Kyoko M. asked Cindy Dees:

You are an established author. A lot of people, myself included, would kill to have the experience and readers that you do, but it's extremely hard. What are some things you can share with us that might make fighting the good fight a little easier?

Cindy Dees First and foremost, experience comes from actually doing the writing. You have to sit down and start doing it, and keep doing it. Much of this profession is learn-as-you-go. I still constantly read writing how-to books. There's no such thing as knowing it all, and it's easy to forget basics I once knew.

As for gaining readers, you earn them one at a time by writing one great book, then another, then another. That's the ONLY thing you have complete control of as a writer--putting out the best book you can. You have to trust the rest of your career growth to luck, word-of-mouth, and kind reviews. Sometimes lightning strikes fast, and sometimes it doesn't strike for a long time or at all.

Because of this intangible luck factor we all now rely on, that means you should probably write for the love of writing and not for the "reward" of fame, fortune, or success at the end of the process. In point of fact, that reward may never come. Even long-time authors with plenty of past success are having to come to this realization.

I blog about being a professional writer often on my website (and FB author feed), as well. I think it's important to pass forward lessons learned to other authors in the business. You can catch my other posts on this exact topic at www.cindydees.com.

And good luck to you!

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