Living the Author Life: Things Thriving Authors Don’t Do: The Author Life

By J. Thorn, Zach Bohannon, Daniel Willcocks and 3 more

You've been told all the things that thriving authors should do, but what about all the things that thriving authors shouldn't do?

 

Are you an author trying to improve the quality of your author life? Are you struggling with fitting everything into your schedule and keeping control of all the loose threads that come with running your own author business? Are you ready to own your author career?

 

Overflowing with tangible, real-world advice from a selection of international, bestselling authors of fiction and non-fiction, Living the Author Life is your one-stop guide to avoiding the big mistakes authors make before you make them. You'll learn from the likes of J. Thorn, Zach Bohannon, Janet Kitto, Sacha Black, Daniel Willcocks, and Jimmy Essien, benefitting from a collective wisdom that spans decades of publishing, so you can truly level up and own your author career.

 

In Living the Author Life: Things Thriving Authors Don't Do, you'll discover:

·      How not to live your Author Life

·      How thriving authors don't approach their mornings

·      Why regular exercise shouldn't be deprioritised

·      The true pitfalls of not nurturing your relationships

·      Why social media isn't the be-all, end-all we think it is

·      How not to podcast as an author

·      How to avoid focusing on the wrong things when marketing your book

·      Why you're looking at your business finances all wrong

·      The dos and don'ts of becoming a digital nomad

·      How not to own your mindset and set up for future success

·      Why you shouldn't think small or underestimate your potential

 

Buy Living the Author Life: Things Thriving Authors Don't Do and own your author career today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thorn Publishing
• Release date: Jun 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201409593

Book preview

Living the Author Life

Things Thriving Authors Don't Do

Sacha Black, Zach Bohannon, James R. Essien, Janet Kitto, J. Thorn, Daniel Willcocks

Thorn Publishing, LLC

Living the Author Life: Things Thriving Authors Don’t Do

Copyright © 2022 by J. Thorn

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Originally published as 9 Things Career Authors Don’t Do.

Edited by Eve Paludan

Cover by 100Covers.com

More info at theauthorlife.com

DISCLAIMER:

By reading this collection of essays, you agree not to use the information in them as medical advice to treat any medical condition in either yourself or others. Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having. Furthermore, no information contained in this collection should be construed as legal advice, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter. No reader of these essays should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in, or accessible through, this collection without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer licensed in the recipient’s state, country, or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction.

Contents

Introduction

1. Don’t Make Excuses by J. Thorn

2. Don’t Try to Compete with Other Authors by J. Thorn

3. Don’t Ignore Self-Care by J. Thorn

4. Don’t Treat Writing Like a Hobby by J. Thorn

5. Don’t Wait to be Chosen by J. Thorn

6. Don’t Wait for the Muse by J. Thorn

7. Don’t Expect a Home Run at Every At-Bat by J. Thorn

8. Don’t Think They Know It All by J. Thorn

9. Don’t Hoard Their Knowledge by J. Thorn

Mornings

10. Don’t Sleep with Their Phones by J. Thorn

11. Don’t Eat Sugary Cereal for Breakfast by J. Thorn

12. Don’t Skip a Workout by J. Thorn

13. Don’t Blow Off Meditation by J. Thorn

14. Don’t Check Email or Social Media First Thing in the Morning by Zach Bohannon

15. Don’t Ignore Journaling by Zach Bohannon

16. Don’t Sleep In by J. Thorn

17. Don’t Start with Administrative Work by Zach Bohannon

Exercise

18. Don’t Skip Workouts by J. Thorn

19. Don’t Socialize on the Treadmill by J. Thorn

20. Don’t Buy Expensive Gear by Zach Bohannon

21. Don’t Sacrifice Function for Convenience by Zach Bohannon

22. Don’t Skip a Proper Warm-up and Cooldown by Zach Bohannon

23. Don’t Ignore Why They Exercise by Zach Bohannon

24. Don’t Do the Same Routine Forever by J. Thorn

25. Don’t Try to Convince Others that What They’re Doing Is Best by J. Thorn

26. Don’t Risk an Injury with Risky Behavior by J. Thorn

Relationships

27. Don’t Listen to Them by Janet Kitto

28. Don’t Listen to Them by Janet Kitto

29. Don’t Reject Change by Janet Kitto

30. Don’t Fight Over Money by Janet Kitto

31. Don’t Doubt the Words by Janet Kitto

32. Don’t Follow the Leader by Janet Kitto

33. Don’t Argue with the Process by Janet Kitto

34. Don’t Waste Time by Janet Kitto

35. Don’t Write Without the 3Cs (Challenges, Changes, and Consistency) by Janet Kitto

Social Media

36. Don’t Build an Audience on Someone Else’s Platform by Zach Bohannon

37. Don’t Depend on Social Media for Sales by Zach Bohannon

38. Don’t Check Social Media First Thing in the Morning by J. Thorn

39. Don’t Have Social Media Apps on Their Phones by Zach Bohannon

40. Don’t Tell Themselves Social Networking Is Writing by J. Thorn

41. Don’t Spend Too Much Time Online Talking About Writing by Zach Bohannon

42. Don’t Think They Have to Be on Every Platform by Zach Bohannon

43. Don’t Believe Everyone Is on Social Media by J. Thorn

44. Believe That All Readers Want to Interact with Authors by J. Thorn

Podcasting

45. Don’t Quit a Podcast Before the Seventh Episode by J. Thorn

46. Don’t Record Podcast Episodes with a Phone by J. Thorn

47. Don’t Record Podcast Episodes in a Coffee Shop by J. Thorn

48. Don’t Ignore Listeners Who Engage with the Show by J. Thorn

49. Don’t Record Episodes and Then Never Listen to Them Again by J. Thorn

50. Don’t Ignore Podcast Analytics by J. Thorn

51. Don’t Start a Podcast Because It’s Trendy by J. Thorn

52. Don’t Ignore Other Podcasts in the Same Industry or Category by J. Thorn

53. Don’t Expect to Make Fast or Big Money by J. Thorn

Marketing

54. Don’t Mistake Marketing for Sales by Daniel Willcocks

55. Don’t Break Reader Trust by Daniel Willcocks

56. Don’t Think of the Short Game by Daniel Willcocks

57. Don’t Care About Vanity Metrics by Daniel Willcocks

58. Don’t Rush Launches by Daniel Willcocks

59. Don’t Forget the Fans by Daniel Willcocks

60. Don’t Hide Their Wallets by Daniel Willcocks

61. Don’t Stagnate by Daniel Willcocks

Personal Finance

62. Don’t Take on Excessive Debt by Sacha Black

63. Don’t Buy Frivolously by Sacha Black

64. Don’t Use Personal Accounts for Business by Sacha Black

65. Don’t Ignore Cash Flow Planning by Sacha Black

66. Don’t Ignore Retirement Savings by Sacha Black

67. Don’t Focus Only on Books by Sacha Black

68. Don’t Mix Up Passive and Active Income by Sacha Black

69. Don’t Ignore Professionals by Sacha Black

70. Don’t Hate Money by Sacha Black

Creative Nomad

71. Don’t Be Like Everyone Else by Janet Kitto

72. Don’t Choose a Life You’re Not Invested In by Janet Kitto

73. Don’t Stay at Home by Janet Kitto

74. Don’t Have a Uniform by Janet Kitto

75. Don’t Work Empty-Handed by Janet Kitto

76. Don’t Practice Social Distancing by Janet Kitto

77. Don’t Need a Desk by Janet Kitto

78. Don’t Rush the End by Janet Kitto

79. Don’t Travel without a Home Base by Janet Kitto

Mindset

80. Don’t Have a Fixed Mindset by Sacha Black

81. Don’t Say Yes to Everything by Sacha Black

82. Don’t Suppress Their Obsession by Sacha Black

83. Don’t Try to Be Like the Crowd by Sacha Black

84. Don’t Stick to the Rules by Sacha Black

85. Don’t Take on Expectations by Sacha Black

86. Don’t Refuse to Leap by Sacha Black

87. Don’t Ignore What They Think and Fail to Speak Up by Sacha Black

88. Don’t Think There’s Only One Way to An Author Career by Sacha Black

Self-Actualization

89. Don’t Avoid Adversity at All Costs by Jimmy Essien

90. Don’t Ignore the Little Voice by Jimmy Essien

91. Don’t Take Their Role as Writers Lightly by Jimmy Essien

92. Don’t Allow Themselves to Be Influenced by the Wrong Things or People by Jimmy Essien

93. Don’t Believe That They Will Live Forever by Jimmy Essien

94. Don’t Practice Things That They Don’t Want to Improve by Jimmy Essien

95. Don’t Succumb to Imposter Syndrome by Jimmy Essien

96. Don’t Starve the Dark Machine by Jimmy Essien

97. Don’t Ignore the Rest of the Pyramid by Jimmy Essien

About the Authors

Introduction

Welcome to the life of the thriving author! You’ve grabbed this book because you’re living the author life. You want to improve your craft, develop a positive mindset, and create life-long habits in the realm of creativity.

This collection delves deep into all aspects of the author life. In it, we explore everything from physical health to financial health, not to mention mindset, marketing, social media, craft, and more.

After you’ve finished this introduction, you can read the rest of the essays in any order. We’ve written them to be concise, easy to understand, and short enough to fit into whatever time you have to read.

In the first section, J. Thorn introduces the book by identifying nine core things that thriving authors don’t do.

Here’s a quick summary of the valuable lessons you can expect to learn in this section:

Don’t Make Excuses – It’s easy to blame other people and situations for your problems, but J. calls bull on it and explains why it’s essential for thriving authors to step up and take responsibility for all of their publishing successes and failures. Learning from those mistakes is crucial so you don’t repeat them.

Don’t Try to Compete with Other Authors – Collaboration is the key to success in the publishing industry, while competition can be a distraction. J. explains why getting more books into the hands of readers is a win-win, even if you’re not the author of those books. He speaks from experience as both an author and a musician, an art form where collaboration is the default.

Don’t Ignore Self-Care – If you don’t take care of yourself first, nothing else matters. We will all experience some kind of pain in our lives, but if you live a healthy lifestyle, then the duration and intensity of disruption can be minimalized. J. shares his core concepts for living a productive, healthy, and extended life.

Don’t Treat Writing Like a Hobby – J. believes that the moment you put a price tag on your book, you’ve crossed the threshold from hobbyist to professional. If you’re going to ask a reader to pull out their hard-earned cash to spend on your book, they deserve the highest-quality story possible. You’ll understand why a relative with an English degree is not the same as a professional editor and why the majority of authors should not be making their covers on Canva.

Don’t Wait to Be Chosen – While winning a writing contest or reward can be satisfying, it’s not necessarily an indicator of quality or talent. In much the same way, having an agent to sell a manuscript to a traditional publisher is also pure external validation. Learn why J. believes the most accomplished writers are intrinsically motivated and what you can do to get yourself motivated daily.

Don’t Wait for the Muse – The Muse is a mythical creature and about as helpful in helping you create stories as other mythical creatures like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Thriving authors don’t wait to be inspired—they create systems and habits to get the work done, which is inspiring in and of itself. Find out how J. slays resistance and uses a simple tactic to guarantee that you’ll sit down to the page every morning and know exactly what you must do.

Don’t Expect a Home Run at Every At-Bat – The Pareto Principle is often discussed in writing circles, and yet, many authors believe they’re immune to it. Struggling writers think that every book they write will be a smash hit, while thriving authors understand that success comes from a steady and consistent stream of excellent work—a back catalog built over time. While there are exceptions to the rule, J. believes that doing the best you can for every book launch, combined with realistic expectations, is the best way to ensure success.

Don’t Think They Know It All – You should never stop learning. Be wary of anyone who claims to know it all. As a lifelong educator and student, J. expounds on the importance of continued education and a dedication to one’s craft. A thriving author knows about the learning plateau and seeks out a coach or mentor to get to the next level. An investment in books, courses, or programs is always an investment in your career as an author.

Don’t Hoard Their Knowledge – J. has been helped by many authors on his journey. He believes that we all have a responsibility to reach back and help others who are behind us on the path. Although there is an opportunity cost to helping others, it comes back to you many times over. Also, discover how having to teach a topic forces you to become better at it.

This is the first step on your journey from a struggling writer to a thriving author. Turn the page and make sure you’re avoiding the nine things that thriving authors don’t do, along with some tips on what you should be doing.

Let us know if there is anything we can do to help you on your journey and send us a message and tell us about your progress. Your transformation from struggling writer to thriving author starts right now!

Don’t Make Excuses by J. Thorn

Life comes at us at a blinding speed every single day. We’re bombarded with issues to face, things to fix, people to deal with. Very rarely do things go exactly as we plan them, which means that most of the time, we’re putting out fires because something went wrong.

When you’re a writer or a publisher, both problems can be magnified because your creativity is connected to your business. It can become impossible to separate what you do as an artist versus what you do as a business owner.

How we respond to crisis can vary from person to person. Even within yourself, you probably deal with similar situations differently at different times, based on other variables. So, when something goes wrong, and you’re trying to figure out what went wrong or how to fix it, you have two choices: You can accept the responsibility as an oversight or shortcoming on your part, or you can turn your blame outward and find something or someone else who you believe is the cause of the problem.

In the new political climate of the twenty-first century, blame is ubiquitous. Whether you are on one side of the aisle or the other, or even if you stand somewhere in between, wherever there’s a failure, you will find no shortage of blame.

It’s easy to sink into this mindset as an author. Our stories and our work are so precious that we can’t fathom the possibility that something we did caused them to be anything less than excellent. Maybe our editor missed something? Maybe the cover designer didn’t choose the right image? Maybe it’s Amazon’s fault because the algorithm didn’t favor us in the way we expected it to? And those readers leaving negative reviews wouldn’t recognize a great story if it smacked them in the face. You can assign blame for everything quite easily.

Thriving authors, however, accept responsibility for things that go well and for things that don’t. Even when I was most upset about something that happened to me or my business, when I gained some distance and reflected on the situation, I was almost always at fault. I wasn’t trying to intentionally sabotage my own work, but sometimes that is precisely what we do, and it’s nobody’s fault but our own.

It’s hard to accept blame, to take responsibility for something you did. Nobody wants to admit causing self-inflicted pain. It makes us feel foolish, stupid, and unworthy of the profession we’ve chosen. But if you’re going to become a thriving author and be known as a true professional, you will accept responsibility for shortcomings, even if they weren’t entirely your fault.

Why? Why would you possibly accept blame unconditionally when things go wrong? Because that is the true path of learning. Scientific studies have proven that we learn far more from our failures than from our successes. If we can step back and analyze the situation and be honest with ourselves about how we performed, we’re much more likely not to make that same mistake again. Conversely, if we automatically take credit for everything, even if the effort was not attributed to us, we gain a false sense of security and knowledge.

It hurts to admit fault and face your mistakes. I’m not saying that it is easy for any human. But if you cannot acknowledge what you don’t know or what went wrong, you can’t learn.

There are many colloquialisms about excuses that I would not share in mixed company, but it’s safe to say that we all hate hearing them, and yet, so many of us insist on using them. Accepting responsibility for your actions is the quintessential definition of what it means to be an adult, and doing so professionally can encapsulate what it means to be a thriving author.

Being a thriving author is not about how many dollars you made per month or how many figures you earn per year. It’s not defined by how many five-star reviews you’ve accumulated or how many readers you have on your email list. A growth mindset defines a thriving author, and an insatiable desire to grow and to learn. Therefore, excuses are irrelevant. A thriving author never makes excuses.

Don’t Try to Compete with Other Authors by J. Thorn

My good friend Joanna Penn likes to call it comparisonitis. I don’t know if she was the first person to coin the term, but I will attribute it to her anyway.

We’ve all been there, myself included. I’ve looked at the Amazon bestseller lists or author rankings and thought, "I’m a better writer than that person." I have no way of knowing if that’s true, but that’s what I tell myself because I want to feel better about the fact that someone else who is doing almost the same thing as I am is much more successful at it than me.

There’s more to this than pure envy. With generations of healthy capitalist ideas baked into our DNA, independent authors especially are prone to see their colleagues more as competitors than as peers. We theorize that every book a reader purchases within our genre that is not one of our books is patronizing a competitor of ours.

It’s natural to want more, to believe that your hard work should pay off. You shouldn’t feel worse about yourself if you have envious thoughts about other authors. But we all know that comparisonitis isn’t going to move the needle for you. It isn’t going to help you sell books, or gain you readers, or earn you more royalties.

When you look around on the retail marketplaces, or Instagram, or Twitter, or the Internet bulletin boards, you can decide how to frame your perspective. You can view those other authors as competitors or collaborators. You get to choose a negative relationship with those authors or a positive one.

The truth is, those other authors are not your competitors. In this day and age, you are competing with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, video games, smartphones, subscription services, careers, relationships, finances, and so on. We are in a time when people have little bandwidth for attention. There is a deficit of available time and a surplus of things to fill it. If books were the only distraction, then maybe other authors might be considered your competition, but reading must fight for space among all of the other digital distractions available to people, and it appears as though the number of people who read is shrinking.

Every year, studies are published that demonstrate how little people read. The average American reads roughly one book per year. That means many Americans never read a book.

Does this mean you should quit writing, stop publishing, and start coding video games? I guess if you enjoy video games, then this would be an option for you, but if you are a novelist, then you will probably want to continue writing novels. But you don’t have to do it alone.

I’ve been a fan of collaboration for a long time. I’ve collaborated creatively and financially with many authors in all parts of the world. I’ve co-written novels and co-bundled digital box sets as a marketing strategy. I collaborate daily with multiple people on multiple podcasts. I run writer’s retreats and events, which, by their very definition, are collaborative endeavors.

Without question, these relationships with other authors and people in the publishing community have been responsible for allowing me to become a thriving author. I cannot sustain my lifestyle or support my family by holing up in a cabin in the woods and writing fiction by myself all day long. Some authors can, but they are the outliers, the exception to the rule.

What is it about collaboration that can transform a writer like me from a hobbyist to a professional?

It all comes back to learning. The more you collaborate, the more you learn, and the better you become at whatever it is you are doing. As a musician for most of my life, I’ve seen this firsthand because being in a band is organically collaborative. People come in with different ideas, and even though one person may have written a song, it must be performed by the band, and therefore, collaboration happens.

Although the same intensity of collaboration is not required as an author, you can still benefit from it. Instead of viewing those bestsellers above you as competitors, see them as collaborators. Find one of their books that you enjoy and send that book to your email list. Do it without expectation, because the more people we can get reading, the better off we will all be.

Thriving authors know that the path to success, the way to declare a victory, is to create more readers. And rarely will readers read only a single author. Most people who enjoy the act of reading will read many authors within a single genre, and they will read across genres. Creating lifelong readers is a collaborative effort by authors who are competing against the other digital distractions threatening to take eyeballs off the page.

Not only will collaborative efforts within the publishing industry help to create more readers, but those efforts will help you to build lifelong relationships. I have friends and business partners who I met online when I first began my author journey. They have become like brothers and sisters to me, family members I can count on during dark times. I can go to them and ask for advice or help because we’ve collaborated instead of competed. I do the same for them, and together, we help each other along.

Thriving authors don’t leave negative reviews on other people’s books. They don’t take hateful and spiteful actions against other authors who might be enjoying more success than them. If you want to become everything you want to be, then help others do the same.

Don’t Ignore Self-Care by J. Thorn

Nobody ever wants to welcome pain into their lives, but unfortunately, it goes with the territory and is part of being human.

I’ve been fortunate—or unfortunate, depending on how you view it—to have to deal with excruciating pain multiple times during my author career. After being diagnosed with a chronic health condition, I found it almost impossible to get out of bed, let alone be creative, or drag myself to the page.

Those are the moments when we’re most reminded to practice self-care, which is not something most thriving authors do willingly.

I cringe at some of the advice I hear about sacrifice. You may have heard some of the same things. Authors have said things about diet, as it pertains to finances. I’ve heard recommendations to eat only ramen noodles to save money. I can imagine taking such a radical approach to physical health to save a few dollars. That is not to say that you should never eat processed ramen noodles (although I would make that argument), but we cannot subsist on noodles alone, and we’ll pay the price for it later.

In the same vein and more so in the entrepreneurial circles, I’ve heard advice such as, You can sleep when you’re dead. In other words, work yourself for long hours, and if you’re short on time, simply cut into your sleep cycle because that is somehow not essential.

Rather than go on with more damaging examples of some of the dangerous advice I’ve heard through the years, it might be better to take a closer look at what you can do when pain arrives because it eventually will.

The first thing you must do is triage. Identify what is causing the pain and take steps to eliminate it. Easier said than done, and you’ll often need help and the advice of a doctor to do so, but if you are in pain, you will probably be unable to do anything else. Once the pain subsides or you can manage it in a way that allows you to remain productive, the next step is how to stop it from happening again or by preventing it in the first place.

Most thriving authors I know have a system of habits in place to address the critical elements of a healthy lifestyle: Exercise, diet, sleep, and reflection. You might see different labels for these things, but they all mean the same thing, and while they’re not the only four habits that a thriving author needs to establish, they are the core of everything.

Exercise, or body movement, is fundamental and not optional. Authors who spend extended periods at a desk tend to be the unhealthiest and not just in terms of body mass or weight. Inactivity can be as deadly as smoking cigarettes. It doesn’t matter whether you walk, run, swim, lift weights, or do yoga; you need some exercise regimen within your life, preferably daily. Recommendations vary, but at a minimum, I strive for 30 minutes of exercise a day, five days a week.

Our standard American diet, or SAD for short, is genuinely that. We’re bloated on complex carbohydrates, processed food, and insidious amounts of sugar that have created an epidemic. We are more overweight and obese than we have ever been, and the projected health costs are staggering.

New fad diets appear all the time, and disciples of these habits will argue that theirs is the best. There is no right way to eat, and the label diet implies a temporary change in eating habits to obtain a goal such as weight loss. Instead, consider the way you eat every day for the rest of your life. Put simply, eat whole foods, and avoid processed ones. Eliminate sugar and alcohol. That’s it. If you do just that, you can improve how you feel almost instantly and add quality years to your life.

Sleep is no joke. The effects of sleep deprivation are worse than drunk driving when it takes place out on the road. Your ability to function, let alone concentrate, is severely compromised when you are sleep-deprived. There is no magic number of hours of sleep that is perfect for everyone, although 7 to 9 hours seem to be ideal for most of the population.

Black out the room as best you can. Put down all electronic devices at least two hours before trying to fall asleep, and once you wake up in the morning, try to get natural light on your face as soon as possible. Again, there are dozens of books and studies on how to optimize sleep, but having a routine and keeping electronic devices out of the bedroom will go a long way toward improving yours.

Instead of calling the fourth component meditation, I’m calling it reflection. For some, meditation has a religious connotation, even though it shouldn’t. But meditation isn’t the only form of reflection. Journaling, quiet walks, and prayers are also ways to reflect. It doesn’t matter which one of these work for you. What matters is that you have dedicated time daily to think about what it is you’re doing and how you’re doing it.

If your days are jam-packed from one end to the other with nonstop items or events, your brain does not get the necessary downtime to process what is happening. Most of the scientific research around learning suggests that students need time to reflect on what they’ve learned to implement those new skills and thriving authors are no different.

What’s the point of all this? If you go through the challenging and rigorous process of changing your lifestyle through exercise, diet, sleep, and reflection, what can you expect out of it? The short answer is everything.

Since I’ve changed my lifestyle, I’m much less prone to bouts of anxiety or depression. I feel good and energetic on most days, and when I do encounter pain—which I still do—my body is optimized to deal with it in the healthiest way possible.

Amateurs consider themselves victims, but thriving authors take control of their lives and their destiny. Although the changes will be severe at first, the long-term benefits will not only make you a better writer but a healthy person for as many days as you have left.

Don’t Treat Writing Like a Hobby by J. Thorn

Imagine you’re walking through town, and you see a sign on what was a previously vacant storefront. It reads, New bakery coming soon. As soon as I receive all of my baking equipment and supplies for free or through donations, I’ll be able to make pastries and sell them to you.

That would be an odd sign and not one you’re likely to see. And yet, this is what many independent authors expect when they start publishing their work on retail platforms.

Just like the baker who must invest money in equipment, supplies, labor, and rent, so must you invest in your author business. If you do not invest in your writing, then you are a hobbyist, not a thriving author, which is fine as long as you understand the distinction between the two.

It’s easy to understand how this mindset originates. You’ve probably started writing in the evenings or on the weekend, or whenever you had free time. You most likely didn’t graduate from college and immediately decide you’re going to make a living as a novelist. Instead, you’ve been reading and writing for your whole life, learning about the craft and slowly writing a little bit every day. And again, this is how most of us have started. The problem comes when you cross the threshold between amateur and pro, and that distinction is made the first time you ask someone else to pay you money for your story.

Your aunt Helen may have graduated with a BA in English from State College in 1979. She probably reads a lot and doesn’t make mistakes when she writes out her birthday card to you every year. But that does not make Aunt Helen a professional editor.

The problem usually surfaces when we decide we want to upload our book to a retail sales platform, and therefore, it needs to be edited, and it needs a cover design. It’s tempting to believe you can edit your work, or use a program like spellcheck to clean it up, or enlist a friend in place of a professional editor.

Software tools make it easy to dabble in graphic manipulation so that you can create what you think is a fantastic book cover. But beware, these are the telltale signs that you are not a thriving author.

You have a choice in this circumstance. You can do things for yourself on the cheap, or you can hire a professional to do the job. As long as you’re not asking other people to pay their hard-earned money for your book, then it’s not as imperative to hire professionals to work on your book. But if you expect that book to be sold in the physical or virtual marketplace, it is irresponsible and unethical to put out a knowingly inferior product because you don’t have the funds to do so correctly.

Thriving authors realize that investing in books is part of the business in the same way that someone opening a bakery wouldn’t expect to do it with zero capital. We understand that the moment we enter a commercial marketplace, we are bound by a moral imperative to give people the quality they expect. It’s not easy, especially when you’re just starting. I tell authors that if you don’t have the money to pay for a professional edit or cover design, then save up until you do. If you are writing in your spare time and you’re not paying bills from your writing, then what is the hurry? Save your money, so when the time comes, you can invest in your business properly.

Some will argue that it’s not necessary to pay for professional services. That with the ease of use of most of the platforms today, authors can use beta readers or read reviews and then make improvements based on that feedback. This is irresponsible, especially because the people who are leaving reviews have most likely already paid for your book and did not get the experience you promised. Before you decide to upload your book to a retail marketplace, you have the responsibility of making sure it is a quality product.

How much you should pay for a professional edit or cover design depends on where you are on your author journey. When I first began writing and publishing books to Amazon, I didn’t have a lot of money saved up, and so my editing and cover budget reflected that. But like everything about the profession, the more you learn, the better you get. And as I began to