Reading my book reviews is exciting! If I need a little boost to my ego when self-doubt comes into play, I read my reviews. Sure, there’s going to be bad reviews, but the very good outweigh the bad many times over. I chalk the bad reviews up to someone wanting to get their name out there or simply jealousy. If there’s substance to the review, I pay attention and learn from their feedback. Dwelling on bad reviews will only drag me down, so I choose not to.
If I were to describe what literary success means when it comes to my writing career, I’d had to say becoming a New York Times Bestseller. Another hurdle would be when I hit that 100,000 books sold mark. That would be a champagne moment.
The tip I would stress to my younger writing self would be to find an excellent editor who suits my writing and believes in my career, and find the money to pay them to edit every book before publication. Two more tips high on the importance list would be to believe in myself and always strive for improvement.
