I subscribe to the blog, Live, Write, Thrive by C.S. Lankin.  It is an excellent blog and would recommend it highly (www.livewritethrive.com).  She posts several times a week and is very open to guest posts.  The topics range from inspirational to craft to grammar.  On July 24th there was a post called ‘Redefining Success in order to Stay Sane.’  The topic is so important to Lankin that she encouraged readers to re-post.

I would like to share some of the material from the post along with my own comments.  First, the desire for success can wear you down (success defined as selling a lot of books).  Defining success only in terms of book sales is limiting.  Writers suffer disappointment, frustration and despair over sales numbers.  The truth is no one has an idea of what sells books.  That’s the simple truth.   If the number of books sold is your measure of success prepare for a rough pot hole filled road.

Lankin offers the following “truths” which she is also working to embrace:

Success is not defined by numbers or money earned.  Writers need to believe in themselves and their work.  You need to believe that what you write is significant and important.

You are not writing to please the masses.  There are some writers who write in a specific genre to attract the masses.  Mystery writing tends to fall into that category; they are often serial books and have the same protagonist in every book.  There is mass appeal to mystery books, it all started with Sherlock Holmes and I admit, growing up I too was a Holmes addict.  For most of us we don’t appeal to the broad commercial market.  My understanding of “commercial fiction” is fiction written with the sole purpose of huge sales.  For example, paranormal especially vampires is now all the rage.  Writers need to know who their audience is and write with passion and sincerity.

Don’t validate yourself based on others’ opinions of you or your writing.  A local bookstore owner had someone read my book for their opinion.  The bookstore owner went from being enthusiastic about scheduling an author presentation/signing to not being willing to schedule an event for me.  The mystery reader didn’t care for my book and thought there were “errors” in it.  I never did find out what that meant.  However, I submitted my book to the annual Milwaukee Irish Fest; they loved my book, offered to sell it for me and offered me two presentations during the four day event in August.  It happens.

Find a few really supportive writer friends to be on the journey with you.  In my case, I have one writer friend on the journey with me.  I asked him to content edit my first novel and the made several stunning recommendations which added depth to my story.  In exchange, I’ve read his behemoth 400 page manuscript and offered my suggestions on plot and especially the ending.  We trust each other and will never be critical.  We respect each other’s talent.  I’m lucky.

Know that traditional publishing is undergoing radical changes.  I had a contract with a traditional publisher and spent 2 ½ years revising manuscript and missing two publication dates.  I terminated the contract in disappointment and anger which lead me to independent publishing.  There are still a few vanity publishers that don’t have standards for either the writing or the quality of the hardcopy book, but they are dinosaurs.  Create Space and Lulu have revolutionized independent publishing.  I learned that independent publishing gives the artist complete control and has shaken the traditional publishing world – as it should.

The key is to NOT accept the worldly definition of success as book sales or money earned.  Take the time to define success for yourself, write the best damn novel you can and believe that you will connect with your readers.  “If you write it, they will find you.” 

Before publishing my first novel all of my energy went into both the art and craft of independent publishing.  I honestly didn’t think about how I would envision success.

Since publishing with Create Space in November 2013 I’ve thought a lot about success.  Initially after publication there is an emotional rush.  I was fortunate because I received tremendous local support.  The coffee shop owner, Jeff Gauger, from Beans n Cream offered both to sell books for me and schedule an author signing.  Jeff bought the first 30 books for sale in the coffee house during the holidays.  His business sense is keen and those books flew off the shelf.

The library director also offered to schedule an author presentation and signing.  However, it was December in Wisconsin and our winters are fickle.  We had a major snow storm the evening of my presentation but 10 brave souls showed up and some bought as many as four books each, a great holiday present.

The Friends of the Sun Prairie Library operate a bookstore to raise funds for special library projects.  The manager of the bookstore also agreed to sell my book for me.  I’ve also been lucky to have three independent bookstores sell my book on consignment.  A local book club bought my book and the invited me to lead their book discussion one evening.    Crystal River Inn Bed & Breakfast also sells my books and hosted an author presentation and signing this spring.

How many books have you sold?  I don’t know.  I could look up a report on Create Space but I don’t.  It’s often said that writers need readers.  The reverse is also true.  Readers need writers.  It’s a symbiotic relationship.  The standard definition of success is the number of books sold or the ability to financially support yourself through writing.

I’ve decided that success is creating a relationship with readers, preferably, face to face.  This is what motivates me to write along with a demanding interest in exploring big themes in writing.  So, there you have it.  Guess I’ve been successful.

How do you define success in your writing life?

I have noticed that I have a pattern for making the “big” decisions in my life.  I’m a volcano.  Long periods of time pass while unrest, confusion, potential and multiple options heat up in a molten mass deep in my consciousness.  Then it happens.  KABOOM!

This happened in December 2009 when I was laid off from my job and I decided to not return to the work-a-day world and concentrate on finishing my first novel and finding a publisher.  I had been working on my novel for almost ten years at that point and the poor thing had suffered so many revisions, critique classes and neglect I knew it would take a year to smooth out the rough edges and a good polish.  Well, I published my first novel in November 2013.

About two weeks ago my wife and I drove past a home not far from our current home that has been bought and sold at least three times since we moved to the neighborhood about eight years ago.  The sign said:  Price Reduced.  I casually said:  “Let’s look up what they want for it?”

“You want to move?” my poor astonished wife asked.

“Sure, why not, maybe it’s time to downsize.” I offered without a thought.  KABOOM!  When friends from out of state visited just two weeks ago I told them the only way I would leave our current home as feet first.  That didn’t matter to me now.

We’ve always said that we may need to move for health reasons some day in the far distant future.  I guess I didn’t want to wait for that eventuality and choices may be limited.  We don’t live in a palace about 2700 square feet two floor home, too big really for just two people.  We want a home on one level with not more than 2000 square feet.

We wanted a local real estate agent and realized that none of our friends had moved for the last ten years.  Through a friend of a friend we have found an agent but it took longer for that initial baby step than we anticipated.  My wife is the practical one of us and she forced me to sit down with her and draw up a list of amenities for our “final” home.  It was easy.  The test will be whether or not we can meet all of our desired features, especially because one key for us is to not move more than ten miles from our base of Sun Prairie, WI.

We’ve also decided to spruce up the current house by having new carpet and pad installed in the master bedroom and having the carpet in the two rooms on the lower level professionally cleaned.  Right now the house is a shambles getting ready for showing to potential buyers, we have our beloved possessions stuffed everywhere to make room for the work to be done.  I’m exhausted, and have the downsizing blues.   

As a reader I joined GOODREADS several years ago but admit that I was an infrequent user.  In researching effective marketing tools for independent authors, GOODREADS, was ranked as a MUST DO.  It is the single largest group of readers on line.

In early January this year I began a twofold GOODREADS campaign to market MURPHY’S TROUBLES.  Their service is called Goodreads Author Program and offers options on an ad campaign, a blog, and book giveaway program.  I chose the ad program and book giveaway.

For the ad program a tutorial is provided and you design your own ad.  Their staff review the ad and make recommendations to attract readers.  The ad is viewed but the objective is for people to click on the ad to read more about the book and be given choices on how to buy your book.

In six months 316,120 independent people viewed my ad.  Wow! What a huge number.  However, only 60 of those have clicked the ad.  Goodreads says that an author can expect a click rate of 0.05%, so for every 100,000 views 50 will click the ad.  My click rate is a disappointing 0.02%.  I don’t have a clue why my click rate is less than half the “normal” rate.  Goodreads does review the ad and make suggestions if it isn’t working out and so far I’ve not been contacted with a suggestion to change my ad or target audience.

My book has received seven ratings, three of which are 5 out of 5 stars.  My overall rating is 4.3 – respectable I thought.

My book has received only two reviews with a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

I wanted to draw more attention to the book and have it reviewed by GOODREADS readers.  I offered 5 books to give away.  I don’t have any reason for selecting only five – maybe it’s just being cheap.  I had 501 people request the free book.  GOODREADS chooses the “winners”, I don’t know how.  The rules are strict.  Once I learned who the winners were I’m only given a name and mailing address.  I couldn’t contact the winner or request a review – it was a pure giveaway.

As it turns out, one of my reviewers was a winner of the giveaway, so that worked well and the reviewer gave the book a 4.3 out of 5 stars.

To date, 215 people have put my book on their “to read” list.  I think that’s important for two reasons.  First, if the book is on their list someday they intend to actually buy the book.  Also, their friends will see my book on their list and maybe that will be enough to pique their interest to either buy the book or add it to their “to read” list.

Being a novice, I didn’t have any expectations for my  GOODREADS campaign to its all good to me.  I allocated $100 to spend on the campaign and it will run until the money runs out.  At this rate my campaign will last another 14 months.  Maybe after a year I’ll seek GOODREADS help in sprucing up my ad.

Anyone out there a member of GOODREADS?  Anyone out there seen my ad on GOODREADS?  Anyone out there advertised or had a giveaway campaign on GOODREADS?   

I have an eighteen month old granddaughter, Vivian Grace, who lives with her parents in Omaha, Nebraska.  Distance dictates that we see her, in the flesh, about every six months.  We supplement these visits with an hour Skype visit every two weeks.

Last week we spent four days in Omaha visiting with parents and Vivy.  Our daughter-in-law, Sandy, had told us how she has taught Vivy sign language to help her communicate.  A friend of the parents taught their children sign language and claimed it made a significant difference in their language, reading and thinking skills.

Of course, I was skeptical.  When we arrived Vivy was in a playful mood and like any good grandparents we joined her on the floor to play.  Soon she was making these wild motions.  Her Mom calmly told us she was signing that she wanted water.  I gave Vivy a sippy cup; she smiled and took a long drink.  I was dumbfounded.  An eighteen month old was able to tell me what she wanted without verbal language.  She understood thirst, water and how to ask for the water.

Over the next few days the challenge was to get white bearded grandpa to complete a crash course in sign language, taught by my eighteen month old granddaughter.  Vivy can sign for:  eat, milk, tired, thank you, please, cookie, all done and book.  These eight words accomplish a lot in the life of a toddler.

One morning Vivy woke very early because she was busy cutting her molar teeth.  Her Mom was exhausted from being up tending to Vivy during the night.  I told Sandy she should return to bed and I would feed and care for Vivy.  I was able to “talk” with Vivy through sign language and understood what she wanted.  She had a breakfast of fruit and oatmeal, milk, and water.  She would ask for more cereal if hungry and let me know when she was finished.

Vivy’s life and mine have been enriched by the magic of sign language.