Failure is ubiquitous and everyone experiences it. Most authors have experienced at least one failure. Some books become best sellers while others languish on the shelves unread by many people. When this happens, it can be heartbreaking but it is an opportunity to learn and move ahead and strive to be better. There are ways for you to pick yourself up and continue doing the work you love, that is, writing.
Start writing again
This one is obvious. If your last book has bombed, the trick is not to drown in sorrow but move on to your next project. Working on a project will give you a sense of satisfaction and worthiness, which will help counteract any feeling of failure you might feel at having written an unsuccessful book. Just immediately start on the next book and spend your days researching and writing. This will keep your mind on positive things and keep you from developing a negative attitude.
Learn from your mistakes
There is usually a reason that people don’t like a book. It does not necessarily mean that the book was bad overall, but there might be some major problems with it. Listen to the critics and make notes on what they are saying. Read through your work again and decide whether you agree with the criticism or not. It is important to keep an open mind and a thick skin. Incorporate any new lessons you have learned in your next book. Treat failure as a learning curve and use it to improve your writing skills.
Explore new avenues
If you have written on a specific topic and the subject was not very well received, then perhaps that subject was not your thing. Try something new, anything which inspires you. If you are consistently facing rejection, then it is time to develop new genres, new styles and new ways of expressing yourself. Write on anything you like, but if one genre is not working out, then it is a good idea to try other genres.
Compete against yourself
If you begin to base your success against other people, you will continue to be a failure. There is also an element of luck and timing that might put your competitor on a much faster path to success. It is futile worrying about it. The other person does not have to lose for you to win. There is room enough for many successful authors. So compete against yourself and your previous work. Focus on your own progress. It will give you the motivation to forge ahead.
Don’t overanalyze
If your book has failed to be a huge success, it is normal to be sad. But it is also important to let go and move on. Accept that everyone has failures at times, and this does not make you a failure. Concentrate on the positive aspects of your failure. You have gained contacts, you know your way around the publishing world, and what’s more, you actually have a book out. That is more than many people have. So stop thinking too much about it and return back to work. That is the only way to success in the future.
Image credit: Ludovic Bertron on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_20141217_101736441.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Kavitha is a freelance content writer and French translator, and has been working in this field since 2008. She has degrees in computer applications and international business and has a background in business and international trade. She enjoys learning languages and is currently learning Japanese. Her interests vary from books and writing to travelling and history.[/author_info] [/author]