Time management for self-publishers - The Plan

I am thankful to each and every one of my clients. Thank you.

As promised here is the time management for self publishers plan I would like to share with you. Several years ago I used this method, and had tremendous success with getting things done.

Recently I revisited the method I used and this is the plan I now have in place, and hope that you'll find it useful...

1. The first thing I looked at was my realistic time I have available (both for my client work, and my own writing). I say realistic, because although I have about 4 hours available (from getting home from work until going to bed), it isn't practical to use all this time for work and writing. To be honest, I just don't have the urge to work around the clock anymore. Besides burn-out, it would also mean I have no time for my wife and family (and relaxing).

2. On determining how much time I had, I wanted to make sure I would use the time productively, and be able to focus on the tasks I had to do.

My time allocation is thus...

Monday to Friday: 1.5 hours (client work), and 1 hour (my writing).
Saturday & Sunday: 3 hours for each day (client work/writing) - subject to social commitments (family do sometimes come and visit).

This will give me about 8 hours a week for my writing (subject to client work).

3. In order to utilize the time productively, I will be using an old fashioned timer, and work strictly within the allocated time.

4. In order to prioritize my time and focus on the required tasks that need to be done, I made a list of every task that is needed for my next 2 books.

5. I subscribe to several blogs and newsletters so that I stay up to date with what's going on in the self-publishing world. And now, instead of reading these every day, I will use part of my Sunday time to catch up. I've also un-subscribed from lower value blogs and newsletters.

This is my plan, which I believe to be a realistic one. Looking at  it since I began following it, it's working very well so far.

I trust that you will give it a try and also benefit from this method.

A great little book is Brian Tracy's Eat That Frog.

Eat That Frog (hard copy version)

Eat That Frog (Kindle version)

Do you have a time management you use? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments below.

Time management for self-publishers

Ah, time. That elusive thing we all don't seem to have enough of - at least not as the years move on in life. In youth, we generally tend to feel we have endless hours... to squander away on worthless activities.

Time management is a fallacy. We are all dealt exactly the same 24 hours every day, and in the real world there is no management of this valuable resource.

If there are practical time management tools that we have, it is these: Prioritize and Focus.

As a writer with a 9-to-5 job, productive use of time is something that does not always come easy. Add to this running a part-time business, and time management becomes a real fantasy. Prioritize and Focus.

When I started this blog, I had made big changes with regards to my part-time business, and other online activities. I did that because I wanted to focus on my writing. As life would have it, it wasn't to be...

I was inundated with book design and e-cover projects, and although I am extremely thankful to each and every one of my clients, my personal writing took a back seat.

If you have been following my self-publishing diary, and have been disappointed by the scarcity of the posts, I do really apologize.

The good news... I recently spent a few days planning, and revisiting my priorities, as well as what I need to focus on. What I came up with is what I believe to be a practical plan.

I want to share what I did with you, and how I plan to make better use of my available time. It's my hope that you will also use and benefit from (especially if you're a writer with a 9-to-5 job).

I will share the plan with you in the next post.

In the meantime, are there any questions or comments you may have about time constraints with writing and holding down a job?

Here are 2 videos I think you may find interesting...

Stephen King on e-books

Tip on Book Writing & Research from Dan Poynter

Phew... neglected my diary

A deluge of projects and the inquiries the past few weeks kept me from updating my self publishing diary.

I'm now pinching some and sharing my progress, with goodies and news I mentioned previously.

We wrapped up my son's book, Kickstart Your Graphic Design Career, and it went live on 21 November.

Bronson proved that it can be done to write and self publish your book, even with tight deadlines and a work overload.

If you are considering self publishing a book, let me assure you, IT IS POSSIBLE, and can be done!

Kickstart Your Graphic Design Career

My own progress changed slightly. The side project I mentioned a while ago actually took center stage. My Success Journal went live on 16 November. I've used a success journal for many years and can say I get a lot of benefit from it. That's where the idea came up to create My Success Journal and hopefully others will benefit from it.

My priority #1 book - DSPB has taken a bit of a back seat as result of my workload. Although I've only worked on DSPB now and then, the writing of the book is actually close to finished. As from January, it will again become my #1 priority.

My Success Journal

What I Saw Online

A great interview with Seth Godin, where he talks about books, business and life.

Seth Godin Interview

If you're planning on self publishing your book, this article may be useful...

Formatting Basics

We writers generally don't like planning. But planning a book can really be useful, especially for self publishers. This site offers super advice, and templates to help you create your own writer's plan.

The Writer's Plan

Still on the fence whether to self-publish or not? Maybe these stats will help you to take action.

Self Publishing Stats

If you've just entered the exciting world of self publishing, and wondering how to get more book sales, these 10 questions may help.

10 Questions

SBI! offers a practical suite of tools to start and run your own online business. If you have even a slight talent with writing, or have a way with words, SBI! can work for you. If you've been thinking along these lines, SBI! have a Buy One, Get One Free special running at present.

Your Own Online Business

Wishing you the best that can be, and trust you have an enjoyable holiday season.

All in day's work...

It's been somewhat busy around here.

Book design projects, e-covers, and my own writing. Unfortunately my self publishing diary ended up on the short end of the stick.

Sunday there will be a full post here (and some news :))

Wishing you only the best that can be.

Send to Kindle for PC

NOTE: A technical glitch yesterday... couldn't post.

This is something I felt I must share – good service is so rare these days.

Without a doubt, Amazon Support is outstanding.

When the Amazon Send to Kindle for PC app launched (feels like ages ago), I immediately grabbed it. It installed without a glitch, and I used it many times – no problem. After a re-format of my PC, I didn’t re-install the Send to Kindle app (mainly because I forgot about it).

Last week I remembered the Send to Kindle app, and downloaded the latest version.

Hiccup. When I tried to install it, I kept getting a network error. I re-installed, re-booted… to no avail.

I decided to contact Amazon Support. What a pleasant surprise!

Two e-mails between myself and the Help desk, and I was advised to use the Amazon “Chat” feature on the Support site.

Yesterday morning (yes, Sunday), I logged into the Chat feature, and sure enough there was someone online to help me.

It must have taken about 7 to 10 minutes, and my Send to Kindle for PC app was installed and working.

Hats off to Amazon Support!

By the way, if you create Kindle ebooks, using the Send to Kindle app is super to review your Kindle ebook before uploading to Amazon.

Send to Kindle for PC
Send to Kindle for Mac

Diary Update

Nothing exciting to report this week... well, nothing exciting in the sense of an interesting read (I suppose). Spent the whole of last week working on Chapters 2 & 3. Adding, removing, moving around, creating diagrams... basic writing stuff, I suppose. I’m happy with the progress I’ve made on my book the past 3 weeks.

I received new order for Kindle ebook design, so most of my time this week will be spent on that.

What I saw online...

 

Penguin Acquires Self-publishing Success Story – Rebecca Donovan

“Penguin has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights in The Breathing series by Rebecca Donovan. Rights were acquired by Lindsey Heaven, Senior Fiction Editor, from Alex Slater on behalf of Erica Spellman Silverman at Trident Media Group.”

http://www.booktrade.info/index.php/showarticle/43255

Novelnook

Can authors ever have enough exposure? Came across this last week: Novelnook.

This is what they say: “At Novelnook, we strive to offer the best services to our self-published eBook authors – for free. We also have constructed a community that fosters social networking and interaction.”

Sounds great.

And something that caught my eye, and sounds really super… authors will get paid immediately, and don’t have to wait for monthly payments. Apparently, you get paid as soon as the transaction is done, paid directly into your PayPal account.

I haven’t used the service yet. If you have, I’d really like to hear how you found Novelnook.

http://novelnook.com

When should you start promoting your book? Very interesting comment from Seth Godin…

"The best time to start promoting your book is three years before it comes out. Three years to build a reputation, build a permission asset, build a blog, build a following, build credibility, and build the connections you’ll need later."

I wish you terrific and tremendous success!
Colin

It was a quiet week

From busy, busy, busy to quiet... that's how things are in this crazy business, I suppose :o)

Actually, it was a bit of a lazy week (and yesterday I took the family out for the day).

I got Chapter 1 back from my tester - after looking at the comments, I had a brainstorming session with my son. I love brainstorming... their is so much value in this type of exercise.

As result of our brainstorming, I came to the decision to re-structure my book slightly (a neat benefit of self-publishing, I think). There will now be a little re-work to be done, but it will end up being a better book.

Also, as result of our brainstorming, the self publishing checklist I had is also going to be a  better document. The self-publishing checklist is going to be used as a promotional tool, and I believe it's now going to be more beneficial, and will offer the reader more value.

Although I haven't made a firm decision yet, I think my deadline for Book #1 will be February 2013.

Last week I worked on a side project... it's a small project I started in January (been working on it now and then), and it should be available in November. All will be revealed when it's available.

What I saw online...

Kindle is not the only player on the block. Kobo Writing Life now offers authors the opportunity to self publish on the Kobo device.

http://www.kobobooks.com/kobowritinglife

That's a wrap for this issue of my self publishing diary.

I wish you terrific and tremendous success!

Colin

Busy week

It was a busy, busy, busy week. Amazing how time flies when you're having fun :o)

I've been busy with the book design project, had a few e-cover designs, and worked on my book.

I'm anxiously awaiting the feedback from my tester on Chapter 1.  Made corrections (and additions) to Chapters 2 & 3 - should get the drafts wrapped up next week (depending on when corrections come back from clients).

Where I'm at with book #1:

• Chapter 1 draft done and with my tester.
• Chapters 2 & 3 ready to take to author's draft (then to tester).
• Chapter 4 ready to be checked by me.
• Chapter 5 author's draft to be written.

And then there's a lot of planning to be done iro promotion.

Here's an idea I came up with. I thought of sharing interesting tidbits I come across in my travels through cyberspace (yes, I also do a lot of reading, in between work). These will be things about self publishing, independent publishing, book design, cover design, etc.

What I saw online...

If you're sitting on the fence, still thinking about whether you should self publish or not, this article may be useful...

25 Reasons to Self-Publish, Part I

What's your opinion?

Here is something that's been debated for a long time (feels like forever), and even today there's no conclusive proof: justified or ragged right text.

Actually, some years ago research was done and it was found that text that's ragged right helps with memory retention (sadly, I can't remember where the research was done).

What made me think of this?

Last week I saw someone (again) say that Word was not suitable for designing a book. The main reason? The hyphenation feature in Word is terrible when justifying text. To be honest, I can't disagree with that.

My questions to you: Do you consciously notice the difference between justified and raged right text? Do you feel Word is a bad choice to design your book (or ebook)?

I would love to hear what your thoughts are.

I wish you terrific and tremendous success!

Colin