Some authors have bestselling books that are boring and poorly written. On the other hand, many wonderful books are returned to the publisher, unsold.
If you’re asking whether your writing is good enough, what kind of recognition will you need before you see yourself as a great writer?Since 80 percent of books don’t sell a hundred copies in a year, you can probably build a platform, self-publish, do a little speaking, and see yourself way above average. But is that good enough?
It’s good when people read your stuff.
More people buy books than actually read them. You’ve cleared some major obstacles if you’ve written a book, had it edited, and got it published. To hear that someone read your book from cover to cover—now, that’s remarkable. Maybe that’s good enough.
It’s good when a traditional publisher buys your manuscript.
After several rewrites and five years pursuing agents and acquisition editors, you might find yourself among the top 1 percent of authors who were paid an advance and didn’t have to do some form of self-publishing. That would be good, but you still might think it wasn’t good enough.
It’s good when the work advances your communication skills.
The only time failure is final is when we choose to quit. Why are all roads to success paved with failures? Because they provided the costly experiences that are essential to reach our goal. Getting there is never easy. If it were, we wouldn’t think it was worth much. Maybe we’re not good enough yet, but we’re getting there.
It’s not always good when people say how good you are.
Praise feels so good, but it can be a killer. If you ever reach the point where you believe your writing is good enough, you’ll quit improving—and that isn’t good.
A secular writer has to sell thousands of books to be a success. If a Christian writer sold only one copy, but it changed someone’s life, he would be a success. — Terry Burns, Retired Christian Literary Agent
