Are Successful Authors Gatekeeping success?

There's a lot of chatter on social media, especially Threads, about how top authors are supposedly gatekeeping their formula for success. They're not. Most of them are happy to talk about the hard work, the fails before the wins, what worked and what didn't. What they refuse to offer, however, is a magic bullet. Because there isn't one. So, aspiring writers get frustrated.

I can see why some may feel that way. When you're working hard and your book doesn't sell like you expected, it's easy to think successful people have a secret.

But what if the idea of a “secret formula” is the real roadblock? Look, I've been doing this for a while, and I want to be straight with you about why all this "you can't do it" talk is wrong, and how you can change your thinking to build a writing career that lasts.

The Myth of the Magic Bullet

Let’s be honest with ourselves: The arts are a brutal field. When we write with the sole hope of making a profit, we’re essentially buying a lottery ticket and calling it an investment. It’s a risky gamble at best, and one that often leads to disappointment.

I get it. Success stories that appear “overnight” fuel the fantasy, but the reality for most of us is far different. I’ve been writing since 2012 and publishing since 2020. The little bit of success I’ve started seeing recently took years to build. This isn’t a narrative people want to hear—but it’s the truth.

The notion that top authors are hiding their strategy is, quite frankly, silly.

I know authors at the very pinnacle of my genre who have literally spilled all their so-called “secrets”—their marketing tactics, their writing process, their launch strategies—yet, the vast majority of us who follow their advice don’t achieve their level of success. Why?

The simple, difficult truth is this: There is no single formula.

Success = (Hard Work x Craft) + (Luck x Timing) + Subjective Art

You can replicate someone’s strategy perfectly and have wildly different outcomes because of circumstances entirely out of your control. When people are new to this game, they don’t realize that there are about a thousand different formulas to success, and yours has to be your own.

The Real Challenge: A Flooded Market

If authors aren’t deliberately hiding information, what exactly is happening?

One major factor that newer writers often aren’t aware of is the sheer volume of competition. Thanks to self-publishing, we’ve democratized the book world, allowing everyone to write and put their work out there. The consequence? We’ve never had so many people trying to make a living by writing novels.

What feels like gatekeeping to some might simply be a flooded market. Getting noticed requires more than just following a checklist; it requires:

• Experimentation: Finding different ways to curate a message that resonates with your specific readership without sounding overly salesy.
• Patience: Earning a living as a writer is a long game, with very few exceptions.

If you set your goals too high, expecting instant celebrity or six-figure success, you’re setting yourself up for burnout, misery, and a crushed spirit. Remember the classic adage: Comparison is the thief of joy.

Stop Looking for the Magic Bullet

Before you engage in a bad faith argument about gatekeeping for engagement, ask yourself three honest questions:

• Are you looking for a magic bullet that doesn’t exist?
• Are you truly not following ANY successful authors? Most authors I know are constantly spilling information for free via social media, podcasts, and newsletters. I often post what works and doesn’t work for me. So do most of the authors I follow.
• Are you focusing on the right things?

For indie authors especially, it’s critical to remember that success rarely happens overnight. It’s easy to get tunnel vision and think that the secret to success is in figuring out how to market one book perfectly.

But it usually isn’t.

Usually, the secret is in writing the next book. It’s in improving your craft, in slowly building your platform one genuine reader at a time, and in finding that unique voice that only you can offer.

Yes, marketing is a necessary part of the equation, but it should never be more important than your craft.

The Author Mindset Shift

The rhetoric that circulates about successful authors being closed-off is disheartening, especially when you know so many authors in this community who are incredibly open and helpful.

Instead of hunting for a secret formula, try to adopt a mindset that acknowledges the reality of the industry:

• Accept the Long Game: This is a career, not a sprint. Be patient and persistent.
• Focus on the Craft: Great books build careers. Marketing amplifies a career. Prioritize writing and improving.
• Look Inward: The biggest gatekeeper you might be fighting is your own resistance to the process, your impatience, or your misplaced belief that external success comes before internal growth.

Success in writing isn’t about perfectly replicating someone else’s journey; it’s about enduring long enough for your unique voice, your hard work, and your specific circumstances to align with a little bit of that fortunate timing. Stop waiting for the gate to open, and start building your own road.