I think the favorite motto of a writer is, "I hate marketing my book." Most times when I ask someone about their marketing techniques, they talk about how much they despise it and would rather have someone else do it. Unfortunately, whether you're traditionally published or self-published, you will have to do a fair bit of marketing if you want your book to succeed. The question is, how much time do you put into marketing vs your writing? Obviously you won't have anything to market if you don't write!
Here are a few tips and ideas I've learned about when to market vs when to write and how to divide your time.
Feeling inspired? Put the marketing aside and get those words down on paper. Don't squander time if you're feeling creative.
No Inclination to Write? Then focus on marketing. Sometimes putting together graphics or sending out tweets/building your reading and writing community can help you break out of that creative fog.
Deadlines for Books: If you have short stories due for contests, or a book due for printing, put the marketing aside and focus on getting that done. You want to make sure you meet those deadlines so you can market it later.
Deadlines for Interviews/Guest Spots: If a site or station is waiting on your interview or a guest blog, for example, then make that your priority. You might have to put your writing aside just to make sure you get that deadline done. Remember, this will give you traction and bring more people to your website.
Long Break: Do you have a few hours during the day where you can sit and focus on your book? You might consider writing. While marketing can take hours to do, it's easier to get that done in shorter spurts of time than working on your novel.
Short Break: Are you waiting at a doctor's appointment? Do you only have a few minutes to relax before a meeting? Spend that time marketing. Post a tweet. Share information about your book. Check your e-mail. It's easier to do that than to get writing done.
Split time: Maybe you want to market and write in the same day. Create meetings for yourself. From 6-8, you'll work on writing. From 8-9, you'll work on marketing. Treat those like meetings that you can't miss. That means you can get both done!
Author Events: When you have an author event coming up such as readings, signings, tours, you want to spend most of your time marketing. Share your event to the community you've built up. Focus your tweets and Instagram posts around what you'll be doing. At the same time, post pictures while you're at the events! Not only will you be preserving memories, you'll also be sharing your experiences with your readers. This is a time to focus on the marketing and getting to know the crowd, not the writing.
Burnout: At some point you're going to burn out from writing or marketing. When one fails, turn to the other. Usually if I'm too tired to write, I can still market my stuff. I might engage in a twitter thread or post a couple of pictures on Facebook and Instagram because it doesn't take a lot of energy. Sometimes, trying to share yourself with the social world can be draining. When you feel worn out, settle in, turn off social media, and just focus on your book. And, if you hit a point that you can't do either, take a break. Allow yourself to breathe and come back to it another day. If you keep pushing yourself, you won't do well with either your marketing or writing.
Scheduling: Each week, create a schedule for yourself. Decide what's most important (writing or marketing), and jot down the days you want to do one or the other, or both. Having this routine set up can make the whole process a lot easier and more friendly for yourself. Scheduling marketing posts is helpful too. You can take a day to schedule posts/blogs/interviews, and then while those launch, you can work on your writing.
Check in with yourself: Check in frequently to see how you're feeling. If you're starting to feel too overwhelmed with writing or marketing, it may be time to switch up your schedule. You are in control. You have the power to do as much or as little as you want. Make sure you're being kind to yourself and taking it all one step at a time.
Create Shortcuts: Find ways to get multiple kinds of marketing done at the same time so you have more time to write. For example, use hoot suite or another platform that allows you to schedule and set up multiple posts at once. The site posts for you while you write. Or, schedule a blog post on a Tuesday and have that be your "marketing piece" that you share that day. By 9am, you may be done with your marketing. While views are rolling in on your blog, you can go back to writing.
A lot of this really depends on where you are mentally and what needs to get done. If you're itching to write, then write. If you're craving social media, focus on that. And if you find that you're struggling in one of those areas, then make sure you set up time that you can sit down and focus on publicizing or writing your work.
It's likely authors hate marketing because either 1. they aren't sure how to do it productively, 2. they don't like stealing away from their writing time, 3. they don't like talking about themselves, 4. it's just not their forte. If any of this is true for you, you may want to look into finding someone who can market your work for you. That way you can spend more time writing.
I hope this helps!
If you have any topics you'd like me to cover, please post them down below!