Imminent Failure
Imminent failure is usually just a warning light, not the end of the road.
You’ve Published a Bunch of Books but Aren’t Getting Any Traction
This is where the panic usually sets in. You look at your catalog, you look at the sales, and the word “failure” starts creeping in. But a lack of traction does not automatically mean you failed. It usually means you have not built enough of a foundation yet. I have written books I still love that barely sold. My passion project, People Raged: and the Sky Was on Fire, is one of my worst sellers, even though I think it is one of my best. Passion and profit do not always line up.
A Building Requires a Foundation
You cannot build a house without something solid underneath it. Your author career is the same way. If you write one book in one genre, then another in a totally different genre, and then another after that, readers do not know who you are. I did that early on. Four books in three genres gets you nothing but confusion. When I wrote six books in one series and three in another, that is when traction showed up. That was a foundation.
What Do You Feel?
How does this situation make you feel? If it leaves you crushed, then you need to step back and look at the business side. If you are writing only for yourself, then low sales might not matter. But if you want this to help pay the bills, you have to think about readers. Not in a sellout way, but in a practical way. Who are you writing for, and why would they care?
It’s Art, but it’s Also a Business
This is where a lot of writers stumble. You get to tell stories in your own voice. That is the art. But you also have to make choices that do not push readers away. Nine pages of stream of consciousness about a castle in a non-fantasy book is probably not helping you. Cut it. Put it on your blog if you love it. Your paying readers want the story, not every thought you had while writing it.
Neither Failure nor Success is Inevitable
Nothing about this career is fixed. You are not doomed, and you are not guaranteed a win. What happens depends on what you do next. Write with the reader in mind. Build in one genre or one series long enough to give people something to latch onto. Learn from each book and each release. Even one book a year can build something real if it is pointed in the same direction.
Final Thought
Imminent failure is usually just a warning light, not the end of the road. Define what success means to you, build a real foundation under your work, and adjust as you go. If you do that, you give yourself a fighting chance to turn a shaky start into something solid and lasting.
Imminent Failure — Original Medium Article
Imminent Failure — Over 1000 Five Minute Focus videos on the Successful Indie Author YouTube Channel
SIA Writing Challenge website — Record Your Progress on Your Way to Becoming a Successful Indie Author
Craig Martelle is an author, leader, and entrepreneur living in Alaska. Retired from the Marine Corps military intelligence community and physical security, he graduated summa cum laude from law school and went into business consulting. From intelligence, to the inner workings of company boardrooms, to on-the-ground leadership, Craig has seen it firsthand.
He is a million-selling author of over 200 science fiction (post-apocalyptic, military sci-fi, and space opera), thrillers, and the non-fiction series, Successful Indie Author. Craig has been running author conferences since 2017, and also the Successful Indie Author Facebook Group, and the Successful Indie Author YouTube Channel.
Leadership is a service, not a crown to lord over others.