Balancing writing with a full time job

For many authors, spurred forward by hot coffee laced with lethal doses of cold determination, there may be several years of unpaid work before their efforts provide a viable income.

Some achieve quick success - but those are in the minority.  Most of us are not in a position to give up our day jobs on a whim, and leave behind the routine, the security and the sense of achievement that comes with having a legitimate career.
You know, one your parents approve of.

I count myself extremely lucky to have my dream job.  It could be better... but not by much. A couple of years ago I set a goal for myself and achieved it, and while I had intended to set another career goal once I hit this point, my passion for writing has meant I've refocused those efforts into being great at my day job, and being as successful as time allows in my passion, until such time as I can grow it into a viable income alternative.

I don't have a partner, and am vaguely jealous of those who do - the love, support, and financial security it must give someone to have a backstop and a loving spouse who 'gets' what you do, must be amazing.  But when I look at what I have right now to contribute to a partner, it would be an IOU written on the back of a power bill to the effect of, 'When I'm famous, Gerald, this'll all be worth it'.

I've not yet met a guy who'd enter into a relationship with a woman who works 90% of the time, on the promise of a distant future of champagne and high quality patio furniture.

Even if there IS a firepit.

So how do you balance a full time career with writing?  

One strategy is to keep yourself on track with a schedule that lays out what you're going to concentrate on, on any given day of the week, so that you give equal time to your blog, your social media, your original creation (aka the fun stuff) and your editing.  As any self-published author knows, writing books is the easy part.  Building the business around your work to help deliver it into the hands of your audience is like training ravens to go back in time and deliver your book to your future readers between 7pm and 8pm on the last Thursday before the winter equinox in 1955.  It's not impossible, but some bending of our current understanding of physics is required.  And trained, time-travelling ravens aren't cheap.

What year is it?

Understanding what needs to be done, first and foremost, is key.  I recently listened to a great podcast, via the guys over at Rocking Self Publishing, where successful self-published author Adam Houge was interviewed.  Adam has a very clear understanding of the business of reaching your audience, which is a great place to start if you're looking at the cost of time-travelling ravens, wondering how you're ever going to make this work.

You can listen to the podcast here:  Interview with Adam Houge

But chin up, there is hope.  If you're lucky enough to have a great job you want to keep, and you want to be successful with this writing lark, getting organised is the first step.  Track everything you do in a spreadsheet to understand how long each task takes you and assign a space in your routine to devote to it.

There are some great books on marketing your writing to find your audience, but if you haven't read those yet, here are some basic tips to get you started.

1) Make time to learn what you need to do to reach your audience.  This is the most important task, and the hardest step to take when you're caught up in writer's fever.

2) Make time to stay across what Amazon's up to.  Amazon owns the market, let's be honest, and changes in The Algorithm (usually spoken about with a sense of both frustration and reverence) can make all the difference to your marketing strategy's success.

3) Keep talking to your fans via blogs and social media (hey fans!) - long silences are bad in any relationship.  (Sorry Gerald)

4) Zealously allocate your time to delivering your book to market, to make sure you don't end up with a heap of books on your desk, and no strategy for how to bend the space-time continuum.

5) Recognise that a lot of readers are also writers these days - so why not share what you learn as you go along?

And if you're a fan coming to see what this author is up to, the good news is that my first book in the Väktare series is getting close to completion, and will be released by the end of 2016, with two more in the series to follow in 2017.  You can learn more over at my website.