A literary agent reveals the 7 habits you need to become a successful writer: these are the everyday things anyone can do to become a successful writer and author.
Here’s one of the toughest questions in the world: how do I become a successful ___________? As a literary agent, I’m constantly asked by aspiring writers how they can not only get published, but also become a successful writer.
And we all know who the successful authors are: they get all the sales, all the reviews, all the fame and fortune. But how did they become a successful writer, and how do they stay successful? Is their success the perfect confluence of writing skill, platform savvy, and maybe some pure, dumb luck?
Yes and no.
Yes, there are an extraordinary amount of whacky, weird breakout hits in the publishing world. (Um, adult coloring books?) But there are also some underlying principles — an operating system, really — that runs on autopilot to help some people become successful writers. They know how to do the right things, because they’ve done them over and over and over again.
How I learned what it takes to become a successful writer
When I started out as an editorial assistant at a big NYC publisher, I didn’t know a foreword from a preface. I had a full tank of enthusiasm and an empty skull, waiting to be filled with publishing knowledge. At the time, I was pretty sure I knew nothing about publishing.
And I was pretty right. But what I didn’t realize was that I did have a few things going for me. (Other than a knack for pestering the hell out of people until they would give me interesting work.)
I had four things:
- An obsession with following up and deadlines. (This from a brief stint as a paralegal at a law firm.)
- A stubborn desire to be over-the-top nice so every single person would like me. (This is not always a good thing, let me tell ya.)
- An annoying amount of curiosity about how publishing worked. (I think I abused the “any questions?” prompt more than anyone can reasonably forgive me for.)
- No other options.
Publishing was IT for me, and I was going to have to make it work or go back to that law firm. And I was not going back to that law firm. People shouting makes me want to puke.
Quickly I realized that there were about a thousand other skills and habits I needed to develop if I was going to do a little better by my authors each year.
I also began noticing the habits that were holding certain authors back, as well as the habits that were most helping others become a successful writer. It turns out, these were many of the same habits I was trying to develop (and still am, because these are BIG and IMPORTANT).
These habits won’t guarantee you’ll become a successful writer. But they will push your chances of success as high as humanly possible. And that? That gives you the sweet blissful knowledge that you did everything in your power to make your dream happen.
The 7 habits you need to become a successful writer
The #1 habit to become a successful writer: always follow-through.
It sounds easy: do what you say you’ll do, when you say you’ll do it. But we all know how hard it can sometimes be to follow through.
The good news is that to become a successful writer, you don’t need some superpower that allows you to get everything done on schedule. Instead, you just need this one secret: don’t overcommit.
Overcommitting leads our best intentions astray, and it often results in not-great work. Bestselling authors have a strong understanding of the way they work, what they need to accomplish something, and how much time they need.
Literary agents watch for this from Day One of signing an author, because we know what lies ahead: an author who overcommits is setting herself up for failure and frustration, and those things can deflate even the most motivated person.
We also know that perpetually broken promises can be red flags for either fear (an author is procrastinating on a project because it feels scary) or lack of focus (an author is trying to do too many things at once). Both things can stunt your chances to become a successful writer, as well as make each day triply stressful.
The #2 habit to become a successful writer: treat every single person with respect.
It sounds simple, but you’re unlikely to become a successful writer unless you learn to value every single person on your publishing team, from the intern to the publisher.
This is a big deal, and you’d be surprised how often the emotionally-charged process of publishing can send someone on a finger-pointing spree. But turning on your publishing team is the worst thing you can do when things get stressful. That’s when you most need your agent and editor on your side, so that they can help you fix things and cheer you on, rather be ducking for cover.
Unprofessional behavior can undermine and ultimately destroy the relationships you’ll need to become a successful writer. I’ve seen authors dropped from their agencies, and even from their publishers, because they struggled to play nice.
So even when things go wrong (and they inevitably will) remember that working with your team, rather than against them, is the best way to fix it.
The #3 habit to become a successful writer: understand purpose-driven marketing.
What’s the most common reason a book doesn’t succeed? (Assuming you’ve written a great book!)
There’s not enough marketing behind it.
What’s the most common reason authors don’t market their books as much as they should?
Fear. (And as Elizabeth Gilbert says, all procrastination is fear.)
Deep down inside, many writers are scared to share their work with the world, and they’re uncomfortable with the entire idea of marketing.
But to become a successful writer, you have to make peace with those fear demons long before you enter the publishing process. And the way to do that is to share your work. Share it often; share it loud; share it proudly.
To become a successful writer, it’s also important to believe, to your core, that your purpose in life is to improve readers’ lives through your work. Once you believe this, you’ll understand that marketing is not about self-promotion—it’s about serving others.
The #4 habit to become a successful writer: take pride in wowing people.
The most successful authors I’ve ever worked with wow people.
You ask them to implement a new marketing tactic? They do it right away and go full force to support it. A magazine editor asks for an article? They write an excellent piece and turn it in two days early. You introduce them to a connection? They are the epitome of graciousness and gratitude.
Wowing people is an excellent way to become a successful writer.
But wowing doesn’t mean the same thing as overachieving, which is dangerously close to overcommitting. In fact, this habit is rooted in a deep sense of both quality and discernment — to become a successful writer, you can’t do things half-heartedly, half-well, and half the time.
Instead, once they agree to something, they zero in on doing it at the highest level they possibly can. To them, it’s all about saying a big, excited “Yes!” to the projects that matter, and a polite “No” to everything else.
The #5 habit to become a successful writer: be endlessly curious.
To become a successful writer, curiosity is key. You should want to know everything there is to know about writing and book publishing, and feel excited when you find a new source of information and insight.
Bestselling authors have carefully studied their craft, and they understand that they need to approach both failures and successes with curiosity, rather than judgment.
If a book flops, they try to understand why. A chapter isn’t working? They dissect what’s going on. If they launch a bestseller, they take time to analyze what worked well and what could be even better next time.
To become a successful writer, it’s important to understand that, without time to reflect on your own career, you’ll miss the valuable lessons that each task can teach. This means taking time to pause and get curious, rather than always running on the hamster wheel of a to-do list.
The #6 habit to become a successful writer: be persistent.
We’ve all heard this a million times: never give up on your dream. But we’ve heard it a million times because it is flat-out true.
The only wait to fail, truly fail, is to give up.
Successful authors have usually spent years building skills and habits before they even publish their first book, much less before they reach the peak of their careers. They know that no word read, written, or contemplated is ever wasted—it’s all building their library of thought.
Often successful writers will say that they kept at it because they didn’t know what else to do with themselves. That’s the fascinating thing about passion: when you can’t imagine doing anything else with your life, persistence becomes your only option. So to become a successful writer, you have to learn to gut it out through the highs, lows, and middling middles.
The #7 habit to become a successful writer: be a person first and a writer second.
That’s right: to become a successful writer, you shouldn’t be a writer all the time. The most successful authors know when to shut off work-mode and switch to life-mode.
Even bestselling, hugely famous writers are just people. They’re flawed, funny, willing to laugh at themselves, in love with their work, but just as much in love with family time and a good dinner.
The one thing that I believe most helps someone become a successful writer is the ability make room in your life for the things that fuel your creativity.
Without time to be just a person, or a parent, or a friend, writers can burnout, lose focus, and even lose their love for their work. But most importantly, a life without balance isn’t a life worth living, and trust me, literary agents and publishers want to work with happy people.
So the best thing you can do to become a successful writer?
Focus on becoming a happy person, one whose career fuels your purpose in life but doesn’t define your existence. These are the authors we agents feel honored to call clients, and they’re the authors who are going to have the most fun, fulfilling time on their way to become a successful writer.
This post first appeared on Well-Storied by Kristen Kieffer.
5 quick reads for the week
- I am a BIG believer in this.
- Here’s your little bit of awe for the week.
- If you have a love/hate relationship with social media, this might help unmuddy the waters.
- Oh, a drink is what you need?
- This throwback (along with a stack of Agatha Christies) is on my vacation #TBR list. Also, it’s officially my #familygoals to be more like the King family.
What we’re eating this week
There’s a special kind of cooking that doesn’t get talked about enough. It’s Clean-Out-the-Fridge-Because-We’re-About-to-Go-on-Vacay cooking. Maybe it doesn’t get talked about because it has a terrible, mouthful of a name? Or maybe because it’s unremarkable, un-photograph-able cooking but it fills our bellies anyway?
We’re off to Spain this Thursday for a two-week trip, and in preparation for my highest mission on earth (eating jamón until I burst), I’ve been underachieving in the kitchen. (Pause for applause.) Thank you.
Behold, what we ate:
Sunday: SO MUCH LAZINESS that I actually bought and used store-bought pesto. Even though we have a mini-forest of basil on the porch. I pray for forgiveness.
Monday: Yeah, I’m definitely not going to cook. So we went to this weird and fantastic seafood shack that also specializes in Korean fried chicken. If that sounds weird, it was. In all the right ways.
Tuesday: In a stroke of genius (read: dumb luck), I found the PERFECT recipe to use up all the weird leftovers sitting in the fridge. I award myself double points for it being one of my author’s recipes, too. As we say around here, even a blind squirrel gets a nut sometimes, right?
Wednesday: Let me check…yep, not cooking. Either out for tacos or gnawing on some old, marginally edible leftovers.
Thursday: And we’re off! Praying there’s some good food at the airport (spoiler alert: there won’t be), but resting in the knowledge that international flights always mean free booze. Hallelujah.
Friday: The land of jamón and honey, paella and pintxos, happiness, and well…even more happiness. Wahoo!
Wishing you all a lovely Memorial Day weekend—cheers!
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Stage Three of Publishing a Book: Hooray–You Have a Book Deal! And How to Write a Book the Sane Way
Stage Two of Publishing a Book: Finding a Literary Agent and Writing a Knock-Your-Socks-Off Proposal