This is the first installment in a new series, I've affectionately titled, "Donut Making Time."
YES, I know Donut is really spelled Doughnut.
What's more important is this will be a series of posts dedicated to the craft of writing. The business side along with the creative side. It will feature my opinions and experience with a decent helping of positivity and sarcasm, so take it or leave it.
Don’t turn a hobby into a jobby.
It’s one of my favorite quotes/sayings, and I have to be one hundred percent transparent: I forget where I heard it. If this saying belongs to you, raise your hand high so I can give credit where credit is due!
Over the last decade, I’ve built a number of entrepreneurial ventures from a self-sufficient, reputable, moneymaking blog to licensing a product and being awarded a U.S. Patent to publishing seven independent titles.
“You’re a creative,” I hear often. I don’t consider myself to be one, but I guess I am. That being said, I consider myself a businesswoman.
Business strategy is the common thread with everything I’ve done.
Yes, I love to write. Lifestyle columns, fiction, and opinionated prose: I love it all.
I spent years prototyping and “crafting” as I liked to call it when creating my product.
And blogging is an art in and of itself. It’s crafting a message in a way that’s authentic, personal, and PROFESSIONAL.
Except, none of the above would have happened without strategy and forethought.
Maybe I make it look easy (I don’t know, people say that, but to me…it’s all hard work). This is not a new thing, but lots and lots of people want to be bloggers and writers and both. They want free items (doesn’t happen so easily) and they want to top the chart over at the BIG ‘Zon (even less likely).
BUT here’s the thing…it’s very rare when this happens without deep marketing (elbow grease + budget) and exceptional planning.
Who is going to find your blog? How will they find it? Why should they read it?
The same can be said of your book. Not to mention, is your blurb intriguing? How do you plan to reach new readers? How about your cover? Is it inviting? Appealing?
You want free stuff? What are your blog’s numbers? Unique Visitors? Commenters? Engaged readers? Do you know?
Oh, you want a publishing deal? ^^ See above. Same stuff.
Point being, there is a lot of hard work behind the scenes to turn a passion into a bona-fide business. I strongly feel you should love what you’re doing. But in order to do what you love, you may have to do a lot of shit you don’t love.
This post brought to you by being called “inspirational” on Twitter this morning. HA!
Well, I would say painfully truthful, yet inspirational (and sarcastic).