On Publishing Schedules
I’ve written before about the many projects I haven’t finished. One of my goals for the Year 2016 is to tie off these loose ends. Also, I plan to launch more projects than I have done before. After all, every book, website and project is a long term asset. The more assets you have, the better off you are.
People are drawn to writing for lots of reasons. Undoubtedly, some do it because it is a way of making a career out of creative chaos.
In short, writers aren’t very organised in a Spock sense.
That is great when it comes to writing. It brings originality and all that. But it also means most writers are incapable of making a business out of their art.
If you don’t plan ahead, then you are probably not as successful as you should be.
A lot of writers live by the mantra that writing more is the only way to market. A lot of the time, this is because having a marketing plan would mean they had to do things on time.
A lot more writers think that they are going to find an agent and publisher who takes care of all the boring stuff for them. That isn’t going to happen.
You need to set your own publishing schedule and stick to it.
Even if you are a sit down and write person with a massive team behind you, if you don’t set your own publishing schedule, then you could end up writing less, being less happy and facing criticism for the displeasure.
Look at George R. R. Martin.
Major publisher. Major TV deal. Major series. Guaranteed millions of pounds riding on him getting his books out on time, and what happens… five year delays. People pre-ordering books that don’t arrive in time for Christmas two years later.
If George R.R. Martin isn’t enough, look at Robert Jordan. I started reading his books when I was a kid, and by the time the series finished, I was well into my twenties, Robert Jordan was no longer alive, and the series was being written by someone else.
Again, these are major writers with major publishers.
If you are a freelance writer or self-publisher, you have nothing to help you in terms of a team. You need to self-motivate.
You need your own publishing schedule.
I wrote mine up on New Year’s Eve. I know, I’m a party animal.
Writing up a plan is a way of systematising your writing. It’s also accountability.
I know when I want a certain project to be finished. I know how long a project takes. I know that once it is written, it has to be edited, given a cover (if it’s a book) there needs to be an accompanying social media post and email and things. Those all dramatically increase the time a project takes.
They also make the process really chaotic.
So a publishing schedule lines all those things up. It takes the chance out of it, it takes the thought out of it, and it means you are less likely to procrastinate.
It also means you can account for possible income and expenditure.
One thing that is really annoying about working as a freelancer and author is that you income isn’t fixed. There’s no pay packet at the end of the month to guarantee your bills are being paid.
With a publishing schedule, you are mitigating some of that.
For instance, if you have a mailing list of a hundred people and ten people buy your book on release day no matter what, if you know you’re releasing ten books this year, then you have a guaranteed sales figure of a hundred books.
That won’t seem like much, but if you make $2 a book, that’s still $200 you know you are getting this year.
Now, imagine you have ten books that are “maybe you’ll finish them, maybe you wont.” You can’t guarantee that you are making that $200 if you don’t have a schedule, and you probably aen’t going to release them if they are in the maybe pile.
If this all seems ridiculous for $200, then imagine you have a thousand guaranteed buyers on launch day. That’s $2000 in guaranteed income in a single day.
Then imagine that you can release two books a month if you look at your schedule honestly.
Suddenly, a couple of hours looking and jotting down notes on a calendar has shown you a return of $4k a month. THat’s without putting in the marketing info which will grow your fan base or anything.
Most writers earn a few pennies for their work. We have all read the articles saying the average writer has to sit under a bridge collecting change because their publishing advance is $4.50 and they never earn that back because they only sell minus ten copies of each book.
Don’t be that average writer. Take the time to plan your attack and then follow through. You’ll then realise why those figures aren’t anywhere near realistic.