How Do You Spell Success?

I've been engaged in some interesting conversations lately about the concept of success for a writer.

Is it peer respect? That other people in my field think highly of what I write?

Is it selling a lot of books?

Is it making a lot of money from the sales of my books?

Is it gaining name recognition so that people want to come to my workshops and buy my next book?

Is it having a lot of people actually read my book?

These things are not mutually exclusive (I can only have one) but they also aren't mutually inclusive either (they naturally go together).

For example, I could sell a lot of books because I've figured out how to get "buzz" (Oprah? Have you gotten my memo yet??). That doesn't mean it's a good book that will get the respect of my peers or even of the people that have bought the book.

Example? I've been reading (more accurately, slogging through) "The Celestine Prophecy". This book was big in the new age/spirituality market back in the early 90s. The author originally self-published and sold 10,000 copies out of his car trunk before a major publisher picked it up. By 2006, he'd sold more than 20 million copies. It has been translated into 32 languages.

The ideas in it are fascinating but they're wrapped in a fictional story and the fictional writing is, to be kind, weak. In fact, in an informal survey of friends, more than half admitted that they only finished it by focusing on the ideas and ignoring or forcing themselves to finish the fictional story. I also know a lot of people who never finished it and they all cite the bad writing as the reason.

Yet, it sold millions. The author was interviewed endlessly and has gone on to a pretty conventional definition of success.

Another example: there's a writer here in Australia who has produced one of the stupidest cookbooks I've ever seen. But she sold millions of copies because she knew how to market the hell out of that book (actually "books", she's done a 2nd cookbook in the series). She also figured out that (1) people buy plenty of books (especially cookbooks) that they never read and (2) she doesn't necessarily need people to love her books, she just needs them to buy them.

She's got great name recognition and is a sought-after speaker, guest on morning TV, etc. Talk about "brand".

I can't say that's wrong because I would love to have that kind of name recognition and I'd like to sell millions of copies. But do I want to do it by writing crappy books but marketing them brilliantly? If my goal is to support myself with writing (and speaking, etc.), then the answer could legitimately be "yes".

Am I too "professional" for that? Or am I not good enough at marketing? I don't know. Ask me again in a year or two when I'm earnestly trying to sell my books.

More importantly, I need to get clear with myself about what "success" as a writer is going to look like to me. Working on that.....