One of the fun things about driving to conventions is I get a lot of time to listen to audio books. Seth Godin is one of my favorites. Seth is a idea entrepreneur and one of the premiere marketers on the web. He is read by millions and has a ton of great advice about moving forward with your business as well as your life.

This weekend, I sat down with my good friend Lisa Dalton. Lisa is a brilliant women who I met years ago through the Brobdingnagian Bards. She told me this weekend that she has a book she is shopping to publishers. I had no idea. I got excited.

I love to see my creative friends create art. I love helping them out. The best way I know how is by sharing their projects with my fans and by offering advice. Today is all about advice for the artist.

One of the first things Lisa said to me was “she believes in her book so much that she thinks she can find a publisher.” I retorted, “If you believe in it that much, why don't you self publish?”

My first EP came out in 1995. It wasn't all that. By 1997, there was talk in the music business circle about DIY (Do It Yourself). Ten years after that, the record labels were in turmoil. The book publishing business is no different. We don't know where the business is going. What we DO know is, to quote Hercules the Legendary Journeys, “We create our own destiny.” (been watching too much of that over the past couple o'weeks)

People often ask me how I achieved the level of success I have. It's no coincidence. It's not luck. I spent hundreds of hours promoting all of my music. And if you saw my CD checklist, you know that's a LOT of music. I've had a plan for years. My unwritten business plans included:

1. Creating lots of merchandise (primarily CDs).
2. Performing
3. Making enough to money from performing and merchandise to quit my day job.

I achieved those three goals in 2005 when I quit my day job.

My next goals include:

1. Creating more products so that I don't have to tour. I can tour when I want to.
2. Making enough money to support a family.

In 2010, I started my family. I'm the happiest I've ever been. Admittedly, I'm not at the point where I can solely support my family. It's a daily challenge, especially with the changing face of the music business, where CDs are no longer as important. Thanks to Spotify and Pandora, music is cheap, or free. So it's tougher than ever to make a living with my art.

That's the same in the book publishing business. But when I did my Internet Music Business panel at DragonCon this year, my good friend Voltaire broke down the music business into something that makes sense. When you are under someone else's contract, you are entirely at their mercy. You may never earn much money as a musician or as an author, if you are limited by their demands.

1%. That's how much a musician gets when signed to a label. Just 1% of CDs sold and that money goes towards paying off the advance that paid for your studio time. So 0%. That's the actual amount.

The DIY method is the best way to make a living as an artist.

However, as I said, it's not easy. The very first thing you have to do is STOP MAKING EXCUSES. We all have reasons why we don't get ahead in the world. You can blame it on bad relationships. You can blame it not enough time. But blame is pointless. It's an Excuse for failure. Just like perfectionism.

I love it when people use Prince as a guideline about why you should be a perfectionist.

In every business, there is an exception to every rule. Yes. Prince or [insert strange symbol here] is the exception. He is a perfectionist with a brilliant vision. But unlike most people, he gets stuff done.

Hell, I think Steve Jobs is a better inspiration for perfectionists. He nearly destroyed the company back in the 90s when he refused to ship computers on time so that he could make them the best they possibly are. When he rejoined the company years later, he made sure to ship products on time.

Perfectionism, then, just becomes another unspoken name for why you fail.

You see, the point is that if you WANT to succeed, you have to

1. Create a product.
2. Ship to people who want that product.

Yes. Making it awesome is an essential part of it, but if you ultimately want to succeed, you have to do these two things first and foremost.

That's why I'm really proud of my friend Lisa. This weekend, we talked about moving forward, with releasing her book herself, and putting aside excuses, like “I need a publisher.” She doesn't need one. She is in charge of her own destiny. And I, for one, believe in her enough to know that she doesn't. She's super smart. She's a great sales person. What does she need a publisher for? She doesn't.

They say in the music business that the time a label will take interest in you is pretty much the time when don't need one. I'd bet money that that's the same way with book publishing.

Now Lisa realizes that she is control of her fate. She is strength and courage. She's a superhero. She will make hundreds of thousands of fans because she believes in her work, and she's gonna write, write, write until she makes her dreams happen.

Step one, create.

Step two, ship… aka persistence.

Repeat until you see results.

Step three… you know, all that other unimportant stuff…

Go check out her blog. Subscribe. It's still new. But again, I think she'll do some great stuff. So it's worth it for you and me to read.