AUTHOR OF THE HARRY PORTER SERIES

Hello everyone once again I'm wishing you a happy new year.

Like I told you in my last post I am sticking to what I call the goals of secretlilies..which are motivation, investments a little bit of fashion, musings about my personal experiences etc.

Today I start with the writing industry:

we all know that all over the world it is very difficult as an upcoming author to break into the writing industry. The market is very hard I must say. The market is even harder in Nigeria as there aren't a lot of publishing house and a lot of the citizens haven't been beaten by the reading culture bug.

So how do we as upcoming writers break into the market?: I would like to draw a few points for J.K. Rowling's story.

J.K. Rowling was a single mother, living on welfare in a rat infested house, while she was writing her Harry Porter series. Everyone must know how difficult it is to keep on following one's dreams with an empty stomach or the fear of not knowing where your next meal would come, how to pay your bills, the fear of being kicked out of your house cos you can't afford to pay the rent, but she continued. After she completed her book she was being rejected by many publishers. Some publishers and agents told her that children's book wouldn't sell. She also didn't help matters cos she didn't even know what age group she was writing for. She just wrote her story simple!!!LOL.

We all know the story after she got accepted and her book was published. J. K. Rowling (who had to pick this name cos her publishers thought that she wouldn't get a lot of boys reading her book if they found out that it was a female author), became a success. She was the first person to become a billionaire through writing.

What is so amazing is that her last book of the Harry Porter series which was released 21 July 2007 sold 11 million copies in the first 24 hours. Breaking down to 2.7million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US.

Now who would have thought that a book rejected several times over would get this much publicity. Don't also forget that the Harry Porter brand brings in millions daily.

Now why all this story.. the basic principle about being successful in whatever you do no matter how hard it is, is perseverance, diligence and hard work. If she didn't keep on going despite the rejections she would still be on welfare, and she would still be a struggling single mother living in a rat infested house. You may not like her, you may not like her books but she is a good example of when you are determined you can achieve anything.

This year I want all of you to take out time, find out what you are really good at and develop it. The things you want to do start now. Do not wait for tomorrow. Start now. Find the time. If you have to cut your television time, then you have to do it. If you have to cut your gossip time then just do it.

Life is too short, and as sure as 2012 has begun it would soon be the last day of 2012.

Do have a lovely week and always remember live your dream.

Ciao.