My Writing Business in Three Words

So, people ask me questions all the time about my writing business. Most people who know me are well aware that I do work a “normal” job during the weekdays and writing is something that I do not currently have the luxury of doing for a living.

Therefore, I have to make time to be engaged in the thing that I love to do. That means I have to get up early, stay up late, and essentially work two jobs. Why? Because being an independent author is a hell of a lot more than writing books.

That’s a big part of it, but when you are done doing that, you have a small business to run. You have to concentrate on investments, expenses, products, inventory, growth, customer service, marketing, and the list goes on.

Generally, being an independent author means you are a one-man or one-woman business. You wear every hat along with the hat that says author on the front of it. DO NOT be confused, I am in no way complaining. I LOVE the work because it isn’t work to me. It’s what I love to do.

Believe me, I wouldn’t do the things I do for this passion if I didn’t love it. I know so many people who sleep in in the morning until the very last second, roll out of bed, go to work at a dead-end job that at least pays the bills, come home, order take out and binge Netflix for the rest of the night.

While most people are doing that, what am I doing? What are all the other indie authors out there who are trying to turn their passion into something? Up at 5:30am to write for two hours before I leave to go work a full day at my income gig, come home and eat fast so that I can get back to work until late in the evening.

Then what? Get up the next day and do it all over again! As I write this, it is currently 8:00pm. I woke up early and wrote, went to work, wrote on my lunch break, came home and made a quick dinner for my fiancé and now I am back at it. Working to turn my passion into a living!

Now, defining my writing business in a few words, at first, seemed like an impossible task. Then, I started thinking about it and there are, in fact, some core words that I would use to describe what it is that I choose to involve myself in every day. Here they are.

1. Opportunity

Why do I choose this word? Because as with anything in life, you need an opportunity before you can accomplish something. With writing, one of the coolest things is that you get to create your own opportunities and you get to create them as often as you choose.

Every book that I write is an opportunity. Every blog post that I write is a chance for someone to discover me and my books. Every social media post, every comment that I like or reply to, every direct message that I open, every contest that I run, every update I make to my website, everything that I do that touches my writing business creates a new opportunity.

So, how do you take advantage of this? You consistently work to create and utilize those opportunities. You never, ever stop. You keep going. You do a little bit here and a little bit there, but you never stop. As long as you keep going, the opportunities will keep coming and sooner or later, one will pay off.

2. Easy

What!? How could writing entire novels be easy? How could running a writing business on top of a full time job be easy? How!? Because I absolutely LOVE every single piece of this. I love hiring cover designers, formatters, editors and audiobook narrators.

You love business expenses? No, I love investing in myself, and in my business. I like employing people. I love building a team to accomplish a goal and I get to do that with every book that I write.

I love coming up with marketing plans that are all me. I love have complete control over pricing, content, distribution, advertising and everything else that comes along with writing. I love communicating with my readers. I love getting messages and emails about how they never saw the ending coming or about how I HAVE to write another one because they have to know what happens.

I love writing these blogs post and getting my thoughts down on paper and I love sharing all of that with you. I love building a following of new readers. I love providing and experience through words and stories. I LOVE THIS and because of that it is the easiest thing in the world to do.

3. Focus

I went back and forth on several words for this last one, but I landed on focus because it requires and intense amount of that to find success in the business I am in. You have to work towards it every single day. You have to sacrifice for it and give up so much for it.

You have to stay focused and you cannot allow yourself to think that you’ve earned a rest because there is someone out there chasing you. There is someone out there getting up just as early, staying up just as late, spending just as much time and writing stories that are just as good as yours.

The instant that you rest on the past, you will get taken down. There is so much to keep in mind when you are doing what I do. There are so many things that have to be taken care of and they have to be taken care of consistently.

What does that mean? It means you are required to be on your freakin A-game day in and day out. You have to be the most focused person in the room because if you’re not, there is someone out there who is and they are fighting for the same thing you are.

Focus is what it takes, and focus is one of the hardest things to possess in todays world. There are so many distractions and so many things to break that focus, but I’ll let you in on a little secret. Most people don’t have it. Most people can’t stay consistent.

Most people cannot persist, even for their dreams. You have to be different. Those who are different are the one who will realize their dreams. That’s where the focus needs to be. Keep your mind on the thing you want the most. Never let it out of your sight and never slow down until you get there, then speed up!

Love Before Law – debut novel – Click Here