Six Things to Avoid if You Want Success

Throughout my life, I’ve been lucky enough to hang around million-dollar athletes, history-making attorneys, world-famous musicians, and friends that you never heard of who change people’s lives for the better every day. The common bond between all of these people is the ability to live life to its fullest on their own terms.

While there is no secret to success, I’ve tried to learn from other successful people who have entered my life, even if only for a minute or two. Today, I’m sharing a few of those lessons. The universe offers boundless rewards and only your own thinking and behaviors can determine how much of it you reap. I’m not saying that I’ve perfected all of these, but I have witnessed the result of both positive and negative influences.


As individuals, each of us has a different definition of success. It isn’t necessarily monetary or fame—the process itself may define success. Whatever your goals, here are a few things to avoid that less-successful individuals typically let guide their life. Once we recognize them, we can make changes that will propel our lives to a different place.

Author Earnings Expands Data Set to Top 54,000 Titles

Hugh Howey has released his latest report to go with last weeks inaugural report. The data remains solid and continues to show the value of self publishing over traditional publishing. Great information and a must read for anyone considering or involved in the writing world.

You can find the breakdown and raw data at Author Earnings The 50K Report.


Jim Devitt is the author of the #1 Kindle Bestselling Young Adult novel, The Card and So This is Christmas. He's also a healthcare consultant specializing in helping healthcare companies and practices develop a social media marketing platform, and maximize cash flow. You can find him posting weekly to Indies Unlimited and occasionally as a contributor on Yahoo!

Author Earnings - A Report by Hugh Howey

I know that many of you have seen this report on other forums, but I felt that it was important enough to reblog it here. Hugh Howey's Author Earnings Report has rattled the publishing industry. Posted on his new site, Author Earnings, his report breaks down the self publishing and traditional publishing industry by the numbers. 

Sure, it might have a few flaws, but with the inability to extract exact numbers, this is as close as one could get. I'll be looking for more as they continue to expand the sample size.

Please visit his blog to see the full report ...  http://authorearnings.com/the-report/

Publisher's Weekly Names Top Blogs

As many of you know, I am a weekly contributor on Indies Unlimited, a blog for indie authors and readers. It's chock full of how-to posts, sneak peaks, tutorials, contests, and tons more. 

All of us at Indies Unlimited are stoked by this weeks announcement at Publisher's Weekly. Indies Unlimited was picked among the top six great blogs for indie authors. This is a great honor, considering IU has only been around for a couple of years. You can read the announcement from Publisher's Weekly here.

Thanks to everyone that has taken the time to visit and comment over on IU. You have helped us make it a fantastic resource for indie authors, publishers and readers.

Four Reasons I Watch More Football Than Baseball

On the Road With the M's

The Super Bowl is right around the corner. I’ll enjoy it much more this year because my beloved Seattle Seahawks made it to the big game. I’m an avid Seahawks fan and these days, I watch far more football than baseball. How can that be if my roots are in baseball? I spent eight years working with the Seattle Mariners, on the field and in the clubhouse. I road-tripped with the Mariners and even served as the batboy for the National League during the Major LeagueBaseball All-Star game.

A shift has occurred over the last decade. Does it have anything to do with the lack of success of the current Mariner teams? After all, they haven’t been to the playoffs since 2001. I don’t think that is it, I still follow the Mariners and get excited each spring. As a comparison, the Seahawks had some awful teams during the past decade as well and I continued to watch. 

Words of Wisdom from Elmsworth

Elmsworth is the main character and leader of the menagerie of ornaments in So This is Christmas . With so many Christmases under his belt, he has become a sort of mentor and sage for all the other ornaments. Of course, this leads to a few words of wisdom throughout the book. I thought I would share a few of them with you today.

Paperback Edition of "So This is Christmas" Available on Amazon

Front and Back Cover layout

The long wait for the paperback version of So This is Christmas is over. You can now order your copy from Amazon. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can have your copy in your hands in two days with free shipping!



Thanks for your patience and support.


Jim Devitt is the author of the #1 Kindle Bestselling Young Adult novel, The Card. He's also a healthcare consultant specializing in helping healthcare companies and practices develop a social media marketing platform, and maximize cash flow. You can find him posting weekly to Indies Unlimited and occasionally as a contributor on Yahoo!