Playing publicist

Multitasking is something that we have to do. Every single day, we have to do two or three things at a time just because there are so many things that need to be done and only a limited amount of time to do them in. I'm used to multitasking. Working two jobs at a time, teaching a class and running a church program all at once, I'm used to it. It's been useful when I started working as my own publicist.

Self-publishing is good to just get your book in print, but that doesn't mean that you'll sell a lot of books. There's some leg work involved. Lots of multitasking, long days, and late nights. Especially when you have another job or two to pay the bills. Multitasking and time management are two of the most important things--other than writing skill--that a self-published author can have. Because no one else is going to do the work for you, not unless you're willing to fork out a lot of money for a professional or semi-professional tour group or publicist to plan your blog tours and get your name out there.

Multitasking as a self-published author not only means writing and editing your own novel, but it means playing your own agent and fighting for your work. It means playing your own publicist. It means spending hours upon hours sending out emails to book bloggers, putting out feelers for book reviews or interest in participating in a blog tour. It means coming up with ideas for blog posts. It means spending a lot of your time doing things for yourself.

At least for me, writing isn't my method of income. Sure, I've made a little money with my writing. Not enough to keep my bills paid, so I have to work a day job. So I have to manage my time to make sure I get my day job done as well as take care of all the writing and promotional things I need to do. I spend at least four to five hours a day on my writing between blogging, writing, and working on promotional things. That's good on my days off or when I'm on holiday from work. Not so easily done when I have to work all day.

I'll never regret the decision to become a self-published author. But I know now that it takes more than writing a novel to really become one. There's so much more involved. You have to be your own publicist, your own agent, editor, and cheerleader.

You have to fight for yourself, because no one else is going to.