Select a page
      Choose Category
      RSS Feed Subscribe to email

      Category : Career

      • November 26, 2013

        Writers: Learn to Think Quarterly

        by

        We’ve been talking about making a living at writing, and I’ve talked about the importance of having a place, a time, a project, a writing goal, and a calendar (among other things). Let me suggest there’s one other thing you’re going to have to learn to do if you are to take the next step in your writing career: think quarterly. 

        It can be daunting to think you need to earn $1000 this month. It’s much less daunting to think you need to earn $3000 in a quarter. The fact that you have the extra time allows you to shift your priorities around, and give yourself enough breathing room that you can earn the money. So don’t think the pressure is on you to make all the money NOW — assume you’ve got a three-month goal.

        The federal government already thinks that way — it’s why they ask self-employed writers and editors to pay quarterly taxes instead of monthly. Writing income never arrives on a monthly basis anyway, though it’s fair for a writer to plan for a decent paycheck four times per year. So you move your income into quarterly groupings, lowering the pressure and giving yourself a better big-picture view of your budget.

        In essence, I’m suggesting the conversation with yourself becomes something like this: “I’m going to make $3000 this quarter. It’s going to come from three sources — my completion money, my royalty check, and those magazine articles I’m completing. And the money is going to go toward these things…” (because part of having a budget is determining where the money goes, not just where it will come from).

        When I was given this idea from an experienced freelance writer, I found it took a bunch of pressure of my shoulders. LOTS of writers and other self-employed people have based their budgets on this model over the years. Thinking quarterly will help you survive as a

        Continue Reading "Writers: Learn to Think Quarterly"

      • November 25, 2013

        Why you need a Writing Calendar

        by

        If you’re going to make a living at writing, you’re going to need to consider creating a writing calendar. This is, you need to have a document that details what you’re going to write each day. Think about buying a big paper calendar, and jotting down a writing goal for each day of the month. For example, perhaps on Monday you’re working on chapter five of your book, Tuesday you’re completing the chapter, Wednesday you are creating that article you’ve wanted to do for the writing magazine, Thursday and Friday you are doing a paid edit. In each day on your calendar you’ve got something that focuses you on the task at hand.

        To figure out what you put into each day, you look at your “to do” list and do some prioritizing. If you’re one of those writers who has been stuck at “writing 1000 words each day,” but not ever feeling like you’re actually moving forward in your career, you should try this. There’s nothing wrong with having a word count goal, of course, but sometimes it’s better to know which project you’re working on, and how long it’s going to take you. You’re going to have plenty of other things to do, of course — there will be phone calls related to your work, and seemingly endless emails, and forms to fill out, a friend’s piece to critique, some social media to participate in… but at some point you just want your writing life to have a focus — getting these pieces written so I can make some money. 

        And that’s why you don’t just write down the goal for each day and stop. You then go back and add in a dollar figure, so each project is seen as contributing to your budget. For example, that article you’re writing for the writing magazine? How much is that paying you? Let’s say it’s $150 — you write

        Continue Reading "Why you need a Writing Calendar"

      • November 20, 2013

        Redesigning My Website – One Author's Experience (a guest blog)

        by

        When I mentioned to Chip that I recently had my website redesigned and sent him the link to check it out, he asked me to write a blog post and share my experience with you.

        To give you an idea of where my site was when I began my redesign process with Aaron Robbins, I need to share a little about my website history. I began blogging in 2008, on a free Blogger blog at the URL mycup2yours.com. The platform served my purposes well (writing parenting posts geared toward moms) and I was happy with the functionality and design.

        Over the next few years, as my blog began to grow and my passion for writing in the parenting genre became more serious, I changed the appearance of my site, added more selections to my navigation bar and more widgets to my sidebar. I admit, at the time, I didn’t really have a long-term vision for my site. (I was just tweaking it here and there.) I also bought the domain for my name and created my own website through WebSiteTonight for gennyheikka.com. While I wrote about parenting regularly on mycup2yours.com, this second URL was where I had my writing bio and information about the children’s books I had written.

        Managing two sites turned out to be time consuming, so a little while later, I made a major change, switching from mycup2yours.com on Blogger to gennyheikka.com on WordPress, combining the two. So not only did I switch blogging platforms, I changed URLS and  years of blog posts at mycup2yours transitioned to gennyheikka.com.

        It was a hard decision and one that came with complications in terms of SEO, redirects, and lost subscribers, but it was the right thing to do from a branding perspective. I wanted one place that readers could find me and all my work, rather than going to one site for my blog and another to find

        Continue Reading "Redesigning My Website – One Author's Experience (a guest blog)"

      • November 18, 2013

        Treating your writing as a business

        by

        I’ve been exploring the notion of making a living in the new publishing economy, and I want to make sure writers understand the big picture… You’ve got to treat your writing as a business. 

        Oh, sure, some writers will insist on treating their writing as an art, which is fine, and for some writers no doubt more appropriate. I represent some authors who don’t really see themselves as business people, but as artists, creating words that share their stories. I totally understand and respect that perspective, since some writers are, in fact, artists with words. But if it’s important to you that you generate a full-time income through your writing, and you’re pondering how to create a number of writing projects that will improve your bottom line, then you need to begin to see your writing as a business. In essence, your words are a service or product — they have value, and others need to pay you in exchange for them. 

        Determining the value of your words is tough at first, which is why I’ve encouraged authors to begin by setting a small monthly financial goal, then building up the number as you find success. If you know you need to earn, say, $2500 per month, then it’s clear the goal is about $500 per week (which sounds small when you put it that way, doesn’t it?). Thinking in that manner moves writing into more of a business model, since it reduces your work to numbers: “I need to make $500 from my writing this week.” You then begin to map out which projects you can do that will generate the cash flow you need.

        As I’ve said a number of times on this blog, today is a great time to be a writer. There are more readers and more opportunities than ever before, so there’s a market for people who can create good content. You’ll still hear people

        Continue Reading "Treating your writing as a business"

      • November 15, 2013

        What does it mean to "make a living" at writing?

        by

        I’ve been talking about authors trying to make a living at writing recently, and a couple people have written to ask me, “When can I know I’m actually making a living with my words?”

        To me, the answer is personal. One author may feel she is making a living when she’s earning $1500 per month; another may feel she isn’t really making a living until she’s making $3000 per month. I think you have to pick an amount based on your own situation. What are your household income needs? What’s reasonable for you to earn over the course of a year? How much time do you have to devote to writing?

        When I started free-lancing, I was working other jobs (I hosted a radio show called “On the Record with Dr Chip MacGregor,” and taught some classes). At first my writing income was slim, but over time I had more writing and editing projects coming in, and I saw my monthly income from writing move from $100 to $300 to $500 to $1000 per month. I had a big jump from $1000 to $1500, then to $1800 per month. When I began making an average of $2000 per month, I realized I could make more money if I gave up my part-time jobs and just focused on the writing and editorial work. Granted, this was a number of years ago, but I had three kids and a mortgage payment, and making more than $2000 each month was enough to live on.

        So, as you look at your situation, how much do you need to make? You may choose to set a small goal from your writing at first, then grow it over time as your writing career moves forward. You have to begin to see “words” as “money” — that is, your writing having value. One of the things you’ll discover is that when you look at words that way,

        Continue Reading "What does it mean to "make a living" at writing?"

      • November 11, 2013

        The (new) MacGregor Theory of Making a Living

        by

        A few years ago, I created a talk about how an author can make a living with his or her writing. I called it “The MacGregor Theory” (with apologies to the MacGregor who came up with all the Theory X and Theory Y stuff), and over the years it’s been picked up and discussed by all sorts of writers and editors  in the blogosphere. But now, with the changes we’ve seen in the world of publishing, it’s time I go back and revise my theory of making a living. So if you’ll indulge me…

        I have five rules for authors who want to make a full time living at writing:

        1. You need to have four-to-six books earning you a royalty. In other words, you’ve done books in the past, you’ve had some earn out, and you currently have some books that are making you a passive income.

        2. You need to have 18 months to 2 years of contracts. This is much harder to do in today’s publishing economy, but if you’re going to do this full time, you probably need to know clearly what you’re going to be writing for the next year or two. If you have your calendar filled up for the next 18 months with projects that are contracted, you’re at least afforded the clarity that comes from knowing what you’ll be working on.

        3. You need to be self-publishing. These days, most successful authors have generated some sort of income by self-publishing books, novels, novellas, articles, and/or short stories. This is a new piece of the plan (well… not to those of us who started out in this business writing magazine articles, but new to everyone else), and fairly essential to make enough money to live on. The days of surviving on book advances are over, for all but the A-list authors who are getting the mega deals. In today’s market you need to

        Continue Reading "The (new) MacGregor Theory of Making a Living"

      • October 17, 2013

        Thursdays with Amanda: How to Find Time to Market and Write and Not Give Up on Life

        by

        Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

        One of the top questions or complaints I get when discussing the whole “You HAVE to market your book!” thing with authors is the  time factor…and the fact that there is not enough of it.

        “When do I find time to write?”

        “How do I prevent from getting sucked into the social media world?”

        “How do you strike a balance between writing and marketing?”

        I hear these questions time and again, and they always come from authors who are wearing panicked expressions as the reality sets in that yes, marketing is an absolute must, and yes, the brunt of the marketing burden is theirs to bear, and no, after you get your publishing deal, writing the next book doesn’t get any easier mentally or physically or emotionally.

        And my knee-jerk response?

        We make time for the things that are important to us. I’ve never met an author who didn’t have time to read the next installment in their favorite series…or who wasn’t able to catch the latest episode of Downton Abbey/Doctor Who/Castle/etc., even if it mean DVR-ing it…or who failed to show up for their day job because they were too busy.

        It’s all about priorities, and for most authors, marketing simply isn’t a priority because it’s viewed as WORK. And even worse, it’s a form of WORK that doesn’t result in a paycheck at the end of the week. As far as the author knows, it may NEVER result in a paycheck. So that’s where the trouble sets in.

        It’s a mind game, really. I’ve had authors who

        Continue Reading "Thursdays with Amanda: How to Find Time to Market and Write and Not Give Up on Life"

      • August 14, 2013

        How can I create a purpose statement?

        by

        Someone wrote and asked, “Chip, can you help me create a purpose statement for me as a writer? I think I need to clarify my purpose statement. I’m a literary novelist… can you assist me in moving forward?”

        If you’re thinking about creating a mission statement or a life purpose statement, here are some questions to think through:

        1. If I could sum up the purpose of my life in one word, what word would I choose?

        2. What if I were to sum it up in three words?

        3. How would I want my epitaph to read? If I were to live to be 100, what would I want people to say about me at my 100th birthday party? [And kudos to Bobb Biehl for these questions. Bobb is the president of Masterplanning Group International, and was thinking and writing on these topics long before anyone else in the business. You can find him at www.bobbbiehl.com –and yes, he spells it “Bobb.”]

        You may also find it helpful to ask yourself some questions like these:

        4. Over the course of my life, what do I want to do?

        5. What do I really want to be? How do I want to describe myself?

        6. Who are the people or groups I most want to help?

        7. What sort of things would I like to accomplish in my writing over the next three to ten years?

        8. As you look back over your writing career, what are the themes that are evident? Who have you written to? What have you written about? What are the timeless questions you continue to speak to?

        As you look at your answers, you’ll start to see some themes. Once you have a feel for those, consider creating one non-technical sentence that can be sort of umbrella statement for your work life. Don’t think of this as art, even though you’re a writer –

        Continue Reading "How can I create a purpose statement?"

      • August 1, 2013

        Thursdays with Amanda: Why Authors Need Street Teams

        by

        Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent. Her author marketing book, The Extroverted Writer, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

        Remember in the 90s how you’d buy a CD (or tape) and inside would be inserts that advertised band t-shirts and other artists on the label? And remember amidst these inserts there was one that promised to make you a groupie and all you had to do was send your postal address?

        Before the Internet…before musicians connected with fans via Facebook and Twitter, Street Teams were all the rage (look! There’s even a Wikipedia page about it!). You’d simply send your info and in return you got a boatload of band paraphernalia. Bumper stickers, flyers, buttons, posters–you name it. And all you had to do in return was promise to plaster your high school with said items.

        To any teen wanting closer contact with their favorite band, this was a must. I mean you didn’t get any cooler than being known for being such-and-such band’s local promoter. (Me? My method of band promotion was to wear band t’s everywhere…to the point where a college professor remembers me as the “Death Cab for Cutie Fanatic.” But that’s neither here nor there.)

        So where am I going with this?

        Bands of the 90s were on to something. And they HAD to be. In a competitive industry that demands you travel from run-down venue to run-down venue via a 15-passenger van in hopes that you make a good impression and create enough buzz to be invited back to a BIGGER venue that hopefully maybe sells out so that your single gets radio time so that more people hear your music so that

        Continue Reading "Thursdays with Amanda: Why Authors Need Street Teams"

      • July 10, 2013

        WHAT AN AGENT LOOKS FOR AT A CONFERENCE

        by

        By  CHIP MACGREGOR

        Someone wrote to say, “I know you’re going to the big RWA conference this month. Of the appointments you have at a conference like that, how many actually result in your asking for more material? How many result in you giving serious consideration to an author? How many will you actually sign to represent? Just curious.”

        Of the appointments I have at a normal writing conference, I’d say I might have 15 to 30 appointments — some formal, some informal.

        Of those, maybe 5 or 6 result in my asking to see more.

        Of those, I may get serious about 1 or 2.

        Of those, I may or may not sign one to an agency agreement.

        For years, most of us have agreed that we’re looking for ONE GOOD PROJECT at each conference. That will mean the conference basically pays for itself. Sometimes I don’t get any. Sometimes I get one or two. And I should note that RWA is one of the very best conferences in the country – a great place to learn about writing and the industry (not just for romance writers, but for anyone looking to make a living with books in this country). It’s coming up in Atlanta later in July, and it’s worth every penny to attend.

        On a related matter, I had someone ask, “What is the most important piece of advice you can give to a writer heading to an agent or editor appointment at a writing conference?”

        The most important piece of advice is simple: Have your proposal and sample writings so well honed that an agent or editor has no reason to say “no.” That’s easier said than done, of course, but that should be the goal. A great idea, expressed through great writing, in a great proposal, preferably by an author with a great platform. All of those things take time and talent, of course, but

        Continue Reading "WHAT AN AGENT LOOKS FOR AT A CONFERENCE"