I’m going to jump right in with a big long frustrating list of terrible bad things that happen to authors. These are anonymized, because there’s so many examples that I’d spend hours combing for the perfect fit.

“My friend read the first draft of my book and hated it. I’m devastated. This is so important to me, but now I don’t feel like writing anymore.”

“No one wants to talk about my writing with me. I try to talk about it, and everyone shuts me down. They don’t care, and this is making me not want to keep going.”

“I can’t stay motivated. It takes so long to finish anything. Sticking to a schedule is so hard. I can’t stop thinking about how nice it will be to see my name on the cover of a published book, but I can’t get there if I don’t do this, so why can’t I do it?”

“I’m so jealous of my friend who wrote this amazing book and I want to write one too because they got so much attention. But I can’t think of anything. Can you give me a story idea?”

“Self-publishing doesn’t make any money! What’s the point of even writing if I’m not going to make any money?!”

“Your book is useless trash if no one reads it. Might as well give it up, pack it in.”

“Why the hell do people say you need to practice for years to become a good writer? Just publish the first thing you do so you can get that feedback right away! You shouldn’t bother writing if no one is going to see it. The whole point of writing is to share it with others.”

You may just see a laundry list of annoying posts – which is true. But I see something a little different here.

All of these writers are missing the key ingredient for long-term, sustainable self-publishing processes: intrinsic motivation. They’ve got a lot of extrinsic motivation, which can become their Kryptonite in selfpub. So let’s explore the concept further and learn how to develop that intrinsic motivation, bit by bit.

What is intrinsic motivation?

I’ll let Excelsior University take it away for a minute:

Intrinsic motivation refers to doing something because one is inherently interested in the task or activity at hand. They are not concerned with external rewards or recognition, but rather, the drive is based upon enjoying the activity itself, and having a match between interest, perceived skill or capability, and the demand of the task at hand. An example might be an artist painting, or spending time gardening, where all sense of time is lost, but the enjoyment is in the activity itself.

This is, in many ways, the opposite of extrinsic motivation, where the primary drive comes from external support.

We can understand the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as the value given to process versus outcome.

Intrisic motivation (or IM) has a process-driven reward. These people get a huge dopamine boost from completing projects, mastering a subject, or visibly improving – but this boost occurs regardless of whether anyone else notices. No external input is required.

But extrinsic motivation (EM) has an outcome-driven reward. For example, someone works hard because they want to have the best house in the neighborhood. They study for a test so they can be at the top of their class. They struggle through a difficult degree so they get those glorious letters at the end of their name. They enter a career to make a lot of money.

And there’s nothing wrong with wanting those things. Extrinsic motivation can be very powerful; some of the hardest workers I know are extrinsically motivated. They succeed in their fields, and they are honored by their peers.

But … they struggle in one area. A very important area to me.

Extrinsically motivated people struggle in self-publishing.

If there’s no clear stick hanging over their heads, or a spectral carrot floating around the next corner, they find it hard to keep going.

Now, this is not to say that EM people can’t be good writers. They can. Writing prowess and motivational styles are entirely divorced from one another.

Extrinsically motivated people often end up in more institutionalized writing frameworks, like journalism or academia. If they push hard and get an agent, they thrive in traditional publishing because it caters to the external validation and structures they need to perform well.

But they really struggle in self-publishing for multitudinous reasons.

• Self-imposed structure: With no one looming over their shoulder and telling them what to do, EM people can feel lost.

• Undefined, self-determined process: Every writer has to make their own process, which can be extremely daunting for EM peope.

• Lack of feedback: Generally, selfpub folks only show their manuscript to a beta reader and editor. There’s no one grading your work and saying it passes.

• Self-study: Huge amounts of information must be synthesized and applied without lesson plans or assignments.

• Uncertain validation: You have no idea whether anyone will like your book, and milestones are rare because self-publishing is so competitive.

• Societal disinterest: Most people cannot relate to the rigors of self-publishing, so they’ll show less support.

• Independent communities: Everyone in the writing community is focused on their own projects and can’t give yours the attention it deserves.

If these all sound terrifying to you, then you might have stronger extrinsic motivation. Again, being extrinsically motivated isn’t a weakness overall; it can be an extraordinary strength in many circumstances. But it becomes a roadblock in this one particular field.

However, few human traits are static. Taking a growth mindset means we can adapt to new situations and face the challenges we care about most.

You’re not doomed to fail in self-publishing. You just need a few new tools in your arsenal.

How to improve your intrinsic motivation

How can you get to this point? I’m not going to downplay the serious roadblocks you might face, but there are ways to boost your intrinsic motivation. I’ve done the research to come up with these unique, writing-friendly hacks.

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Construct a writing rival.

At its heart, extrinsic motivation relies on social comparison, but this can be demoralizing for a writer, especially because we typically only see another writer’s finished product. Of course our first draft can’t compete.

Strong intrinsic motivation thrives on self-competition. We’re not trying to beat anyone but ourselves. This is hard to internalize, which is why I have a suggestion to naturally bridge that gap: an imaginary writing rival. Like an imaginary friend, but one you’re desperate to beat.

This rival does all the things you want to do with your own writing, just a tiny bit better. They embody all the traits you admire about yourself and are working just as diligently on their imaginary draft. They never move the goalposts – you do. Each time you improve, the imaginary rival levels up, too.

Most importantly, your rival never gets the external feedback you’re craving (because they don’t really exist). You never have to see them being showered with praise or seethe with jealousy when they post their sales metrics. It’s a safe way to satisfy your competitive side and build your internal drive.

Get creative with this: maybe you give them a name, a backstory, a face. You can imagine them feverishly typing their draft at the same time you are, and you’ll get that sudden urge to push harder so you can beat them.

Over time, you’ll rely less on the imaginary writing rival. Why? Because that rival was you all along. The invisible author was the person you want to be – and can be through hard work. Now you can internalize that drive and keep going without the trickery.

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Get curious.

Curiosity is at the heart of intrinsic motivation; it’s about tinkering with words, exploring our own mindsets, and imagining what might happen next.

Most importantly, curiosity isn’t attached to anything but knowledge acquisition. You can’t fail at being curious. It’s a natural and self-perpetuating impulse that leads you down further avenues, making connections between different subjects and sparking more motivation.

Because curiosity is divorced from success or progress, it helps you step outside of competitive frameworks. You’re not comparing yourself to anyone else when you muse about something you like.

To start, be a bit more curious about everyday life. What was that bug you saw on your morning walk? Where do pineapples grow? When did humans start using shampoo? We have the wondrous opportunity to look up anything we want at any time, deriving instant satisfaction from getting an answer.

Feel that happy rush of asking something and getting results. You can then start applying that to metacognition about writing itself.

Why do you like writing? When did you start liking it? What about it makes you happy? Can you remember a great experience you had writing that really sold you on the art? Journal about it if you want to capture that feeling for the long-term.

Now that you’ve sunk into the joy of curiosity, you can get more focused on your current project. What if you did this instead of that? Why does a certain character look like that, and what does it say about them? What’s something from your own life you want to reflect in your book? Where did you get the urge to put this key detail in there?

You can even do a little Q&A with yourself, asking the questions you would love someone else to consider. This puts all the attention back onto the writing process rather than what readers will think about it.

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Set personal markers.

The problem with self-publishing for EM people is that there are no grades, no benchmarks, and no guaranteed feedback. When EM writers do not have that external scaffolding, they struggle to determine the quality of their work.

We can provide that to ourselves, though, by setting realistic and incremental goals.

As I discussed in my post about writing faster, I use a word count spreadsheet to track my progress during active writing. I input how many words I did each day, aiming for a minimum of 1,500 words.

But I almost always go beyond this because I want to beat my word count from the day before. If I did 1,708 words yesterday, you bet I’m going to want at least 1,709 today. That’s the reason I did a horrifying 8,100 words in one day when finishing my next book, Absent All Light: I wanted to achieve my ultimate high score that I likely will never accomplish again.

The word count spreadsheet makes me want to be consistent no matter how I’m feeling. A blank spot looks unsightly and messes up my calculations. I also don’t want to lose words, so I’m forced to avoid fixing things until the draft is done.

When your draft is complete, you can still develop progress markers. Maybe you aim for 1 hour of revision time every day, keeping track in another spreadsheet. During pre- and post-publication, you could shoot for five ARC signups, or two reviews, or 10 books sold in a month.

Keep your goals small so that they are a little challenging but achievable. These metrics encourage you to look for ways to accomplish them, which also pushes you toward independent learning.

As a caveat: don’t ask people on writing subreddits or groups what their goals are. You don’t know how long they have been publishing or whether they’re even being honest with you. Set them yourself and don’t share them with others.

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Make a writing satisfaction journal.

Remember how awesome it felt when a teacher would put a congratulatory note around a section of your paper? A writer’s catnip. But you don’t need to wait around for someone else to do that – you can do it yourself.

Each time you finish a section of your draft, jot down some things you really liked about it. You could do this in comments on Word and Google.

If you want to get super fancy, print out your draft. Use a red pen for corrections and a blue pen for “Great job” comments. Ensure you give yourself just as many kudos as you do improvement points.

Over time, you’ll start to recognize what you really love about your own writing and can emphasize those elements in your work. This builds bulletproof self-esteem and keeps you motivated because you can see yourself improving in real time.

Now, reflect on the experience of writing. You can do this in a journal, write it down at the end of your printed draft, or again in Google/Word comments. Think about the moments where you found yourself immersed and excited about what you were doing. What did it feel like to enter that flow state where the rest of the world dropped away? Could you practically see the scene before you? Did you get a dopamine hit from picking the perfect synonym?

By encoding these experiential memories in your brain, you’ll train yourself to be delighted with the process rather than the outcome. You can see your strengths as clearly as your weaknesses, and you’re more motivated to improve.

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Confront your anxieties about lack of validation.

I put this one last because it’s the most uncomfortable. Once you’ve practiced all the other skills, you’ll be more resilient, so don’t do this right away.

I am a strong believer in sitting with our feelings; or, as I like to call it, “Tea With Mara.” This is a Buddhist parable about Buddha meeting with Mara, the embodiment of desire and fear. Instead of taking a sword and cutting down the personification of temptation, he sits with his rival and listens.

When we stuff down our feelings and fears, we embolden them. They lurk around unseen, causing silent havoc until they spring back bigger than ever before.

So, I encourage you to sit and contemplate all the things that could go wrong with your self-publishing journey. This isn’t to whip you into an anxiety spiral, but to build resilience to those feelings. Sort of like an emotional vaccine: a small, controlled dose of discomfort so you can confront the real thing.

Think about what would happen if you published your book and it got terrible reviews. That would hurt a lot, right? Of course it would. And it’s okay to be sad about that. Your feelings are your feelings; they are morally neutral and natural.

But as you feel that pain, you’ll start to think about it more deeply.

Does your book getting bad reviews mean you are a bad person? No, of course not. Your writing success has nothing to do with your worth as a human being.

Does it mean you will never succeed? No, it doesn’t. You didn’t succeed at first, and most people don’t. Every great writer has faced rejection; we just tend to avoid discussing that because it diminishes the author mystique.

And does it mean you should give up? God, no. You can keep going! I have the highest and sincerest respect for those who push against all odds. It’s the noblest human trait and something you can absolutely achieve.

The key here is not to ruminate too long: maybe ten minutes once or twice a week. Set a timer if you have to.

You might find this ridiculous, but when I find myself ruminating, I command myself like a dog being called off a hunt. “Down, Cam! Good job.”

Weird, but it works every time.

I’ll be honest: this article was tough to write as an intrinsically motivated person. I had to do much more research than usual and (gasp) get feedback throughout the process. I wanted to ensure all the principles here are psychologically sound and supportive, not discouraging or unachievable.

Writing takes all types; that’s why it’s such a beautiful craft. All of us bring something unique to the table, and our work has the potential to completely change someone’s life.

EM people have a lot to offer the selfpub world. When given the right tools, they’re extremely driven and can produce remarkable work.

Developing a more balanced motivation style can benefit you in all areas of your life. There is plenty that I can learn from extrinsically motivated people, too. And together, we elevate the self-publishing world to provide even greater value to readers.