The answer is simple. Be good at what you do. Try and be at least as good as the very best, or even better if you can be. And don't be deterred when those who aren't very good at what they do seem to get the breaks and you don't. That sometimes happens when editors who aren't very good at what they do (and there's a lot of them) try and be different for the sake of it, or simply act out of expediency or desperation.
And if or when you do get the breaks, don't ever think that you can't or don't need to be better than you are. There's always someone behind you looking to take your place. And remember...even if you've got a lot of talent, you also often need a lot of luck. This might not seem fair, especially as those with little (or no) talent who got there before you only seem to have required a little luck, but that's sometimes the way the cookie crumbles.
Finally, whatever you do, when you see some talentless hack get his work published, don't be tempted to think that if he can get by with drawing badly rendered, incomprehensible, splodgy, childish scribbles, that you can too. Never take the easy route, even if it seems to be what's in vogue at the time. Tastes change, but talent is forever. So, work at being talented, not popular. That'll take care of itself.
And if you do make it, don't forget that you're in a minority niche market in which the majority of the population have little interest, so don't become a smug, arrogant prat towards those outside of your little 'club'. Remember that some people may have higher and more lucrative aspirations. (And may well have achieved them for all you know.)
Now there's some truly smart advice.
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