Carissa Broadbent is the No. 1 New York Times and USA Today best-selling author behind the Crowns of Nyaxia series, one of the biggest names in the romantasy boom taking over readers’ hearts, minds, and eyeballs. She joined me on How Success Happens as her new fantastic new novel, The Lion & The Deathless Dark, is about to hit shelves, to talk about the years she spent self-publishing in near-total obscurity before her books became a cultural phenomenon. If you are an aspiring writer, you are going to want to listen because Carissa gives one piece of advice I have not heard anywhere before.
Check out the episode and read on for her killer insights to help you draft your own plan for success in three, two, one!
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Three Key Insights
1. Finishing Is a Skill, Not a Feeling
Carissa self-published three early books that are, in her words, “all varying degrees of bad” — one sold roughly 30 copies total. But she says the real skill new writers lack isn’t talent, it’s finishing. “I think that is the number one pitfall of a new writer,” she told me. “You talk to a lot of authors and they’ll say, ‘Oh, it took me five years to write my first book, and now I write a book in like 90 days.’” Her mantra: “A book is 1,000 words 100 times.”
Takeaway: Stop perfecting — momentum beats polish every time.
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2. Build Systems for the Real You, Not the Fantasy You
When Carissa burned herself out juggling a day job and writing, she realized her schedule was designed for an imaginary, more disciplined version of herself. “I had to build a system for the version of Carissa that actually exists today,” she said, “not like this imaginary version of Carissa that’s totally going to exist tomorrow…that’s going to go to the gym every day and eat nothing but spinach.” Her fix was refreshingly unglamorous: she got up at 4 a.m. and protected one honest hour, every single day, until the books got done.
Takeaway: Design your routine around who you actually are, not who you hope to become next week.
3. Give Yourself Permission to Write the Worst Book You’ll Ever Write
Fear of failure keeps most big ideas trapped in someone’s head. Carissa’s breakthrough came from flipping that fear on its head. “I had a revelation when I was writing my first book, which was, ‘If I do everything right, this should be the worst book I ever write,’” she said. “That was very freeing to me.” She also credits borrowing a trick from author Susan Dennard: before revising, write the “ultimate fan letter” you wish a reader would send you — it forces total clarity on who the work is actually for and what you hope they take from your work.
Takeaway: Get the idea out of your head and onto the page — then you can get into the weeds on making it great.
Two Free Resources to Learn More
- Follow Carissa on Instagram and TikTok @carissabroadbentbooks, or visit her website for updates. Her newest novel, The Lion and the Deathless Dark — the next chapter in the Crowns of Nyaxia series — hits shelves August 4th and is available for pre-order now.
- Check out this talk with best-selling author Emma Stroub, and learn her “working in the coal mine” method.
One Question to Ponder
What is your half-baked idea and what would happen if you devoted 20 minutes a day to writing it down?
Send your answer to howsuccesshappens@entrepreneur.com — we may read it on a future episode.
About How Success Happens
Each episode of How Success Happens shares the inspiring, entertaining, and unexpected journeys that influential leaders in business, the arts, and sports traveled on their way to becoming household names. It’s a reminder that behind every big-time career, there is a person who persisted in the face of self-doubt, failure, and anything else that got thrown in their way.
Carissa Broadbent is the No. 1 New York Times and USA Today best-selling author behind the Crowns of Nyaxia series, one of the biggest names in the romantasy boom taking over readers’ hearts, minds, and eyeballs. She joined me on How Success Happens as her new fantastic new novel, The Lion & The Deathless Dark, is about to hit shelves, to talk about the years she spent self-publishing in near-total obscurity before her books became a cultural phenomenon. If you are an aspiring writer, you are going to want to listen because Carissa gives one piece of advice I have not heard anywhere before.
Check out the episode and read on for her killer insights to help you draft your own plan for success in three, two, one!
