Is Your Attitude Preventing You From Getting Published?

I speak to and with aspiring authors almost every day. They all share the dream of becoming published authors. What stops them? If I ask them they will tell me the following:

“I can’t seem to get my book written.”
“I don’t have an agent.”
“I received 20 rejections from publishers.”
“I don’t have an author platform.”
“I don’t have the money to self-publish my book.”

This is just a sampling of the excuses I hear.

These statements all down to one common factor: These aspiring authors don’t have the right attitude to become published authors.

Becoming a published author takes perseverance. You have to be committed to your goal and unwilling to waver or give up until you achieve it–no matter what. You have to be willing to make time every day to achieve that goal, to follow the Rule of Three or Five: Do three or five things every day to move you closer to your goal. No matter what.

You have to takes a positive attitude in the face of obstacles–obstacles like rejection. I heard a story about someone who, when they received a rejection letter, would say, “I must have sent it to the wrong address (or wrong person). I’ll send it out again–this time to the right address (or person).” See obstacles as opportunities to learn something new, do something differently, rethink your project, find someone new to help you, etc.

You need to do things you don’t necessarily want or like to do, like build platform and promote yourself.  Get over the fact that you don’t want to do these tasks and remember why you must–to achieve your goal of becoming a published writer. Learn to like social networking, promoting your work, writing press releases, pitching the media, speaking in front of audiences, etc. And if you can’t like them, just do them. Stop complaining. Knock them off the to-do list every day, and feel good about that. Why? Because doing so moves you closer to your goal.

Remind yourself that there is always a way to do what you want to do. Can’t and try should not be in your vocabulary. Need money for your project? Look into programs like Kickstarter.com, Pubslush.com or raise money for your own advance. Get creative.

Today work on having an author attitude. Repeat 10 times: “I am a successful published author.” Do this several times a day, including right before bed and immediately upon waking up. Then write down three things you can do–action steps–to make the statement true. Then chunk those things down into smaller tasks. Don’t go to bed until you’ve taken three action steps. Rinse and repeat every day.

When you find yourself getting depressed about the fact that you are still an aspiring author and not a published author–or telling this “story” to your friends, stop and do a bit of brainwashing, as T. Harv Eker, author of The Millionaire Mind, likes to call it. Wash that story and all the thoughts that go with it out of your mind. Now come up with a new story–the one about how you are becoming an author and how you refuse to let anything get in the way of that happening including yourself and your old self-defeating attitudes.