Thinning the Herd
Happy 5th of July. The holiday is over, and we are once again in front of our keyboards with glazed over, crusty eyes, a 2-liter mug of coffee, and a fistful of Adderall. (Well, that’s what I heard!)
A few of us are writing, some procrastinating, and others are carefully monitoring their twenty minute allotment of daily social media time. If you’re in that last group, go ahead and click the little red ‘X’ in the corner of your browser window. You are beyond my meager abilities to help.
Are they gone? Ok, the rest of you listen up. I’m about to share the magic words of publishing that will instantly catapult you to a JK Rowling degree of success.
The Magic Words Are:
Tagging, Liking, Linking, Sharing, Tweeting, +1 ing, +K ing, Commenting, Friending, Following, Fanning, Voting, Pinning, Blogging, Branding, Posting, Hosting, Touring, Tribing, ‘Pal’ing, Poling, Playing, and Praying.
I’m still figuring out how they work, but trust me, when I do, we’ll all be rich! Until then, I have another idea. Since I’ve totally just messed with the SEO crawlers, let’s talk about dentistry.
Writers and Dentists
“Huh? Did he say ‘dentistry’?”
Ahem… Thank you.
Dental Consultants exist because most new dentists have neither the knowledge nor the desire to run a business. Businesses are like children, though. They need care, nourishment, and comfortable cages plus proper guidance if they are to be successful. Deny them these, and they will give you pain and chaos in return.
“Um, Mister Greg, Are you at the right blog? We are writers, not dentists.”
Yes, thank you. I’m getting to that.
Writers, like dentists, have very specific skill sets which, sadly, do not include managing a business. That’s why the advice I gave the Tooth Doctors is just as applicable to us Word Doctors. Without (much) further goofing off, here are the foundational elements of that advice.
1. Know yourself and your purpose for doing this job.
I’m talking about your Brand as a writer, and your mission statement as a business. These come from your writing style and personality, they define you, and inform every professional decision you’ll make. I’ll share my mission statement, just to get you started.
“My mission is to make a comfortable living writing Scary, Gory, Monster Horror, with positive messages and firearm safety tips for K through 4th grade readers.”
If only I could think of a “sexy, sassy, smart, career-driven” writer who exemplifies Brand… I’ll get back to you on that.
2. State your professional values.
Now that you know who you are and what you hope to accomplish, is there a line in the sand that you won’t cross to attain it, or will you do whatever it takes? Unambiguously state your Values, and never compromise them.
More examples:
“I will never sacrifice the quality of my work just to have my name on another book.”
“I won’t let trivial things like Professional Editing and Cover Art keep me from making a self-imposed deadline.”
“I never met a sock puppet that didn’t ‘Like’ me back.”
Whether you want to keep your soul, or just get top dollar for it, your values statement will guide you and define your boundaries.
3. Set goals
Goals are specific and attainable, or they don’t count. They come in French Fry sizes (chips, for our former masters across the pond), and you should utilize them all.
If your Super-Sized goal is ‘I want to earn enough money to quit my day job, and hire my spouse to hand-wash my running socks,’ then your Large and Medium sized goals will be the monthly, weekly, and daily activities that move you closer to it.
Final words (at last!)
You know who you are (Brand), what you hope to accomplish (Mission), how you want to accomplish it (Values), and the activities required for success (Goals). Now it’s time to make a commitment.
Make a schedule.
Share it with someone who will punish you, or at least say mean things to you if you break it, and reward yourself for keeping it by yelling at someone who didn’t.
Here’s a great example of a successful writer’s schedule.
So, tell me, all you dentists writers in WG2E-Land: Do you see yourselves as business owners? Do you have mission statements, values, goals, and schedules? What other tools help you stay on track?
The Best of Indie Epublishing Business Wishes — Greg Carrico
Greg is a former Dental and Practice Management Consultant, software trainer, and salesdude. Enduring years of torture in the dental and technology industries uniquely qualified him for his new career of writing horror and dark science fiction stories. When not creating new worlds and plotting their destruction, Greg reviews indie books for Live the Story. He lives his story in Central New York, with his wife and three small canine overlords, who he faithfully serves by trying to educate people about the horrors of puppy mills, and the joys of adopting the dogs rescued from them. You can read about Charlee, the Bichon Frise who came from a puppy mill in Texas, all the way to New York, twice, to rescue Greg, here.
Greg is also a superfab WG2E Street Team Member and a big part of our Beach Book Blast Team too! 
I recently wrote out my ‘mission statement’ and it has really helped to focus me as a writer. The other thing it does is make me feel more comfortable about promoting myslef – I know I’m not just trying to sell books, I’m all about finding readers I can entertain!
Great post D.D. x
Good morning, Joanne. Thanks for stopping by so early. I could have written pages and pages about mission statements! I did, in fact. I had to trim this post down from about 80k words
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As you point out, creating a mission statement really does help focus your efforts into doing the RIGHT work. Once you clearly and concisely state your objectives, it’s amazing how much guidance you can get from it. For you, it was the fantastic point that you have to promote yourself and your brand as much, or even more than your individual books if you want to connect with, and entertain the readers who will love your work.
Very Well said!
Yes. Great advice.
There is one word that I would suggest encapsulates all the magic words: MARKETING.
Your brilliant writing and your sensational novel will remain anonymous and wasted if nobody knows of its existence.
Tell the world!
Very true, Paddy! We are all craftsmen, creating a product for a specific market. A major component of our job in the New Publishing world is to make sure that our products get in front of the peeps who are willing to pay for them. Building a brand and a public persona is a vitally important part of this, but so is having that product to sell! If we aren’t spending as much time writing as we are pimping… er, uh, marketing and network building, then we should take a good look at our missions and goals!
Thanks for your comment!
Hi Greg! Great post!
I look at it as a business – in fact it’s what gave me the courage to do. People start small businesses all the time and indie-publishing has less start-up costs than most. So I decided to invest x amount of dollars in Little Hondo Press ( Little Hondo being my nickname in HS ).
I measure my time spent in learning things like formatting against how much it cost to get it professionally done and it works out ( for me ) to get pay for it.
It’s actually fun at times to be using what I learned in school and apply at my day job to my childhood dream.
Good for you Liz! That’s a great way to think of it. The start up cost for an indie publishing business is certainly a heck of a lot less than, say, a Pizza Hut! I value what I learned with my first book, but I’m very pleased to do my part for the economy, and turn some of those responsibilities over to the professionals. It’s always great to know your business from every angle, but that mission statement will tell you when it’s time to make the hand-off for some of those tasks. Mine doesn’t say anything about becoming a leader in the cover art industry
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I’m glad you said it was your childhood dream, too. The most successful business people in the world are the ones who do what they love! It’s a shame that doesn’t always work in reverse, though. Loving what you do isn’t a guarantee of anything; you have to be smart about it, too.
Cheers Liz! Thanks for dropping in!
Oh I love the idea of a ‘mission statement’ that keeps things in perspective. Setting goals and expectations is something I do at the beginning of each year. This year’s goals for me have fallen by the wasteside as life stepped in and turned all of them a little topsy turvy but because I focused on my goals it’s easy to resume and re-evaluate for next year.
I’m sorry to hear that, LM. Life does have a way of intruding at the most inopportune moments. I’ve had to adjust my own goals for the year, too, so I know a little bit of how you feel.
(Ha!)
The important thing is not to lose track. Hurdles will always be there, and I like to think that they make us better and stronger people (and artists!) for either leaping over or crashing through them.
Keep your goals in sight, and remember that they are not carved in stone (unless that’s your chosen medium). They are meant to adapt and change with us as we learn and grow. Once you get to a place where know everything, like me, then you can keep the same goals from year to year.
Thanks for commenting, LM! I’m glad you stopped by.
Greg, for a guy that writes horror, you are pretty dang funny! And Smart! The advice is great. More and more anecdotally I am hearing that all the social media is crying out in the wilderness. The paradigm is changing (ooh, look at me being all business sciencey) and it seems better to go deep not broad. Find your niche and really work it. Yeah to the rescue dogs too!
Thanks LC! I find a twisted sense of humor to be a requirement in this business! I’m glad you enjoy mine, even that makes you a tiny bit scary to me
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I love the word ‘Paradigm,’ too! I say it and think, “Big deal! It’s less than a quarter,” but I’m starting to think maybe I’m using it wrong.
I think you are right about it, though. There is a huge market for books of all sorts, and with eReaders and ease of access, it’s only growing. The great news is that it means you can write what you truly love, because if you love it, there are other people who will love it, too, and some of them will buy your work.
Thanks again LC! It’s great to see you here!
Crusty eyes! Adderall! Torture! Horror! Destruction! Sounds like you’ve got the perfect mind-set for publishing success. LOL
Ha! That’s hilarious, Ruth! I’ll take that as gospel from a successful writer to a noob like me
. As it happens, that mind-set comes from sales and from a brief stint as a VP Operations. Imagine my delight when I found it fit perfectly into my new vocation!
I didn’t make the world, I just try to enjoy it!
Thanks for making me chuckle this morning!
Great post! I just need to find out what “poling” is and I’ll be all sorted. I’m sure hubby asked me if I’d do it a few times in the bedroom! ;-D
You mean your DH didn’t go into the deets?
ROFL! I’m sure he did, Sibel. And I thought I made that one up! I’ll send you some photos offline for clarification, but I take no responsibility for the state of your eyes if you choose to look at them.
Thanks for the blog post, Greg! I’ve not given any thought to a mission statement, but you’ve got me thinking of it now! I do have goals for writing, though, and I do see what I do as a business. Thanks for the good links, and for sharing your story, too. Now I know a part of why you are the way you are… Dental and Practice Management Consultant – yikes!
Yikes, indeed, Tamara! ‘Dental and Practice Management Consulting’ is every bit as dangerous as it sounds. I made it out alive, though, with straighter teeth and a little bit of knowledge to show for it.
There is a fine distinction between goals, even major goals, and a mission statement. For some folks, setting goals that make sense is an intuitive thing, and they have no trouble staying focused on what they want to achieve, but for others, not so much.
One doctor I worked with was very good setting goals and making plans, but he was very easy to influence. Whoever got to his ear first with an idea could change the direction of the his business. He made goals and went after them full steam without considering their effect on his business as a whole. What might sound like a very reasonable suggestion for a single part of his business could have had a very detrimental effect on the rest of his practice. With no mission statement, or even any guiding principles or values to help keep him on track, he was trying to go in opposing directions at the same time.
That’s kind of a long (boring) way to make the distinction, but hopefully it clarifies the difference a bit. A mission statement is Big Picture, and your goals are the building blocks you use to achieve your mission.
Alright everyone, Wake up! I’ll stop lecturing.
Thanks Tamara!
I’ve not really thought about a mission statement before. Let’s think of one now. Well, I want to be able to earn a decent living from my ebooks within the next 3 years. I think that is a reasonable time period for that. And within that time, I would like to be known for writing magical realism with gentle warm humour and have built a readership and mabye a fan following for my series.
Howdy Julie, It’s great to see you this morning!
Thinking about it is the first step. There are lots of resources out there for constructing a mission statement. I’m going to suggest, however, that you ignore most of them. For our purposes, we just want to say what we are about, as you just did. A mission statement is just a tool, and furthermore it is part of a system of tools that work together to channel our efforts and activities in a way that achieves our definition of success.
Using your mission statement and your values as a guide, you will make goals that will help you attain it, and a schedule of activities that will accomplish those goals. Every time you set a goal or plan an activity, ask yourself “How does this help me accomplish my mission?” If you can’t give yourself a good answer, then you might want to make that item a lower priority, or drop it altogether.
By the way, if that’s your Mission, I want to read your books! I love magical realism!
Cheers!
Great post! Nice reminders (and tips for those who are not yet following the outline above). Since I was already an entrepreneur prior to becoming a writer, and I have done/incorporated the topics listed above, I’m off to a great start of treating my new writing career as a business.
BTW, I’m lovin’ this blog and the wonderful topics you all cover!
Your entrepreneurial background will be a huge benefit as a writer, Sharon. Kudos on already using a solid framework for your writing business! Seeing it in that light is an important step! We’re thrilled that you are here and are finding some use in our discussions. It’s all about payin’ it forward and using what each of us has learned to help one another.
Thanks for commenting!
Wow, fabulous post, Greg! Dang, but I’ve got a lot of work to do. And, wow, is this not only going to help me with my own work, but help me when I teach e marketing this fall. Thanks! (hmm, maybe I should have taken a business class in college, who know those things were actually useful in real life)
Hiya Merry! Thanks. I’m glad you enjoyed it and found it useful.
Umm, I’m not really sure I should admit this, but my degree is in database development. I didn’t take my first business class until after I worked my way from sales trainee to VP of Operations at a small regional computer distributor, and then worked as a consultant and trainer for one of my clients! Sure I did it backwards, but real life can be helpful in real life, too
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Thanks for visiting Merry! I can’t wait to see your eMarketing class!
Awesome suggestions! And I loved seeing DD’s schedule. So helpful to have a peek into how she does it all.
Thanks for setting me on track, Greg. And in such a fun and entertaining way. You have such a killer sense of humor, dude. And I’ve got some work to do!
Hiya Paula,
DD’s schedule is amazing, isn’t it? She and the WG2E have been such an inspiration and a help to me in my writing career, I’m kind of stunned and honored that I’m actually doing a post here! I guess I could have just posted that link and said, “Have a nice day,” and it would have been just as helpful, but then I wouldn’t have had as much fun. And having fun is pretty important to me.
I’m rather pleasantly surprised if I set you on track, too, especially since my personal mission statement includes the words “What would PJ Sharon do?”
Thanks for commenting this morning! Now, get back to work!
For me, Greg and PJ, it is all about writers helping writers reach readers.
The fact that we can all share our experiences here at The WG2E and help to keep each other relatively sane and marching on is what inspires me. You all inspire me, and if we each continue to pay it forward and inspire each other, we’ll make our writing world a much better place.
Beautiful post, Greg. Luv your humor. So great to have someone cut through the chaos as I race about thinking: “What AM I doing?” Easy to forget mission and values when we’re so busy on our goals. And bless you for helping doggies
Thanks Alicia! I love my doggies! Just look at my photo albums on Facebook, and you’ll see! Some of them have had such brutally hard lives, I have to do what I can.
I run around shouting “What am I doing?” more than I should admit, too. I’m like the basketball coach who knows the game, but doesn’t always play like he coaches… I’m gonna go re-read my post and see if I can learn something from it
Cheers!
Awesome post, Greg! I haven’t thought of a mission statement before, but I can see how that would help to focus me. I need something! LOL I am a little ADD these days although I never was before. I think it’s because with all the social media stuff out there I get too distracted and I move from one to the next before finishing anything I start. Ugh! I really need to set a schedule to handle it and not go over my time limits. Writing. Writing. Writing. That MUST be my focus the next few weeks. You guys may not see much of me.
I hear you Rhonda! I think we need to make a support group. We can share our schedules with each other, and pile abuse on our fellow members when we see them breaking their schedule. We’d be kind of like Word Count drill sergeants, holding each other accountable. I would certainly benefit from something like that!
“I saw you on the Street Team Facebook group at 11:30, when your schedule clearly says Writing! Get back to work, soldier!”
I’ve joked about that with PJ before, that’s why I ordered her to get back to work in my reply. I’d never be rude to black belt!
What do you think? Who wants to sign up? Lol!
Thanks Rhonda! Now get busy!
Oh yeah! I definitely need something like that! I wouldn’t be rude to PJ either. That woman’s a master at self-defense! LOL
This is a great post! I recently had a long talk on a Facebook group about marketing strategies, and this really goes back to that. The plan I thought I had wasn’t really a plan at all, and certainly not detailed enough. I don’t thin there’s any right answer (maybe there is?) but with all the changes in the industry, having a set of goals is a must. Thanks!
Hi Stacy, Thanks for visiting! You’re right that a goals are a must! If you don’t have ‘em, you’ll never attain ‘em. They are just a part of the structure, though. Each individual piece of that structure is better than nothing at all, but if you use them all together, you are prepared for success.
As for the right answer, the only right answer is the one that works, and sometimes it can take a lot of trial and error to figure out, or a lot of luck. Fortunately, we have this fantastic group of writers who try new things all the time, and then share what worked for them, and what didn’t work. If we are prepared with a solid business structure, we can act quickly on what we learn before this amorphous publishing market changes the rules again. Fortune favors the well-prepared!
Thanks for your comments, and sorry for the cheesy business platitudes. My sleepy brain falls back on them when I work too late
Cheers!
Great post, Greg. You are one funny dude. You should take a break from writing horror stories and deliver some funny ones. Just a thought. You are seriously funny, my good man.
Dean
He is a funny guy, isn’t he Dean? He cracks me up! But then you’ve been known to make me laugh, yourself.
Glad I’m in the company of those that appreciate humor.
I’m seriously honored that you think so, Dean. Like Rhonda said, you’ve been known to crack me from time to time, yourself!
I have to say, though, that I have great admiration for comedy writers. I’ve tried it, and do you know what? Humor is HARD! I enjoy finding humor in everyday life, but to actually craft good, witty humor is well beyond my meager skills and talents.
I’ll just keep laughing at myself and the rest of the world, and settle for frightened gasps from the audience.
By the way, the words ‘seriously funny’ always make me laugh.
So thanks for the chuckle, Dean!
Cheers, my friend.
Oh, Greg, I nearly spit out my coffee while reading the opening paragraphs. Great way to grab my attention. LOL!
The rest of your post was wonderful, too, and gives one much to think about, and do, on this writing journey. Thanks for the great advice!
Hi Sheila,
I don’t want to promote coffee abuse of any kind, so I’ll be sure to warn you next time. On second thought, you’ll probably just want to go ahead and expect more of the same.
I’m glad you enjoyed the post, and I appreciate you stopping by!
Cheers!
Good thing I wasn’t drinking my tea for this response. I’m pretty sure coffee and tea are under the same protection laws.
Evening, Obi Wan, otherwise known as the Dentist Dude.
Great post. Goals are key. Something I do is to make a note of the word count before I begin a piece, be it editing or creating new work. We tend to forget that mulling over and thinking and tweaking is writing too, not just the sexy new stuff we write when we’re creating.
Where I fall down is in the ‘marketing’ and ‘selling’ part of the process. I can do it for others but find it daunting to do for myself. People who know me find this incredibly strange because I can be vocal about many things regarding publishing and writing. The key is to find our readers. You’re absolutely right about connecting with others and being consistent, I suspect that’s where I need to do better. This post has given me plenty of food for thought.
May the force be with you.
“We tend to forget that mulling over and thinking and tweaking is writing too, not just the sexy new stuff we write when we’re creating.”
This is a great point Christine! I have a spreadsheet that I dump my wordcounts into, and sometimes I wonder what the heck I’ve been doing for all of those hours when the numbers aren’t where I like them to be. As you said, there’s more to writing than typing, although that’s a pretty critical component of it!
Most of us are strong in one or two areas of the process, but weaker in others, so we tend to spend our efforts where we are most comfortable. Unfortunately, there’s more to building a house than just framing, and there’s more being a successful writer than just writing.
Thanks for pointing this out! It’s a huge help to me to hear it!
Oh, and these are not the droids you are looking for. Move along!
This is just fabulous, Greg! You nailed it!
From day one, Indie Epublishing has always been a business to me, and every decision I make in all aspects of running my Empire is about making sure what I do feeds the achievement of my business’s goals and mission statement.
When I started my journey, I planned on running a Small Business, but because I kept a business focus, in less than two years, I’m now running a multi-media empire!
P.S. My dad has been a dental lab owner for over 40 years and is considered the best lab man in the state, so I definitely “get” your analogy! Well done!!!
Thanks D.D.! Keeping that business mindset is so important, especially in the early days, when it’s easy to think that you’re only one person with a laptop, so why pretend? It’s not pretending, it’s practicing and conditioning yourself to do it right. It’s planning to succeed, and acting on that plan.
You’ve certainly been a lighthouse on the cliff for me, and it’s so cool that you’ve been sharing what you’ve learned with the rest of us.
Wow! 40 years as lab-man! He must be amazing! That truly is an under appreciated art! A large part of a dentist’s reputation can be attributed to his lab. And don’t you just love that Lab smell? Well… maybe love is a bit strong.
Thanks again, and extra thanks for this opportunity! I promise I’ll try to recover the readers I scared away!
Thanks for the great post, Greg, even though I’m a few days late. I’m trying to get all my business stuff situated this summer before starting a new book when the kids head back to school. So I’ve got all kinds of goals set.
Mission statement isn’t something I’d thought of, even though I do think of my writing as a business. I’ll have to start thinking. Yet another goal to set.
Hi Stacey,
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You’re not late! D.D. has read my post, and I haven’t been banned, yet, so I’m still here, even if I’m a day late replying
Saturday through Monday are “family days” for me, so I haven’t even checked my email since Friday evening! I get to be a writer the rest of the week because of my wife’s hard work, so my weekends belong to her. It’s a fair trade
Good for you, for taking time to organize the business side of your writing life. For me, a mission statement is just a way to keep my eyes on the prize. When I write, I know what I’m supposed to be doing. My mission statement guides me with all of the non-writing stuff, and keeps me from setting goals that might lead me off track.
Thanks for commenting, and I hope you have a great summer!