Increase your income using effective time management strategies

Effective time management can really boost your productivity which, in turn, can increase your income, you become more confident, complete work on time and gain a reputation as a reliable writer.

Here are some tips on improving your time management:

1. Set clear writing goals – some of these will be commissioned work, others may be speculative, and some will be longer term investments e.g. writing a novel.
2. Identify non-writing tasks – these might include marketing activities, making phone calls or keeping your records up to date.
3. For each goal and task set the deadline and identify how much time is required to reach completion. Ensure the time you allow is sufficient and allow for setbacks however do not overestimate the time required.
4. Prioritise your goals and tasks.
5. Create time slots within your writing time and allocate tasks from your list. You may want to plan for the week ahead to ensure you allocate time to all of your goals, even those that have a low priority. This plan will ensure that each time you sit down to write you will know exactly what you are doing.
6. Start work on time. If your writing slot starts at 9.00 in the morning then start writing at that time; make coffee before your writing slot.
7. Focus on one task at a time. If during your time slot you are working on an article then only work on that article. Keep a notebook beside you to note anything that comes into your head that might become a distraction, you can come back to these after you have finished writing.
8. Be flexible. If you suddenly have a burning desire to complete a piece of work or a last minute commission comes your way then adjust your plan ensuring that you still complete your top priorities to their deadline.
9. Finally - have fun.

Happy writing.

Promoting your book

Extract from Publish it! available from Amazon

You've written it, you've published it, you now need to sell it! Any published writer will tell you that making your book available to the public does not equal sales. You need to actively promote your book on an ongoing basis to maximise sales and income. At this stage readers do not know who you are or even that your book exists; you must tell them.

If you are publishing your ebook exclusively on Amazon Kindle then enroll onto KDP Select and make use of the five promotion days. During this period your book will be made available as free to download. Now you might think that giving your book away is not a good idea, how are you ever going to make money if you charge nothing. Give it away and you will get significant downloads across all Amazon sites, this increases the chances of getting reviews, your ranking will go up, when a reader looks at a similar book they will see your book in the “customers also bought” section, and your book may be promoted on an “Amazon recommends” email. The key to making sales on Amazon is to increase all sales whether paid for or free. There are many websites that will promote your book as a free download, some require a few days notice and others will only accept books that already have good reviews.


Many self-publishing companies that offer retail and distribution as part of their service provide additional promotional tools for the writer because the more sales you make the more money they make. One of these tools is the author page, make best use of this to publicize yourself as well as your books. These are used by readers and therefore offer you a valuable marketing tool.


Create a website - you can do this for free and websites can be really easy to set up and maintain. Update regularly to ensure your potential readers come back time and time again. Offer incentives such as a free download related to your subject area. Many writers capture email addresses; if you do this ensure you send emails regularly and only send emails/newsletters that contain relevant and useful information.


Promote yourself on other websites – if you have written a book about steam engines then maybe there are website owners that would welcome an article or blog from you.


Write a blog - this can be on anything that is of interest to you and your readers. It could be about your writing day including any frustrations and successes. It could be on anything that is going on in the world. It could include reviews of books you have read. The main point is blog regularly, once a fortnight at a minimum.


Use social media - Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest all provide platforms that enable you to engage with your readers. Sometimes it is suggested that you should not openly promote your wares on social media; you can however say “really excited about publishing my new book title on Amazon today.” or “received an excellent review.” Manage your time carefully when you engage with any Internet activity as you can soon find that five minutes has become an hour.


Consider setting up a social media or website page in the name of your book character; ensure you make it clear this is a fictional character; this can be particularly useful if you are writing a series. Again update regularly.


Create opportunities to promote your book to groups of people – give a talk to an interest group, arrange book signings, do a reading, volunteer, or offer your book as a prize in a raffle. Make use of any opportunity to raise the profile of yourself and your book.


Local radio stations and newspapers - they are only too happy to interview local people with something interesting to say. Think about what you want to say; will it be about the characters in your book, your previous life, why you write or what are you working on now.


Advertise - this can be expensive with limited payback so look for reasonably priced or free advertising opportunities in locations that are frequented by your potential readers. This might include buying cheap online space or using a small local newsletter.


Contact your local shop – if your book has local interest, don't forget you are a local writer, ask your local shop to stock your book on a sale or return basis; create a poster or leaflet to promote both the book and the shop.


Contact historical sites and tourist attraction – if your book includes a location of historical interest, e.g. a manor house, perhaps they will stock it on a sale or return basis.

As you can see you have many opportunities to promote your printed or ebook, create your strategy today and start increasing your sales.

Happy writing.

Extract from Publish it! - How to self-publish your book for free using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), CreateSpace and Smashwords

Why write for a living?

When I first started to write and earn an income from my writing I didn’t really appreciate the benefits this new lifestyle would bring me. It wasn’t until I realised I could take a flexible approach to both my writing and non-writing activities that the true benefits really dawned on me – I could live life on my terms. Go surfing when the surf was up, watch my children at sports day and work at a time of day that suited me.

I still have to work hard at my business, yes writing is both business and pleasure, however I can choose my working hours and, more importantly for me, where I work.

I am typing this blog post in my garden during the cooler evening hours. In a few days I’ll be by the sea; in between surfing I’ll be completing my book and continuing to blog. The hour each morning I used to spend commuting is now spent in bed with my laptop writing, marketing or updating sales data.

Whilst some days I spend 12 or 14 hours on writing or writing related activities there are times when much of the day is spent with my family.

Why not give it a go, start writing your first book, short story, article or blog and make the switch from the 9 - 5 routine to a flexible approach to work.

Happy writing.

Dictate your book and increase your writing speed

Have you ever imagined lounging on the sofa or in the garden whilst dictating your latest book to your secretary or PA? You've heard the stories of the writers who have done just that and have published several books a year.  

As you are probably aware most people can speak faster than they can type so it seems logical that dictating your work will improve your productivity.

You too can join those writers whose output seems to defy belief. Essentially you have two options:

1) Dictate your book using an audio recorder, send the recording to a virtual (or real) assistant who will type up your words and deliver an electronic copy of your book back to you ready for editing.

2) Use speech to text software and watch the words appear on screen as you talk. You can even use an App on your mobile to record small amounts of speech, convert it to text and then email back to yourself.

Both options have a cost however when you think how much you could increase your output – possibly by 400% – the investment will soon provide a return.

Happy writing.

The office in your pocket

Extract from Write it! - How to write your book in 30 hours or less

 

You can carry everything you need in your pocket and be ready to write whenever you have a few minutes or an idea strikes. A mobile phone with a note taker, voice recorder, camera and internet access will enable you to work on almost any aspect of your book wherever you are.

 
Use your note taker or voice recorder to write the next section of your book. Take photos to use on the cover or illustrate your work. Access the internet to undertake your research.

A mobile phone is one of the best tools you can have to help you make your non-writing time (planning, research) as productive as possible and enable you to add extra writing slots when the opportunity arises. Any mobile that comes with, or allows you to install, a collection of useful Apps will help increase your productivity by ensuring you do not lose any of those ideas, great opening sentences or thoughts for your next chapter.

Whilst out walking the dog you can start your next writing session; you already know the topic you are going to cover and have completed your initial research so just switch on your voice recorder and start dictating the next paragraph. Save this and type it up during your next writing session or use speech to text software to do the work for you.

If you are not comfortable talking into your phone in public then use the note taker to write your next section, no-one notices if you are “texting” whilst walking. You can email this to yourself and copy into your book.

See something that either sparks an idea or would be a useful image to illustrate your book. Use the camera feature, mobile phone cameras now create high quality images, save the image and email it yourself with some notes.

A timer is great for counting down a fifteen minute writing slot. Note your word count at the beginning and end of the session.

Mindmaps can be used to help generate ideas or plan your book. There are paid for and free Apps available.

Calculator – use this to work out how many books you need to sell this month to generate your target income.

Could you write your entire book on a phone? Yes, use every available five minutes and you will soon have that first draft finished.

 

Happy writing.