Know What Your Publisher Does for You

Pet peeve here.  If you accept an offer from a publisher, I don't care what kind of publisher, you better know what your publisher does for you.

Does your publisher just put your book out there?

Do they do edits at no charge to you?

Do they do the cover art at no charge?

Do you have input on the cover art?

Many of these are spelled out in your contract. So please, read your contract.  You are signing a legal binding agreement with the contract, make sure you know what you're getting into. 

There are also things like:

Does your publisher do any marketing for you?

Does your publisher arrange blog tours for you?

Do they give you copies to give away or must you purchase them?

Some of these may or may not be in your contract and these are things you need to know and understand. 

If  you don't know something, ask your editor and/or agent.  Or research the answer by talking to other authors published by that publisher.

Don't assume your publisher is doing something unless they've told you.  If you're not sure ask.  You won't appear stupid to the publisher, they know there are so many options out in the world. 

An example of this, I was explaining to some writing friends about my publisher putting my books into Amazon's KDP Select and how it worked out for me with the 5 free days KDP Select has.

Another published author wanted to know when she was going to get her 5 free days with Amazon and how did she set it up. 

Both myself and another writer explained, that was up to her publisher, she needed to talk to her publisher.  This author continued to go on about how if I did it why couldn't she.  I patiently explained my publisher did this, not me.  And since they published her book she needed to discuss with her publisher, she can't take the book the publisher published and make it free without them agreeing and her publisher making it free.

This is just one example.  There are so many options now-a-days.  Writers/Authors need to be informed. Writers/Authors need to do their homework.  

And just because someone else is doing it doesn't mean its the right fit for you.  You have options, explore them all.

Next week: Writer's Options

Keeping Track of Time

Some wonder why this is important.  It's important to me because I need to know where my time goes, plus by keeping a log of time, I can prove to anyone this isn't a hobby but a job.  

It also helps you as a writer to see are you spending too much time researching than writing?  Or at least where your time goes.

What do I keep track of?

I keep track of:

Research time

Writing time

Reading time

Blogging

Conference time (attending or giving)

Workshop time (attending or giving)

Professional meetings

Anything related to my writing.

I also keep track on a daily basis what I do, so sometimes my typical day looks like this:

online - 1 hour

My blog - 30 minutes

Doctor appt.

Laundry

WIP - 2 hours

This way when I look back at a week when I have missed my weekly goal (it happens) I can see that I had a doctor appointment and laundry which wasn't expected.  I'll even put down when there's a family emergency so I know what happened.

Overkill?  Maybe, but six months to a year from now I may not remember why there are four blank days on my calendar, just have the words family emergency, reminds me.  

Also this helps me when planning out my schedule for writing the next month or even year, because I can see a pattern to where things happen and plan for them.

Next week: Write

Writing Goals

Goals are important to any professional, but especially to writers.  I know when I had the dreaded day job, I hated it when my boss asked what my goals were.  When I was fresh into the company I could tell the boss, but when I was within a few years of retiring, my goal was to retire.

With writing, there is so much more to it.  One has to be realistic about their goals, but that doesn't mean we can't reach for the stars.  We sometimes want to reach higher than we think we can.

The main thing about goals to remember is they need to be SMART goals.

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Time-bound

Specific goal - write 5 pages a day, 6 days a week

Measurable - the number of pages per day or week

Attainable - can I write 5 pages a day, 6 days a week?  If yes, then it's attainable, if not, then need to change the goal

Realistic - look at what a typical week looks like, is it realistic for me to write 5 pages a day, 6 days a week

Time-bound - 1 week

This is pretty simplistic but this is what I do.  I have daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals and yearly goals.  I also have 5 year and 10 year plans/goals.  The reason for this is to track where I am, plus the IRS (in the US) can ask for your 5 year and 10 year plans if they think you're not doing this as a business.

It's amazing on how things change which is why you do re-evaluate your goals. I always look at my monthly goals to see how I progressed and change the next month if needed.  On the yearly goals, I look at them once a year at the end of the year to see how I did and make the next years plan accordingly.

The 5 and 10 year goals, I do look at maybe once a year or every other year.  

If you're not making a weekly goal, take a look at your daily goals and see what happened that week and then adjust.

This isn't written in stone, but it gives you a benchmark.

Just remember goals don't make you a professional, but they make do make you look better when asked what your goals are.

Next week: Keeping Track of Time

Writing is a Business

The next eight weeks, I'm going to discuss writing as a business.

I think it still amazes me on how many people don't think writing is a business.  I just want to shout "get with it people."

Of the past few months I've run into writers who are totally professional who think of writing as a business, then there is those who are at a mid-point, they think of writing as a business, but one they can do when they want, and lastly there are those who don't even think about it as a business.

If you want your writing to be taken seriously, then you have to take your writing seriously.

That means, being professional, listening and constantly learning about the business.

Writing is hard, many people think its easy, but it's not.  Writing romance is not easy, but the genre is the most put down poplar genre fiction.  I think it is because mainly women write romance (there are a few men), and other don't view writing romance as "legitimate" as writing other genre fiction.

It comes down to, writing is a business, you need to know how to run your business.

Next blog: Professional Writing Goals

Have a great week.

Marie

Conference Weekend

This last weekend I attended the Emerald City Writers Conferece.  It was fun and great to see old friends and make new ones.

I always forget how exhausing conferences can be mainly because you want to squeeze everything you can into the hours you have at the conference.  Sometimes it means giving up sleep and other times it means giving up a workshop or two.

I enjoyed workshops by Sabrina York, Bob Mayer and Jen Talty along with key note speeches by Maya Banks and Robyn Carr.

Writing conferences usually give me the boost I need to get my butt in chair and write again, and this one is no different. I've learned new techniques from Sabrina York, Bob Mayer and Jen Talty.  I've been inspired by Maya Banks and Robyn Carr.

It was a great weekend, but now it's back to my desk, to my writing, because I have books to write.  And next year it will be fun to catch up with everyone again and see what we've all accomplished.