How many of you think that all the great things are done by those who are naturally blessed and are genius enough? If you are a typical person like me, you must have deemed all the great men as super lucky or super genius, right? Well, the answer to this question is both a yes and a no.
Yes, luck has its share in the success and achieving anything more prominent, but only a little.
You cannot win sales, reviews, and fame only on luck. There involve some underlying principles that are inevitable for success. Albert Einstein, the genius of all time, once said, “Genius is 1 percent talent and 99 percent hard work, ” which clearly shows success is not about luck but perspiration.
By the same token, highly successful authors do not achieve this status by relying on luck. Instead, they cultivate effective habits which run on autopilot and reward them with success. History bears witness to the fact that many authors, despite their potential and natural skills, did not achieve what ordinary writers did. The reason behind this is the extra work and effort these ordinary writers put in and earned what others did not.
The massive success of some authors and the frustrations of others is all a result of habits. Below are some certain habits that set successful writers apart from unsuccessful ones.
Habits of Best Selling Authors
You must aim to become a best-seller author and dream of making it big, right? But for this, you must adhere to the below-mentioned habits as there is no shortcut. Only these habits, which every successful author follows, can make you a star in your field.
1- Write Daily
You must have heard this advice before whenever you told your peers about it. But the question is, do you still write daily? I know it is a big ask when your writing career is in its infancy but let me tell you, this is the most crucial period for you to stick to this habit. Once you cultivate this habit, it will become an addiction, and you will not be able to sleep unless you have written something.
All professional writers and authors schedule their writing time and then stick to it no matter what. Write on the days when you do not feel like writing at all. All the professionals write these days and write a lot. Remember, the more you invest your time in writing, the more incredible your work will be. Do whatever it takes, and never quit.
2- A Good Writer is a Good Reader
How many times have you heard this? Probably innumerable times, right? Reading and learning are crucial parts of every writer. You can only produce good content when you consume goods, which is possible only when you invest in yourself. By investing, I mean here to invest in my education by reading books, attending writer’s conferences and personal development seminars, and taking online courses. Learning is a continuous process; the more you learn, the better you become and probably the more you earn.
When you study successful authors, you will find one thing common in all of them: The desire to learn more. Given Steve Theunissen of Smart Fitness Results, great writers never consider themselves a man who knows everything; instead, they seek to learn from everyone they come across. For this, you only need the willingness to learn.
3- Plan Your Writing
Binki Kids of Projector Help believes in planning before starting writing. This concept, in a report, is called making an outline and scenes. Investing a few minutes ahead of writing can save you a lot of time or even your writing life. What if you started writing without any plan, thinking that something would happen in the middle, and it does not happen? Ultimately, you will have no other option but to quit your work as you do not know what to write next.
Best-selling authors do not leave their work to chance. They plan and then execute it. This saves a lot of time, and the write-up becomes meaningful too. So, before you start writing, always plan it in your head or on paper.
4- Publish Quickly and Do not Procrastinate
The difference between an unknown writer and a successful writer is the urge to publish quickly. Many writers, despite the good ideas and magic of words, do not get the fame and success that other writer with the same ideas gets only because they publish their book quickly. We often fall prey to the fear of embarrassment or wait for the perfect occasion, and this time, some other writer writes the same idea and accumulates all the fame.
The truth is, it does not matter how extraordinary you are as a writer unless and until you do not publish your work. So, leave the response to your audience and never procrastinate in publishing your work.
5- Do not Hesitate to Edit and Rewrite
“You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You cannot edit a blank page,” this was the advice that Jodi Picoult, author of seven New York Times bestseller books, gave in an interview. Mistakes are part of writing, and you must fall in love with rewriting and editing if you want to be a successful writer.
It may seem not easy sometimes, but with every page edited, you will learn a lot of new things. All professional writers understand that editing is the only route that can lead to something extraordinary.
To top it all, every bestseller has a set of everyday habits they follow daily. The indispensable habit is to write every day. As E.B. White, the famous author of Charlotte’s Web, says, “A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.” So, consider every day as an opportunity and be ready to write.