What does “playing to win” mean?
This one’s gonna be a rough one, gang. But it’s important.
I love the movie The Replacements. (Largely due to Keanu Reaves, not gonna lie.) But there is a great line in it, where the coach played by Gene Hackman asks: “Do you know what separates the winners from the losers?”
To which Keanu instantly replies: “The score?”
He’s not wrong, obviously. Which brings us to another Hackman quote: “Winners always want the ball when the game is on the line.”
In both cases, what he is trying to get across is: the “winner” is the player or team that is willing to take risks when it matters. They will do whatever it takes. They don’t play it safe.
The opposite: “playing not to lose.”
You might think, semantically, that “playing not to lose” is the same thing. If there’s a binary of winning and losing, you want the same outcome.
But it really, really isn’t the same.
Rather than taking risks, it’s about doing whatever you can to avoid failure… which ultimately doesn’t get you anywhere. It’s reactive, rather than proactive. Just preventing the other team from scoring doesn’t do a lot if you can’t get on the scoreboard.
It’s not an effective plan in football. You will also find that it’s not an effective plan if you want to be a successful writer.
What does”playing not to win” look like for authors?
Being reactive as a writer can mean any of the following:
- Following trends and chasing the market, thinking that piggybacking off of existing success will prevent failure
- Writing things that have been “done to death” without a clear differentiating factor, because they’re proven to be popular
- Sacrificing originality for speed and productivity, banking on Constant Readers to be more interested in quantity than quality
- Conversely, not writing much and spending more time on classes, reference books, workshops… anything that might provide a “guarantee” or prevent embarassment and failure
A word of warning.
First and foremost, if you want to play to win: YOU MUST BE WILLING TO LOSE.
This is the most heartbreaking but real advice I can give to any author.
I have faced many writes who tell me, in one way or another, that they must succeed at their writing. Some are facing financial instability, can’t work a day job for whatever reasons, and feel like their talent for writing is the only solution. Some have heard the promises of six-figure incomes from any number of experts, and see that as the solution to their problems. They are teary eyed and desperate. They simply cannot afford to lose.
This is the absolute worst place to come from for your writing. I have been there, made that same mistake, and I promise you, this is not the answer. Not only will it affect the writing itself, it discounts the fact that publishing — traditional or indie — is a cross between the Wild West and The Hunger Games. Sometimes the best way to win is not to play.
To mix metaphors further, publishing is, at its heart, gambling. To risk more than you can afford is folly, and dangerous at that. To spend money you can’t afford in order to try and unlock that “secret sauce” that will guarantee the win? That starts tumbling toward addiction. Don’t do that.
Does that mean you have to walk away from your publishing dream entirely? Absolutely not. But make sure you have a firm foundation to build from. If that means a different source of financial stability (and yes, trust me, I know how hard that can be) while you build up your writing career, then you need to brainstorm how to do that as carefully as you would creating a novel.
[Note: if you’re really in financial trouble, or in the situation I’ve described above, please let me recommend Ittybiz’s Emergency Turnaround Clinic. It is absolute free, and it saved my ass, not to put too fine a point on it, about a decade ago. It might help you, too.]
How do you write “to win” then?
If you want to play to win, here is what you need to do:
1. Develop your mindset.
This is possibly the most important element of being a successful (working, paid) writer, in my experience. While all of us experience imposter syndrome at one point or another, the ones who make it to the other side don’t let it stop them. You could be a brilliant writer, with a fantastic concept, but your brain is going to be your worst enemy. There are any number of books and resources for this. So far, I like On Top of Your Game by Carrie Cheadle, The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, and I’m reading The Alter Ego Effect by Todd Herman. If you can get your hands on The Bestselling Author Next Door by Skye Warren, it is also worth a read, for this and for sheer practicality, but it was offered through Kickstarter only, so it’s hard to find.
2. Get clear on your goal.
You know how you’re told to have your elevator pitch or logline, crystal clear, ready at a moment’s notice? That’s what I want you to have for your goal for this year, or this quarter. I need you to be able to tell me exactly what you’re trying to do, and why you want it, and say it like you have absolutely no doubts that it’s going to happen. So not “I’d like to write three novels this year, and it’d be really nice to finally break even.” You’re going to say “I am writing and self publishing two thrillers in 2024 and making $10k across both titles.” [Note: I’ll probably cover goal setting for the new year in more detail this month or next, if people are interested. Just email me.]
3. Have a plan that directly ties to that goal.
You don’t need to have “on this day, I am going to do this” per se. But you do need to realistically think of how you’re planning on doign whatever your goal is. If you want to write two books at 80k words each, for example, but so far you’ve only been able to write 1500 words a week, and that not consistently… that’s already at least 53 weeks. A year is 52 weeks. You see that it’s not a realistic goal unless something changes — and if you’re planning on drastic changes, you have to be very careful that your drastic changes will need a lot of support. A sudden “I will get up at 4 a.m. every day!” is a recipe for disaster. Better to adjust your goal and then hit it out of the park.
I also strongly recommend income goals (unless your only goal is getting your work in the world, in which case, never mind.) While some argue that income goals are “out of your control” and shouldn’t be included, you’ll notice that most businesses still have income goals. (Skye Warren talks about this, and I completely agree with her.) If you want to be an author, you’re a business. Besides that, once you have an income goal, you can look at what you would potentially need to get you there. For example, if you want to make $10k for the year, and you make around $1.70 per ebook, then you’re going to want to sell about 5,882 copies of your book. If you’ve only sold a couple hundred of any title prior to this, that’s gonna be daunting, but you can look at the sales cycle to see where you can boost things and where you might be falling down. [Again, I can talk about this in more detail if people are interested, just email me.]
4. Look for the stretch, where you can be extra.
Extra what? Extra creative. Extra driven. Extra dedicated. There’s going to be a moment where you’re ready to throw in the towel. That’s when you’re going to write another hundred words. When you’re going to send one more review request, or one more query.
You are going to pause where others are rushing forward, so you can think through how you can truly make your book stand out in a crowded market. You are going to think of the first ten book ideas that would fit, then the next ten, then struggle to yet another round of ten. Somewhere in there, when you’re reaching for some bonkers ideas, will be the thing that changes the game.
You’re going to bleed on the page, drawing from your personal emotional experiences and fears and dreams, more than you’ve ever gone before. You’re going to take risks on subject matter that you think is too weird, because you love it. You are going to get ridiculously passionate about your project.
You are going to feel insecure, or cringe-y, or ridiculous. You will feel embarrassed. You will feel uncomfortable.
You are going to push through it.
Notice I am not saying “in horrible, crippling pain.” You are going to stretch — not making drastic, unsustainable changes, but doing the next level, regularly, and pushing harder every time you’re comfortable.
Because you can’t get from where you are to where you want to be without being in some form of discomfort. If you could, you’d be there already. Success in our world often isn’t about talent, or brute force, or money. It’s about who is willing to do what it takes.
Get yourself a team.
I’ve said this for years.
Every writer writes alone, one way or another. No writer succeeds that way.
All the things I outlined above get exponentially easier when you’ve got other writers as a support network. Not only because it’s great to have friends who “get it” but because they will think of things you don’t. They will see your blind spots. They’ll be your cheerleaders and voices of reason. Cultivating a garden of supportive author friends — and being a supportive author friend! — is one of the best things you can do if you want to be a successful author.
There are no guarantees.
Anyone who tells you they can guarantee you publishing success is someone you should run away from quickly, because they’re about to ask you for money. It’s not easy, and the only certain thing is its unpredictablity.
But if you’ve dreamed of sharing your stories with the world, and making a living doing so, then it is a dream worth pursuing. A hard one, maybe — but most dreams are.
If you’re ready to walk that path… I’ll meet you there, and help in any way I can.
Let’s do this! 🙂