No matter how brilliant your work is (or you think it is) some people won't like it. Others will LOATHE it. Harry Potter and The Sorcerers Stone, the book that started a multi-billion dollar industry and is beloved by generations all over the planet has almost 16,000 one star reviews on Goodreads. The Giver, a Newbery award winner and a book I feel is one of the most important in children's literature has 4,400 one star reviews. Some people are born to be critics and enjoy doling out the negative and your work will not be the exception.
2. You'll Pay Your Time Before You See A Dime
Malcom Gladwell's the Outliers suggests the key to success at any task is 10,000 hours of practice. That's working around an 8 hour day at something, every day, for about 3-4 years. Take a deep breath. Chances are you are not going to produce the type of work mentioned in number 1 right away. Even seemingly overnight successes didn't happen overnight.
3. There WILL Come A Day When Someone or Something Will Make You Want To Quit
See 1 & 2. Everyone feels beaten down now and then. But that bad review doesn't mean as much as you think it does and your next work might outshine your first. The only way to know is to keep going. All you have to do is take a five minute tour of the internet to know that plenty of successful people struggle every day with failure. If you want to do something and do it well, keep going.
4. You Should Quit If YOU Want To
But only because you want to spend your 10,000 hours doing something else. Like writing in another genre, or trying your hand at graphic arts, or paying more attention to your family.
5. Karma is a Biiiiaaaatch
Once you've spent your 10,000 hours and "made it" don't forget about your roots. Take a young artist or two under your wing and encourage them on their path to greatness. And don't marginalize someone else's path. I worry for those artists and bloggers out there that publicly bashed indie authors and/or the self-pubbed. I think the day is coming when they might find themselves in a room, shoulder to cold-shoulder, with folks that got their start that way, folk's whose books are doing very, very, well. In my opinion, a little modesty and humility is not a bad thing to have in this business.
