The Secrets of Success

I got a wonderful question on my blog the other day about what separates successful writers, defined by this reader’s terms as writers who earn a good living solely at writing, from the rest of the heap, and I thought this might be a good subject to tackle here at Unboxed. I think it comes to down a mix of things, some of which people might like, some of which, they might not. But best as I can tell, these factors all come into play:

1) Luck. Yup, dumb luck. Look, there are thousands upon thousands of talented writers out there. I can’t and won’t dispute that. So surely, some of breaking away from the pack and becoming a go-to writer for magazine editors or for agents and publishing houses, does come down to luck. I got my big break when The Knot asked me to ghostwrite a wedding book for them. It was one of my first freelance gigs, and though the job itself was a total nightmare, it was a huge coup. And sure, I happened to be a good writer, but I was also in the right place at the right time: namely, I was getting married, pitched them a story idea, and had one of their editors take notice of the fact that I had previous ghostwriting experience. Bam. A few sample chapters later and the job was mine. From there, I quickly landed my first national magazine story in Bride’s.

2) Persistence. Much like acting, establishing a reputation in the publishing world can take a looooooong time. And along the way, again, much like acting, you are going to be met with more rejection than not. Probably 100 times more rejection than acceptance. Which sounds daunting, I know, but it’s true. After that Bride’s story, I landed one other national piece which was promptly killed (another story for another time), and I then had a long dry spell of pitching, pitching, pitching, pitching. I think the next few things I landed were smaller FOBs that eventually led to bigger pieces, but still…there were dozens upon dozens of times that I could have tossed in the towel and said, “Screw it. No one is taking my ideas, no one thinks I’m a good writer, I’m done.” Thank the lordy that I’m as stubborn as all hell, and there was no way that I was going to quit.

3) A Thick Skin. See my above note about rejection? None of it is personal. But a lot of people don’t totally get that, so when an editor rejects an idea or a book proposal, they think that the editor is rejecting them. And because rejection in our industry is so, so frequent, you’re on a slippery slope of doom if you take the “nos” to heart. You need to be able to brush them off and regroup. And do so quickly. If, like me, you’re a “your loss” type of person, you should do just fine. :)

4) A Relaxed Attitude. Okay, so I know that this flies in the face of my “persistence” tip up above, but I think it’s important to be both assertive and still entirely fun to work with. I’ve had several editors tell me that they appreciate my go-with-the-flow attitude, and I’m certain that this is one of the reasons they give me repeat work. I’m low-maintenance; I’m friendly; I’m accommodating. I’m not a doormat, but I do try to make their lives easier. And I’m also not above asking them about their lives and swapping a little gossip along the way. Makes the whole process a hell of a lot more fun.

5) Writing Skills. You knew it was coming, and yep, it’s true: you do need to be a good writer to make a living at it. The trouble with this factor is that most people who aspire to be writers believe that they’re already good writers, so…how do you know if you suck? LOL. Well, if you’re not getting any nibbles on your work after a long period of time, join a critique group or get feedback from writer friends or take a writing class. No one is so good that they can’t improve, and there’s no shame in admitting that your game needs to be a little sharper.

Add up all of these factors, and I think you’ll have a successful writing career.

Allison Winn Scotch

Allison Winn Scotch is the bestselling author of six novels, including IN TWENTY YEARS, THE THEORY OF OPPOSITES, and TIME OF MY LIFE. Her seventh novel, BETWEEN ME AND YOU, will be released on January 9th, 2018. In addition to fiction, she pens celebrity profiles for a variety of magazines, which justifies her pop culture obsession and occasionally lends to awesome Facebook status updates. She lives in Los Angeles with her family. For more about her and her books, go to allisonwinn.com or follow her on Twitter at @aswinn.

www.allisonwinn.com/