Oohs and Aahs for 4.12.24
My 50/50 rule, how much time to spend on marketing, and Jumanji...
Someone called me a “seasoned professional” last week, and if it’s good enough for Jenny Slate, it’s good enough for me. I’ve worked in publishing for 20 years. I started as a bookseller, then a book buyer, then an editor and a writer, now I also offer creative coaching. I even mended library books in college. That means I understand the publishing process from many different perspectives in a unique way.
But the industry is always changing, and expectations for writers have gotten more and more intense during that time. Twenty years ago, the whole freelance economy didn’t even exist the way it does now.
One thing I’ve often struggled with is knowing how much time to spend on marketing, whether I’m marketing my latest book, selling my services, or networking in a more open-ended way. Like many modern tasks, there’s no end to how much marketing you could do. Newsletters, podcasts, conferences, Instagram, Linked In, local meet ups…🤪 You rarely ever feel “done,” and it’s always hard to know if the work you’ve doing is paying off.
So I often ask friends and colleagues, “What percent of your time do you spend on client work and writing and what percent of your time do you spend on marketing?”
50/50
That’s the number I hear most. Does that feel high to you? Or about right when you think about your own work? If you’re in-house somewhere and you’re not actively selling your own work, this might be a totally foreign topic. Feel free to skip down to the links and feel smug! But for those of us who are selling our goods and services in some way, this number feels important, not because there’s a right or wrong answer, but because so much of this work is invisible, and it’s nice to know what’s going on with our fellow creatives and where we fit in.
Fifty/fifty is about where I land most of the time too. Of course this ratio fluctuates. There are definitely times when I focus on writing or take on lots of client work, and marketing is an easy thing to take off my list during those seasons. But it always goes back on the list, because even though I can’t say I know if I do X it will lead to Y, after all this time, I can definitely say when I talk about my work more, I book more clients and more opportunities tend to come my way. Here are a few other things I’ve learned about marketing in the last 20 years.
If everyone knew how to make a book a bestseller, they would be doing it. It helps to have money, plus lots of energy and goodwill in your niche, whatever that is. But most books aren’t bestsellers, and that’s no one’s fault. That’s just the way this business works. Find a reason to write that doesn’t have to do with numbers.
It’s a long game. Relationships build over time. Eventually your reputation and experience grow, and you will end up where you dreamed about being (or somewhere better!), but there’s absolutely no way to speed up the process.
What works for someone else might not work for you. It really does help to experiment and then pick one or two things to focus on. For you that might be school visits. For me that might be conferences or podcasts. Comparing who is where and who is producing what is madness.
Marketing is more visual than ever. That doesn’t mean you need to curate your Instagram feed to look picture perfect, but it does mean you need to attend events and celebrate your book launch in a way that people can see at a glance. You want people to visit your feed and see you talking with readers about your book, signing books, and eating cake. You may only do each of those things once, but you need to record it, so people can SEE you’re a writer and get to know you. Documenting your joy can feel weird, but it’s something you’ll be glad to look back on and it helps total strangers connect with you and your work.
Nothing is make it or break it. In the moment it can feel like being invited to an event or meeting someone influential is vital to the success of your career. Most likely it’s not. Same goes for the low moments too. Keep moving, and you’ll look back and see most of your marketing efforts (whatever form they took) quietly added to your momentum, but none of them pushed you over the edge one way or the other.
Marketing and writing require two very different kinds of energy. Many experienced writers find they need to work in seasons, dreaming and writing in one, then marketing and selling in another. It’s often hard to mix the two.
Much of marketing is practice. You need to get comfortable talking about you and your work on a million different platforms in a million different ways. Not just so you look polished, but so you know where your boundaries are, you know what feels fun and what feels way too stressful, you work out the tech issues, and on and on. Looking at it as practice rather than wasted time can help you keep going.
I don’t want to spend more than 50% of my time on marketing. Every so often the ratio tips because of a deadline or a special project, but if I go over, I always feel the effects and need a break.
Want help sorting through your own muddled thoughts on marketing?
Working with a coach can be especially helpful if you:
Have a new book coming out and you’re feeling overwhelmed
Spend way too much time thinking about marketing and not doing nearly enough time actually writing
Want to start building connections before your book is published
This Week I’m…
Smiling at this modern version of The Green Ribbon Around Her Neck (IYKYK)
Thinking about this study on parenting and creativity
Laughing at this extremely specific shout out to Jumanji (Although they can’t be real fans if they don’t even mention the picture book, right?)
Wishing we could hang out here
Listening to this wise pep talk for the perpetually tired
Offering a 20% DISCOUNT for subscriptions (A major savings if you want to book a founding-members coaching call!)
Wondering if you want to write a picture book…
(Another way to ask this is “Do you want to work alone, with a group, or one on one with me?”)
If you enjoyed this post, please 💛 it so others can find it or share it with your favorite creative mothers.
PS—The fastest way to grow as a writer is to book a manuscript critique or a creative coaching session with an expert.
My clients get agents, sell books, and win awards. They also learn how to find ease and joy in the creative process, so they can keep going when life gets hard.
That Jumanji skit was 👌
This is such a valuable resource!