6 HABITS OF HIGHLY BLOSSOMING AUTHORS

If you have written a book, published it and now selling it, congratulations. You're an author and if you wish to make this a life, there are certain habits you need to cultivate in order to excel in this author business. It's not easy. It's never supposed to be easy. But it needs to be enjoyed and cherished all the way.

1. Talk about your books like an Evangelist. Now your name is on the cover of a certain book. It will be that way forever and ever so you can't hide. Here's what you have to do, though. Preach the existence of your book to everyone that you know and meet. You're the ambassador to your book. Don't be deceived, you are more obligated to talk about your book than your publisher. No other person should talk about your book more than you do. Whenever it feels like you are talking about your book too much, ask yourself; has everyone who know me known about my book? If no, loud it some more. If yes, ask; has everyone you know bought your book? If no, loud it more. If yes, loud even more for those who don't know you to buy it. And when the whole world buys it, talk about it some more for the next generation to buy.

I dare say it, that if there's someone alive who has met you but don't know you're a writer, then you're yet to be serious with this author life.

2. Take a copy of your book everywhere. You never know who you will meet. Anywhere you go or travel, at least have a copy of your book with you. You know what they say about opportunity meeting preparedness, hmm. You could run into someone who can make something big happen for you and your book and what it will take to impress them is to show them a copy. My wife, Olivia takes this to another level. She carries a couple of copies with her anywhere and sometimes she comes home and says, I ran into someone and told them about my book, they bought 2 copies. She sold dozens of copies within weeks of publishing like this. This includes having your book link easily accessible on your phone. You could leave the book purchase page open on your mobile browser at all times so when someone says, please send me a link, within a few seconds you can copy and paste.
3. Wear the author tag with pride. Never be ashamed to introduce yourself to everyone you meet as an author. I'm quite a lot of things, a business development consultant, a film maker, a Deacon, a publisher, an event organizer and more, but the first thing I introduce myself as when I meet a new person is, an author. I consider it more prestigious. Once you're a published author, be eager to be known for it. Even if your book hasn't sold more than 3 copies worldwide, it doesn't matter. Don't let that beat you into hiding your face when they ask authors to stand. Act important. Carry yourself like you're a number one bestseller.
4. Join writers communities and network with authors, editor's, agents, distributors and publishers. On Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as well as Pinterest, Tik Tok and most other social media apps, there are vibrant and teeming book communities. Join them. Join groups of writers on Facebook. Follow other writers on Twitter and Instagram. Writers follow back a lot, especially fellow writers. Find and use book community hashtags so that your posts will be better discovered by the community. Engage with other writers too. Comment on their posts, react to their stories, start a friendly DM chat. You have so much to benefit from engaging in this community that you might not get anywhere else.
5. Always have a work in progress. Unless you're retired, there should always be a new book you're working on. And even after you retire, keep an unfinished work in your computer. This is for so many reasons, part of which is, work in progress helps an author stay inspired. The writer life can be hard and depressing most times, that work in progress can keep you going when you feel like throwing in the towel I mean this in both the writing and life in general. Once you're done with a book, start another one and talk about it too with pride.
6. Keep learning and improving. The world of everything is fast changing, more so writing. There's a new innovation or platform coming out every year and twice in a leap year. You need to keep seeking out information, learning of new ways to write, publish, and sell your books. This is what workshops and panel discussions in book events like Lagos Comic Con and Lagos Bookause Party are there for. Every now and then, there's an online workshop happening somewhere on the internet, don't scroll past. Take a closer look to see if there's something there for you to learn. Most times they are free; sometime they are for a small fee. Join in, learn, improve, get better and grow.