Authors, About Your Willingness to Learn Business…
You have the capacity and the ability to learn entrepreneurship, now choose it
“The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.”― Brian Herbert, Author, Dune, House Harkonnen
As someone who has observed authors my entire career, I’m both impressed and amused by most writers’ ongoing obsession with craft. Their attention to improving and refining the art and science of writing from every angle. No stone unturned.
A commitment to mastery, continuous development, and new creative explorations are hallmarks of any professional, any artist/literary career. But here I want to insert my yes, and. Yes, the craft of writing matters and it’s not the only craft that matters for reaching your author goals and having the writing career of your dreams.
In fact, once you reach a certain level of skill, an obsession with craft could actually be distracting you from what your author vision really needs.
If you are a literary giant, if you are exceedingly lucky, if you fluently skip from mega-trend to mega-trend in your titles, perhaps you can skip what I’m about to say.
Everyone else, listen up. Once your writing is good enough to earn you a dime, you also need to start working the crafts of business, entrepreneurship, sales, and marketing into your learning and development action plan.
Learning and applying business skills to your author goals will take you further faster and lay the groundwork for a sustainable, income-generating author life you love. When approaching your author career as a business, you will be predicating your author life on reality, making it less dependent on whether or not you make the best-seller list or sell your film rights for an A-lister production. You will be making a living as the writer you currently are as you work on expanding in both literary prowess and business acumen.
Start this by willingly choosing it. Understand its value and make the deliberate effort to pursue this parallel track to your writing craft.
Learn business.
“Business is an open book test but most people are too lazy to copy the answers.”
— quoted by Ayodeji Awosika
Awosika is right. The thing about business is that the lessons are all there, out in the open, there for the taking and the copying. They’re laid out for you in books, podcasts, websites, professional organizations, classes, and other sources of business education. And they’re there for you in the lessons you learn from testing them. Trial and error. Evaluating your results and making your next decision from there. Being honest about what works and what doesn’t. Perservering while the lessons reveal themselves over time and stack up in your favor. Don’t be too lazy to copy the answers, to read the tea leaves!
Now that you’re willing and choosing to learn business for your author life, where do you start? There’s one launching pad and trajectory for all comers: Build your business savvy as you go, from where you’re at, with what you have. And don’t stop. It will be enough.
If you’re unsure, feeling a tad inadequate, and overwhelmed by the task, start by putting any imposter syndrome into perspective…
The Lesson of Smurf for Your Author Impostor Syndrome: Bluff your way through like an academic and you’ll be just fine
Then, lower the bar on your expectations to make yourself right, right now. Feel good about where you are on the journey.
Lower the Bar on Your Author Business for Better Results: The high value of making yourself right, right now, and building from there
The practice of practice, the learning of business incrementally, as you go, on your own terms and own timetable are all enough…once you choose it.
How the Practice of Practice Is the Secret to a Sustainable Business: Commit to showing up consistently and doing the work from where you’re at
In our next post, I’ll encourage you to make business your next hobby as another solid strategy in building your own just right author business.
Are you already interested in building an income-generating, sustainable author life with likeminded others? Join our private FB group, A Profitable Author Life You Love, and get inspiration, ideas, and support daily.
If you’re in the Chicago or Milwaukee areas, please consider joining one of our in-person Profitable Author Life You Love workshops, on 2/17 and 3/9. And, please attend one of our Ask a Publisher Happy Hours, 2/2 and 3/1, for beverages and light snacks, and to ask all your book publishing, book industry, author, agent, self-publishing, traditional publishing, author business, and book marketing questions.
Would you like to learn more how to get published and how to keep on publishing? Join me for a free virtual panel with the Society of Midland Authors, February 13.
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