The top 3 traits of successful authors are much like the attributes of top athletes and entrepreneurs. What you focus on makes all the difference.

Find the Best Idea of Success to Follow

There is so much advice out there for aspiring authors today. How do you know which recommendations to follow? Well, that depends. What is your idea of success? The first thing you need to do is figure that out. Then find a coach or mentor who is already achieving those results and follow his or her lead.

My own publishing career began 25 years ago. I started out with a traditional publisher, and much of the advice I’ve given authors along the way has been coloured by that experience. That is, until early 2017. I shifted my focus then because I wasn’t achieving my own idea of success by following traditional methods. So, I went in search of contemporary author success stories to inspire myself. And I found what I was looking for! At long last, I found a viable roadmap to my version of success.

Make a Plan that Suits Your Lifestyle

Once I learned what many other authors are doing with such success, I decided to implement their strategies into my own life. I sat down at my desk with my calendar and sketched out a writing schedule that fits well with my lifestyle. I’ve been doing it ever since, and I’ve made more gains these past two years than I did in the first 23 combined! I’ve watched the PPG Publisher’s Blog increase from a mere 1,000 registered users in early 2017 to over 7,500 at writing time today (and still growing). I’ve also seen downloads of my backlist books on Amazon, Kobo, and E-Sentral collectively increase from under 5 books per month to over 350 per month on average (and still growing) within the same time period.

Do the same thing for yourself. Learn the steps your ideal mentor is taking each day to achieve the results he or she is achieving. Then sit down with your calendar to figure out how you can customize those steps to suit your own schedule.

Take Consistent Action on Your Plan Every Day

It’s never enough to simply seek inspiration and write your goals down. It takes consistent action toward those goals to become a successful author. Today’s top authors work at it every single day as detailed in this recent blog post about Joanna Penn and Jeff Haden. These two people epitomize the top 3 traits of successful authors: find your idea, design your plan, and then take consistent action toward its achievement every day.

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