Writing is a powerful—and unique—creative experience. It’s one of a small number of creative pursuits that can be done largely alone, and many writers share the experience of starting off in solitude, writing just for themselves. As rewarding as writing for yourself can be, there comes a time for most of us when we want to share our work and get some (hopefully positive) feedback and engagement on it—and that’s often when we discover that carving out a unique voice for your writing isn’t as easy as it seems.

Don’t lie. We’ve all been there.

It’s hard to look at franchises like Twilight and Harry Potter and not want to write the next book series that sweeps the nation and secures billions of dollars in sales and movie deals. Forget about how good (or mediocre) the actual books are; it’s foolish to overlook the overwhelming impact such franchises have had on the world.

When I was just starting out as a professional writer, I made a pretty common mistake by focusing on the artistic side of things. I would not sully my work with concerns over filthy lucre—I just wanted to have my work published and read and appreciated, and if that somehow led to financial gain (though sorcery and wishful thinking, I assume) that would be great.

The world of publishing is changing.

Readers are no longer as willing as they once were to read one book and be done with a character, storyline, and world forever.

I’m an old salt when it comes to The Internet. To paraphrase The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, don’t quote the deep magic at me, bub—I was there when the first web pages went live. Back when I set up jeffreysomers.com, having a personal website was the standard—if you wanted an online presence, you had to have a website to launch from—and host a blog, which was also considered something of a necessity back in the day.

So you just finished reading my piece on the pros and cons of a daily writing routine, and you’ve decided to implement it for yourself.

Let me be the first to say, way to go! It’s a huge step that I truly believe you won’t regret.

If you’ve been writing for any length of time, and you’re curious to know what will take you to the next level in your career, you’ve no doubt come across the burgeoning movement that is the daily writing habit.

I was surprised the first time I met a writer who approached their craft like work: They were compelled to write but didn’t necessarily enjoy it. For me, writing has always been my favorite activity. But over the years I’ve come to realize that we all take different paths to a story or an article or a piece of nonfiction. There are as many ways to approach this creation as there are people. Every writer is different.

If you’re an author and you’re familiar at all with Amazon’s publishing services, you’ve surely encountered KDP Select at some point. Whether you’re seriously considering it, or you saw the button option when you were setting up your book and you wondered what the heck it’s supposed to be, chances are you at least know the name.

If there’s one universal struggle that most of humanity shares, it’s the simple fact that we don’t have enough time in our day. Sure, some people have too much time on their hands. If you’ve ever watched a ball navigate itself through an intricate Rube Goldberg machine for several minutes, you just know that some bored but brilliant individual had to have spent days making it work.