The following just goes to show that when you tell me you want to be a success, I believe in you. Let me tell you something. Big Jim Williams has never been a wallflower when it comes to promoting his work. With an excellent work ethic, a perfect mixture of patience and ideas, he has proven that it only takes time for a Western author to become a success if he keeps his end message in sight. Jim Williams was, a year ago, a Western author without a successful book to his name. Sure, he had won awards and all of that zany stuff, but as for sales? He was without a hit. Now, without much warning, he has two books inside the top one hundred and a third lurching it’s way to the top.
How did Jim do it? How do any of them do it? How does Robert Hanlon keep banging out those top one hundred bestsellers? Well, he wasn’t thinking about the birds, the trees, the fish in the rivers and all of that. He was crafting new stories.
All jest aside, it takes a lot to become a Western success, but the most important ingredient has and always will be ‘true grit.’ You see, an author like Jim Williams takes a ‘no’ in only one way—it is simply a yes that hasn’t made up its mind yet. Readers may have turned up their nose at two of his earlier books, but he did not let that get him down. He just kept on going, and eventually readers took to him as a frog takes to greenfly. He knew it was time for a great success.
It’s all about the mindset, I believe. If you believe you will be a success and you do all the things that will make you a success eventually, it can’t help but pay off. Take any of the great successes of today on the Western market. Billy Joiner? He keeps pounding out his books onto the market without delay. Scotty V. Casper? He jumped right in and became a great success with his mountain man adventure. Harvey Wood? He doesn’t even question it—he jumps right in and writes whatever is needed. That’s why readers love him so. They know they’ll get exactly what they want. How about Robert Hanlon? Heck… you can’t keep him from writing Western novels. He so embraces the love of the readers, he has become addicted.
This is the big secret. The hallowed secret of Western success. You cannot just sit around hoping that readers will discover you. You must search out the readers and give them what they are asking for. That’s the business we are in. Of course, advertising plays a huge part in the success of any Western novel, but the mindset of the author is more important.
The Eeyore negative Western author who denies the joy and love of the book business is never a pleasant experience. They have not embraced that they are blessed to experience a changing world in which their book can become a great success. I say to that creature: let the love in and let it flow to your books. They have got to understand that the world is not for long. And yet, to them, everything is wrong, they will never be discovered, they have no hope of being discovered, and they jump from frenzied ideas of varying quality to the depths of depression when their zany ideas do not work. This is something I often marvel about. The failed idea is the confidence sucker and the kiss of death for these people. They put so many eggs into their basket, when it inevitably drops, their eggs are broken.
The positive successful Western author doesn’t need to jump around like a thing possessed. He knows that the next story, the next cover, the next release will be the one that breaks him through if he opens his eyes and looks at the industry around him. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to follow the trends of the market—and once you get a success, you can write whatever you fancy. Readers will follow if they were hooked by that first book.
So, as we move into hot selling months, this article is all about your mindset. You, the author, are you one of those people who finds a negative in every statement? Are you one who doesn’t believe in the magic of the book business? Are you one who finds themselves telling the world what they cannot do? I invite you to change your mindset and open yourself up to the selling Western market. It’s one heck of a party, and you can become a part of it because what we need is new Western authors.
You’ve got to understand the world is not for long. There’s only time for creativity and praising and having a writing party. Don’t be Eeyore. What we need is new Western writers. We don’t have any time to wait got to get those books out on the market, selling and pleasing readers. And you can do that. Believe me. Give up the negativity and open yourself up to the possibilities.
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