Quote:
Originally Posted by dadioflex
13. Until you have a measure of success such that the average man on the street knows who you are, you shouldn't be making lists telling writers what to do, or not do.
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I don't think popularity is important here--but income and personal satisfaction are.
Until you are writing
instead of, not
in addition to, a day job, you're not qualified to state what skills/attitudes/etc professional writers really need. Unless you are satisfied with your authorial career--even if it's not at the "walk away from day job" income level--you're not qualified to advise other authors how to be happy with their efforts.
Obviously, if you're writing lists of Authors Should Do This, either you are following them, or you are a hypocrite. (Or incapable of following them for some reason. But "you should do this even though I won't or can't" is a different kind of list.) If you are following them and not content with your current income or readership, why should anyone else believe that they work?
You can write "do this to be as successful as I am!" lists... but that only works if "as successful as I am" is a goal for aspiring writers. "Do this to get publishers to pay attention to you" is only good advice if you've used it and it works. "Do this to write novels that people enjoy and remember," ditto.
Part of what I like so much about Konrath's and Rusch's and Smith's advice is that they can say, "this WORKS for me. I can't guarantee it'll work this well for you--but I can promise these are effective methods for many authors."