It sounds easy to write a book, doesn't it? You sit down and write it. In reality, as in any other business, first you need some crucial insider know-how about how publishing works and a writing plan. So to shorten your learning curve, here's my Four Rules to Writing Success:

Rule #1: Create a Plan: What kind of book? What level of sales? If you have no idea, study the books and websites of your favorite authors and then read "Guerrilla Marketing For Writers" and "How to Write a Book Proposal." Next, create a poster of images from mixed media of your writing life two years hence, and make an incremental month-by-month writing plan of everything you'll do in order to reach your goals. Each day sit down at your desk, close your eyes and envision your writing dream, then accomplish something that moves you towards it.

Rule #2: Create a Brand: You need to distinguish yourself with an identifiable persona, image, genre and platform. Publishing today is controlled by 5-media conglomerates driven by profits and the desire for BIG 'merchy' books like Dan Brown's 'DaVinci Code' or J.K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter.' Consider that 10 million books are written a year. Of these, only 200K are acquired and printed, and 100K of those are reprints. To write and sell fiction you have to be so passionate about your idea that neither an incoming scud nor an after-Xmas Bloomingdale's sale could deter you from your course.

Consider that 95% of books purchased by publishers and the buying public are non-fiction. Which leads us to book number three for your writing library: "Jeff Herman's Publishers, Editors, and Agents" and the absolute unbreakable rule of publishing: NEVER contact any publisher, editor, or agent until you have thoroughly read Jeff Herman's book. Then, if you have expertise in a topic that can be slanted to a wide audience, and sold on proposal, you just may obtain an up-front advance to write your book! Here's an example:

Over a decade ago I was in a writing class with a therapist who wrote pieces on women who act like doormats. You've undoubtedly heard about them. Because 75% of book buyers are women our instructor suggested she submit her thesis as a non-fiction proposal. If you guessed that I'm referring to Robin Norwood, author of 'Women Who Love Too Much,' you're right. She went from student writer, to mega-bucks career, and helped generations of wimpy women build backbones in the bargain.

Do you have something you love to do? That comes so easily to you that you barely recognize it as strength? Would it appeal to a large market? If so, you might have the ingredients for a sellable non-fiction proposal, and also a subject you can expand into a cottage industry. Many authors earn more from speaking fees, than from their books. So identify a market need at the juncture of your talents, then follow Michael Larsen's "How To Write a Book Proposal" (see Rule #1 above), and you're on your way.

Rule #3: Create Inspiration: If you are not inspired and inspiring, it's a very tough road to go. In-spire means inner fire: the most important thing we writers possess. You need that inner fire in order to find and develop material, and to have the discipline and focus to ignore the inner critic, and outer ones, too. And to do the work, no matter what.

Inspiration is a vast and individual topic. What I find inspirational might be a pile-driver to your head, and vice versa. And inspiration is also an active force that must be tended. Many writers have found 'The Artist Way' by Julia Cameron, helpful. Some writers do best with the structure of a writing group, you can check out meetup.com for groups in your area, or start one. Many, like me, find their work most inspired after a walk in nature.

There are countless ways to continually feed the muse: with other books, music, films, trips to museums, other countries, or to the beach, fresh flowers on one's desk, jotting down ideas from what you see, read, think and feel. Sex is what works for one high-profile writer! Discover what fires you up and maintain a strong mental focus of yourself as a successful writer and go toward that as if you are Lance Armstrong in his ultimate race. If you put in a little effort, you'll get little results. If you put in massive informed effort, you'll receive another kind of result. There are many avenues to be a writer and it is up to you to do the research and discover the optimal way for you, and to not give up. As the expression goes, the brick walls are for other people, they just show a determined person how much they want it.

Rule #4: Create Purpose and Pleasure: Those four words are the simple recipe at the heart of the most popular class at Harvard University today, "The Psychology of Happiness." The happiest people in the world have work and activities that provide purpose and pleasure. For many, writing can serve the greater good while bringing personal rewards as well.

So strive to be a pro, constantly improve, and believe as Albert Einstein said--that any one of us is capable of outperforming the greatest miracle makers ever. And never, ever give up!