Time Management for Writers

How do you spend your time? What makes your brain buzz?

Business versus Creativity?

For the sake of discussion, let’s say that I have to divide my working life as a writer of fiction into three basic - and very broad- categories.

1. Organisation of Time. Energy. Money.

*Time Management. Focus
*Developing Skills and Techniques
*Vision and Planning - Goals
*Discipline and Focus on Key Objectives

2. Marketing

*Brand Creation
*Writing Proposals and Query Letters
*Finding an Agent.
*Promotion of Self - Speaking, Blogging, Internet Presence
*Promotion of your work
*Attending Conferences and Meetings

3. Creating

*Story Development
*Building the Outline and Synopsis or Treatment
*Writing the Text
*Editing to Blockbuster quality
*Rewriting and Polishing

For some people, creating the manuscript is the number one priority.
Without a wonderful story to promote, you don’t have anything to sell, but what if you were a beginner - or were being published by small press publishers, who did not have a large budget for promotion and marketing, how would you manage your time to achieve all of these tasks?

You have a book you want to sell.
AND you want to learn your craft.
AND you have a deadline for a bigger, better, more compelling book in your contract.

How do you manage your time? By hours each day? By hours each week?

Talking to other writers, this seems to depend upon :

*what stage you are at in your career. Published authors feel obliged to spend a lot more time on promotion and less of learning craft techniques than unpublished authors.

*the kind of writing you have chosen to specialise in. Graphic novels, mainstream commercial fiction, childrens’ books, romance etc. Each specific genre has their own specialist interest groups and online networks. Other non-genre fiction writers may struggle to compete with that word of mouth connection and persuade reviewers to take their books

*how interested you are in maintaining an online presence. Many writers are not keen on MySpace or FaceBook but are willing to blog a paragraph now and then
the writing.

* Some people love to write flat out for several hours. Others like to write in short bursts of perhaps an hour then break. They use the down time for the other tasks

*being organised and disciplined. Let’s be honest. Not everyone is talented in this direction. And most of use do have lives.


Overall conclusions?
If you imagine a self-employed entrepreneur, who is creating a unique product which they then want to promote and sell to a manufacturer/ investor… would that person not need to work in all three categories?
For example. A person making silver jewellery.
That person would need to work on learning the skills in silver smithing that they would need to create the finest version of their design.
Then find markets for their stunning work.

Time Management. Easy to say, hard to do..

Back to the Business

I believe it was the crime writer Barry Eisler* who made the comparison between a writer looking for a literary agent, and a self-employed entrepreneur looking for a venture capitalist, who will be willing to invest in their product and their business. i.e. You. The writer.

• Why should this venture capitalist invest their time and money in you as opposed to the 1000s of other writers out there?


• Which publisher IS going to buy this book?


• Who IS going to hand over their hard earned cash to buy this book you have create? What are the target demographics? How does it compare to other books already on the market?


• Why should they take a risk with YOUR book? What have YOU got to offer them which is unique = and commercial? In marketing terms - What is your Unique Selling Point?

I personally find this a useful analogy. Even if it does offend the 'artistes', but then again, I WANT to be published and my work read and enjoyed by other folk.

• I am the writer as entrepreneur. Self-employed. On my own.


• I have created a ‘protype' if you will, of my work.


• Now I have to convince another person that, if they take the risk and invest in my work, then I will give them a return on their investment.

So. What answers do we have to these questions?

Over the next few days I will be working on the synopsis for my crime thriller and attempting to condense this into a compelling premise, which can be used to pitch to a literary agent.

Wish me luck - I am going in. Gulp.

*http://www.barryeisler.com/writers_marketing.php

You earn HOW MUCH?

In December last year, R J Ellory posted on the reality of the Fiction Publishing Business and how much most authors earn from their hard work and emotional investment.
http://rjellory.blogspot.com/2007/12/some-surprising-facts-and-figures.html

It is not for the faint-hearted. Some key take-aways?

*Only 2 out of 10 books published make a profit for the publisher

*In 2004, 950,000 titles out of the 1.2 million tracked by Nielsen Bookscan sold fewer than 99 copies.

*The average book in America sells about 500 copies. In the UK it is significantly less.

*The average income of a published author is in the region of £7,000 per year.

For Romance authors some of this data is already familiar through the online communities and sites such as this: http://www.brendahiatt.com/id2.html

The harsh reality is that the ability of an author to support themselves through their writing truly does depend on both;

*their productivity [ more titles = more potential income as their brand becomes established] and

*their ability to stick their heads out, above the 1000s of the other titles published and get noticed. Quality. Content. Visibility. Presence.

In other words, hard work. And then harder work. Day after day.

But you already knew that. Because you are a professional.

Things you cannot buy

QUESTION FIVE: What Common Features define Successful Business People?

There are lots of motivational books on how the best got where they are - but there are some common threads. IMHO these are:

PASSION. If you driven by a passion for what you do, then you are not working, you are doing this for love. Best advice ? Find your passion in life. Easy to say, hard to do. PLus the passion you had in your 20s is not going to be the same passion you have in your 40s. That's life.

WORK. You are going to get out at least what you put in, if not more. Of course if you are doing something you love, being a workaholic is actually FUN.

FOCUS. You become the BEST you can be, by FOCUSING on one thing and working as hard as you can to build your talent and skill. Never ending improvement to be as good as you can be in that focus area.

And that could be anything from structural analysis of the bestselling 50 paranormals to perfecting your recipe for lemon tart - it's the quality of the eggs you know.

[This is a tough one for me, personally, since I would love to write for more than one genre, but my head knows that this is not the way to build a career, and any agent or publisher would just shake their head in despair].

PUSH. Pushing yourself, challenging yourself. And keep pushing. No complacency. Healthy sense of insecurity.

IDEAS. What makes you different and special? There are lots of other folk out there who have ideas which could work. What makes yours special?

PERSISTENCE through apparent Failure, and Criticism, Rejection and Pressure = [CR*P]. If you look at some of the lives and career paths of the rich and famous, it is a wonder they could get out of bed in the morning.

CONNECTION to other people, and customers, where you are offering them something of value or a service.

In this I feel blessed that the romance writing community is so welcoming

And one more feature which the books don't mention a lot. They just take it as read.

FUN.

And I am going to talkabout that tomorrow, because it is so important.

Now, back to Focusing on my Work with a Passion for my original Idea that only I can bring.

Only good times ahead - hope everyone has a great day.

What's playing on my YouTube right now? Aqualung. If I fall. The lyrics are stunning. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BTRVCSnq8Zg

Thinking Ahead

QUESTION FOUR. How can you grow your business so that THE BUSINESS takes on a life and identity of it’s own and you can scale it up?

You have a talent or skill, and you can use that skill as a writer and create a business.

You are a self-employed entrepreneur. CONGRATULATIONS!

What does that mean for you as a business person?

At the beginning you might be making the pitches to publishers and agents, and running everything from your kitchen table/backbedroom/cupboard under the stairs.

Which is fine if your vision sets that as the limit of your business. But to GROW and BUILD that business, you may need a lot more. Start working on the skill sets you need to grow THE BUSINESS.

Think of any small business in the UK making a product for sale.

Think of the skill sets needed to run and develop that business. These could include:

DESIGNERS. They design a product to meet the needs of a particular customer. That is you - with a clear understanding of what each publisher is looking for, and how it fits with the product/ product range you want to create.

PRODUCTION. Someone makes the product according to the design agreed with the customer. That is you - the creative genius.

SALES. They talk to customers, create and initiate business ideas and sell those ideas to their customers. Then track sales. Delivery. Customer satisfaction. Do you need a Literary Agent who can be your Sales Person - an expert who knows the customers you want to sell to, and what they are looking for at the moment. The agent only earns money when you sell - so this is a win/win partnership. OR - you can do it yourself.

MARKETING AND PROMOTION. What makes you different from other writers? What makes you unique?

This is where BRANDING comes in. What is your Brand? Why should anyone in the publishing world, from the girl on the bus on the way to work, to the editor, remember and associate with you?
Oh yes – this girl specialises in Tudor Seafaring/ Paranormal Erotica. Let’s call her.
In other words, WHAT IS YOUR UNIQUE SELLING POINT?

IF you are working with a publisher - they will clearly play a crucial part in the promotion for your work. But there is a lot that YOU can do to market your work.

This is a HUGE topic which depends on what you are trying to sell and to whom. Readers? Or professionals? The whole team has to come together to decide the type of platform you want to create.

FINANCE. Tax. Balance Sheets. Salaries. Do you need an accountant? At what point do you inform the Tax office? Do you need to start paying National Insurance to make sure you have a State Retirement Pension? Do you have your own personal pension? Health insurance [ if you cannot work and you are the only designer/manufacturer that could be a problem.] Who is going to complete my tax returns?

FUNDING. Investment in the business. Do you need to put together a business plan and arrange a loan?

LEGAL. Do you need to form a company -a legal entity? Who is going to advise you about that? This may only become important when you have reached a point in your income, but it is still worth having in the back of your mind.

Each one of these is a specialised skill - and a complete new blog entry, not for here.

At the start, you are doing all of those tasks. Alone. Or with help from friends.

YOU are the team. But there may well be a point where it makes sense to get other people to be part of the team which makes up your business - effectively become your business partners, which is why you have to select them with just as much care as in any other business.

Why would you go into business with someone you don't like? Or respect?

You are still working for yourself - your own boss. But you may want to focus on what YOU do best. The writing.

What's playing on my YouTube right now? Toxic and the Guys from Roswell. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KqDFWKCeYHs

Who is your Customer?

QUESTION THREE. Who is your Customer? Who is going to buy your wonderful work?

Market Research companies would tell you that it is essential to know your customer and what they want. This is a common theme of many ‘How-to’ Books on writing. Know your Market.

To me, there are THREE levels of customers.

1. Literary Agents
2. The Submission Editors and Readers at Publishers
3. The bookseller and readers who will buy your book.

You will only reach the readers who will love your work when you pass the first two gatekeepers.
In true mythological style these folks are employed to challenge you, and make sure you are worthy of entering the golden land, sorry, worthy of time and energy and money to publish YOUR work when there are thousands of other hopefuls all lined up outside the gate.

So. How?
First. I am assuming that you doing this work yourself, so you need to use a few shortcuts to save days of time – and focus on key elements to maximise your success.

LEVEL ONE: LITERARY AGENTS

Marcus Sakey wrote an excellent article on how he carrys out his own market research on Literary agents, and you can find it here :

http://killeryear.wordpress.com/2007/08/02/the-query-go-round/

WHO are your favourite authors, where have they been published, and WHO ARE THEIR LITERARY AGENTS?

You will find that most authors will thank their agents in the acknowledgements section at the front of the book. Or on their website.
If they have an agent.
Many Harlequin MB authors do not have Literary Agents because they write solely for that publisher who has a standard contract. This makes perfect sense and means more income for the author who is quite capable of managing her own career.

I want to write for more than one company and expect different contracts with different sales strategies for multiple markets/media. I believe I need an agent.

WHO publishes the kind of books you love to read as a whole group/subgenre.

The most common sense advice is to identify the kind of books that you love to read for pleasure, choose the ones that particularly delight you from your keeper shelf, or at your local library or bookshop, and make a list of who the publisher is/ are AND Who the literary agents are.
These are the agents who SOLD that book to that publisher for that author.

After three or four fairly boring hours, you should have a sizable list. To find their addresses, turn to the Internet.

You can Google search, using quotes around their full name.

You can also look at sites like EveryoneWhosAnyone.com and AgentQuery.com and http://www.romantictimes.com/resources_research.php?article=168 for Agents in the USA.

The Online Version of The Writers and Artists Yearbook for the UK is here:
http://www.writersservices.com/agent/index1.htm
This has the links to the websites etc and the info you need. The Yearbook is worth buying since you can search for specific genres – and there are craft sections.


LEVEL TWO: PUBLISHERS

DOES this publisher look at Un-Agented, Unsolicited Submissions?

Many do not. They want a literary agent to pre-screen the submissions for them, and love your work before they will look at it.
These editors can move of course, but there will always be submission guidelines on their website.

The publisher of the books you love will define the length of the book, the subject matter such as the subgenre, and the format of the book.
It would be pointless to send a teenage romance book to a publisher who only produces paranormal erotic e-books.

WHO is the Editor for the Book you love from that publisher?
Find out from:
* the front of the book in the acknowledgements section of a single title book
* the author’s website or blog

For a general list of Romance Publishers and Markets, go to the Internet on sites like:
http://www.karenafox.com/publishers.htm. This is a detailed resource on the US market with submission guidelines.
http://www.romantictimes.com/resources_research.php?article=174

Well that should keep us all busy for a wet weekend - and determine our career.

What's playing on my YouTube right now? Gary Jules, Mad World, from Donnie Darko. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5MyMOi4LEr4&feature=PlayList&p=10960FB742FA50ED&index=12&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL

Where Do You Want to Go?

Career Week. Writing as a Business. Some questions.

QUESTION TWO. What is your Vision for your Business?

Yes, I know this sounds terribly American and ‘Business-speak’ but it does make sense to think through what you want in your life and your work.

In this context ‘Vision’ means asking hard questions about:

*Where do I want to be in two years from now? Five years? Ten years?
*How far do I want to go?
*How big do you want to be?

Let your imagination go wild.

For example:
* Do you want to write one single title book a year?
* Or three short category books a year? Or five?
* Or both? Or non-fiction and fiction?
* Or one blockbuster thriller every two years?

How far do you want to go? RITA winner? Paperbacks on supermarket shelves? Or not? It does not matter where you see yourself going – as long as you CAN see it.

Only you can decide that.

These flippant questions actually link to a far more fundamental one.

Why do you want to be published?

*Personal Validation? To feel significant as an individual?
*Validation as a creative person and writer?
*Validation of your talent and skill or knowledge to others?
*Because you want to hold a book you have written in your hot little hands and send copies to the people who said that you were bound to be a writer some day/ that you were a talentless fool who should stay quiet and keep serving fries?
*Because you want to tell tales and your stories to be read?

For me, the answer to that question will set the answers to the others. This is also the question some agents ask prospective clients in order to determine whether that author has a career plan and is someone they can work with in a win/win partnership.

It always makes me think hard. How about you?

What's playing on my YouTube right now? Nothing. Listening to CD of Andrea Bocelli.

Hobby or Career?

Career Week. Writing as a Business. Some questions.

There is a plethora of ‘How-To’ business books for entrepreneurs in the shops at the moment, and many of them have become bestsellers.

There are common principles in most of these books, which have been reframed for a specific audience – including women.

I thought it might be interesting to look at some of the key business principles and work through how they could apply to the Fiction Writer.

So this week I am going to ask myself one question each day.

Let's dive in with the big one.

QUESTION ONE.

Is writing your hobby, or are you doing this to MAKE MONEY and make it a business?

If you want to write for yourself and love doing it – that’s brilliant, and you should be proud.

But it is not a business. It is a hobby [at least at the moment] and you have to be brave and acknowledge it is a hobby.

Let’s assume that you want to write fiction that you can sell to a publisher, who will GIVE YOU MONEY for the honour of putting your words onto paper inside covers and sending them out into the world.

They are in business.

They want to MAKE MONEY so that they can GIVE YOU MONEY.
It’s as simple as that.

Some women seem to have a problem expressing the fact that they want to make MONEY.

They will happily talk about their lives, family, kiddies. But not about how much MONEY they want to turn over this year.
And I don’t think this is simply an example of British culture where we are taught that talking about money is vulgar. I think it is more widespread than that.

FACT. A lot of unpublished writers - fiction and non-fiction alike, create a manuscript and then look around for a publisher where it would be a good fit in the hope that an editor will love it and buy it.

FACT. Published writers know the precise market where they want to submit - because they are looking for CUSTOMERS for a product they are making.

FACT. Your writing, your WORK, is a product and you are going to have to sell it to another human being if you want readers to have access to the world and the characters that you have created.

I make no excuses if that sounds cold. I know some people find it difficult to accept that the blood, sweat and tears that went into the work is boiled down to that truth.

You are creating, designing and fabricating something wonderful and special. But if you want other folk to read it- then you have to think of it as a commodity.

Congratulations. You are now in Show Business.

So. What is YOUR answer to Question One?

What's playing on my YouTube right now? Anastacia, Left Outside Alone. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XjDHSrb5ISc&feature=PlayList&p=10960FB742FA50ED&index=13