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Some Sims just live in their heads, and if your Sim finds that they can’t stop coming up with ideas for the most moving of stories inThe Sims 4, they may want to consider taking up the Bestselling Author aspiration. It’s no easy feat, but the reward for completing it is powerful – lifesaving, even.
But it’s no easy feat to write bestselling novels in The Sims 4, with so many hours poured into each book. In our guide to the Bestselling Author aspiration, we’ve got a ton of helpful tips and links that’ll ensure your Sim writes a bestseller.
Bestselling Author Aspiration Overview
Available in The Sims 4 base game, the Bestselling Author aspiration is for those Sims with a story in their heart.
Focused onwriting novelsand eventuallyearning a comfortable living off of royalty payments, these Sims want to spend their timebuildingthe Writing skilland delving into fantasy (if that’s their genre, we mean).
Withfour separate milestonesand plenty of work to do in each, the Bestselling Author aspirationmay take some time, but the payout in the end (in both perks and Simoleons) is pretty sweet.
Reward Trait: Poetic
After completing the final task in the Bestselling Author milestone in the aspiration of the same name, your Sim will receive thePoetic trait.
Sims with this traitare the only onescapable of writingthe Book of Life.
There aren’t many ways to cheat death in The Sims 4, but bywriting the Book of Life and binding it to a Sim, you can bring someone backfrom the dead.
After the book has been bound and that Sim passes away,a ghostneeds to read their own Book of Lifeto be resurrected.
Helpful Traits And Careers
Since you’ll need plenty ofInspirationfor the books you’ll be working on, your Sims would do well to have theCreative traitif they’re pursuing the Bestselling Author aspiration.
Creative Simsare likely to enjoy randombursts of natural Inspiration, making them excellent candidates for careers that require an imaginative touch.
Social Sims may want to steer clear of theWriting skilland Bestselling Author aspiration, though, as you’ll bespending a lot of time aloneto pursue them.
As such, theLoner traitcomes in handy, as Loner Sims see theirSocial need decay slowerthan normal Sims.
Finally, theBookworm traitwill help your Sim by letting themanalyze books to find Inspiration, which helps themfind the meansto get to writing their own books, too.
Using yourSatisfaction Pointsto buy theMarketable and Creative Visionaryreward traitscan help your Sim improve their writing quality instantly.
And speaking of, while you’renot required to be inthe Writer careerto progress through the Bestselling Author aspiration in The Sims 4, it’s a reliable way toearn an incomewhile you wait for the royalties to stack up.
Every Milestone In The Bestselling Author Aspiration
In the table below, we’ve kept track ofthe tasks in all four milestonesof the Bestselling Author aspiration.
Prepare tospend ample time at the computerworking onwriting books, as you’ll need toimprove your skillsandearn some cashby writing.
Fledge-linguist
Write 2 Books.
The genre, length, and quality don’t matter - the only thing this tracks is that you’ve completed two entire books when writing at a computer.
Write for an Hour While Inspired.
Either capitalize on a Sim’s natural Inspiration, if they’ve got any of the traits we listed above, or Take a Thoughtful Shower to become Inspired manually, then write for an entire in-game hour.
Competent Wordsmith
Reach Level 4 in the Writing Skill.
Whether by writing an actual novel or by Practicing Writing at a computer, simply reach Level Four in the Writing skill for this task.
Write for 15 Total Hours.
This task isn’t particular about your Sim’s mood while they do it, but in all, they’ll need to write their books or Practice Writing for 15 total in-game hours. This task will take some time to complete, especially if your Sim has a regular career and isn’t relying on their writing royalties (yet).
Write 5 Good Books.
You won’t know the quality of your Sim’s work until they’re fully finished writing a novel. They’ll be writing plenty more than five total novels for the aspiration, but having the Creative Visionary and/or Marketable reward traits unlocked via the rewards store can help speed this process along by boosting the odds that their work ends up being of a higher quality.
Novelest Novelist
Reach Level 6 in the Writing skill.
This may be achieved already when you’ve unlocked the Novelist Novelist milestone, depending on how long it took your Sim to write those five total good-quality books from the previous milestone. If not, keep writing books and Practicing Writing at computers until your Sim has reached Level Six.
Publish 10 Books.
If you haven’t been already, your Sim can choose betweenSelf-Publishingat Level 2 of the Writing skill or waiting until they’ve hit Level 5 toSell to Publisher. Selling to Publishers earns more cash in the long run, but with the option being locked until halfway through the Writing skill, if your Sim needs money more immediately, Self-Publishing is a more immediate means to getting paid, even if they payout ends up being less in exchange. Regardless of your methods, publish 10 total books in any genre and by any means to complete this task.
Write 5 Excellent Books.
Like the Good Book requirement from the previous milestone, you’ll need to get back to the drawing board and complete five additional books, all of them Excellent in quality. More than ever, theCreative Visionary and Marketable reward traitsare helpful, and if you don’t already have them, you’ve likely earned enough Satisfaction Points by now from completing the other milestones in the Bestselling Author aspiration to buy them from the rewards store to speed this milestone along.
Bestselling Author
Reach Level 10 in the Writing skill.
Again, this one may already be finished by the time you’ve reached the final milestone, but either way, your Sim needs to generally master the art of Writing and max out the Writing skill.
Write 3 Bestsellers.
Like masterpieces in the Painting skill, bestsellers arerare, extremely high-quality booksthat are notably difficult to write unless you’ve maxed the skill and have invested in either of the reward traits we’ve mentioned.
Earn 25,000 Simoleons in Royalties through Publishing Books.
Whether you’ve been self-publishing to get started or relying on your publisher to take care of the production and marketing for you, over the entire course of their life, your Sim needs to earn a collective total of 25,000 Simoleons from their published works. Money earned if you’ve been part of the Writer career doesn’t count - it has to come from royalty payments alone.
Publishing books with theGet Famous expansion packinstalled will reliably gain fame, allowing your Sim to become famous via their writing.
