How to Defeat “Writer Overwhelm” Once and for All

Recently I surveyed writers about their biggest challenge, and the following response caught my attention:

Some days . . . all of it. I feel totally lost at times. How do I build an audience, know my work is where it should be, decide which publishing path to pursue, know who is the right person to approach about editing my book, pick the right agent?

Can you relate? Are you experiencing your own version of writer overwhelm?

In this post I want to offer a way forward that I hope will reduce your stress and help you focus on the right next step.

But first I want to address a matter of mindset that plagues many writers.

Mindset Shift

Writing a great book is a long-term project. You’ll come across a lot of people out there who want to convince you otherwise, but the reality is that writing a truly good book takes time. Similarly, building an audience takes time, and so does marketing a book.

Often a lot of stress comes from believing all of this can be done quickly. It’s just not true. Sure, you can write and self-publish your book in a month, but I guarantee it won’t be that great, so what would be the point?

Do you see how extending your timeline can reduce your sense of overwhelm? Mind you, this is not a reason to slack off or get lazy, but it is a reason to settle in, relax a bit, and start chipping away at the process one step at time.

Three Areas of Focus

You can boil the whole writing-to-publication process down to three areas of focus:

1. Writing
2. Marketing
3. Publishing

These are not hermitically sealed categories; rather, they blend and intertwine with each other. But when trying to decide what to focus on, it’s helpful to think of them separately.

Many writers want to jump as quickly as possible to the publishing part, but if you want to have the biggest impact possible, it’s important to focus on writing and marketing for a while. Take solace in knowing that as you make progress on 1 and 2, you’re setting yourself up for 3.

Now let me show you the steps my most successful clients have taken in each area.

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Writing Steps

When it comes to writing, here’s the process:

1. Design a writing process that works for you and establish a writing habit.
2. Decide when you’ll write your manuscript vs. marketing-related writing (e.g., blog posts). Start writing consistently.
3. Develop your book concept. I’ve written about this here and here.
4. Write your manuscript.
5. Edit your manuscript.

Marketing Steps

When it comes to marketing, here’s the process:

1. Begin growing your email list.
2. Create a website.
3. Publish content to serve your email subscribers on your website. Send an email to let your subscribers know when you’ve published something new. Shoot for publishing something at least once a month. Ideally you’d publish a new piece once a week.
4. Keep growing your email list.
5. Develop a plan for marketing your book as you prepare for its publication.

Publishing Steps

When it comes to publishing, here’s the process:

1. Write a book proposal. This is helpful to do regardless of whether you pursue a book deal or self-publish or work with a hybrid publisher.
2. Choose a path of publication. For a really good breakdown of the various avenues of publishing a book, see chapter 15 of AJ Harper’s Write a Must-Read, which you can download free here.
3. If you’re pursuing a traditional book publisher, identify good-fit agents and/or publishers. Then submit!
4. If you’re hybrid publishing, ask for recommendations, do your homework, ask lots of questions, and begin working with your hybrid publisher.
5. If you’re self-publishing, after self-editing your manuscript, hire and work with a substantive editor. Hire and work with a copyeditor. Hire and work with an internal book designer. Hire a copy writer or use your proposal to write back cover and marketing copy. Hire and work with a cover designer. Publish!
6. Launch and promote.

Where to Begin?

 I recorded a brief video to help you decide where to focus so that you can defeat writer overwhelm in your life!

[reminder]As you read through the steps above, where do you need to focus in the coming days?[/reminder]