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.

By Positive Writer contributor Frank McKinley.

Do you have a book inside you that needs to be shared with the world?

I know how you feel. You should write it and sell it, even if you don’t have an audience yet…