Good morning, Bridgitte....

Perfect example of a beautiful (and amazing) opportunity opening when you might not expect it. Yes, we hope to be found and accepted by the professionals at the Gate, but to have someone fish out the manuscript in the slush pile?

That's not normal and cannot be counted on.

Thank you for sharing that story and the good news that you've got a picture book coming out, congratulations!!

As a freelance author who works regularly with children's book authors, I know that wonderful feeling when a new work is to be published. It's a high I crave to feel again and again, sharing that bliss and excitement with the author.

I hope you become a Best Selling Author, Bridgitte. Make enough to fan those creative flames for many projects to come =)

- Jaime

Hello Diane,

Tips are easy to come by, and the web is full of solid strategies to help any writer accomplish just about any goal you can think of.

What kind of tips are you looking for? Where are you stuck?

If you have books just sitting there on Amazon KDP -- why is that? Have you been telling others about them? That's a process we must engage in each and every day as authors.

What may be of help, is recommending the last article I wrote for Writers In The Storm:

https://writersinthestormblog.com/2023/04/compromise-is-a-four-letter-word/

There's quite a few tidbits of knowledge there to help any author who wants to progress.

Hello Lisa =)

Yeah, the whole "first page of Google" is a racket and one I refuse to involve myself in.

I realize there are many paths, techniques, and strategies to get discovered. My preferred path is the long, evergreen road, so my efforts last.

Remember, the key here is to eliminate your weaknesses...even more so than focusing on your strengths. Do the little, consistent things, so you build the foundation of success, until results just can't help but manifest.

It appears you are a lot further along the path of being a successful author than I.

Perhaps you can provide me with a few tips.

I have several self-published books that seem to be just sitting there on Amazon KDP.

I look forward to hearing from you, Diane.

A friend of mine actually paid someone to do this. (I was NOT consulted.) When I heard, I panicked, and she said, "Oh, it comes with a 50% money back guarantee and I used my insured card, so if it is a scam, I can get my money back."

In the end, she DID get 50% of her money back. But she also got blacklisted by search engines and had to start a completely new website.

One of my clients had a slow start, but just had his biggest traffic weekend EVER, with a special badge from Google for over 6000 hits to a blog post in one day. (Memorial Day... themed...) It happens, and it is so beautiful to see it! But that comes after about 4 years of HARD work, posting multiple times each week and putting out some of the best work I've seen.

Thank you.

Good morning, Mazzy.

I'm so happy you took the time to read and then to leave a comment for me...and I relate to not always clicking on notifications. This morning has been a bit rough for me, and I was going to pack for a trip and just leave...until I saw your comment.

Ahhhh, the power of a smartphone.

So here I am, because you inspired me to push my 'yuck' aside, and do my job, as a friend.

There have been so many situations where I felt to leave writing behind. To abandon a project or projects. Heck, I even unpublished my life's works last year, and still haven't started the climb back up that mountain.

That's when I took the time to ask myself "why".

WHY did I stop, or change, or give up?
WHY did I listen to the opinions of others rather than my own?
WHY did I think I was less worthy or able to find success than another writer?
WHY did I believe the negative words of strangers, casting aside the positive ones?
...and WHY did I ever ACCEPT the negative from others as some twisted TRUTH, rather than the actual "truth":

...that ANY and ALL feedback are opinions.

They may be right, they may be wrong, but they remain 'opinions'.

I'm only guessing about you, Mazzy -- for I don't have enough information to make any accurate call about what you're going through & experiencing -- so please forgive me if it sounds like I'm encroaching here. Just want to share a thought.

Last year I asked myself a hard question in my writing path:

Are the challenges stopping and/or hindering me, from others...or created myself?

If they were from others, I could simply not listen and turn my back. Focus attention on improving myself, my habits and my skills, and no -- my stories wouldn't be perfect -- but they could accurately convey what I wanted to tell. If I worked on developing what I had, right here, right now, I would win...eventually.

Funny thing was, if the challenges were from myself, I could simply not listen and turn my back. Focus attention on improving myself, my habits and my skills, and no -- my stories wouldn't be perfect -- but they could accurately convey what I wanted to tell. If I worked on developing what I had, right here, right now, I would win...eventually.

Huh.

No matter what, the end results would be mine to determine, regardless of what anyone thought.

That was, and still is, undeniable power over our future.

• We get to pick our path.
• We get to choose what we are willing and able to sacrifice to achieve our goals.
• We get to choose those goals.

WE get to set the definition of what "success" for us is, not someone else!

My only goal with this article was to offer a perspective, in the form of hope.

You, Mazzy, responding to me today, gave my own heart a boost...because it sounds like maybe, just maybe, I found a measure of success in that goal.

Thank you for helping ME meet a hard start to a hard day, with more confidence...and a smile. =)

-- Your Friend,
Jaime Buckley