The post 254 Multiple Pathways to Publishing with Emily E K Murdoch appeared first on Sacha Black.

In this episode we cover: 

• How to pivot successfully
• Fiction vs. nonfiction author business structure
• Creating multiple streams of income
• The neuroscience behind memorable messages
• Lessons learned from TV writing and producing

Find out more about Aurora:

Kickstarter for Magic, Mystery and the Multiverse

Linktree

Magic, Mystery and the Multiverse

Rebel of the Week is: Ruth

If you’d like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com

No new patrons this week, but a big thank you to my existing patrons. If you’d like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack

The post 235 Creativity, Business, and Publishing with Aurora Winter appeared first on Sacha Black.

In this episode we cover: 

• Planning as an indie author
• Maker, manager and marketeer
• How to plan for 2024
• What being a good publisher means
• Knowing what to measure

This week’s question is: who or what is inspiring or motivating you at the moment?

Recommendation of the week is: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Apple

Kobo

Amazon UK

Amazon USA

***this show uses affiliate links

Find out more about Orna:

Go Creative! Planning Program for Authors & Poets Kickstarter

Rebel of the Week is: Helen

If you’d like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com

Lots of new patrons this week, welcome and thank you to I Heart SapphFic, Kiz Moncrieff, Lyn, Leela Hughes and Brooke T Carr, and thanks to The Blumenkranz Twins for upping their pledge. A big thank you to my existing patrons as well. If you’d like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack

The post 215 Planning your 2024 Self Publishing with Orna Ross appeared first on Sacha Black.

The post 203 Selling on Amazon with Michaella Parkes appeared first on Sacha Black.

Lessons from Three Years of Writing Full Time

I can’t quite fathom the fact that we’re here again. But it has officially been three years since I quit my day job. THREE YEARS. What the hell? *rubs eyes* *checks calendar* *nope, it’s definitely been three years* I reflect on what I’ve learned about writing, publishing and business and share those lessons with you in the hope that you don’t make the same mistakes I do! This is 6 lessons from three years of writing full time.

You can catch year one lessons here and year two lessons here.

Lesson 1: The Income Update 

Year one was about survival, year two was about shrinking the freelance and building my own business. I did both of those. Year three was about continued growth and beating my old day job income. Thank the many and fucking varied gods I did that this year. Brutal truth time, when I left my day job, I halved my income—this bit, you know. But because I did that, I’ve struggled with self-worth and feeling confident in my decision. 

I HALVED my income. 

Who the fuck does that?

Me, apparently.

And sure, the high of saying fuck you to the corporate world was like a delirium induced ecstasy-gasm. But just like everything else, there was a killer come down, and that’s what the last two years have been. Doubt. What if I couldn’t grow my income again? What if I never earned a decent salary again? What if I couldn’t surpass the ceiling of my old day job income?

On and on I’d berate myself. I talked about how year one was spent in crippling fear and in year two, I learned that self-belief was important. But I still feel like I’ve been holding myself back, and that I had self-limiting beliefs because I wasn’t sure I could surpass my old day job income. I think I had to prove to myself that the decision was worth it and that I’d made the right choice. To use a Clifton strengths term (everyone drink), I had to “win” against my day job. “Just quitting” didn’t quite feel like enough of a win. Surpassing my old salary does. It’s made a significant difference to how I feel, my confidence and my belief that there isn’t a cap anymore. The sky truly is the limit.

But let’s look at the numbers.

Turnover was up 35% and net profit up a fraction under 31%. The main difference being investments in advertising and outsourcing. I expect the outsourcing expenditure to continue as will the advertising, for now at least.

The biggest differences in overall figures from year one to now, is the reduction in reliance on freelance income. In year one, freelance accounted for 75% of my income. Today, it accounts for 32%. My aim over the next year or two is to continue shrinking that to the point where it no longer makes sense to do any freelance, although leaving will be hard because I bloody love what I do. Second point to note is that in my first year the “everything else” bucket accounted for 8% it now accounts for 21.5% a big increase. I do, however, have more to note on this in a later lesson.

Book sales remain the largest portion of my income.

In my third year, my main income streams in order of size were: 

• Book sales
• Freelance work
• Course sales
• The podcast including patreon and sponsorships
• Affiliate income
• Speaking and consulting 
• Merchandise 

Year one assets included: 4 nonfiction books, 2 nonfiction boxsets and 2 fiction books.

Year two assets included: 8 nonfiction books, 3 nonfiction boxsets, 2 fiction books and 1 course.

Year three assets include: 8 nonfiction books, 3 nonfiction boxsets, 4 fiction books, 1 audiobook, and 2 courses. And a deal secured for Korean rights translation on the existing nonfiction books.

Despite adding a new nonfiction set this year (side characters) the two collaboration books I did with J Thorn were pulled and are being remade into something new. 

So last year, I added two fiction books (one was an anthology), two nonfiction books, a course and an audiobook. Annoyingly I have a novella coming out but it’s just after the end of the full time year so I can’t count it. On the plus side, I’m up a publication in the first month of the new year!

By the end of next year:

I should have two new boxsets at least (one fiction, and the side characters one) seeing as those are easy fixes. My focus is really on asset creation. I want to build my backlists across the board. Specifically, I’d like to write more books than ever in the coming year. What that looks like, I’m not entirely sure I want to state publicly yet. But I have plans for two different nonfiction text books and several fiction books. How many I get to, remains to be seen. I’d also like to add more courses and audiobooks.

Takeaway 1: I maintain last year’s stance. This annual review is ridiculously helpful in helping me gain perspective and take note of what has actually, factually, been accomplished. More to the point, it helps me remember what the priorities are and continue pushing towards them.

Lesson 2: You Can’t Do Everything

It physically pains me to write that you, or more specifically, I, can’t do everything. But apparently, I can’t. Of all the years, this year has felt like the biggest leap in terms of development, income wise, mindset, personal self development. It’s been a maturing of sorts, an empowering and settling into the business and knowing I can do this but also realising that if I want to, then I have GOT TO FUCKING FOCUS. Which leads me to my point…

I spent probably eight months of the last year cutting and hacking out and saying no to things. I WAY, WAY over committed myself. Despite having added a reasonable number of assets, I was finding that I was spending so much time doing jobs and tasks and little promises for other people, that for the first time since leaving my day job, my business felt like work. I felt like I’d left a project management career for another job. That is absolutely not what I want.

So I committed to spending last year getting rid of everything that wasn’t core to my business. Those eight GRUELLING months were well spent. I delivered on all the commitments I promised. 

I’ve tried and am continuing to try to put boundaries in place—I find this very difficult, I don’t like letting people down; I don’t like saying no. I want to help everyone. But I physically, mentally, emotionally and literally cannot. In order to help the most people and in a way that keeps me sane, I have to focus on writing books, courses and producing audio.

In the last eighteen months, there’s definitely been a shift in the amount of help wanted versus how much I can physically do. This is made more difficult by the pandemic and the fact I do have a child who’s at an age where he still needs me. But it’s caused a shift and pushed me to a mental pain point. The achiever and competitiveness in me wants to do more, but I am at the physical limits of my capacity. Therefore, it’s pushed me to re-focus and question what is most important. It’s annoying I had to get to a pain point in order to do this reflection, though.

Worse, despite having learned this lesson, I’ve had to relearn it! I’ve just come through another little patch where I had over committed again. But I’m on the other side now focusing on getting words. And I am, surprising no one, significantly happier again.

Takeaway 2: It’s hard to get perspective when you’re in the depths of business, but I’ve been trying to give myself more headspace and thinking time. That enabled me to see the road I was going down and pivot. At the end of this year, what do you want to have achieved? Do you want to have produced 200 Instagram posts? Or do you want to have written another book? Maybe you need to set up a mailing list or perhaps you want to improve your marketing? You cannot do everything. So what do you actually want to achieve?

Lesson 3: Focus Where the Money Is

This is connected to lesson 1, the income update. I am kind of mad at myself, kind of resigned that I had to go through the last year in order to get to where I am. Nothing moves fast, until everything does, SIGH.

Last year, I noted that books were generating the biggest income for me and therefore that’s where I should be focusing my time. But did I do that?

No. 

No, I fucking didn’t.

*internal screaming*

Look, I made some headway towards it because in order to make headway; I had to clear the decks and I managed to do that. So, for the love of fucking literary gods, I have GOT TO SPEND MY TIME ON THE RIGHT THINGS SACHA.

If you want to earn more money, then you focus your time on the highest earners, right? While the “everything else” bucket brings in 21 something percent of my income, it takes up about 60-70% of my time, which is not a good distribution. If I spent more time on the heavy earners, you’d expect I’d earn more overall.

For me, the big earners are books and courses. Now, I’m part way there in terms of focusing on clearing the deck for this year. I have plans for courses and I’ve actually started one too. But I need to continue on my mission of saying no to things and ensuring that I prioritise words and word time in my working day.

The other thing that I have to give myself permission to do is the work that isn’t writing physical words but is most definitely writing books. And I need permission to do that during the working day. For example, outlining, inputting, mood boarding, brainstorming. I’m not sure why I find it so excruciatingly hard to give myself this time. But FFS, I need to get a grip. It IS work; it is the foundational work I have to do in order to get more books done. So here’s me saying it out fucking out and being accountable for me.

Takeaway 3: First, focus the majority of your time on whichever aspect of your business earns the most. Second, the shit around wording is also work. You can do that in your allotted creative times. That is all.

Lesson 4: Be a Better Publisher 

Indie authors are also publishers. We’re writers, marketers, fucking everything-else-et-ers. All of the hats. But here’s the thing. Being a good publisher makes a difference. This year, I decided to try and be better. To work on the shit that doesn’t necessarily scream of fun, but over the long haul does bring you more income, make you look more professional and ultimately do your business the world of good.

I worked on studying how to write better blurbs, I experimented with new promo mechanisms like “free” and updated my front and back matter. I wrote a reader magnet, I updated files on the stores, created a brand kit. And now I’m in the process of ensuring all my books are in all the formats. This is a slow process and will take some time, but already I’m seeing a huge difference in the number of sales.

I need to finish off by ensuring I have boxsets of everything and that my autoresponders are up to date. Guess that’s a job for this year! Especially as in doing this roundup, I’ve realised I haven’t published the side characters boxset! So that’s a job for me next week!

Takeaway 4: you have to be a good publisher and sometimes that means doing the donkey work and updating all the metadata, back end shit and thinking about your books as products.

Lesson 5: Human Connection is Necessary and Difficult

This is perhaps the weirdest lesson for me. I have always been absolutely fine working at home. In fact, the first year, I was practically delirious. “Fuck people” “fuck being in a team.” But then, when I left the day job, I had a network around me. We still lived close to our friends we’d gone to uni with.

Pandemic, plus 85-mile away house move = the loss of basically my entire network. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have a handful of long-time friends, but now, they’re scattered all over the world and all over the UK. Which is okay, because we make the effort to travel. But we also don’t see them on the regular because pandemic and, well, life.

The consequence is that my social circle has reduced significantly. 99% of the time, I’m completely fine with that. I have a very busy schedule and most of the time, work brings me deep joy. I’ve also got a couple of friends who I spend a LOT of time voice memoing and these gals save me on a daily basis. Like I would be lost without them and they mean everything to me. So thank you, ladies.

But, of late, I’ve noticed that the desire to just have someone to go for a coffee with, or just have someone I could go for drinks with or whatever has crept in.

I don’t know whether it’s just me, or the consequences of the pandemic and getting comfortable at home, but I find summoning the energy to be social, difficult. I want to widen my social circle just as much as I don’t. Which leaves me in a bit of a quandary.

The one thing that I do know from writing and business, though, is that your network is one of your most valuable assets. So I do need to do something about this situation.

Takeaway 5: I need to suck my shit up and be more social.

Lesson 6: Your Uniqueness is Everything

More and more, I see and understand why uniqueness is everything. Knowing who you are, what you stand for and what makes your books, stories and voice unique is one of the most important things you can do for your business.

The moment you understand you, you can lean in. Every time I’ve understood a little piece of me better and I’ve leaned in, I’ve seen positive results.

Some of this is about strengths. If you’ve listened to this show for any amount of time, you’ll know that I absolutely love Becca. I love Clifton Strengths. It’s been a wild ride, because I have a lot of what are called influencing strengths which are the most misunderstood. The foremost being Competition which as you know, is my number one strength.

I swing and roundabout on this, every time someone misunderstands it, it hurts and I want to crawl into my shell again and not embrace my strength. But I’m trying hard to lean in, embrace my superpower and use it to push my business as far as I can.

But it goes deeper than just strengths. I’ve had a “come to Jesus” moment this year understanding the type of fiction I want to write. How I didn’t realise I wanted to write queer books, I do not know. Perhaps in not accepting some of my strengths, I was also not accepting other parts of myself? Life is nothing if not a journey, right?! 

I feel like this is the right path for me, and while I can’t know what the future will hold and whether or not I’ll be successful, nothing has ever felt this right. And I think that can only spell good things for the future.

I also feel like in accepting those bits of me I’m also finally after however many books I’ve written, starting to accept my writing process. I’ve searched for the longest time for an explanation a written-in-stone process I can follow and it’s taken me what like 12-15 books to realise what that is. But in accepting it, I’m speeding up. Rather than fighting the methods I need to employ to get to the end of a draft, I’m just fucking doing it. 

In writing/reading this, that sounds insane, like duh, of course you just work the way you need to work. But DO YOU? Cause I didn’t. Despite being in this industry for god knows how long, I was still subscribing to what I “thought” should be my process. Well, fuck that. My first draft is my chaos draft, and knowing that is helping. Weirdly, I write fiction and nonfiction in exactly the same way too. And I am so excited for the rest of this year to see what I’m capable of.

Takeaway 6: You’re beautiful. Embrace you. Fuck what “they” say. Fuck what anyone says. Find what works for you. Find your “thang” your angle, your hook, the thing that makes you uniquely you and then lean like a very fucking drunk sailor into that motherfucker and go for it!

One Last Thought:

No matter what happens, this is better.

I say this every year, and I hope this is an on running mantra for the rest of my days, because if it is, then I’ve done my job, I created the life I wanted. I keep two photos. The first is a post-it that I signed and carried in my wallet forEVER. Every day, when I went to the coffee queue for the fourth time (just to get out of the office) I’d see it as I went to pay for my coffee. I thought I wouldn’t get to work for myself until 2020. But I managed to leave in 2019. The day I got to cross that post it out and put 2019 is still one of the best days of my life.

The other photo is full of pain. I hate looking at it. I took the shot during one of my lowest days in the day job. I don’t know what possessed me to be honest. I looked rough. But I’m so glad I did. It’s easy now, three years out, healed mentally, to forget what it was like and the mental anguish I suffered. How crippled I was. I think now, looking back, I was suffering from major depression. I should have gone to the doctor’s and sought help. But I didn’t. All I cared about was getting out. I haven’t really ever talked about it, but I definitely had dark thoughts while working there. What saved me was a laser focus on one thing and one thing only—getting out and living the writing dream. 

It took being in the darkest place I’ve been to push the hardest I’ve ever pushed. It’s funny really, that dichotomy. I truly believe writing saved my life.

So I keep the photo, and I look at it every year when I write this post, and I ask myself if I want to be back there. 

Fuck, no I don’t.

This life, this vagina-busting, exhaustion-inducing, utterly mesmerising, awe-inspiring, creatively fulfilled life’ is so. Much. Better. Yes, I work more hours than ever, yes I have to make constant sacrifices, but I will never, ever go back. I choose me. I choose this life. Because no matter what, this life is better.

If you’re in the trenches, just keep going. If you’re in a dark place, know that I believe in you. Your creativity believes in you. You can and you will succeed. Never give up. Never bow down. Never, ever, let them win.

You got this.

The post 135 6 Lessons from Three Years of Full Time Writing appeared first on Sacha Black.

In this episode we cover: 

• Why formatting is important
• Mistakes to avoid with formatting
• Why you might consider a formatting company
• Differences between print and ebook formatting
• What to look for in a professional formatting company

This week’s question is: How do you format your books?

Recommendation of the week is: 10 Steps to Hero: How to Craft a Kickass Protagonist by ME!

books2read.com/10stepstohero

books2read.com/heroworkbook

**Please note this show uses affiliate links

Links and shows I mentioned are:

3 Mistakes to Avoid with Your Side Characters on Angela Ackerman’s site

Writers Cookbook

Book Echoes

Find out more about Formatted Books and their services on:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

LinkedIn

Rebel of the Week is: Claire L. Fishback

If you’d like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or instagram me @sachablackauthor

No new patrons this week, but a big thank you to my existing patrons. If you’d like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack

This Show is Sponsored by ProWritingAid

Find out more about ProWritingAid here.

DISCOUNT CODE: REBEL25

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

The post 098 Everything You Need to Know About Formatting Your Book with Formatted Books appeared first on Sacha Black.

In this episode we cover: 

• The overarching steps indies need to take to publish their book
• Most common indie publishing mistakes
• MVP launches versus bells and whistles launches
• The self-publishing cycle
• How to work with a writing coach

This week’s question is: what part of self-publishing do you enjoy the most?

Recommendation of the week is: 8 Steps to Side Characters: How to Craft Supporting Roles with Intention, Purpose, and Power

Preorder everywhere

Preorder workbook everywhere

Submit preorder proof to get goodies here.

***This show uses affiliate links

Find out more about Dan on:

Hawk & Cleaver

Devil’s Rock Publishing

Next Level Authors Podcast

The Other Stories Podcast

The Self-Publishing Blueprint

Rebel of the Week is: Candy Glynn Wilde

If you’d like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or instagram me @sachablackauthor

No new patrons this week, but a big thank you to my existing patrons. If you’d like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack

THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY KOBO WRITING LIFE

Visit Kobo Writing Life here, read the Kobo Writing Life blog here, and listen to their podcast here.

The post 092 The Self-Publishing Blueprint with Daniel Willcocks appeared first on Sacha Black.

In this episode we cover: 

• The differences between writing a novel and a graphic novel
• How to actually write a graphic novel
• How to choreograph a fight scene with an illustrator
• How story arcs work across a single graphic novel and a series
• How to find and work with an illustrator
• Mistakes to avoid

This week’s question is: Do you read graphic novels? If so, what are your recommendations?

Recommendation of the week is:  How to Get Your Book Into Schools and Double Your Income With Volume Sales by David H Hendrickson

Apple

Kobo

Amazon UK

Amazon USA

**This podcast uses affiliate links

Links and events I mentioned:

The Rebel Author Diaries Anthology Submissions are now open.

Find out more here.

Sacha’s Proofer / Workbook Editor: Tim Seabrook — Fifth Ring Press

Connect with Marcus:

Twitter – @Marcus_Ako; @IonWritersBlock

Instagram – @IonWritersBlock

Book – Call 1-800-KillAGuy: Book 1

Rebel of the Week is: Yanni Jade

If you’d like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or instagram me @sachablackauthor

2 new patrons this week, welcome and thank you to Shelly Sara and Stephanie Johnson. And of course, a big thank you to all my existing patrons. If you’d like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack

The post 084 How to Self-Publish a Graphic Novel with Marcus E Ako appeared first on Sacha Black.

5 Lessons from Two Years of Writing Full-Time 

Lesson 1: The Income Update

In my first year, my only goal was to survive. I was desperate not to go back to the corporate hellmare that was my old day job. 

I did that, yay me.

But I also ended year one feeling like I was rudderless and hadn’t pushed myself sufficiently on the income front—which, funnily enough, I hadn’t because I was so consumed by just surviving.

Year two was a financial shifting year. While I wanted to beat my old day job income, it was more important to me to reduce the freelance in order to focus on my business and create the financial and life freedom I really wanted. But I’m also a competitive bitch, and STILL wanted to increase my overall income, a tall order given I was starting from a lower baseline after giving up a lot of the freelance gigs. Thanks to a frankly terrifying amount of caffeine, a little hysteria and a few gins, I managed it. Turnover was up 22% and net profit up 67%. 

But the really exciting development is the change in breakdown of income. In year one, 75% of my income came from freelance work, 17% from book sales and 8% from everything else like affiliate income, speaking fees etc.

But in year two, what changed dramatically. I’m genuinely surprised, shocked and delighted to see the shift. It shows how much of a lie time is, the last year has felt endless and so, so fast all at the same time. 

But the summary is that I halved the income from freelance which sat at just 37% of turnover and increased sales income to the point where it’s now my biggest income stream at 44% of turnover. This makes me crazy happy and hungry to continue decreasing the freelance income and continue boosting my other streams. Interestingly, my “everything else” bucket more than doubled in year two and that’s thanks in part to the podcast, sponsorships, and patreon but also to course sales and a variety of other income streams.

A takeaway here for me is that while I doubled the array of “everything else” income streams, it still only accounted for 19% AND in order to generate that, it took as much effort if not more than everything else. Realistically, it’s the books that shifted the income percentages and so this coming year, I must focus my energies on getting more books written.

In my second year, my main income streams included: book sales, freelance work, patreon, merchandise, affiliate income, sponsorship, course sales, consulting and speaking. 

Year two assets include: 8 nonfiction books and 3 nonfiction box sets and 2 fiction books.

In year three, my goal is to continue growing turnover and profit, continue reducing the % freelance work accounts for and increase my wide book sales income. In addition, I want to add audiobooks and more courses to my asset portfolio. I still haven’t beaten my old day job income so that goal is burning hard now!

Takeaway 1: Annual analysis is really important to help give you perspective. I’ve been flailing a bit recently with the direction I should be going and this has helped to solidify that.

Lesson 2: Self-Belief is Everything

It’s only now that I look back at the end of my second year of business that I realise just quite how much of my first year was spent in crippling fear. My sphincter was constantly quivering at the thought of having to go back to a job I hated and the prospect of being flung back into that depressive “no way out” mindset. I spoke earlier about how I didn’t care about anything other than surviving and making sure I didn’t go back and that was all consuming in the first year. 

It’s taken me two years to get rid of that fear. I still fidget a little, itchy sphincter hasn’t totally gone, but I have self-belief in a way that I never had before. I know without a doubt that I won’t go back to a day job. This career, hell, any career working for myself is for life. Even if I end up doing something else as a business, this life of working for myself is not something I can or will ever give up. I was not made to work for other people but accepting that or more, being comfortable and confident enough to accept that has taken time.

Indies are especially good at wanting things now, now, now. I’m like it too. I think it’s because our businesses are in our control, therefore we want results now, to publish yesterday, the covers last week and the income ALL DAY LONG BABY. 

But there is something intangible that “time” can give you. Growth doesn’t happen instantly. You don’t just quit your job and have the self-belief that you can do this, or the income appear instantly. Shit is rocky for a while, business is hard, and it is a rollercoaster of wobbling belief, income and learning. But fuck me is it the most glorious rollercoaster out there. This second year, despite it being in extremely difficult global times, has allowed me to blossom and grow in confidence and self-belief and the security that I can do this for the long haul and things are going to be okay.

Takeaway 2: no matter how quick or amazing your income balloons, there is something that only time can give you, a kind of security blanket of confidence and assurance that you’ve got this. It’s a hard pill to swallow when you’re drowning in a society of “nowness” but embrace it, buckle up baby and grip hard, this is a rocky rollercoaster ride.

Lesson 3: The Honeymoon Period Ends

Alright, yes, this job is fucking amazing. I will never say otherwise. However, every job no matter the business or industry you’re in, has a grind. And this year the honeymoon period well and truly ended for me. Perhaps it was made worse and brought forward because of Covid and the absolute devastation it caused on my time and sanity. But the honeymoon period of working for myself is definitely over.

Does that mean I regret leaving my day job? Abso-fuckin-lutely not. This is the best job in the world. However, managing a family, a school kid, a wife a house and a business is A LOT. Because I have work “flexibility” nine times out of ten the “can you dos” fall to me. The ad hoc life shit will fall on my plate and I ended up doing 95% of the homeschooling. Which at six hours a day did not leave much time or energy for business.

The grind of having to do admin and emails and deal with everything else life throws at me as well as work a number of evenings is tough. Without having had a proper holiday in the last 18 months I’m feeling worn if I’m honest. There’s a kind of viral exhaustion I can’t get rid of because staycations are never real breaks when you work for yourself.

What this means is that I need to keep things fresh. I need to do projects that I both enjoy and that bring me income. Finding the balance is key to retaining my enthusiasm.

Takeaway 3: Holidays away from the house and my office are essential to get real rejuvenation time. Reducing or outsourcing “grind” tasks over the next year to ensure I stick with what only I can do is essential. I also need to find a way to work less evenings it’s having a severe impact on my energy and enthusiasm. 

Lesson 4: Input and Strengths

In my first year I was so concerned with just surviving that I didn’t put much thought into learning, growth or development. But as I neared the last third of my second year, I felt a gaping emptiness and my ability to write was being affected.

It’s in large part thanks to Becca Syme and her Better Faster Academy that I’ve been able to learn more about my strengths and make them work smarter for me. Case in point, I’ve upped my reading input from 60-70 books a year to 130-140ish. The result? In the first month alone I output 30% more words. Whether I like it or not, I have a high need for input. I’d assumed it was just visual stimuli I needed but apparently binge watching Netflix isn’t cutting it for my brain, it wants to eat books and so I will deliver as a humble servant.

I think the other lesson is that by being aware of my strengths, intentionally learning and trying to develop them, I can have real tangible results. But I do need to give myself the time and headspace to reflect and learn and input. Something I find difficult from the outset because it doesn’t feel like work. If it helps me develop, work better or smarter, then clearly I need to do it.

Takeaway 4: Sometimes the things that create the biggest effect on your bottom line don’t feel like work, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t or that it’s not important. Far from it. You have to do those things. Those are the things that allow you to grow.

Lesson 5: You Have Permission

This is going to sound bonkers from the mother of villains and queen of rebels. BUT, it’s very easy to institutionalise yourself. When you live day in day out with how your business is and doing things “because they work” it’s easy to forget you can pivot or change or adapt.

When it comes to someone else telling me what to do, I’ll always rebel or find a way to break the rule, but I’m often left floundering when it comes to myself. I tend to be reluctant to give myself permission, or I let doubt creep in and prevent me from doing the thing I know I should be doing.

That’s why I have Post-its reminding me “YOU HAVE PERMISSION”. This is the life I created and the one I want to live, taking the time to write the book I want to write IS OKAY, SACHA. Take this post, I had to force myself to sit down and do it even though I knew it would be helpful.

Expectation is a slippery fucker, whether it’s from external sources or yourself, it’s weighty and meaty and it can stop you doing things you either want to do or know would be good for your business.

No more. 

Takeaway 5: There are a couple of BIG game changing things I need to do this year and I need to stop holding myself back. No more fucking about Sacha, you have lofty goals and you’re not going to apologise for them. I have permission. I just need to get on with it.

One Last Thought:

No matter what happens, this is better

This was one of the lessons from my first year full-time. No matter what happens this life is better. I stand by that, if anything I believe it even more firmly this year than last. I keep two sentimental photos from this journey. The first is the Post-it I signed and dated saying I’d be writing full-time in 2020. I left in 2019, and every time I look back at the Post-it I smile. The other photo is the photo of me on one of my worst days in my old job. I’m broken and in so much pain that it’s genuinely uncomfortable even now for me to look at. I keep it because it’s also a short, sharp annual reminder not to get lazy, not to take this life for granted and to appreciate every second I’m lucky enough to do this as a job. Yes, running an author business is hard, yes the honeymoon period is over, yes it’s grueling, but it’s also the best fucking thing I could have done and I’d die before I gave it up.

The post 5 Lessons from Two Years of Writing Full-Time appeared first on Sacha Black.

In this episode we cover: 

• What are the key elements you need to take into account when starting from zero
• Most common indie publishing mistakes new writers make
• What business and platform basics do you need in place before you publish
• What marketing should a writer do when they only have one book
• How do you continue to get sales after launch?

This week’s question is: What worries you about starting from zero?

Recommendation of the week is: This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

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This is a link explaining how the book was written: A Conversation with Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Links and events I mentioned:

The Rebel Author Diaries Anthology Submissions are now open.

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Rebel of the Week is: VAL NEIL

If you’d like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or instagram me @sachablackauthor

1 new patron this week, welcome and thank you to Jennifer Thompson. And  of course, a big thank you to all my existing patrons. If you’d like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack

THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY KOBO WRITING LIFE

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The post 083 Publishing from Zero in 2021 with David Gaughran appeared first on Sacha Black.