Reading time ≈ 2 mins

Most writers believe success comes from publishing a book using traditional publishing companies.

While that can be an incredible milestone. You're bound to run into a lot of problems like…

• Rejection from publishers.

• Long waits after your meetings with your agents.

• Lack of need for your book in the market.

• Usually about 10+ years before it becomes a hit (if it even does)

But that isn't all that you are. I mean what's the difference between that and just working at a 9-5 for 10 years?

You're still letting others dictate how you should live your life.

So what should you do instead?

Storytime 📖

I was listening to Ali Abdaal on his podcast The Deep Dive.

His guest on the show was Nicolas Cole.

Cole talked about his final class in college and the professor taking them was talking about how to become a successful writer.

He said you had to wait 30 years before your story is even published.

“30 years?”

Cole was furious. Why did he have to wait that long before he could make something out of his craft when he had a literal writing machine in his pocket; his iPhone

Instead of waiting. Cole went over to Quora and started writing there instead.

And not long after. A quora answer of his was trending on Reddit.

Lesson 📝

You should be like this too

Don't wait for others to tell you when to publish or even give you a chance at success.

Shocking part is that I've seen people talk about this before. Check out what this person had to say when someone else asked “how to be a successful writer”

Why does one need luck before becoming successful? That's just not fair at all.

My opinion 💡

I understand that patience and perseverance are very important factors here.

I mean c'mon. I've been doing this for about a year myself. But I don't believe in luck and just putting all your hopes on the “probability” of being seen or recognized.

Rather, it makes more sense to work hard and have an expectation of the kind of results you want to have in return.

So instead of wishful thinking. You're being critical and coming up with plans.

A better solution… 🥇

Most writers follow this guide

1. Write for a year (minimum)

2. Start looking for agents

3. Get rejected for many years

4. Finally gets published

5. Book bums, writes another one.

And it just continues that way.

It shouldn't be like that for you. The internet has provided you with the ability to showcase your ideas as a writer on almost every platform.

Twitter for example.

People have grown their audience to 100k+ and are main millions of dollars. All by just writing tweets and emails

And the best part? You can join them too.

Big Takeaways:

• Don't rely on others for your success

• You can write on social media.

• You don't need to wait years to be famous for your work.

Here's the podcast episode I made reference to:

Anyway. That will be all for now and I'll see you next Sunday.

— Abdulmalik Salawu.

Hold on a minute…