What would Authors do differently if they could Start Over from Scratch?

Here are some answers for What Authors would do differently if they could Start Over from Scratch

1. Pay yourself a Salary
   1. Note: This necessitates a lot of good things such as being profitable, managing your finances, looking out for #1, etc
   2. Even if your day job can subsidize your future career as an author – make sure you keep this new business (writing) profitable and pay yourself a salary
2. Capture each and every person who buys your book into your own channel – email list or website or social media. Ideally, an email list or your own App for your readers
3. Not put your eggs into one basket
4. Not let anyone else control your destiny
   1. No exclusivity to one company
   2. No 20 year exclusive deals with a Publisher
   3. Not giving pricing control to someone else
5.  See Reality As It Is, not as you want it to be
6. Spend less time on Forums and Social Networks
7. Stop believing there is such a thing as Writer’s Block
   1. Good authors write regularly. Great authors write almost non stop. You must do the same
8. Watch less TV
9. Rewrite your books more
10. Prioritize a good cover designer and a very good editor
11. Research the Market before writing a book for that market
12. Take good care of your health
13. Treat it like a marathon
14. Write More Books
15. Write Better Books
16. If you find a winning formula – do not change it
    1. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
17. Don’t underestimate what you can achieve in a decade
18. Don’t overestimate what you can achieve in a year
19. Do not ignore the importance of marketing
20. Do not ignore the importance of a support system – one or more out of your marriage, your family bonds, your friendships, must be super strong
21. Treat success and failure as the impostors they are
22. Save as much money as you can during good times
23. During bad times, first cut expenses, and only then use your financial savings
24. Only spend on things that give you value. Sometimes we spend a lot on something that we don’t really use much at all
    1. Applies to both the book business side and your personal life
25. Form a Master Mind with other ambitious authors
    1. Corollary is to stay very very far away from authors who blame external things for their lack of success
26. Learn from successful authors who share their knowledge for free
    1. You can also learn from successful authors who ask you to pay – However, be very careful as truly successful people almost always want to share that knowledge for free
27. Do not listen to ‘people who are not successful but are very good at having their voice heard’
28. When learning from people’s success, give much higher priority to what these people are actually doing, and far less to what they are saying
    1. We often romanticize our successes, without accurately ascertaining what actually caused that success
29. Always interpret things positively
    1. If you plan on being an author for the long term, then there is nothing to be gained by being hard on yourself or by being overly negative. Every failure brings you closer to success, provided you learn the lessons your failures are teaching you
    2. Learn the lessons from your failures
    3. Then interpret that as feedback and move on
30. Have gratitude for the opportunities. Be happy that you get to live your dream (even if the dream has periods of struggle and hardship)