Workflow for authors...no wait, come back!
we are our own worst enemies, istg
Authors generally don’t think too much about workflow past “getting the thing written.” We fly (or crawl) through the writing and editing process, then put together everything else as we go along. We tend to clump our business into three sections: writing, publishing, and marketing.
Which, fair enough. That works. Mostly. Usually.
And while there is a lot of advice out there about how to structure writing goals, both for planners and discovery writers, and there is also a lot of advice on how to run a business, what I’ve found lacking is that there isn’t much on teaching authors how to be actually organize the whole workflow process from start to finish.
Which is why this week, a chunk of my time is being taken up with preparations for the Subscriptions for Authors Summit 2023 (the first of many, I hope!). It is happening this upcoming weekend, May 5-7, and the reason I have to prepare for it is that I am actually giving one of the presentations: “Simplify Workflow Management for Subscriptions Success!”
While I’m new to the subscription model of selling my stories and building community, I am NOT new to project management. In fact, my hobby side hustle is being a productivity coach for solopreneurs. What is a productivity coach, you ask? To put it in an elevator pitch: I use a personalized and tailored approach to help my clients effectively manage their time, energy, and resources, ensuring they get the most out of their personal and professional life.
I actually enjoy it a lot, because I’ve been a “productivity nerd” since I was a young girl, which led to me being a project manager (officially and unofficially) in most of my jobs over the years.
My superpower is breaking down processes and quantifying them, organizing them, and explaining them. So, that’s what I’m doing to the whole “being an author” business, in order to help authors who are great story tellers but not so great at organizing their to-do list or planning their tasks out. Whew.
I’m drafting up an outline, creating handouts, designing a slide deck, and practicing what I’m going to say. I love giving presentations, to be honest, but I have not given one this structured or this long (45 minutes) in years. Guess it’s time to dust off those powerpoint skills…oh wait, it’s 2023, we use Canva for that!
Creating handouts: still as mind numbing as it ever was. 😑
The summit is free, and I’m doing this pro bono, so I plan to make the materials I have created for it publicly available once the summit is officially over. The presentation will be recorded and made publicly available as well, so I’ll share that link too. Honestly, the subscriptions part is just a fraction of the stuff I cover, so I hope authors who are not using subscriptions might find it helpful too.
Look, I’m making a Notion template for you people!!!! How can you not be excited about that????