Follow the Proven Steps of Successful Authors.

Do you know someone whose writing qualities you admire and you want to follow  his or her lead? What are the steps to following a successful writer? Should you become social network acquaintances?

Steps to achieve what they have successfully done for themselves begins by reading their author bios and books, comparing their personal struggles with yours, and following their marketing and writing tips.

Joining a writing club gives you the opportunity to mingle with local authors and befriend them. It provides a chance to perhaps emulate a successful writer, but in their midst are people dedicating their writing time to blogging or to printing short pamphlets. These people are "the-not-so-serious-writers" of the literary world.

Finding someone who has published a legitimate book is not easy. Many call themselves writers or authors but in reality their work goes unchecked. If printing a book is what you are after, then befriend people who have published books, and steer away from the ones boasting experience but with only pamphlets under their belt.

You will meet folks who have self-published several books, but are not selling any of them. This is a clue that they do not know how to market their work, and you should not use them as mentors.

Mentor yourself, until a professional author comes along with suitable credentials that may help your goals.

ElenaMartina 01.14.11