My approach to the business end of writing is to try to
keep the main thing the main thing. And the main thing is writing: creating, encouraging, educating, inspiring.
I also have a priority on keeping as serene and orderly a
life as possible, so I can keep my spiritual goals in focus. If I can't
hear God, then what I write probably isn't going to accomplish what he
wants.
I have been tempted for years to self-publish a book. But
from all I've heard and researched about the time involved, I've decided
I still don't have enough of it. So I am restricting myself to
considering traditional publishers only, which to me is more
manageable. Harder to break into? Absolutely. But this is where my
faith has to come into play. (A littlle more on this at the end.)
This actually simplifies things quite a bit, and leaves
very manageable business activities to take care of, mainly marketing
and taxes.
Although I don't mind finding markets for my writing ,
because I love to research, I do get frustrated at having to keep an eye
on this constantly moving target of changing publishers and guidelines. And I don't
like all the time that it takes to prepare a submission, especially if I
have to send it snail mail.
I actually enjoy the other business activities, like the
writing part of my tax return. I love any excuse to play with numbers
and spreadsheets! I share some tips in my previous post 7 Tips for Organizing your Writing Business.
As I am always hoping to make writing a bigger part of my
life, I do look for practical advice for writers hoping to have a steady
income, so I can balance my dreams with reality. Here are a couple of
articles that I read recently that I found very helpful on the topic of
being a full-time writer, and all that that entails from a business
perspective: "The Business of Writing: Turn Your Income Stream Into A River", and "The Business End of Writing".
I look forward to getting all of your insights on the
writing business! And I will close with a few lines from Violet
Nesdoly's inspiring article, "Of Trumpets, Platforms and Networks", which appeared in the August 2014 issue
of Fellowscript. (Thank you, Violet!)
"Have you ever wondered where Jesus and his teaching...fit into the publicity work you need to do? ...Our writing either fills a need...or it doesn't. I believe that writing that fills a need will eventually gather a platform unto itself...If ours is a message the world needs to hear, He has supernatural ways to grow our network, and get that message out at the right time. "
Posted by Ramona
