Entrepreneur Mindset for Authors

In early 2020, before Covid hit, I had decided to write a book sharing my experiences as an author. Many times since making that decision, I wondered if I should go ahead with the book. I mean, who am I to write a book about being a prosperous authorpreneur? I’ve made tons of mistakes on my author journey. And it’s mostly those mistakes that have become the main reason I decided to continue with the book. My hope is that it will save you time, money, and headaches.

The one thing that’s helped me the most in my journey is realizing that being an author has many similarities to running any other kind of business. In my career as an accountant, I saw many people give up before they had really given their business a fair try. It takes time to build any kind of business.

I hope you enjoy Chapter 4 from The Prosperous Authorpreneur.

4 - The Authorpreneur Mindset

The thing about starting any business is that it takes time to get it off the ground and running smoothly. There’s truth to the saying that most businesses fail during their first five years. I saw this often when I worked with small business owners in my accounting practice. The most common reasons for failure were a lack of planning and a lack of funds. 

If you go into your author business expecting it will take time for you to build it to where you are selling enough books to live off the profits, you’re heading into it with a realistic attitude. Maybe your books will find readers faster than you thought, and that’s great. But if they don’t, you won’t be too disappointed because you weren’t expecting that. 

Congratulations! You’re a Business Owner.

Whether you are self-publishing or going the traditional route, you are still a business owner. You are an authorpreneur. Own it. Be proud of it. You get to call the shots. That being said, there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with owning a business. One of my objectives with this book is to get you thinking about some of those things and we’ll discuss them in the next chapter.

Patience, Patience, Patience

Because most businesses fail in their first few years of business, you’ll want to keep that in mind when you’re getting started so you don’t get too frustrated. It’s supposed to take time. If your first book doesn’t sell, keep going. Don’t worry about it. Sales for that book can take off years down the road when readers have read some of your other stuff. 

The worst thing you can do is throw yourself a pity party and stop writing. Keep going. Each book will be better than the last and all the while you will be growing your following and your book catalogue. It might take some experimenting to figure out what works best for you. As frustrating as this can be, it’s a normal part of getting a business off the ground. 

Know Yourself

One of the best things for my authorpreneur mindset was understanding my strengths. Once I understood this, I realized I didn’t need to do things the way another author did because that wasn’t one of my strengths. Comparison in this industry can debilitate. Once I removed myself from several author groups and unsubscribed from many email lists that weren’t a good fit for me, I could focus on my writing much easier.

If you’re not sure what your strengths are, I highly recommend Becca Syme’s YouTube channel. You’ll find her channel, books, and courses listed under My Favourite Resources near the end of the book. She’s a Gallup-Certified Strengths coach and has worked with writers at all levels of their careers.  

From watching successful authors who sell lots of books and have lots of reviews, I’ve learned there are as many ways to have a successful author career as there are authors. If you plan to be in this for the long haul, you need to find a way that works for you and feeds your soul. Just because Amazon ads work for a particular author, doesn’t mean they’re going to work for you too. Listen to your gut, follow your heart, and do the things that are important to you.

Knowing what you want can save you time and money. When you know what you want, you need not waste your time and money chasing after the latest book advertising trend. Part of knowing what you want and how you want to do things is having a plan, and that’s what we’re going to discuss next.

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek of The Prosperous Authorpreneur, now available on Amazon!