Recently, someone asked a question on social media that made me think about my answer. The exact phrasing of the question is unimportant, but it went something like this: Given that I am not making enough money at all, let alone enough to support myself, from self-publishing should I seriously think about quitting?’ And a lot of people chimed in with encouraging statements, like ‘Just keep going!’ ‘You never know when success may be right around the corner!’ and I think at least one, ‘Never give up! Never surrender!’ (Always here for a Galaxy Quest quote). My answer was a little different, however, and, I think, a more useful one?
Whatever you are doing, whether it’s a vocational pursuit, a responsibility, or just a hobby, you have to figure out your WHY. Why are you doing this? What is your primary purpose? It doesn’t have to be noble. ‘I just want to have fun,’ is as valid an answer as ‘I want to feed the hungry children of the world.’ No, really, it is.
And if your primary purpose in self-publishing books is to make a living to support yourself and/or your family, that’s also valid and noble. If you’ve given it your best shot, and it’s not happening, quitting is a valid response to that. This is a very unpopular answer to give in this situation, and I understand why people hate it. We all want to believe that we can achieve our dreams if we just want it hard enough, and I don’t really want to rain on that parade. Absolutely, this is a long game, and you can find real success after many years of toiling in obscurity. That happens. It is possible. It is also not an extremely likely event, statistically. There are many of us who work for years and never see anything approaching financial stability from it (It’s me, Hi! I’m the problem. It’s me!). This does not make anyone a failure, but if your primary goals are financial, this is a very high risk, high reward way of accomplishing that.
So, my honest answer is, if you think you’ve given it your best shot, and you’re not anywhere close to meeting your goals, then go ahead and quit. There’s no shame there.
That said, you really need to look at what you’re doing and why. In any arena. My guess is, you’re getting something out of writing and publishing that you can’t get any other way. Your actual goal could be something creative or artistic, or even social, and you don’t want to quit because you don’t want to give that up. Basically, if some rando like me told you to quit and it made you mad? That’s a sign you shouldn’t quit. Conversely, if I said that to you and you felt this overwhelming sense of relief, that’s also a sign.
Figure out what you need from whatever you’re doing. That can be painting, playing golf (why?), being a superfan of limp bizkit (again, why?), serving as the treasurer of your local PTA, volunteering at an animal shelter, or any number of things besides creative work. What’s your WHY? I spent fourteen years volunteering at a library and eventually couldn’t remember why I was doing it anymore, so I quit to go back to school and do something else. I’m sure I was getting something from the library at first, but then either I changed, or the situation changed. Neither of those things was a failure. I found a new WHY for something new and have been much happier since.
Here’s the thing: No one else can tell you what your WHY should be. It doesn’t have to be something that makes sense to anyone else. It can literally be ‘I enjoy this for reasons I can’t quite articulate.’ That is valid. And if you’re not getting what you want out of something, you don’t have to continue. Nothing should be a life sentence, except an actual life sentence for, like, murder.
There are many reasons to write books and self-publish them. If financial stability is your primary WHY, then there are far easier ways to accomplish that. Selling crack, for instance. For me, I want to write books and create a body of work that I’m proud of. I’m accomplishing that. Any actual sales are like bonus validation. That would not be enough for some people, and I get that. I am not more noble for not having a major financial motivation. This is, however, what I feel like I’m supposed to be doing, and I am incredibly blessed and privileged that it’s what I get to make the center of my life right now. A majority of other people are not in that situation, however.
So, whatever you’re doing, find your WHY. If you can’t, you’re allowed to quit. If you do find it, nothing can stop you.