Invest in yourself as a writer

You’re worth it

One of the most surprising things about being a writer: you have to treat your calling like a business. And like any business, you’ll need to invest in it. Investing in your writing is investing in yourself, and you are worth it.

Now, if you write only for your own joy and fulfillment—in other words, you have no interest in having your work published—then feel free to just enjoy writing as a hobby, a cheap form of self-therapy, a way to bless yourself and a few friends with whom you might share your musings. You still might want to attend a conference or take a class, just to learn and get better for your own enjoyment. There is deep satisfaction to be found in developing a skill, in learning how to simply do something better than you could before.

But if you are seeking publication, a shift needs to occur. Publishing (even Christian publishing) is a business, and treating your writing like a business will help you to achieve your goals.

If you are running a business, you’ll need to invest in that business. While there are myriad ways to do that, two stand out: marketing, and professional development. Let’s look at what it means to invest time and money in those two things.

Marketing

As I’ve written about here, and here, there are many paths to publication these days. Traditional or royalty publishers pay writers to write books and help them sell those books. Self-published authors foot the cost for production and editing of their books and must find a way to sell those books. On either of these paths, the author still does a lot of the marketing.

Marketing is simply getting in front of your audience and telling them about your product, which in this case is your book.

Many writers at the beginning of their journey don’t know what they don’t know. They assume a traditional publisher will do all the marketing of their books. A traditional publisher will indeed help with some marketing efforts, will have access to distribution channels self-published authors don’t, and will likely spend some money on advertising. They have a sales team that is trying to sell all the books they publish, including yours. But the author doesn’t just sit back and watch. They partner with the publisher and devote time and energy to marketing their books by speaking, posting on social media, and connecting with their audience.

Authors work together with their publisher to promote the book. For example, my latest book, Live Like a Guide Dog, which I coauthored with Michael Hingson, was published by Tyndale House, a traditional royalty publisher. Their marketing and publicity team has secured radio interviews, done online advertising, and more. They’ve been great to work with and done a lot. One example: the team was able to connect us with an opportunity to write a bible reading plan for YouVersion, a Bible reading app. This would potentially reach thousands of readers.

But I still had to write the plan, which consists of daily scriptures and devotions (and inspiring dog stories). You can find it here. I had to invest time and effort in the marketing of our book. I’ve also posted on social media about it, promoted it in this newsletter.

Our publisher’s publicity team has lined up radio interviews for my coauthor, Mike. But he still has to be the one who will do those interviews. And then, to share and post about it online. For example, he had a great conversation on Moody Radio with Chris Fabry. Listen to it here. (See what I did there? I just did a bit of marketing for my book. Not that complicated, right?)

If you self-publish, marketing is up to you. It’s part of your job, because you are both the author and the publisher. That may require an investment of money (for example, buying online ads), or of time (writing social media posts, recording videos to post online, sending out emails, speaking).

An important side note: some marketing efforts, such as public speaking, or creating an online course, can actually generate income. If you have limited resources, put them into creating a talk or course on the topic of your book.

Because so many books are released each day, getting yours noticed requires time, and sometimes money. The work of being an author goes beyond just writing—it’s also selling your product. It’s marketing your work and yourself. That’s sometimes challenging for writers. But we can do hard things, friends.

For me, it helps to think of marketing as an opportunity to connect with my readers. I want them to read my book, because I feel like the book’s message will help and inspire them, so I want to let them know about it. I want to provide them with something of value, like this newsletter.

Professional development

In any career, your success depends on continuing to learn and grow. When you’re first starting, you don’t know what you don’t know, which is dangerous, because you overestimate your abilities.

Taking classes, attending writers’ conferences, hiring a coach, just reading a lot can really help you learn more about writing and publishing. You are worth investing in. If you’re going to write and publish, it’s worth doing it well.

A ton of resources exist online, and investing time in reading and educating yourself is simply part of a writer’s job. You can find free (or inexpensive) webinars and workshops, you can check out books on writing from your local library.

When we see our writing as a business, we view investment in professional development differently. Many careers requiring continuing education—because they know it will improve the business and the person. Whether you taking a course or hiring a coach, you’ll have to invest some money—but it will increase the possibility that you’ll be able to sell more books, and find more opportunities. If you’ve already invested in self-publishing, paying for editing, design, etc., this can feel daunting.

At last year’s West Coast Christian Writers Conference.

I’ve mentioned writers’ conferences, and I serve on the board and faculty of the West Coast Christian Writers Conference, which will be held in the Sacramento area this November. Registration is still open for both in-person and online. The great part about the online option is it gives you access to video of all the classes, and you have several months to watch them, so that you can absorb them slowly and carefully.

West Coast Christian Writers is also a nonprofit organization that exists to support and educate writers. You can become a member of this organization even if you don’t attend the conference, and if you are going to make one investment in your professional development as a writer, this would be the one I recommend. Just $70 per year gets you access to a huge menu of educational and community building opportunities including:

Mini Master Classes: Increase your skills by participating in three masterclass workshops annually, held live (and recorded) via Zoom. Registration is free using your member discount code.

Book Club: Participate in a member-facilitated book club, which reads three titles annually - one fiction, one nonfiction, and one craft book.

Critique Group: Receive feedback to polish your writing and study the craft in a member-facilitated critique group.

Writer Connex: Connect with other writers for fellowship and encouragement during our hosted connex discussions.

Get more information about WCCW membership here.

If you’re a writer, seeing your writing and publishing as a business will be the first step toward success. You’ll realize that investing in your business and yourself is worth it!