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Tuesday, October 18, 2005

The Ten Commandments for Newly Published Authors

I don't know if I can come up with 10, not off the top of my head, but suggestions are welcome. These are things I learned the hard way, and some that I'm still struggling to overcome. But if you want to stay sane as a published author, these are good ideas.

The Ten Commandments For Newly Published Writers
  1. Thou shalt not google thy name
  2. Thou shalt not google thy book title
  3. Thou shalt not check thy Amazon numbers every hour
  4. Thou shalt not check thy BN.com numbers every hour
  5. Thou shalt not lurk on message boards where books are discussed
  6. Thou shalt not read reviews of thy book (unless vetted by trusted friends)
  7. Thou shalt not compare thy career to that of other writers
  8. Thou shalt not obsess over that which you have no control
  9. Thou shalt not call Ingram for sales figures (at least not more than once a day)
  10. Thou shalt not create a spreadsheet with sales figures
This might need some refinement, and I got a little repetitive in places to get 10, but you get the idea.