Luck

This whole writing business is totally unfair.

Mediocre writers get their mediocre books onto the bestseller lists, while unbelievably talented writers languish in obscurity. Mediocre bloggers get hundreds of comments on some inane post about what they ate last week, while you pour your heart and soul into your blog and get four pageviews a day.

In The Winner-Take-All Society, some people capture rewards monstrously out of proportion to their talent or ability. That's your reality. Accept it.

The key ingredient, however, is luck. And luck is democratic. Anybody can have it.

That's why you must put your work out there. Put yourself in a position to take advantage when luck comes to you. Write as much as you can and make it as good as you can. Be ready.