Can I be a success?
QUESTION: Masters, please can you tell me if it is likely that after 30 years of writing (not diligently, I will confess) that I can still make it as an author? I am now in my mid-fifties and, to me it seems much too late to become the success I wanted to be. My works are “for sale” on various sales sites; and I once had a Literary Agent but we argued and she has now retired. I seem not to be able to find anyone who will accept or represent my works, although they complement them very nicely. I have to confess that I have brought myself to depression and poverty – and now, at this late stage and with a child to tend, it worries me that I have been wasting my time and life. ~L.K., United Kingdom
ANSWER: We always say that it is important for you to watch out for the specific expectations you create. Your dreams and imaginings must be in alignment with your life lessons and possible within the venue where you wish to apply these manifestations. To bring to you your desires, you first have to believe in them with your whole being and have nothing else that stands in the way. You have only dedicated yourself to this dream when it was convenient for you.
The literary world is very complex. To be successful it doesn’t make any difference what you think is good; it only matters if you produce something that is desirable to others. To have a best seller (over 1,000,000 sales), you must have a million people who want to read what you have written. Agents who are constantly in the field are aware of what is selling at the moment. They suggest changes that make the material more appealing to others; such editing may differ from your ideals but it comports with what is selling. If you are not willing to listen to their ideas, they are not about to handle you as a client.
You are also faced with a print market that is declining. Book stores are closing across the world. Digital books are the future. To the book purist this is horrid, but it is fact. The return on digital books is a fraction of that on print books, so to make a lot of money you have to write something that is desired by two to three times as many people.
Nothing you do is a waste of time. You always learn what will work and what will not. Depression can be a choice. When you envision one course of action and won’t conceive of anything else, depression is the result. To defuse this disappointment you have to step back and see all the factors involved. Don’t just see what hasn’t happened, but rather choose to see that ruling out non-functional things has pointed you in the direction of success.
Find ways to use your talents to create a profitable business. Begin to see other ways to bring in money. Get rid of the poverty mentality in which you fixate on lack, and allow plenty to replace it.