Self-publishing

Writing Time for Authors is Found Using Math

March 7, 2023 By Karen A. Chase

If you’re an author, you need writing time. There are gobs of blogs out there loaded with advice about how to squeeze it in. Most of this advice is word-based. Get up earlier and join the #5AMWritingClub! Keep a notebook in your car! Write on weekends or week nights! Set word minimums! Set maximums! Set times! Set days… Geez willikers! Enough already.

What writers need to sort out their writing time, in order to manage writing and business hours, is simple. It’s just math. Plain ol’ simple math.

Why Math Matters to Authors Seeking Writing Time

I can hear you groaning. You didn’t become an author to do math! However, today’s authors have two time-hungry tasks. Writing and Business. Consequently, doing a little number-crunching now to determine how and if you can swing those hours can save you gobs of time and heartache later.

First, the writing time. In order to finish writing a book, or to write the next one, you need good, solid, butt-in-chair time. You need writing hours, not mere minutes, for words to get on pages.

Secondly, for each book completed you need business hours. Those hours are mostly devoted to marketing—newsletters, websites, talks, and more. You know, the things that actually tell readers about books, so you can sell books, so you can write more. Managing those requires a plan, and time to devote to it (read how Elizabeth Carson Williams learned about this author planning business).

As a result of the two tasks required, you need see how much time you really have to devote to writing and business. And that begins with finding out just how open or jammed-packed your life really is.

Examining Your Current Life Hours to find Writing Time

There are 168 hours in a week. Eight hours each day are recommended for sleeping (not sleeping impacts creativity, and that’s a whole other article). That leaves you 112 waking hours for all things required of your current life. Family? Job? Eating? Gardening? Groceries?

It doesn’t matter if you’re pursuing writing as a second career or as a career change, it is time for an honest examination of your life NOW to sort out how writing and marketing/business tasks will fit into that 112. Here’s a simple chart. Fill it in, and add it up to see what’s available.

If your TOTAL HOURS was zero (or less than)

Oh boy. Your life seems like it’s already squeezed so tight! So, perhaps this isn’t the best time for you to take on a huge project (which a book absolutely is). Better to know this now than tax yourself, or your family, even more. However, even if you have 112+ life hours now, it doesn’t mean giving up the dream of writing. It means you have two choices:
1) Adjust your life to make room for writing (even if it’s for the joy of it and not publishing)
2) Delay writing the book/novel/story until you have more time

If your TOTAL HOURS allow for some writing & business hours

Perhaps this little bit of math enabled you to determine your available hours. Perhaps you’re retired, and you know thirty hours are wide open to you. If it’s just three hours, it will absolutely take you longer to write and publish a book, or you may want to also adjust your life to gain more writing time. Whether it’s a little or a lot of hours, your next equation is to divide (oh no, more math) writing hours and business hours.

How to Divide time between Writing Time and Business Hours

This chart of writing versus business hours will help you determine how to divide those hours based on where you are in the publishing process—from no book, to book launch, to in between launches (maintenance).

What do you instantly notice? That’s right, at no time are you only writing. Why? Readers need to hear about your book! And they need to hear about it from you, not just your publisher (if you have one they’ll only do so much). As your publishing date comes around, the marketing simply needs more of your attention.

An Example of the Author’s Math

If your head is swimming from all the above, let’s go through an example. Let’s say your life commitments are 108 hours:

112–108 = 4 hours/week for writing and business tasks

What this means for each week is:

No book yet or between publications = 3 hours writing, 1 hour business
Pre & Post-launch = 1 hour writing, 3 hours business
Launch Month = 0 writing, 4 hours business

It’s up to you to decide when you will spend those hours. At lunch? Evenings? Tuesdays at 5AM? Regardless, consistency usually helps authors stay on track. Define the days and times, and always separate the writing from the business hours. Your creativity needs space away from to-do lists (which is all marketing really is, but that’s also another article).

A Final Word on Using Author Math to find Writing Time

No matter how it adds up, being honest now—about your life and the realities of publishing today—can equal less stress. The math can help you get a handle on your time commitments, and help you recognize how (or if) writing can fit with your reality. Okay, that’s enough math today. A+ to you for hanging in through this whole article… it’s time (for those who have it) to become the BOSS of your author business.

……..
This article originally ran in the members-only newsletter for James River Writers, a literary community supporting and inspiring authors through monthly Writing Shows, an annual writing conference every October, and more. Join JRW today! For a deeper dive on the above topic, and managing the business of being an author, pick up my latest Brand the Author (Not the Book): A Workbook for Writing & Launching your Own Author Brand Plan.

Editor Wanted

March 28, 2014 By Karen A. Chase

Last week a freelance editor who I have been working with for over a year, delivered bad news. She could no longer work with me because of larger projects with tight deadlines from publishers. I was nearing the end of editing, expecting a review of my rewrites on the first 50-100 pages only. It felt like I was getting divorced right before retirement.

I don’t blame her–the work was better I am sure. But now the two weeks I had scheduled for her review, had become a week of interviewing new editors. Most asked to see the first 20–50 pages to provide estimates, and to gauge the quality. (They are all developmental editors looking for plot, characters development, POV, etc.). So I sent it and moped around waiting.

Then a funny thing happened.

The responses from the new editors–all of them entirely unfamiliar with my writing or story–came in. Glowing. One said she was hooked from the beginning of chapter one. Another replied, “I think your premise is ingenious, and your execution–from what I’ve seen so far–is remarkable. You are a dedicated, diligent, and detailed writer.”

I don’t say all this to brag (okay, maybe a teeny bit). I say this, because that setback proved to be one of the best things for me.

Now I understand what my characters experience. Sometimes our stories take us to unexpected places. Perhaps it is through this adventure we find out who we truly are, and where we are going. Door closed, window opened.

Self-Publishing Tips

January 31, 2014 By Karen A. Chase

Last week I discussed the changes I’ve seen in self-publishing. I gave a talk on the subject, and then just this week I attended another self-publishing panel discussion. Many ideas and tips came out of all that preparation and chatting, and so I thought I’d share the whole big lot of them in one document.

You can get it here: HOW TO SELF-PUBLISH LIKE A PROFESSIONAL

Please note that the links I have in here are not endorsing the companies listed (except of course my own). These are just some businesses and references I’ve come across that have helped me figure out the industry and self-publishing steps.

My biggest tip? Be curious. Write. Write. Write–of course. And then learn the industry like your livelihood depends on it. It actually does.

Good luck.

Tips, thoughts and corrections are all welcome. What do you know?

Self-publishing Changes

January 24, 2014 By Karen A. Chase

Today I’m on my way to give a seminar on self-publishing at the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference. I gave a similar talk last June to a smaller group, but the publishing world is in constant change, so I’m scrambling to gather new information.

I do know that self-published authors are now also called Indie Publishers or Author-publishers. Only about 32% of Indie authors were rejected by traditional publishers, and now even authors like Jackie Collins have self-published e-books. Authors who self-publish and traditionally publish are called Hybrid Authors. Hybrids are the most successful, earning four times as much as the self-published.

There used to be six big publishers, now there are five. Self-published used to mean doing it all, but now there are middle-men companies, like Booktrope and AuthorHouse. With them, authors retain copyrights but have help with professional editing, design and book packaging. Even PR groups like Smith Publicity, provide self-published book promotion options.

Once considered lame, self-published is now considered cool. We’re like Indie film-makers. While publishers mass-produce books their distributors want to sell, we create what readers want to buy and read. More of us are paying for professional editors and book covers now, too.

What hasn’t changed is very simple. Those authors (self or otherwise) who earn the most spend more of their time writing. They spend almost 70% more time writing, write 1/3 more, and do the least amount of marketing. They write books for readers. They don’t sell to them.

How has self-publishing changed for you?