The Danger of Excuses
By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin
It’s an easy pitfall for each of us as writers and it is called excuses. All the time I hear these excuses from different writers. If I’m honest (which I try to be in these articles), I use them in my own writing life. Like the image I selected for this article, when you use excuses, you are facing a danger because it hinders or stops your results. The opposite is also true. When you eliminate an excuse, then you can achieve your results. Much of the timing and details is a part of each of our lives as writers. In this article, I want to give some common excuses that I hear and some ideas how to move beyond it for better results.
I encourage you not to shy away from work because as I heard from entrepreneur Darren Hardy in a statement last year and on a note on my desk, “This is going to suck 95% of the time.” I have a number of tasks related to my life in publishing and often they suck and avoiding them can be an excuse which can hinder my results.
Here’s some recent excuses that I’ve heard from writers:
I can’t sell my book idea to a traditional publisher because I don’t know editors or literary agents.
I can’t pitch magazine editors because their guidelines require I send them a query letter and I don’t know how to write a query letter.
Agents and editors in their guidelines say they are looking for a book proposal and I don’t know how to write a book proposal.
Many authors will say, “I don’t have the time to write a book” yet each of us have the same amount of time and this excuse does not work for me. I’ve published more than 60 books for traditional publishers and taken some crazy deadlines to complete this work.
Other authors will tell me they only want to write books and don’t have the time to market a book or they will say something like “I know nothing about marketing and my publisher will handle this area.” Again this excuse is a publishing myth. Several years ago I had an author leave a Morgan James contract for another publisher because he falsely believed this publisher would do the marketing on his book. If I checked back with this author (which I have not), I would suspect he is disappointed in what happened with his book--yet he did not take his responsibility to market his book and wanted someone else to carry that effort. In my view that excuse is unrealistic no matter how you publish your book.
The list of excuses is endless for each of us. If we buy into the excuse, it can prevent us from change and moving forward.
How do you break through your excuses and reach the results? I know how I face my excuses. I hear the excuse and figure out a way to move forward in spite of those words. Do not let them throw you off from achieving your plans and desires. Take action,
Maybe your excuse is lack of time. Can you eliminate something that is wasting your time such as scrolling on social media or watching television? Whether we are aware of it or not, each of us are making choices about how we spend our time.
Another way through the excuse is to a system or habit that eliminates the excuse. For example, every book needs a business plan or book proposal. I understand these proposals take a lot of work and effort but they are critical to the success of your book. Learn how to write this document. Pick up my free Ebook version of Book Proposals That Sell, then study and apply this book to what you want to do in the area of book publishing.
Also keep expanding your network and connections. Reach out to others and offer to help them (many different ways are possible here such as reading their latest book and writing a review then telling people about your review). Who you know is as important as what you know. Don’t let your small network be one of your excuses. It takes consistent time and effort to build your network but it can become a valuable resource for you.
The final action that I encourage you to take with your excuses is to be consistent and persistent. Many people give up because they are inconsistent and impatient. Publishing is a marathon experience and not a sprint. Repeatedly I’ve seen (and experienced) where haste leads to errors and missed opportunities. The action steps can create another endless list but the point is change is hard for everyone. Decide to change and make a difference.
What excuse are you using and how is it holding back your writing dreams? Let me know in the comments below.
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During my years in publishing, I’ve reviewed thousands of submissions and spoken with many authors about their plans and dreams for their book. I’ve found many of these authors have unrealistic expectations about what will happen with their published book. From my experience, many aspects of the details of publishing are outside of anything an author can control. I wrote 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help. You can get decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses.
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Labels: Terry Whalin, The Danger of Excuses, The Writing Life
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