Mission
Finding the time to do all things you need to do. That is the core directive of being an Author Entrepreneur. Most of us have day jobs that suck hours out of our days and if you’re like me, I’d like them to stop that, if they’d be so kind. This is where I go into detail of how I approach organising time for my fiction authorpreneurship, as well as putting little tidbits that I think will help from around the web.
Goals
- To create a stable platform for future authorpreneurship by ensuring control of assets and limiting digital sharecropping.
- To find time to complete the activities around creating and marketing a novel as best you can with the resources available.
- To create a strategy for your future entrepreneurship.
- To take care of yourself, through exercise, diet, and plenty of sleep.
Methods
Due to the staggering amount of stuff that you need to learn, I recommend using Just In Time Learning to be as optimal as possible in your learning time. The basics are that you only learn to do what you need to do right now. That means learning PPC advertising for ROI sales should not (yet) be on your to-do list.
Tasks
Interrogate the Why Authorpreneurship? question:
Find the why you need to become an authorpreneur. Why are you doing what you are doing instead of writing full time? Just “I want to have a book out there” is not good enough. Authropreneurship is punishingly hard. You need a reason for your authorpreneurship strong enough to obliterate your fears, your doubts, and your inertia.
Finding mentors/influencers in both your genre and in authorpreneurship
You don’t need to do this the hard way, others are blazing the trail for you. At this stage, you are playing catchup to the industry leaders and influencers. Once you’re an expert, then we can talk about being an influencer again. For now, find the persons in your genre that are awesome at it, and follow their lead. Follow them on all social platforms they appear on and have a listen to them. This includes blogs, mailing lists and podcasts if they have any. An important note, remember Just in Time Learning, if the information is at a higher level than you need right now, unsubscribe and leave a note for your future self to resubscribe when you’ve advanced in level.
Engage with the authors whose books you like, who are growing a platform around their work and whose fans might be a good fit for you. Comment on their posts, be constructive and free with your engagement, make a contribution, get noticed, become their allies. Do not talk about your books until you are asked! You don’t want to be the chiropractor at a party who talks only about his practice and nothing else. There may be a hundred people with back problems in the room, but they won’t bother with you if you’re a spammer. There may be opportunities to access their platform at some future date. Don’t expect this, but plan for it anyway. One day you may have the opportunity to talk about your book, and on that day, you have the chance to gain some that author’s platform for yourself. Be ready.
Recently, I missed such an opportunity. Anne Rice was asking about resources for new writers, and Dauntlesswriting.com was not ready. If it was, I could have perhaps had a few thousand of her million-plus followers on my site, listening to my podcast, and subscribing to my list. But I was not ready. Now I will not repeat that mistake if I can help it, and I hope that you don’t either.
My examples:
Anne Rice
Jim Butcher
SM Reine
George RR Martin
Next, find authorpreneurs who are killing it regardless of genre, and follow them too. Again, try not to go for the high level stuff. You’ll have plenty of time to get to those later.
My examples:
Johnny, Sean and Dave over at the Self Publishing Podcast
Joanna Penn at The Creative Penn
Steve Scott at Self Publishing Questions
Every single podcast at the Copy Blogger Media’s Rainmaker.FM (beware high level content here)
Rocking Self Publishing
Finding resources
Nice thing about following all these people is that soon you will be inundated with information about how to be awesome as an entrepreneur. This will definitely provide you with instant information overload which you need to learn how to manage. The way I manage is by:
Creating policies and procedures
I create lists of how people do things, and then try their methods for myself. I call these policies and procedures. Everything that you need to do more than once can be made into a policy and procedure. Let’s use my Book Launch (Free) procedure as an example:
When I read an article about how someone rocked their launch, I look at the steps they did and how they went about it. Then I look at my list for my launch and see what I can incorporate from their plan into mine. If they advise against something, mark it for testing, or removal. If they have a novel idea, I research it and incorporate it if feasible. Great ideas are out there for you to find, it up to you to make sense of it all.
Every article and every podcast you listen to is then an opportunity to expand your policies and procedures for the given part of your business. Add and subtract to your procedures with every one.
Planning your exit strategy
Do you plan to work for a boss forever? We’re aiming to be full-time authorpreneurs here, so let’s start working on the “when” that’s going to happen. Below I’ve put the basics of what I’m thinking about when planning my exit strategy. You can go as in-depth as you’d like
Value Statement
When my income from my Authorpreneur business exceeds my expenses, and I have 6 months worth of expenses saved up, I will quit my job and become a full time Authorpreneur.
Strategies
I will minimize expenses by cutting excesses and paying off debt
I will increase cash flow by creating assets that generates passive income and through looking for investments that puts money in my pocket every month
I will save money in an income generating investment bank account and calculate the moving target of six month’s expenses.
Resources I used to help organize my authorpreneurship:
2K to 10K – Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love by Rachel Aaron
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
Write. Publish. Repeat. (The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self-Publishing Success) by Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant and David Wright.
How To Make A Living With Your Writing: Books, Blogging and More by Joanna Penn
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield