Should you turn the ship around?
I’m a plotter. While it’s a definition of my writing style, it bleeds over into my life. I like to plan for things when I can. I set goals. I cascade key performance indicators (sort of.) I like having a game plan.
I went into 2024 with this in mind, especially for my fiction career. I was planning on releasing my backlist, for one thing. I had budgeted a short amount of time per backlist title where I’d received reverted rights back. It’s not an insubstantial amount of books – I’ve been writing for nearly 25 years, after all! – so it would still take the better part of the quarter. It meant revising each, a simple sweep for glaring time clunkers (Blockbuster video, anyone? Answering machines?) and maybe tightening the writing to better reflect where I am as an author.
It had been on my to-do list for nearly a year, so that was the first Q1 plan. I was ready!
And then I read the first book.
At which point, the plan jumped the rails in a spectacular fashion.
I’m not going to go into the issues with the books. I’m still proud and fond of them on a certain level, from a historical standpoint. That said – they were definitely projects of their time. They don’t match who I am anymore, and they certainly don’t match my brand.
The amount of time it would take to revise – essentially re-write – these books would be exhaustive. I might as well write new books in the same amount of time, that would help solidify my brand and satisfy my audience.
Is this real, or resistance?
I’ve been known to lose perspective. My agent can attest to this, since about 75% of the way through any writing project, I usually contact her crying and wailing, claiming that I had to start completely over because “this is all trash!” and “it doesn’t work at all!”
So I know to pump the brakes when I start to panic. My personal opinion is all well and good, but what I really needed was real, useful feedback.
Check-in: do I need to pivot?
In this case, I polled my newsletter. These are my super fans, after all… my Right Readers. Surely they would have a valuable opinion. I don’t write slavishly to polls, mind you, but I also don’t ignore people who support me for my own whims. In a perfect world, they love what I love to write.
So I asked them if I should revise/re-release my backlist.
While there was a small but vocal group that claimed they loved all of it (as I said, super fans, whom I love dearly!) the majority of responses were: we like what you’re doing now. In fact, a bulk of people came on with later releases and didn’t even know the old ones, but weren’t interested in going back to the tropey style I’d written before. They wanted more of the style I’d developed over years of thrashing around aimlessly in the trenches: dramedy, grounded situations, humor and coziness and fun.
Which was wonderful to hear, really.
That said, it did mean scrapping all of Q1 and my plans for backlist income. I had a financial target for the year. I believe in setting income goals, because writing is my business, just like Rock Your Writing is my day job.
It was painful, but to me, it was necessary. Just like a plot outline is a living document, flexibility is key, and adjustments and recalibrations occur throughout.
It was clear: I needed to pivot. But to what?
The biggest mistake that I’ve seen, that I have in fact made in the past, is making the assumption that because something wasn’t going to plan, everything had to be scrapped, re-evaluated, and re-adjusted.
Thankfully, I have also learned that this isn’t the case.
My backlist plan was just a component of my overall plan for the year. It wasn’t the whole smash. It wasn’t even technically a crucial element, if I thought about it.
I focused on the positives.
I now had more time freed up for different projects and approaches.
I didn’t have to spend money on proofers or cover artists for the titles, which would have added up and been an initial cash outlay.
It also means that my personal author algorithm wouldn’t be all over the place, which it currently is. When you write a bunch of different sub-genres and categories under one pen name, the algorithm for booksellers frankly doesn’t know who to recommend you to. Pair that with not getting enough sales, by the way, and it just won’t recommend you to anyone.
While I didn’t mind these things initially, thinking that my backlist was low-hanging fruit that I ought to be addressing, in hindsight it’s probably the good idea.
Recalculating…
Something to know about me: I could get lost in a bathroom stall. I have no sense of direction or spatial relations. Thankfully, GPS was developed, so when I sailed past whatever turn I should have taken, I’d hear the robotic voice say: recalculating your route.
That’s what I now needed to do. I still wanted to end up in the same place. I just needed to find a new route.
I looked at the rest of my year.
I revisted my personal GMC for the year, to make sure that I was still clear on my end destination. What was my goal, why was it important to me?
And of course, my favorite, double-checking my assumptions and requirements.
Without backlist, it meant accelerating some of my plans for future writing projects. Again, not a bad thing. In fact, it might even be better ultimately. Only way to know would be to try, test, measure, and evaluate.
I assumed that getting more titles out there quicker would help with the income goal. But was that the only way? Was it really what was required?
Probably not.
I could learn how to use ads and experiment more with marketing. I could do more cross promotion. Rather than add more titles that ultimately might damage my brand and my algorithm, I could push harder on existing successful titles.
Between writing more front list (that eventually becomes backlist) and learning to make my promotion more effective, I can potentially achieve what I want in a different manner.
Think you might need to pivot?
Before you uproot all your plans, I would suggest that you check with your gut first of all. If something feels off, that’s your first warning sign.
Then ask people you trust. If a majority confirm, with good reasons, you probably need to consider it.
Look at the pros and cons. If there are enough cons to staying the course, you might need to pivot.
Look at your assumptions and requirements. (I did before I took one step into Q1, and I still fell into the trap!)
Finally, look at adjusting your plan. You don’t have to scrap the year in February and start from scratch.
Don’t worry about messing up.
Which brings me to my last point.
It’s easy to beat yourself up when plans go awry. There can be an expectation that you should have known better. That you won’t get to where you want to go with these kinds of mistakes. That things are irrevocable.
That’s not the case. Trust me: my writing path has been a walking testimonial for “it’s harder than you think to utterly destroy your career!”
The important part is moving forward. It’ll hurt sometimes, and I’m not pushing toxic positivity. Feel what you’re feeling. Take some time to process.
But ultimately, the best thing for you is getting back in there. Go to your support group, return to your touchpoints, your motivation.
Then get back in there. You’ve got this!
Next week, I’ll write about finding your Right Readers.
A lot of people responded about this, but this one’s going to take a bit for me to write! I’m glad for the feedback, though. Again, if you have any questions or want to see a newsletter topic, let me know!