Knowing When to Celebrate

In reading the words on the cover of my upcoming book (Your Book is Your Business: Money-Making Sales Strategies), I had to sit back and do a double-take.

I have sold over one million copies of my books.

And you know, I haven’t even celebrated that. Thirty years in and I’ve not found any number of books sold worth celebrating.

Some days, I feel like I’m not doing enough. Like I’m not selling enough. Like I'm not spreading my message enough. Serving enough.

Now, don't get me wrong. This in no way shape or form reflects how I feel about myself. I'm more than enough. That I know for sure.

There are authors out there, though, who have sold a hundred times the number of books I have, and the number I've sold would be seen as failure to/for them.

But then there are authors who have sold way less, and this looks like success to them.

I think I’ve spent so much time helping other authors define and achieve their measures of success that I haven’t taken a moment to do that for myself. To determine what my own measure of success looks like. Feels like.

All of the tips, tools, systems, strategies, and resources that I have poured into this book come with great sacrifice. So, my prayer is that—beyond every author, publisher, college and university with a publishing program; every literary consultant and literary agent purchasing a copy of this book for themselves and every author they know or represent—the reader implements, executes, and actually does the work.

Because every single thing I share in this book actually does work . . . when you work it.

And, yes, part of that work—which is included in the book—is that the reader determines their measure of success. Because if you don’t know what that looks like and what that feels like, then you’ll never know when you’ve reached it. And you’ll never know when to celebrate.