Goodreads asked Mark E. Cooper:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Mark E. Cooper Never give up. That's the most important thing. It took me 13 years and 7 books to be able to call myself successful. There are different definitions of success, but to support myself doing something I love and would do anyway for fun, is the best thing in the world.

Read a lot is the second thing. The third is write what you love to read. Some will tell you to write what sells, and you can combine them, but DON'T write something that sells that you HATE. Readers will find you out. I'm a reader, and I can always tell when an author is enjoying his work.

Fourth, if you want to make a living these days, you need to write a series. My books tend to be long, but the current wisdom is write around 50k word novels in series of between 6-10 books. If you can, you want to release the first 3 close together (90 days apart at most). I didn't do that, and it took me 13 years to go full time. Newer authors are making a living after only a few years doing that.

Write a series in a genre you love, get professional editing and covers, and release new books 90 days a apart.

Mark

flag