How Do Authors Spend Their Time?

 

One billion seconds is equivalent to 31.71 years. The average American is over a billion seconds old. Most of us will live for 2.5 billion seconds — and then some.

D0 you spend your time wisely?

How will you spend your next hundred million seconds, or 3.171 years?

When I mention time in the unit of seconds, it sounds like we have a lot of time. But, in reality, we have precious little time for life — and even less that can be dedicated to writing and promoting books. So, what is the best use of your time?

Budgeting one’s time is always challenging, as we seek to balance our desires and needs. Just as soon as we calculate our schedule and map things out, surprises hit. Anything from traffic delays and unanticipated storms to sudden surprises — sickness, injury, theft, accidents, loss, death, firings, divorce, etc. — that drive our attempt to shape our daily lives is thrown for an enormous curve.

But what generally influences our time usage? Other people.

Friends, family, and colleagues eat time off the clock. Chores, favors, and demands run amok. The schedules of others impact your own. We are at the mercy of chance and choice.

But aside from managing your time better and learning to say no to others and cutting corners or deprioritizing some things, you need to answer two questions as a writer:

1. What do I need and want to do, should I find the time to do it?

2. How can others help me do the things I lack time, skill, knowledge, experience or a desire to do?

To answer the first question, determine what your goals are. Exactly what do you seek to achieve? Branding success? More book sales? A way to monetize your fame? To influence people or policy? To create a legacy? To get a film or publishing deal?

Next, set deadlines. What will be done by when? What would your daily commitment to these tasks involve? What resources and which challenges have you identified?

Then, calculate exactly what needs to be done by when. Allow for time to handle random delays, learning curves, and mistakes. Assume nothing goes according to plan and anticipate potential pitfalls.

Now, you must answer to the second question, once you realize burnout, sleep deprivation, and energy/mind drains will lead you to seek help.

You can get two kinds of help: domestic and book marketing. Domestic help is anything from a cleaning lady, therapist, personal shopper, nanny, or anyone who can provide a convenience service to your daily life. They save time but cost money.

The other help is specialized book marketing services, the essentials provided by an informed, passionate, and experienced professional. You utilize such a person because you lack any or all of the following: desire, skill, knowledge. connections, experience, and of course, time.

Really give some thought as to how you will spend your precious millions of seconds and take steps to make the most use of your time to market yourself and sell books. 

 

Please Contact Me For Book PR Help

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres.

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2022. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This blog, with over 4,000 posts over the past decade, was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Susan RoAne, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, IBPA, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult: linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.