We recently read a really great piece by Copy Blogger about leaving ego at the door if you want to be successful. Firstly, we implore you to read it, it’s a really great piece, have a look here!

Having an ego is not always a bad thing. It’s the way you project it that can turn into a negative. If you go into writing or publishing with an expectation that your book is going to be made into a movie, you’ll be interviewed by Oprah or Graham Norton or that you’ll achieve overnight success, you need to keep your mindset in check.

Not only is this damaging to your mental health if you don’t make it, but it’s also setting yourself up for failure. Being a realist in situations is important and healthy.

Understand the following:

• Roughly 3 million books are published annually (ref)
• A book has less than a 1% chance of being stocked in an average bookstore
• The average book sells less than 100 copies

Now, imagine already believing you’re going to be the next J.K Rowling before you’ve looked into the statistics of the worldwide book market. Putting yourself into the eyes of the general public is very important. When did you last read a biography of someone you’re not already aware of? When did you see a new author who is not already an international bestseller on TV? How are you made aware of books?

The positive side of this is that those who go into writing and publishing with a hopeful outlook but no expectations usually are the ones who end up selling. Egotistical authors often take out their frustrations on their agents, publishers and bookshops, which only damages chances. Working as a team with those who are trying to help usually proves to have a higher success rate.

To quote Real Leaders post about leaving one’s ego at the door:

Adopting an analytical approach also helps eliminate ego. We’re in a data-driven industry and we’ve always tried to use data to make decisions. This eliminates a lot of personal opinions and provides a lot of humility as the data informs you, rather than an individual. It also made me realize that I knew nothing about consumers and that we needed to test, refine, and then test again.

Writing should be done because you love it, not because you want to make a million in a year. If you do, fantastic, but leaving your ego at the door will give you a higher success rate.