4 Things Bestselling Authors Don't Want You To Know

A bestselling author with millions of book sales, thousands of devoted fans, and a large online following can seem like a god among the rest of us writers who may be struggling to get our foot through the doorway let alone climb to the highest room in the tower. 

Many of us stuck on the tower's lowest level may be asking ourselves, "What's their secret? What do they know that the rest of us don't?"

Turns out there are a few tricks they've kept hidden up their sleeves from the rest of us, but it's time to pull back the curtain and let it all be exposed. 

Overnight Success Is A Myth

While social media may make it seem like some of these writers went to bed with dreams of hitting the big-time writing leagues and woke up full-fledged best-selling authors that couldn't be further from the truth.

 It was even recently exposed that several writers on TikTok who started claiming that it was all due to their accounts being found by agents that they had received a book deal -  had lied - they had the deal almost a year before they started posting on TikTok but wanted to use the tools they had to grow their account and attempt to sell the guide to impressionable writers on how they could do the same. 

Why tell writers that they put in months of hard work querying agents when instead they could sell them a digital product to teach them how to be discovered through social media? 

The Role of Marketing 

The last time I wrote an article about marketing I received the comment, "Colleen Hoover doesn't have to market her books herself to sell millions of copies." 

Really? Then why does post about her books on all of her social media? - That's the definition of marketing. 

Many writers believe that when they get big enough their books will sell themselves, but again - another lie. 

Author Stephen King has a book releasing in May that is available for pre-order now - and even he posted about it on his social media. 

Self-marketing will always be something expected of the writer or the author no matter how many copies of their books have been sold before. 

No Persistence = No Book 

With the very few exceptions of one or two authors out there - writing a book and getting it into the hands of readers and to the top of the charts was nothing that could be equated to a walk in the park. 

Even the highest-grossing authors out there have had to face rejection, criticism, setbacks, and loss of motivation when it came to their books. 

But what kept them going and climbing that tower from that very first step to as high as they could go was persistence. They did not give up when they stumbled back a step or when some troll was lobbing things into their path as they climbed. 

They dodged and took breaks if needed, but they got right back up and kept going. 

They Struggle Too 

Despite the glamorous image often associated with bestselling authors, book tours, first-class tickets to anywhere in the world, and millions of adoring fans, the reality is that they can struggle as well. 

Writing can be a lonely life, trapped in our towers with nothing but our screens and the imaginary people in our minds it can be easy to feel disconnected from the world no matter how many people retweet your last post on social media. 

Authors all over the world and at every stage of their writing career can suffer from self-doubt, writer's block, and the relentless pressure to create, create, create, post, tweet, TikTok, check Insta, and everything else that is required daily for even those on the top to remain relevant.

Behind every bestselling book is a story of struggle, sacrifice, and much more. 

 If you're struggling to climb the tower you are not alone on your journey and you never will be. 

Lean of the writing community, on your fellow creators, and while it's still ok to look up to those bestselling authors please remember that they are only human as well. 

With love, 

B.K xo xo

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This story was originally posted on Medium.

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