Dr. Martin Luther King proclaimed “I have a dream”. This is the mantra of every published, self published and unpublished author. The dream lives with them 24 hours a day because inside their heart is the burning desire to “change lives through the power of the pen”.
Let me start off by telling you a true story…
My mind races back to the early 70’s when I was just a child and would love to watch the Walton’s on T.V. Perhaps my favorite character was John-Boy because I could identify with him wanting to be a writer. Since the age of 12 years old I knew that I wanted to be a writer. When I read an ad in a comic book, “How to Become a Writer” I rustled some money from my folks and sent for the home course.
I can still remember the day I got the package in the mail, my heart raced with excitement and my mind zoomed with adventure. It was a brown soft bound book and when I started to read it, I remembered thinking, “I don’t have a clue what this book is saying.” But it did not matter to me; just having that book gave me hope and inspiration!
It allowed me to feed my dream of someday becoming a published author, to have the ability to paint on the canvas of paper the words, thoughts, dreams and visions that would flood my mind on a daily basis.
That little brown unattractive home study course on how to become a writer fueled my passion to share my thoughts and words with the world. It did not matter that I did not understand one word that course said, it was my point of contact to dream, and dream big!
I share that story with you because there are many reasons why people have a dream to write a book; however this is what I have learned,
“Millions of people want to write a book.
Most have the ability, some have the drive but few have the know how.”
Having a dream to become a published author is a wonderful and powerful element. Did my youthful dream of becoming a published author ever come true? Many people have wondered about that. Well, 33 years after I got that home study course in the mail I have had the good pleasure to have published 19 books and create the best selling The Power of Mentorship book series that now have over 200,000 printed copies in the marketplace worldwide.
Yes dreams are important and yes they do come true, but not by themselves. You see, many people have dreams, but not every one has wings. Dreams without wings stay grounded.
“Will my passion support me? If your passion has a plan, your plan will support your passion”
How do we put wings to our dreams? By good old hard work; my good friend and best selling author Brian Tracy says it best; “Success is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent hard work”.
Did we say hard work? Let’s make it clear that hard work is smart work, knowing what to do and how to do it to create the results you want.
“Working hard on things that don’t work, don’t
make them work”
If you have a dream of becoming a published author (or any dream for that matter) or if you are an author and want to sell more books, here are 5 important points to help you take that dream from your heart and turn it into reality.
1. Find A Mentor. Finding a mentor that can teach you how to get what you want is not only invaluable but a necessary ingredient to achieve your goal and dream. It will save you years off the learning curve and save you thousands of dollars of costly mistakes. When I went to my first mentor to teach me how to do a book series he asked me; “do you want to do this as a hobby or a business? I responded I do not know? He looked at me and said get out of my office; if you are not going to treat this like a business you have no business doing it! That was the key advice that allowed me to create our highly successful book series.
Another book mentor of mine was the late Charlie Tremendous Jones. I remember when we came out with our second Power of Mentorship book I put on the cover volume two. I had already approved the cover, and the cover was done. Charlie told me; get the word volume off that cover. I said “why Charlie, it looks so good?” He said if you keep it there it will hinder your sales. Charlie had been in the book business for over 40 years and his mentorship proved once again to be invaluable.
2. Get into an anthology. One the best ways to start your publishing career as well as boost an existing one and sell more books (if you currently have one) is to become published in an anthology. An anthology is book that is composed of contributing authors or what I like to refer as “co-authors”.
There are a number of anthology books on the market today that will give you the opportunity to be part of the book; however the best ones to be involved with are those who have best selling authors that are part of the contributing authors.
The keys to writing success is positioning yourself as an expert, establishing your credibility, massive exposure, and developing your brand. Anthologies help you do exactly that especially those that have best selling authors that are part of that group.
3. Keep your writing dreams alive. If you have a dream to become a published author, you and you alone will have to be the “keeper of the flame”. It will be up to you to stay excited, fuel your passion and fan the flame. Your mentor can give you the plan; you however must supply the drive. How strong is your desire to write? How much passion do you have to get published, have a book and get your message in print form? Only you can answer these questions and the answers will determine if you are willing to put wings to your dream or allow your dream to stay grounded.
4. Take action now. When I go speak in a certain city, I always have people come up to me and tell me they are in the process of writing a book, or plan to write a book. What always amazes me is when I visit that same city the next year or so, 95 percent of those same people who told me about their writing dreams have done nothing to towards making them a reality. Dreaming is worthless unless you add action with it. My mentor Bob Proctor taught me how to make decisions based on what I want, not what I think I can do, not what circumstances dictate to me or what my bank account tells me what I can or cannot do.
Start taking action now, today, and the plan, the people and resources will always show up along the way.
5. Know your purpose. You must know what you want and why you want it. Many people know what they want, but when it comes to analyzing why they want it they become clueless. Know why you want to become a published author. It is because you have a burning message in your heart that you fill compelled to get out into the market, a desire to help people through the power of the pen, to sell a lot of books and create a fortune? These are all worthy and honorable goals. Whatever your reason, whatever your purpose is to become a published author know them and you will be well on your way to making your dream come true.
You were created with a Message, and we created a platform for you to share it. If you would like to be published in our Power of Mentorship book, please send an email to don@donboyer.org for details.
Thank you to all our wonderful and faithful followers and readers of our blog. We truly appreciate you, your positive comments and sharing us with everyone you know! If you have not signed up for our Free Exclusive Inner Circle Membership yet, do it today at www.DonBoyerAuthor.com
We will see everyone tomorrow, come back and bring a friend!
Don and Melinda
Don Boyer 