Once upon a time, I believed indie-author success came in a handy downloadable PDF.

You know the type – ‘Learn the ONE SECRET to Bestseller Status!’ followed by seventeen follow-up emails, each with a countdown timer and a ‘special’ discount that mysteriously never expires.

Reader, I bought it. I bought the course, the bonus, the upsell, and the dream.

Some of it was fine. Some of it was fluff. Some of it required a spreadsheet so large it could have powered a small moon.

But here’s what I noticed: the more time I spent learning how to sell books, the less time I spent writing them. My author life became a full-time admin job. I was managing keywords, optimising blurbs, and refreshing ad dashboards like a caffeinated stockbroker.

And I wasn’t happy.

Then one day, while rereading a 'foolproof' blurb I’d paid good money for (which, frankly, made my book sound too complicated), I had an epiphany:

I don’t need a guru. I need a cup of tea, a scone and my keyboard.

So I unsubscribed from everything. Every ‘high-vibe’ email, every ‘limited-time’ offer, every cheery reminder that my dreams were just one payment plan away. The silence in my inbox was blissful.

What happened next? I started writing again. Properly writing – the kind of messy, joyful, slightly chaotic drafting that made me fall in love with storytelling in the first place. My sales? Perfectly decent. Nothing fancy, but enough to cover a few bills and treat myself now and then. My sanity? Significantly improved.

Now, when I see a new guru waving around a ‘£3,000 discount’, I smile, close the tab, and whisper:

‘Not today, my high-vibe friend. Not today.’

Because here’s what I’ve learned after thirty-odd books, a few expensive lessons and one too many webinars:

• Your intuition is a better teacher than any course.

• Your readers don’t care about your ad strategy; they care about your stories.

• The only secret worth knowing is that you get better at writing by writing.

So if you ever feel overwhelmed by all the noise – the marketing advice, the formulas, the ‘proven systems’ – here’s your permission slip to ignore them all for a while. Brew something hot, open your draft, and remember why you started this madness in the first place.

Because you, dear writer, don’t need a guru. Unless you really want one.
You just need to write the next sentence.