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.