Hey Clan!
Achieving the right balance in writing versus marketing is a constant debate in the industry. Some purport a 50/50 balance between writing and marketing (or platform building). Others are proponents of the 60/40 rule.
Yeah, that one’s divided too.
While some say you should devote 60% of your time to writing and 40% to marketing, others say 60% marketing and 40% writing.
Both camps have valid arguments. Heck! Even the 50/50 group seems logical.
As a writer of Historical Fiction, I struggle to decide where to pitch my tent. If you’re a fellow author, I bet you can guess where I’d rather camp.
The Conundrum
For those who don’t write, here’s how a typical argument between my Inner Marketer and Inner Writer goes:
Marketer: You need to post on your website today.
Writer: No, I need to work on my novella.
Marketer: You’ve put off blog posts for a month.
Writer: The novella is more important. My publisher requested it.
Marketer: For?
Writer: Marketing, ok? Still, it’s for the newsletter subscribers.
Marketer: Where do you advertise your newsletter?
Writer: On the website.
Marketer: *Places hands on hips.*
Writer:
Marketer: You need to maintain a consistent presence.
Writer: *Sticks out tongue.* I do what I want.
Marketer: You’re not funny.
Writer: My readers think so.
Marketer: How do you know? You don’t spend enough time communicating with them on your website.
Writer: I just know, ok? Get off my back! I’ve got writing to do!
Marketer: *Speaks under her breath* Yeah, on your website.
Writer: I heard that!
Obviously, Inner Marketer won the argument today.
The 80/20 Rule
Ok, so while this doesn’t answer the percentage question, it does give you some insight into the daily struggle of a writer. The thing is, what percentage of time you spend writing or marketing, or building platform, depends entirely on what stage of the game you’re at–and a bunch of other factors.
In my circumstance, I actually need to be a little more writing heavy. But I can’t neglect the marketing aspect, because building that platform is essential in publication.
On any given day, my inner writer and marketer will dish it out with each other. More often, the writer wins. But, the marketer’s arguments are strong, and getting stronger.
So in an effort to make peace with Inner Marketer (Inner Writer already fights with Inner Editor on a daily basis. We can only handle so many battles on so many fronts…don’t even get me started on all the arguments with my fictional characters), I’ve started listening to marketing podcasts.
One of my favorite podcasts is the Novel Marketing Podcast with Thomas Umstattd Jr. If you haven’t heard of it, and you write fiction, I strongly recommend checking it out!
In one of the latest episodes, How to Spend LESS Time Marketing Your Book, (don’t tell me that title didn’t make you sit up and take notice) Thomas discusses the 80/20 rule, and why it’s so frustrating for authors, yet so beneficial.
The Frustration and the Benefit
Basically, authors find that 80% of their sales come from 20% of their marketing efforts.
The implication?
You’re likely wasting 80% of your efforts.
Not exactly the most encouraging thing an author wants to hear.
But the good part is, in measuring where you spend your time, and which activities yield the most results, you can make better use of your efforts.
Now, the discouraging news for me, as a first-time author on the traditional publishing track, is that there are many areas (especially in marketing) that I can’t measure. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t a myriad of measurable areas still available to me.
Measurable Areas
In assessing the best use of my time, I know I need to lay out all the things. As a Historical Fiction author, some are:
- Writing
- Editing
- Research
- Website Maintanance
- Blog Posts
- Writing Newsletters
- Social Media Posts (both mine and Writers Chat)
- Email and Social Media Correspondence
Now, this is just a fraction of my list, and doesn’t include other important factors like time spent with God, family, friends, or tending personal responsibilities. It also doesn’t include time wasters and hobbies.
It’s crucial to list everything. Because the first step in making the most of your day is to prioritize the list from most important to least. This allows you to identify the essential things in your life, and the activities you can reduce or eliminate.
Prune and Prioritize
After identifying essentials from non-essentials, I do a first-pass pruning. This means cutting out the obvious time-sappers.
Then comes the painful pruning. I must cut back good tasks to give way to those that are better. Sometimes an activity is useful, but still not the best use of my time.
For example, this year I cut out almost all my time spent on LinkedIn. This platform, while useful, was not one of my most effective platforms. I’m not ditching it entirely because it’s served its purpose in the past, and may serve a purpose again. But for now, it’s a back-burner item.
Once finished, I’m left with a list of essentials. Now it’s time for prioritizing.
My prioritizing will look different from yours. But simply put, what you’ll do is take each item and weigh it according to your measurable results.
Ask yourself:
- How important is this activity?
- How effective is its track record in achieving my ultimate goals?
- How much time do I need to allot to this activity?
- Looking at my calendar, where should I consistently devote time to this task, and when should it give way to other tasks?
This may seem like a simple thing, but the challenge comes in implementing your plan and being consistent. Believe me, that’s not easy!
You’ll be tempted to veer off the path. I have multiple times on countless tangents. So it becomes necessary for me to get a little hard-nosed with myself until I develop some consistency.
Don't Beat Yourself Up
Finally, extend grace. It’s inevitable, you’re going to slip up, or life will happen and throw you off course.
I’m a big proponent of flexibility. Know that struggles will come and obstacles will rise. Be prepared to hit them head-on. But realize that you can overcome by God’s grace.
When those times come, start small. Focus on one thing. Get consistent with that one thing, then slowly add back the other important things. Pretty soon you’ll be back on track.
Further Historical Fiction Resources
If you write Historical Fiction, you might also be interested in:
- Historical Fiction Panel
- You the Protagonist, Developing Your Author Brand with Caroline George
- Marketing Strategy Sessions is a Writers Chat episode recap with Bethany Jett and Michelle Medlock Adams. While it focuses on other genres primarily, there’s some good take-away for HF authors. I also add a few helpful tidbits for fiction in the bottom of the post.
- Book Campaign Marketing with Bethany Jett.
- Super Organized Business Planning with Shalon Ironroad
