For the longest time, I struggled with a negative mindset. I constantly told myself what could go wrong would go wrong. And, I was usually right. When things did go well, I believed that it was luck or someone stepped up to help, or hey, maybe it was Halloween and reality was wearing a mask.
Note: This is a guest post by Blake Powell, he’s a writer, entrepreneur, and dreamer. He helps writers uncover the power of their voice and share their unique messages with the world to grow their platforms ten-fold. If you’re interested in building your tribe and writing effective blog posts to reach others with your message, you can check out Blake’s free 7-day email challenge here.
In May 2017, I experienced a turning point in my writing. I published a post that took off on Medium and cemented my upward trajectory towards becoming a writer that people listened to, liked reading and were willing to talk to others about.
Before then, I’d been stuck at 370 email subscribers and under 1000 followers on Medium for months. I didn’t really believe I had a message worth sharing with the world. Yet I kept going due to some alien feeling in my belly telling me that the stats didn’t matter and that it was okay for me to keep writing and posting online, even if I didn’t know exactly where I wanted to be or who I wanted to become.
Without an audience, writers would just be shouting into the void. There’s certainly nothing wrong with writing for yourself; some writers are content to create for their own pleasure, others find it therapeutic to keep a personal journal, etc.
But if you’re here reading this, chances are it’s because you do want to share your writing with the world, or at least with several other people. How can you do that?
Note: This is a guest post by Shayla Raquel, she’s an expert editor, seasoned writer, and author-centric marketer. Shayla works one-on-one with authors and business owners every day. She is the author of the Pre-Publishing Checklist and her novel-in-progress, The Suicide Tree. She lives in Oklahoma with her two dogs, Chanel and Wednesday.
If you’re a blogger, writer, or speaker, whatever your art might be, the odds are you want to attract an audience and create an avid fan base around your work.
So why don’t you? Why isn’t it working? We’re going to talk about that and how to turn it around!
I recently had the good fortune of interviewing the literary agent, Mark Gottlieb, who has ranked #1 among Literary Agents on Publishers Marketplace. This interview was an eye opener for me. If you’re an author, trust me, you’re going to want to read it.
Most agent interviews are boring, so with that in mind, I did not ask Mark what his favorite color is or why he became an agent or anything that would put you to sleep. This interview is filled with serious questions that directly matter to you, as an author considering self-publishing or traditional publishing.
If you’ve considered self-publishing and wondered how many units you would need to sell in order to interest a traditional publisher, today you’re going to find out where that number starts.
You might not like all of the answers, but I will tell you this, as an author, you need to know them. And there are very few agents on the planet that know the answers as well as Mark does. He’s a straight shooter and not interested in blowing any smoke, so strap in and become informed.
The first rule about going viral is not to tell anyone about how to go viral.
Today I’m going to break that rule.
You have something incredibly special inside of you dying to get out! A dream that deserves life. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Don’t let anyone, for any reason, bring you down from where you belong, or stop you from going where you want to go, or doing what you want to do.
The NEW YEAR is upon us, and that means we get a fresh start! Now is the time to ditch old habits and create new ones, habits that will keep us motivated all throughout the year. It’s easy to get discouraged, especially in later months, but if you keep these five new habits in mind, chances are you’ll accomplish things you didn’t even know you could do.
