The Author Life: A Collection of Essays on Craft, Marketing, and Mindset: The Author Life

By J. Thorn

Craft, marketing, and mindset are the cornerstones of a successful writing career.

 

In this collection of short essays, J. Thorn explores strategies that help transform struggling writers into career authors. Each article provides a glimpse into the author life, covering all aspects of living as an independent author and publisher.

 

Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, this collection will guide you along the path to publication in J. Thorn's authentic and unique voice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. Thorn
• Release date: Jan 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393258704

Book preview

The Author Life

A Collection of Essays on Craft, Marketing, and Mindset

J. Thorn

Thorn Publishing, LLC

The Author Life: A Collection of Essays on Craft, Marketing, and Mindset

Copyright © 2022 by J. Thorn

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Edited by Eve Paludan

More info at theauthorlife.com

Disclaimer

By reading this collection of essays, you agree not to use the information in them as medical advice to treat any medical condition in either yourself or others. Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having. Furthermore, no information contained in this collection should be construed as legal advice, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter. No reader of these essays should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in, or accessible through, this collection without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer licensed in the recipient’s state, country or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction.

Contents

Introduction

Successful authors don’t do this.

Why you must obey the rules until you break them.

Social media is dead. Long live social.

Take a moment.

What’s it about?

The 6 things you must do to enjoy the author life.

It isn’t offensive just because you’re offended.

When you get an idea, take the first bite.

Your things own you—a perspective on minimalism.

The past is whispering in your ear, but you’re not listening.

Memento mori - The ways you don’t want to live.

Let me tell you how we first met.

Must be time for a new phone.

Professionals don’t act like this.

Getting lost in the crowd.

Don’t collect things. Gather moments.

You’re going the wrong way.

Only boring people get bored.

Find your clan.

You don’t want the unlimited plan.

Have fun, but keep it legal.

But I’m not just an author.

Making friends.

More bridges, fewer walls.

I couldn’t even get rejected.

Working through distractions.

Marcus Aurelius has lost his head.

Is this anxiety or depression?

Be like everyone else but different.

Getting it done. Your way.

Spark your imagination with travel.

Cresting the learning plateau.

I still like books.

Is the paid ads bubble about to burst?

Failure is an option.

Collaborating in the shadow of the Space Needle.

You might not always be an introvert.

If you show up, the words will come.

An introduction to the author mastermind.

Discipline developed by an author mastermind group.

The author mastermind group builds systems and habits.

Getting stung.

Beating Resistance.

When things don’t go your way.

Everything works until it doesn’t.

About the Author

Introduction

Craft, marketing, and mindset are the cornerstones of the successful writer.

In this collection of short essays, J. Thorn explores strategies that help transform struggling writers into career authors. Each article provides a glimpse into the author life, covering all aspects of living as an independent author and publisher.

Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, this collection will guide you along the path to publication in J. Thorn’s authentic and unique voice.

Welcome to The Author Life: A Collection of Essays on Craft, Marketing, and Mindset. I originally wrote these as blog posts from January to December of 2019.

As part of an experiment that I discussed on The Writer’s Well podcast with my friend Rachael Herron, I decided to write a weekly blog post and then repurpose it across multiple channels such as LinkedIn, YouTube, and Medium, to name a few. I recorded an audio version for each post, all of which can still be heard on TheAuthorLife.com.

But the essays themselves have always been the focus. I’m a writer and writers write. It wasn’t always easy, but every week I sat down to compose something thoughtful, observational, or both. My goal was always to share something I’d learned through a storytelling narrative, which I hope you’ll find engaging.

You can read the essays in any order, skipping through the table of contents to find what tickles your fancy. There is no grand theme or purpose other than to experience the ebb and flow of a year through the eyes of a career author.

If you like what you’ve read and are interested in self-publishing your own book, whether that be fiction or nonfiction, go to https://theauthorlife.com/free-tools/ where you can find free tools and sign up to my mailing list.

All my best,

J.

Successful authors don’t do this.

The author life might not be as glamorous as it sounds. Introverts and creatives often rejoice at the notion of a solitary writing cabin nestled deep in the woods, on the land and off the grid. But that’s an idealized fantasy that isn’t a reality for most of us. Being a full-time creator, performer, publisher, and author consists of many hours behind a keyboard, butt in chair, staring at the endless combination of 26 characters we slap together into coherent (sometimes) thoughts.

You can read hundreds if not thousands of articles, each telling you what you need to do to become a successful author. Some of that advice comes from literary icons like James Patterson and Stephen King. Some of it comes from visionary minds like Steven Pressfield and Seth Godin. And there’s no shortage of advice from Internet marketers who want to sell you the secret to the author life but who aren’t living it—folks who have written and published very little and yet, have courses guaranteed to show you how to make a living at it.

But what if you’re already doing those things and you’re not successful, not living the author life? What do you do then? If a fitness guru told me that if I did 50 sit-ups a day, I’d have six-pack abs, and I do that, but I don’t get ripped abs like those guys on the cover of Men’s Fitness, what does that do to my motivation? How do you figure out which advice to follow and which to avoid?

I could tell you what I think you should be doing to live the author life, but it might not work for you, even if you do what I say, exactly how I did it. That’s just how the universe works, sorry. That doesn’t mean you should stop learning, quit reading books, or give up on your aspiration to be a successful author. But what if we looked at the inverse of those actions? Are there things successful authors don’t do?

Make Excuses

Successful authors don’t make excuses. They don’t blame others or bad circumstances for their situation. The most successful authors in the world understand that nobody owes them anything, that through their actions they are responsible for their own success, or lack of it. Successful authors don’t look around with envy while bemoaning the fact that someone else happens to be enjoying the spoils of success and they are not. J.K. Rowling was famously rejected dozens of times by all major publishers, but instead of blaming the system and giving up, she forged ahead. She kept writing.

Doctors don’t get surgeon’s block. Attorneys don’t get lawyer’s block, and plumbers don’t get plumber’s block, although some do get plumber’s crack. Writer’s block is an excuse that successful authors don’t use.

While I’m not always in the mood to sit down and type words, I do it. And sometimes, those words suck. I mean, really suck. At least that’s what I’m telling myself at the moment because my lizard brain wants to do something else like eat, sleep, or screw. The primitive forces inside of me think it’s ridiculous that I should be pressing down pieces of plastic to create words instead of hunting or foraging. And those forces have been hardwired into us through thousands of years of evolution.

On the surface, there seems to be no logical reason why the human animal should want to write. Our default state of mind is technically writer’s block. But it’s just a thought, a mental pattern we can ignore. Dozens of times each day, we talk ourselves into and out of things. Successful authors who rely on words to pay the bills—they show up to the page and do the work sans excuses, like surgeons, attorneys, and plumbers.

Wait for the Muse

But just because you get yourself to the keyboard and beat down writer’s block, does that mean the words will flow? Don’t the most prolific writers sit in their cabins in the woods, drawing inspiration from nature and waiting for the muse to arrive? No. As Pressfield discusses in The War of Art, Resistance will always be there. That force of antagonism, of negativity, will always be whispering in your ear. It’ll say things like, Take the day off. You’ve earned it. Or, Go ahead and check your phone. There’s probably an important message waiting for you. Or, What you’re writing sucks.

Successful authors beat back Resistance. Don’t think for a minute they don’t face it. They do, almost every minute of every day. But successful authors don’t succumb to Resistance because to do so is what every other nonwriter in the world does. Writers write. The act of writing is rarely easy. If it were, everybody would do it. And you are not everybody. You’re a successful author.

Panic

In the 1980s, the panic button keyboard gag first appeared in novelty stores. It looked like your Enter key but was red with the word panic on it. But this gag gift would be lost on successful authors because they don’t panic.

Rumors circulate about fickle agents and what types of manuscripts publishing houses want to acquire. And it’s not the genre of the story you’ve been working on. Panic. The Amazon algorithm has changed, and now, you’ll sell 50% fewer books. Panic. Overseas click farms are driving up the cost of digital marketing. Panic. You could panic in all of these situations, but successful authors don’t because what good would it do? Can you control what agents and publishing houses are doing? No. Can you change the Amazon algorithm? No. Are you running an overseas click farm? No. At least, I assume you’re not.

Don’t panic over things that are completely