Creating Your Personal and Business Road Map to Success as an Author! – Wrapping Up the Lessons Learned

By Pamela Ebel

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The time has come to talk of many things we’ve covered in the first three articles in this series and wrap them up with string and sealing-wax. 

In Article One, we determined that writing and publishing is a business. Because successful businesses have a concrete list of goals to be achieved, we outlined the skills needed to reach them. The list included 1) learning to avoid the ‘one right answer’ when outlining our career goals, 2) learning to create a structure to keep us on track to achieve those goals, 3) developing ‘situational awareness’ to respond to the impact that time and events have on those goals, and 4) Answering  Five Questions that will help us move forward on the path to writing success. 

Closing out our journey, we’re reminded that lives and career paths are not linear and therefore goals will run into head winds, be impacted by situations that slow us down or stop us completely for a time. Such is life, and if we’re confronted by the need to answer why the sea is boiling hot or whether pigs have wings, the answers to the following questions will help get us get back on the path.

The Five Questions to Answer

1. Who is our target readership?
   Is it large enough to provide a livable income for our personal and business needs? While this seems to go without saying, the impact of events in this day and age make asking and answering this question crucial. Traditional Publishing houses are consuming each other at voracious rates. Small and Independent Publishers are feeling the stresses of a reading public that seems to shift reading habits and preferences rapidly. Self-published authors who found ways to swiftly reach their intended readers are also beginning to feel the head winds as technologies change and readers see more ‘look-alikes’ available in their preferred genres.
   
   This means many readers no longer feel tied to ‘recognized author loyalties.’ It’s like reading tea leaves, yet failure to search the bottom of our cups may lead to a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and failure.

2. What value does our writing provide the readers?
   Once we decide on the genre(s) and publication platform(s) we plan to use to reach readers, it will be time to determine what our works offer the readers that is different from similar writings. Writers have created virtual worlds to communicate with the readers in ways that feel as though they are ‘personal friends.’ We need to assess the brand we create, study the market place to look for trends that are working, and search for inspiration to create new approaches to support our work. 

3. What is our business model?
   Are we writing in the traditional world with an agent that makes the contacts for us; an editor that is assessing our work and keeping us on ‘deadlines’ and a legal team assessing contracts, copyright issues and other artistic rights? Or are we working with a small press, independent press, university press, or a hybrid of some sort, that don’t always have access to those resources? Or are we creating a self-publishing career where we wear all of the above hats? These models will different revenue streams, pricing strategies, and time and work flow management supports. We need to decide what we can handle and what we need to seek help for.

4. How are we working to build a sustainable business?
   We need to go back to that list of goals we created when we decided to turn writing into a career and tweak them with solutions that answer these questions: What are our strategies for attracting new readers and keeping those who have invested in our writing so far?   Networking strategies? Communication mechanisms, online and in-person? Calendaring and committing to attendance at conferences? Author/reader gatherings? Appearances at Public Events in the communities we live in? We need to remember all of these impact our family and other work obligations.

5. How do we manage the skills sets needed to operate our business?
   There are numerous operational questions that will arise when we begin to write full time. Chief among the early questions are, which computer, printer, and writing programs will fit our needs?                   

It’s at this point we need to look into the various publishing platforms we hope to submit to and publish with. Many online and traditional publishers no longer accept PDF submissions. So, we need to decide if purchasing this program and the supporting program, Acrobat, are necessary. Everyone will have to decide if a Mac of PC is the best set up for them. Depending on whether we plan to work with an agent and traditional publisher, a small press, a hybrid or go the self-publishing route we’ll have to contend with contracts for editing services, formatting services, publication clauses. and the financial decisions that arise. We should consider the possible need for tax professionals and intellectual property attorneys who can assist in avoiding tax and legal pitfalls. Finally, we’ll need to decide whether we should acquire professionals to assist in publicity development.                                                                                                                                    

Looking at the issues above, we’re reminded WRITING IS A BUSINESS! And what we don’t know or choose not to consider can cost us. If we’re willing to take the time to consider the points raised in this series and frame answers that best suit our individual  needs, we can Create Personal and Business Road Maps to Success as Writers.

Good luck to us all!

Creating Your Personal and Business Road Map to Success as an Author: Creating Your First Readership Following!

By Pamela Ebel

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In article one in this series, I noted that to create our personal and business road map as writers we needed to understand that writing and publishing is a BUSINESS. And all successful businesses have one thing in common—they create a list of concrete goals to be achieved and develop planning skills to make those goals happen.

These skills involve: a) avoiding ‘The One Right Answer’ when outlining career goals; b) creating a structure to keep us on track to achieve those goals; c) developing ‘situational awareness’ to respond to the impact that time and events, both professional and personal, will have on the original career goals and d) being able to answer five questions to understand the business of writing. 

We’ll now explore the need to constantly assess the demands made on our personal and professional lives. We do so with knowledge that our lives are not linear in nature. 

Understanding this allows us to react correctly when an unexpected situation arises, preventing us from completing a goal as originally conceived. When obstacles appear, we don’t see them as failures. Rather, we remember to avoid ‘The One Right Answer’ and recalibrate the goals.

Writing full time is not the first career for most of us. We come from disparate personal, educational, and work backgrounds. Still, most of us do have that ‘One Right  Answer’ in our minds when we imagine our new career—We intend to write the ‘Great American Novel,’ get on the New York Times Best Seller list, and reap monetary rewards and accolades from devoted readers. 

As we struggle to balance current career demands or consider leaving them behind completely, rarely do we comprehend what the new life will really look like. 

Realize that this is the first opportunity for us to create the audience needed for all writers to be successful. Within our family, friends, workplaces, all of those we’ve developed relationships with are the Beta Readers; Early Manuscript Editors and the First Fans of our works.

 So, we need to spend as much time considering their thoughts about our work as we are expected to do with those we spend time and money trying to lure in when publishing occurs.

In our ardor, we fail to consider the impact the changes will have on these groups. 

A quick refresher on questions to ask while making the decision to embark on writing as a full-time career: What do I want on my tombstone? What do I want to leave to those I love, to those whom I respect and to the world I will leave behind? What impact will this change have on monetary and employment obligations; the current standard or living and on time spent with special people?

Some find this list of questions to philosophical and feel the answers place too much emphasis on ‘others.’ The purpose of these questions and the answers is to remind us that we do not live and work in a vacuum.  

Security is the prime motivator when sharing our career intentions with the stakeholders in our worlds. Fear of change is universal, and we need to let those we care about know we understand their concerns. and plan to address them.

To gain ‘buy in’ for our decisions we first need others to see them as Quality Ideas – usually ones that consider and mitigate the impact on money and time for those involved. 

Secondly, we need to seek out Acceptance–by those individuals who will have to live with and perhaps participate in the change(s) to ensure a successful journey.

Encouraging an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the career changes helps everyone involved feel engaged; understand the need to avoid ‘the one right answer’ pitfall and provides the opportunity for stakeholders to help craft the goals making it easier to fulfill them.

Once everyone, if not completely comfortable with the career change, has a clearer understanding of our reasons for moving in a new direction we can continue the journey. In the next article we’ll examine how to stay on the path we’ve created.

Creating Situational Awareness.

While we’re busy moving forward time and events are traveling beside us, altering our circumstances. We often forget to stop and look at ourselves to see what impact changes, personal and professional, have had on the goals map. 

To determine whether or how our lives have been altered we need to seek out those who helped us set the goals to gain affirmation that they are still valid or need ‘tweaking’. Stay Tuned.