cover Designer do I Recommend? (My Answer!)

written by Bryan Hutchinson

Who is it?

I get this question a lot. I currently have 9 published books, I’ve hired different book cover designers and have even designed a couple of the covers myself. Today, I am going to answer the question for the first time.

However, in all honestly, I don’t particularly like answering this question because it seems like I am placing one book cover designer over others and that’s not really fair because each book is different. So, with this in mind:

I am going to recommend the designer who has created the covers I PERSONALLY like the best.

That’s it. I am not going to get into the technical specifics of each designer or how many changes or modifications were required for each cover, or any other information.

My recommendation is based entirely on my personal favorite and that makes my selection extremely easy for me.

My latest book cover for my newest book is my current favorite!

See it in action on Amazon (click) here.

The designer’s name and contact information are as follows:

Alexander von Ness, reach him via his blog here.

*I informed Alexander about this post and my recommendation, and he graciously offered my readers a discount of 20% to any of you in need of a new book cover. Mind you, the discount is in no way related to my personal choice! I will also NOT receive any kickback from any book covers he designs for my readers via this discount. Rest assured that my choice is strictly based on my personal taste. To get your 20% discount simply mention this post or Positive Writer to him and he’ll give it to you!

Also, my second favorite cover design was also designed by Alexander:

See it in action on Amazon (click) here.

Also note, 10 Things I Hate About ADHD is the most downloaded of my books so far, and in fact, when it was first published online it soon became the most downloaded digital version of any book on this specific subject!

This was my opportunity to answer this frequent question, a suggestion I want to add to this post is that when hiring a book cover designer, take a look at their portfolio and their book covers on Amazon to see if their work meets your needs and your taste.

Now go and get that awesome cover for your book!

An Editor’s Guide to Why You Don’t Suck

An Editor’s Guide to Why You Don’t Suck

written by Bryan Hutchinson

Writing is hard. Revising is hard too—in fact, often, it’s even harder. And both are so much more difficult and challenging than you ever imagine the first time you sit down to write a novel, or a short story, or a memoir. As you work and work and work in pursuit of perfection, and as you deal with feedback from beta readers and book editors like me, encountering again and again everything you’re doing wrong, you can’t keep the thought from squirming its way into your head:

Does this suck? Do I suck?

Note: This is a guest post by Developmental editor Harrison Demchick. Harrison came up in the world of small press publishing, working along the way on more than eighty published novels and memoirs. He’s also the author of 2012 literary horror novel “The Listeners” and short stories including “Tailgating” (Tales to Terrify, 2020) and “The Yesterday House” (Aurealis, 2020), and as a screenwriter his first film Ape Canyon was released in April 2021. Harrison is currently accepting new clients in fiction and memoir at the Writer’s Ally

Speaking as an editor who has worked on many, many novels and memoirs over the last fifteen years: probably not. Or at least no more than everyone else.

But whenever it should happen that you find yourself convinced of exactly the opposite, here are some important ideas to keep in mind.

First Drafts are Never Final Drafts

Ask any editor if an author has ever sent them a perfect first draft and you’ll probably get the same answer: No. Never. Not even close.

I’ve certainly never seen one. I sure as heck haven’t written one. And the very simple reason for that is that you discover the story you want to tell through the process of writing it. This is true whether you outline and plan carefully and revise as you go or fly by the seat of your pants toward a completed draft, because under any circumstances things change during the writing. It’s so hard to see the forest while you’re still planting the trees.

It’s true as well that every next draft has a considerable advantage over the first: the previous draft. Once it’s there, and you’ve written it, you can see what works and what doesn’t. You can see what you were trying to do all along and where you missed the mark. And you need that knowledge to write a truly great manuscript.

In other words: Of course the first draft isn’t perfect. You don’t have all the information yet. How could it be?

Everybody Makes Mistakes—and Usually the Same Ones

Are you struggling with overwriting? Or underwriting? Are you having trouble developing conflict and tension throughout the manuscript? Or determining your characters’ motivations? Or building effectively through the rising action toward the climax?

Well, there’s good news, and it’s good news you’ll discover anytime you find yourself surrounded by other writers: We’ve all been there. Not only do we all make mistakes in our writing, and encounter challenges while writing, but in fact they’re usually the same mistakes.

That’s the entire reason an editor like me can write posts like this. Trust me—we’ve seen it all.

Now, to be fair, no two writers are exactly the same. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Some writers can craft setting with such effortless perfection it makes you want to toss your laptop off a cliff and take up stamp collecting. But that same author may struggle enormously with moment-to-moment continuity. Another author may have a steel trap for consistent details about their characters, but stumble when it comes to the rhythm of dialogue.

But still your failings are no worse than anyone else’s. They just happen to be yours. So if you suck for making whatever mistakes you make, so does everybody else.

Your Favorite Authors Suck Too

And I do mean everybody.

The thing about chasing perfection in our writing is that we’re not usually comparing ourselves to the electricians, government bureaucrats, and stay-at-home parents writing their first draft of their first novel. Instead we compare ourselves to authors we know and books we love. A fantasy novelist compares himself to J. R. R. Tolkien. A middle grade author tries to be Beverly Cleary. A magical realist holds up their work beside the novels of Salman Rushdie.

And that’s not fair—not because they’re necessarily better than we are, but because we’re comparing our early drafts to their final drafts. These books have undergone revision after revision after revision. They’ve been battered by editors. They’ve been rejected by publishers. And the authors who wrote them have struggled to overcome their own weaknesses, and to push themselves to make it through the revision process. They’ve stayed awake deep into the night questioning their life choices. They’ve doubted themselves.

In other words, they thought they sucked.

If your first draft doesn’t resemble your favorite author’s final draft, it doesn’t mean you suck. It means you’re human. And so are they.

Writing is Learning

I say sometimes to aspiring writers that the difference between a writer and an author is the revision process. What I mean by that is that it’s the act of developing a draft—of taking criticism, and responding to it, and improving your work and your skills in the process—that leads your manuscript to the very best version of itself.

The reason is that writing, fundamentally, is learning. It’s learning to be a better writer. It’s learning to craft a great story. The more you work, the more you grow.

Does that mean that everyone has a genuine literary masterpiece in them? No, I wouldn’t say that. I aim to encourage, but talent does exist. Some have more of it than others, in the same way I could never have been Lebron James even if I trained and practiced slam dunks and three-pointers every day from the time I was a toddler.

Not everyone is a genius. But everyone can be a better writer than they are today. Everyone can craft a better manuscript than they have so far. You just have to be willing to put in the work and develop as an author through the experience.

If you do, the book you wind up with will not suck. In fact, it might just be the most satisfying thing you’ve ever done.

And all that self-doubt? Well, it’s just one more thing nearly all authors have in common. Those thoughts never go away entirely, but as long as you don’t let them stop you, you will create something amazing.

4 Questions to Ask When You’re Thinking of Quitting Writing

4 Questions to Ask When You’re Thinking of Quitting Writing

written by Bryan Hutchinson

Have you ever thought you may quit writing?

Most writers have at one point or another, usually when facing some sort of difficulty. Maybe you’re struggling with writer’s block, you’re unhappy with your progress, or you received some negative feedback that has you doubting yourself.

Note: This is a guest post by Colleen M. Story. In her new release, Your Writing Matters, she helps writers determine whether writing is part of their life’s purpose. Her other books for writers have been recognized in the Reader’s Favorite Book Awards and Reader Views Literary Awards, and her last novel was a Foreword Reviews’ INDIES Book of the Year Awards winner. Find more at her author website.

Whatever may have caused you to question writing’s place in your future, it’s not an easy decision to keep writing. The practice takes up a lot of time, for one thing, that you may feel would be better suited doing something else. The writing journey can also be frustrating, discouraging, and disheartening, and there’s no guarantee you’ll reach the success you hope for in the end.

If you’re caught in the middle and unsure what is the best choice for you, it can help to imagine the regrets you may have in the future if you quit writing now. Imagine for a moment that you’re 90 years old and looking back on your life. Consider two scenarios: in one, you kept writing. In the other, you left it behind and went on to do something else.

Which decision would you be more likely to regret? These four questions should help you determine the answer.

1. Will I Regret Not Going After My Dream?

One of the most common regrets at the end of life is not going after your dreams. The reasons are many, from trying to be practical to not believing you can do it to wanting to live up to someone else’s expectations of who you should be. In all cases, dreams are put on the back burner until it’s too late.

For a study published in 2018, Dr. Shai Davidai from the New School for Social Research and Professor Thomas Gilovich of Cornell University conducted six experiments examining what’s behind our deepest regrets. Their results showed that “people are haunted more by regrets about failing to fulfill their hopes, goals, and aspirations than by regrets about failing to fulfill their duties, obligations, and responsibilities.”

In other words, we regret more not pursuing our dreams and letting ourselves down than we do failing to live up to others’ expectations.

Will you regret it? Do you dream of being a writer? Will you feel bad if you let this dream go? Or is there another dream you should be pursuing instead?

2. Am I Too Worried About What Others Think?

Most of us worry about what others think of us at least on some level, particularly when we’re starting out as writers.

“One of the surest ways to find unhappiness and limit your creativity is worrying about what others think of you or your work,” writes author Bryan Hutchinson over at Positive Writer. “It’s true, and I am guilty of it. But it doesn’t have to be that way.”

When you sit down to write, do you hear someone else’s voice in your head questioning or discouraging you? Be careful. Placing too much importance on what others think and not enough on what you think is one of the common regrets people have as they get older. Sure, in the moment, the opinions of others may seem important to your success and happiness, but at the end of life, what will matter most is whether you stayed true to yourself.

Will you regret it? As you look back on your life, discounting everyone else’s opinion, do you think you will regret not pursuing your writing dreams? Or will you regret, instead, spending so much time on writing when your heart is somewhere else?

3. Am I Too Focused on Being Practical?

We all make practical choices most of the time, but sometimes, practicalities can hold us back from what’s most important in life.

If you are the one who foregoes a beach vacation to save money for your child’s braces, stays in a job you don’t like to put your kids through college, or puts off retirement to fix the roof, you’re being practical, which is usually a good thing. But on occasion, making the practical choice may be something you regret, particularly if that practical decision means quitting writing.

Sometimes it pays to ignore practicalities. Cutting back on your hours (and your paycheck) for more time to devote to writing may tighten your budget, but imagine how you’ll feel within a year or so when you have a novel to show for it.

Will you regret it? Divide a sheet of paper into three vertical columns. In the first one, write down at least five decisions you’ve made concerning your writing. Examples may include whether you decided to write today, whether you made a change in your life to allow more time to write, or whether you decided to take a risk and attend a writing conference even though your budget didn’t really allow for it.

In the second column, write whether each decision was practical or impractical. In the third column, write what your 90-year-old self would think of that decision. Finally, ask yourself, “If I quit writing now for practical reasons, will I regret it 20, 30, or 40 years from now?”

4. Am I Playing It Too Safe?

Most humans prefer to play it safe most of the time. But on their deathbeds, they regret not taking more risks. This is an important regret for writers to consider because in living the writing life, pretty much everything involves risk, including:

  • Thinking you may have writing potential. What if you’re wrong?
  • Spending so much time writing. What if, in the end, the results disappoint you?
  • Showing others your writing. What if they don’t like it?
  • Publishing your writing. What if you get bad reviews?

What we can learn from the older generation is that the feeling of never having tried can gnaw at a person like a wound that won’t heal, whereas failure can be confronted and overcome. In the end, taking risks teaches us much more than playing it safe.

Will you regret it? Think back on your experience as a writer. Try to recall at least three risks you’ve taken. They can be simple risks, like showing your work to a family member or friend or attending a writing workshop. How did taking each risk turn out? Looking back, are you glad you took the chance, or do you wish you had chosen to take the safer route? What does this tell you about your future as a writer?

What Do Your Answers Tell You?

Now look back at your answers to these four questions and see if you can gather from them an overall feeling about your writing. They should help you determine whether you’re ready to quit and try something else, or if other concerns are interfering with your true desire to continue writing.

In the end, what matters are your dreams and expectations for yourself. Other, smaller concerns will fade away with time, but these will remain with you until your dying day. Remember that when deciding whether to continue writing.

Note: For more on overcoming self-doubt and deciding to be a writer no matter what, see Colleen’s new book, Your Writing Matters: How to Banish Self-Doubt, Trust Yourself, and Go the Distance. Get your free chapter here!

References

Davidai, S., & Gilovich, T. (2018). The ideal road not taken: The self-discrepancies involved in people’s most enduring regrets. Emotion, 18(3), 439-452. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000326

Kelley, S. (2018, May 24). Woulda, coulda, shoulda: The haunting regret of failing our ideal selves. Cornell Chronicle. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/05/woulda-coulda-shoulda-haunting-regret-failing-our-ideal-selves

Pinkstone, J. (2018, May 11). People regret not following our dreams MORE than cheating. Mail Online. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5687725/Scientists-discover-regret-not-following-dreams-cheating-partner.html

Stop worrying about what people think and create anyway. (2017, April 16). Positive Writer. https://positivewriter.com/stop-worrying-about-what-people-think-and-create-anyway/

Why it’s So Much Better to Write to Express, Not to Impress

Why it’s So Much Better to Write to Express, Not to Impress

written by Frank McKinley

Have you ever watched a magician make his assistant levitate just by waving his hands?

Here’s what happens.  Two dancers come onto the stage to set the exotic atmosphere.  Once we’re in the mood, the magician’s assistant comes out and lies on a board supported by two chairs.

The magician puts the assistant into a trance. The dancers cover the assistant with the blanket on the board.  They remove the chairs and the magician begins waving his hands.

Magically, the assistant rises.  The magician passes a hoop around the assistant so we can see clearly that there are no ropes or wires lifting the board.

Amazing!

The audience claps and the magician does another trick.

Impressing is a strategy.

Wouldn’t it be great if your readers would be so riveted to your writing that nothing could stop them from reading every word?

What writer doesn’t want that?

Impressing is important, we’re told. If you can’t grab attention, you won’t get a chance to make an impact.

Consider the magician.  They’re making an impression all the time, aren’t they?  And they do it so well, they don’t even have to share their hidden message.

And what might that message be?

It’s okay to believe in magic.

Be careful not to overlook this fact.  The greatest magicians plan to show us that we should believe in magic.  If they just told us, then we’d dismiss it. If they didn’t plan for this, their shows wouldn’t be as good.

When the assistant rises and we can’t see why, we’re convinced (even if only for a moment).  The magician isn’t forcing us to believe.  They’re just presenting a picture and leaving it to us to interpret what we saw.

You impress with a headline or a startling statement to begin your blog post, your essay, or your book. Once you’ve got people’s attention, you’ve got one shot to make your message clear.

That’s where expression comes in.

Expression is a goal.

What impact do you want your writing to make?

The time to ask that question is before you write the first word.

Knowing what you want to accomplish helps you draw a map to get you there.  What road will you lead the reader down?  What sights will the reader see along the way?  What signposts will give hints for what is to come?

The words you choose will depend on the point you want to make.  Consider what the reader might be thinking when they find your piece.  What are they feeling?  What do they believe?  What do you want them to think or feel after they read?

To make your message clear, narrow your focus.

Narrowing means you pick one problem and provide a solution for it.  It means you tell one kind of story for one kind of reader.  To do more is to spread yourself thin and dilute your impact.

When you have one main point, it’s like a tour guide that directs you as you write.  It’s the ruthless editor that helps you cut out everything that doesn’t make your point. It’s the magnifying glass that excludes everything that doesn’t add to your message.

I grew up drinking sweet tea.  The first time or two I made it myself was a test.  I might add too much sugar or too much water.  Or maybe too many tea bags.  When it doesn’t taste right, you might suffer through a glass or two, but you can’t bring yourself to drink a whole gallon.

Your writing is a lot like sweet tea.  If you want your readers to enjoy your writing while they drink it in, suit it to their taste.  Be willing to test—and fail.  Analyze what happened, adjust your focus, and try again.  In time and with practice, you’ll find the right recipe.

You need both to make an impact.

To influence people, you have to draw them to you.

It’s not enough to open the door.  You’ve got to have something appealing inside.  If you bore them after you grab their attention, they’ll walk out on you.

TV producers are experts at this.  They tantalize you with the juiciest clips while you’re watching something else.  If they succeed, then they have to make watching so good you’ll go on a binge.

Think about your favorite shows.  What got you hooked?  What makes them so good you want to tell all your friends about them?

Here are a few:

  • Open loops – They show you a problem but withhold the solution until you watch. Characters you can identify with – When the hero seems like you, you think of them as a friend.  You see yourself in their shoes.  You may even find yourself rooting for them or talking to the screen to tell them what to do.
  • They sell hope – Have you had a bad day and want to laugh? Do you want to be as confident or skilled as your favorite character?  A few minutes escape can be just what the doctor ordered.

What can you add to this list?

Then ask yourself, “How can I use these techniques in my own writing?”

If you need help, take out one of your favorite author’s books.  Read for an hour.  Then grab a cup of coffee (or your favorite beverage) and write down the ways they capture your attention.

Then grab a pen and implement those techniques into your own writing.

Start with one strategy and implement it every day for a week.  Then add another the next week.  Soon you’ll become your ideal reader’s favorite writer!

13 Limiting Beliefs That Hold Writers Back

13 Limiting Beliefs That Hold Writers Back

written by Bryan Hutchinson

In the Spring of 2016, my book, Align Your Writing Habits to Success, hit #1 in my category on Amazon and I became a bestselling author. That same year, two more of my books also hit #1. It happened again the next year and again two years later. 

Now, it’s pretty common for me to release a new book and have it hit #1 in my category.

But before that, being an Amazon Bestselling author was a pipe dream. Something I knew was possible for other people, but I didn’t think it was for me.

NOTE: This is a guest post by Jennifer Blanchard, a multi-passionate author of both fiction and nonfiction, and the Feel-Good Life + Mindset Coach who helps writers, creatives, and dreamers shift their mindset and own their worth so they can achieve their dreams. If you have big dreams, but always get caught up on How to make them happen, be sure to download her FREE training: F*ck the How. 

Why did I think it was a pipe dream? Two reasons:

  • I didn’t know How to make it happen 
  • I had a limiting belief that said it wasn’t possible for me

Then in February of 2016, I met an author who had written and published 47 books, 46 of which hit #1 in her category on Amazon. Meeting her got me thinking: if she could hit #1 that many times, surely I could do it once. 

That thought shifted everything for me, and less than four months later, I joined the ranks of Amazon Bestselling authors. 

Limiting beliefs run rampant in your subconscious mind, and these beliefs stop you from pursuing your desires and believing your dreams are not only possible, but inevitable. And if you don’t deal with your limiting beliefs, they will hold you back from ever having the writing career and the life you truly want.

First, what is a limiting belief? It’s a belief that limits what’s possible and available for you. 

Limiting beliefs are rooted in misperception, and everyone has them. It’s your job to figure out what yours are, then deal with them, and let them go. 

To get you started, here are 13 of the most common limiting beliefs I see from writers and creatives (and why they’re not actually true): 

Writers are broke

This one has been said so many times it plays like a broken record in many writers’ minds. 

Not only does this limiting belief stop you from making money as a writer, but it also stops you from even doing your writing or putting it out into the world. If you think from the get-go that being a writer means you’ll be broke, why would you ever allow yourself to be a writer? 

But the truth is, not all writers are broke. I’d argue the only writers who are broke are the writers who aren’t resourceful, who haven’t done the due diligence to learn what it takes to make money from being a writer, and who haven’t consistently implemented what they’ve learned.

And I would argue this because if you are resourceful, you do learn what it takes to make money as a writer, and you implement it consistently, you will make money eventually. That’s how it works. 

You’re only a published author if your book was traditionally published 

Let’s look at the very basic definition of published: to prepare and issue a piece of work for readership or sale to the public. With this definition, a blog post–much like this one–makes you a published author. 

Same goes for self-publishing your book(s). 

If you’ve prepared your book and issued it for readership or sale to the public–congratulations, you’re a published author. If someone can find your book on Amazon and read it and/or buy it, you’re a published author. It really is that simple.

The problem is when you allow someone else’s limiting beliefs around what it means to be a published author affect you and the way you think about yourself and your writing.

I shouldn’t have to spend money to be successful as an author 

You’ve probably heard the old saying, “you have to spend money to make money.” You’ve maybe even said that yourself or believed it at some point. 

But that doesn’t mean it’s ultimately true for everyone. It is possible to make money without spending money. 

The real question is: do you want to be a hobbyist or a professional? 

A hobbyist writer doesn’t see the value of investing in their writing career. A professional writer knows that allowing yourself to be supported by investing your money in whatever you need for your career–be that an editor, a coach, a cover designer, a how-to book or course, or something else entirely–is a win-win. 

That doesn’t mean you have to spend a ton of money to be a professional. This is more about making a mindset shift from not seeing the value in investing in your writing career to seeing that when you invest in your career, that investment returns to you in multiple ways, money included.

Writing isn’t a career with longevity

Ugh, I hate this one! And I get it. I really do.

As a writer who was told many times that writing “isn’t a real job,” I can tell you with absolute certainty writing is a career with longevity. I’ve been getting paid for my writing since 2001. All these years later, still getting paid.

The issue at hand here is two-fold: 

  • Are you willing to stay the course? 
  • Are you willing to pivot and learn new things as the industry and marketplace shifts and changes? 

While being a writer is still the same thing as it has always been–sit down and put words on the page–the way writers sell their books and make money from their writing has shifted over the years, and will continue to. 

If you’re a writer who wants to have a long career, you have to be willing to stick with it and change and grow as the industry and marketplace does.

It’s hard to make money as a writer

This is one of the most common limiting beliefs, and it’s deeply rooted in misperception. 

It’s not that it’s hard to make money as a writer. There are plenty of authors out there making five and six figures a year and even a month from their writing.

A coach-friend of mine sold 7,000 copies of her book at $4.99 a copy when it first came out. At a 70 percent royalty, she gets about $3.49 per book. Now multiple $3.49 times 7,000 and you’ll see that she made around $24k. It was not hard for her to make this money. She just sent out a few emails and put a few posts up on social media.

So the misperception here is that it’s hard to make money as a writer, and clearly, that is not the ultimate truth. 

For the writers who have had the experience of it being hard to make money, there were most likely other things at play, such as not having the right audience or a big enough following to sell books to, or having a limiting belief that said it’s hard so it became a self-fulfilling prophecy 🙂 

I’m not good at marketing 

When you think about marketing as this big hairy-scary thing, yes, it can be intimidating and it might make you think you’re not good at it. 

But when you break it all down and look at marketing for what it actually is, you’ll see how easy it can be to be good at it. And here’s a breakdown: marketing is simply showing your audience who you are, telling them about your book, and giving them a specific action you want them to take.

When you look at marketing from that lens, it feels less scary, right? 

Here’s a simple example of what that could look like: you write a post on Facebook sharing your opinion about a topic you’re passionate about. You add a P.S. at the end of the post telling people about your new book, then write “buy my book here” and give them the link. 

Online marketers overcomplicate marketing and it doesn’t need to be. Keep it simple and you’ll actually show up and do the work.

Selling is sleazy

When I hear the phrase “selling is sleazy,” I picture those door-to-door salesmen who come to your house and try to sell you a vacuum or a magazine subscription. That kind of selling is dripping in desperation and you can feel the “ick” energy of it. 

But that doesn’t mean that selling, in general, is sleazy. You have to separate “selling” from “sleazy” in your mind because they’re not one and the same. 

“Sleazy” is a specific approach that can be taken to anything, not just selling. And selling is simply telling someone about your book/offer. 

I think the other part of what makes this limiting belief so popular among writers is the idea that you’ll have to “convince” someone to do something, like buy your book. But it’s a choice to see it that way.

You could choose to view selling as being of service, and as you getting your book into the hands of the people who need it the most. Nothing sleazy about that. 

You can also decide that you’re not going to put energy into trying to “convince” anyone of anything. That’s not your job. 

Your job is to share with people who you are, what you have to offer–aka your book–and to let them know why it’s of value and how to get their hands on it. 

I don’t want to annoy people by promoting my books all of the time 

Do you think Amazon or Apple or Starbucks gets up in the morning and thinks, “I shouldn’t sell today because I don’t want to annoy people?” No way! 

They just send you a hundred emails a day and think nothing of it. 

Not saying you have to do the same thing to your audience, but in this day and age, people are used to businesses selling all day every day. If you’re an author, you also own a business, so you get to do the same. 

And if someone is “annoyed” by you selling, they can unfollow you or unsubscribe from your emails. You don’t want people like that in your audience anyhow.

Self-promotion is egotistical 

Here’s a new thought for you to try on: it’s egotistical not to promote yourself.

The limiting belief that self-promotion is egotistical is, again, rooted in misperception. The misperception is that your “ego” wants you to be out in the world being all loud and proud and self-promote-y, and that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Your ego wants to keep you playing small. It wants to keep you “safe” in your comfort zone. 

The last thing it wants is for you to be out in the world every day promoting yourself and telling people about your books. 

So it’s actually not egotistical to promote yourself. It’s confidence. It’s bravery. It’s putting the ego in its place.

You came to this world with gifts to be shared, and it’s egotistical of you to not share them.

Building an audience is hard 

This one goes hand-in-hand with “it’s hard to make money as a writer.” While building an audience does take time and consistency, it doesn’t have to be hard. 

You can choose to see it as fun, as something you get to do, as something you enjoy doing because it allows you to connect with your fans and the people who follow you and your work. 

And yes, there will be things you may need to learn in order to build your audience, but that doesn’t have to be hard either. You can set aside 30 minutes a day to learn, and then when you’re ready, 30 minutes a day doing activities to grow your following. 

How you choose to view building an audience is really what makes it hard or not. 

Self-publishing isn’t taken seriously 

Nonsense. Yes, maybe that used to be true, but it’s not anymore. Self-publishing has grown in popularity so much that many traditionally published authors are leaving their publishers, or becoming a hybrid author and adding self-publishing into the mix. 

Now that doesn’t mean you should just write whatever the heck you want and then slap it up on Amazon. Self-publishing doesn’t mean you don’t have standards. 

When you self-publish, you should do as good of a job, if not better, than a traditional publisher would. And that means doing things, like hiring an editor, a cover designer, a copywriter to write your Amazon copy, or whatever you need to self-publish your book in as professional a way as possible. 

There’s a wide variety of self-publishing options available these days, some of which are almost exactly like working with a traditional publisher, except for you foot the bill and get to keep more of the royalties.

I don’t have the money/resources/time to sell my books 

We’ve already covered the money part (see above), but this limiting belief is rooted in the misperception that selling books requires a lot of time, money and/or resources. That is not at all true.

The truth is, you can sell books organically in 30 minutes a day if you’re consistent with it and have the right mindset, energy, and strategy. You can also sell books using an automated book sales funnel and only have to spend the time once to get the result over and over again. 

Don’t allow the fear of marketing or the fear of not being able to sell books make you believe limiting things like selling books requires a lot of money/resources/time. 

Selling books requires whatever you’re willing to give to it. Period.

I can’t write nonfiction and fiction 

So many fiction writers think they can’t write nonfiction. So many nonfiction writers think they can’t write fiction. But it is only their thinking that makes it so.

I used to feel the same way. I’ve been writing fiction since I was 11, and I never, ever thought I’d write a nonfiction book. Then in 2010, I had an idea for a nonfiction book that I wanted to write.

I wrote it, published it, and the rest is history. Now, I have a collection of nonfiction books, and I’m beginning to increase the number of fiction books I’ve published as well.

The real issue here isn’t whether you can or can’t write fiction and nonfiction. The issue is whether or not you want to.

It is absolutely possible for a fiction writer to write nonfiction, or for a nonfiction writer to write fiction. But you have to want to. You have to be willing to learn the differences and practice implementing them in your own writing. 

If that’s not something you want to do, that’s perfectly okay. Just don’t limit what’s possible for your writing career by believing something as silly and limiting as “I can’t write fiction and nonfiction.” 

How To Deal With Limiting Beliefs:

I could keep going with this list of limiting beliefs and showing you why they’re not actually true, but the whole point is this: you get to decide. You get to decide what is and isn’t true for you. 

And unless what you’re coming up against is Ultimate Truth–as in it’s true for every single person on the planet, like gravity–you’re just dealing with a limiting belief and there’s always another option available. 

Here’s my process for looking at and clearing out any limiting beliefs that come up: 

1. Write down what’s currently present for you

Before you can deal with anything, you first have to get clear on what’s coming up for you. I like to get my journal, sit somewhere quiet, and then ask myself: “what’s coming up for me right now?” Another way to ask this is, “why don’t I believe I get to have X” with “X” being whatever you desire that you don’t believe you can have.

Whatever comes up, write it down. No judgment.

2. Is this ultimately true?

Now, go through each limiting belief that you wrote down and ask yourself, “is this ultimately true?”

As I mentioned above, ultimate truth means something is true for everyone, like gravity. If it’s not the ultimate truth, that means there’s another option available.

So, is it ultimately true that “it’s hard to make money as a writer” or that “people get annoyed by self-promotion,” or that you’re “not good at marketing,” or whatever other limiting belief is coming up for you? Of course not.

And if it’s not ultimately true, you get to choose something else.

3. What could be true instead?

This is where you get to now disprove the limiting belief, by telling yourself what you actually want to believe as true, and then finding examples to back it up.

For example, if your limiting belief is “it’s hard to make money as a writer” or “writers are broke,” find examples of self-published authors who make bank. There are a lot of them out there if you do your research.

Someone to check out right now would be Amanda Frances, a business and money coach who just self-published a book and sold more than 10,000 copies, outranking all of the books in both the Self-Help and the Women and Business categories on Amazon, including big-name traditionally published authors.

4. Claim what you actually want as if it’s already yours

Write down the new belief you’re now claiming for yourself. Something that is in opposition to the limiting belief.

If your limiting belief says “writing isn’t a career with longevity,” you now write down and choose to believe “writing is a career that grows and expands as the years go on,” or whatever belief would feel good to you.

The most important part is that you come up with a new belief that feels good when you say it and think it.

5. Repeat this process daily and/or whenever a limiting belief comes up

Repetition is required when reprogramming your mindset and beliefs. So stick with this, do it every day, and your life will begin to change in ways you can’t even imagine right now.

Which of these 13 limiting beliefs most resonates for you, and what are you going to do about it? Share in the comments.