Book Club Author Chat with Charissa Weaks

Hey all! I will be chatting with Liz @LittleBoneLibrary and Emily @EmilyintheArchives on Tuesday at 5pm EST | 7pm CST | 8pm EST. This chat is via Zoom, so Zoom links will be sent by the hosts on Tuesday. I would love to chat with you about my books, writing, and author life in general!

To register, just fill out this form. You can even submit your questions via the form.

I hope to see you there!!

Happy Reading,

Charissa

 

That Author Life

This week's topic at the SFF Seven is about how we manage our author business. This can get detailed, so I'll cover the basic organizational methods I use.

One thing I notice when chatting with newer authors is that many don't grasp that they are a small business. An entirely new way of thinking about yourself as an author and a brand AND the way you present and sell your product (your books) has to happen, and the methods used are often very different from writer to writer. Because everyone is going to run their business in their own way. It can help to get some tips, though, so you can see what works best for you.

For me, being an author requires days filled with nothing but accounting, mailing items to readers/influencers/etc, sending and replying to emails, and managing my online social presence and Etsy store, among many other things that don't equate to writing words. Thankfully, I've been in the writing world for over a decade and I've sat in on dozens of workshops and panels where these things have been discussed. So prior to this year when my publishing career truly began, I at least had an idea of what to expect, even if the reality hit way harder than I ever dreamed.

If you follow me at all, you know I'm a planner. I'm not sure how anyone can have a business without some sort of business plan and outlook, as well as proper record keeping. Here's a list of some of the things I do to keep track of everything:

1) I created a 5 year plan and broke it down into yearly and quarterly goals that can be adjusted as needed. 

2) I keep a Goal spreadsheet and update it every month-end and quarter. These goals include all my relevant social media numbers (Insta, TikTok, FB group, FB page, Bookbub), Goodreads review count, Goodreads adds, Amazon review numbers, newsletter count, money earned, books sold, and total Etsy sales. I can see the growth for the past 8 months at a glance. It's very informative, motivating, and keeps me focused on where I need to put a little more attention in order to meet my goals.

3) I keep Expense spreadsheets. This part became super intense really fast. I would've had an utter disaster on my hands come tax time had I not started keeping a record of all the expenses of my business. This includes everything from office supplies to character art to Etsy store supplies to necessary subscriptions/memberships and shipping costs. There's so much to track, so I have sheets for several things. I did an event recently and I put all my expenses in a spreadsheet labeled for that particular event. Next year, when I have more than one event, I'll create an Event Sheet. It would probably terrify most people to see the amount of spreadsheets I keep, but all I have to do at tax time is send my CPA my info and my taxes get done. The more organized I am on the front end, the easier things are on the back end.

4) I keep an Income-Earned spreadsheet. I do this by quarters that are broken into individual months since I get paid by my publisher quarterly. However, I have Etsy income as well as editing income, so those totals go in their respective months every month-end.

5) I use Expensify to store receipts. I cannot do clutter, so I don't keep paper receipts. 

6) I keep digital and printed copies of all contracts in proper folders.

7) I'm working on adding my author business info into my will and our family trust.

This is just an overview of things that I can think of off the top of my head. I hope, if you're looking for info on what to do as a new writer, that this helps. This side of the author life can be overwhelming, so my best advice, as always, is to get organized.

Happy writing!

What We Were Once Supposed to Be

what we were once supposed to be

was something we could never reach

and as our souls make their silent plea

we choose that which will make us free

In yesterday’s post on ‘what were you supposed to be—vocational advice writers get because writing isn’t a high-income career’, Jeffe mentioned she wrote poetry when she was young. She didn’t dream of being a writer and ended up in the sciences. 

And it’s nice to not be alone with this background! So often on the socials I see authors posting homemade books they crafted in elementary and how they knew they’d grow up to be a writer. I never had that dream. I grew up with  a lap full of books I adored reading, but I also loved blood and guts and figuring out how things worked. That’s how I ended up in the sciences—clinical laboratory science to be precise. 

My parents raised me to believe I could do anything. Because of that I wasn’t afraid to stretch myself. And I was successful, achieved acclaim, and was fulfilled helping people. Then when my health crashed and I walked away from my career I decided to take a chance on my new dream and embraced being an author. 

I believe it was a knowledgeable decision, even though the mental challenges have surprised me. Before I began writing I’d been interviewing authors for years at Reading Between the Wines book club and had realistic expectations on book profits, or the lack there of. And that’s where I gleaned the one piece of advice I’ll give to new writers: grow a backlist. 

The wise man built his house upon a rock. To translate that into an author’s career: build a solid backlist and your career will be stable. Writing is a long game, there’s no over-night success, so plan ahead, keep feeding your dream, and don’t give up! 

What were you supposed to be?

Balance is Key: Juggling Author Demands

 

me after my Nebula panel: Writing Through the Pain

Wow is this topic timely. Last weekend was SFWA’s Nebula conference and I'd volunteered to be the sponsorship coordinator. It was a great weekend overall! Yes, there was a kerfuffle surrounding language used by a panelist, but SFWA has done a wonderful job of protecting its members and doing their best to ensure a safe space. 

Beyond the drama, there were some great panels I gleaned helpful tips and writing insight from. I’m thankful for all the volunteers who devoted so much of their time to make this online con happen…which brings me back to our topic: creativity on a deadline and how do we balance art with business demands?

I’ve volunteered for my kid’s various sports groups, so I was prepared—mostly—for the time suck. But the weeks leading up to the Nebulas were consumed by hours on my laptop. And I wasn’t writing. 

And that was okay.

I was prepared to devote time to the Nebulas and write when I could. So when my volunteer time crept into author time and took it hostage, I accepted it and moved forward. I didn’t dwell on ‘lost time’, a negative connotation I prefer not to use, and instead did little happy dances as each sponsorship was completed. I count this past month as a success!

Set realistic expectations (ex. a goal of 10,000 words/day stays in dreamland to keep me out of nightmare world)

Prioritize (the most pressing task gets done first, any energy leftover can be allotted secondary tasks)

Celebrate the wins (doesn’t matter how big or small—CHEER for the WINS)

Give yourself Grace (we’re not gods and we’re not built to accomplish everything in one day)

The Nebulas was fast and crazy and I’m very excited for the hybrid in-person/online conference planned for next year. But for now, I can get back to the word count! 

How do you juggle writing and author business?

Creativity on a Deadline

This week's topic at the SFF Seven is Creativity on a Deadline: How do you balance art with business demands?

Talk about a perfectly-timed topic. I've been working long (looooong) days since The Witch Collector came out in November. I'm also horrible at balancing anything. I'm an overachiever, I'll work myself to the bone, and I have the mental stamina of...I don't know. I have a lot. If my physical energy matched my brain energy, I would be ridiculously fit.

And it's a good thing I'm like this.

We writers have to be writers first and foremost, but also marketers, graphic design specialists, website designers and managers, promotional gurus, executive assistants, top-notch planners, salespeople, publishers, formatters, editors, copy editors... I could go on. It takes a village, and much of the time that village is one lone person who is ready to run to the hills any moment.

Kidding aside, this gig can be a ton of work beyond the writing itself. There's so much to building a readership, cultivating it, and creating a brand that sells books. It's a lesson in patience, perseverance, and dedication, with many days spent traveling down different avenues that might lead nowhere.

I always knew my work style and work ethic was intense, but until The Witch Collector released in November, I didn't really know how it would translate to my author career.

Now I do. And after almost seven months of being ON for seven days a week, I'm taking a break.

This weekend, I announced a social media hiatus. I'm also training my daughter as an assistant and letting her pick up some slack over the summer so I can focus on final edits of City of Ruin and write some pages on the other stories in the series. She's also a creative writer, singer, artist, and musician and has one semester left in the recording industry program at Middle Tennessee State University. She gets this process, and she knows how I like things done ;) She lives with me and we get along because we are literally the same human, so communication is awesome.

In truth, I needed to unplug more than I realized. It's been a whole 24 hours, and I've gotten so much done while simultaneously feeling the stress leave my body. Having trustworthy hands to keep the social media going and the Etsy store functioning is a life saver. 

What I've learned is that, in the future, even if my current assistant leaves me for Hollywood, taking a break from the business side of things to just WRITE is good for balancing my author life. It's also good for my soul.

Because it's okay to unplug from the mainframe sometimes and just be a storyteller. 

Happy Reading and Writing,

Charissa

Writing Timeline

Back in 2015, when I was writing The Mars Strain, my dream was to retire from my lab job and become a full-time writer after I had ten books in my backlist. Fast-forward a few years and, faced with a high-stress job and a chronic disease, I made the choice to retire from the corporate world—without a single published book to my name! 

What about my dream to write full-time? It was still there and even though the circumstances weren’t what I’d planned, I held on to it tight. 

James and KAK both shared about the insane healthcare costs in the US. It’s a fact that weighs heavily on me as I easily take up about 20% of my husband’s income. I’m incredibly blessed to have a partner who whole heartedly believes in our vows: for richer—for poorer, in sickness and in health. Without his support I wouldn’t be writing and without his full-time job with benes…well, let’s just say the stress may have taken me. 

Like Jeffe said yesterday: plan and budget…and then add a few years to that timeline. Being a full-time writer can be one of the most rewarding choices! But, as with anything, don’t go into it blind. If you’ve decided to become a writer, no matter how much time you’re able to devote to it, I hope it brings you joy and that you quickly learn what took me so long to figure out: your worth is not tied to what you create. 

Letting go of the guilt and ties of self-worth to my writing has been freeing. Writing once again brings me happiness and is actually therapeutic. I believe writing came to me at a time I needed it, not when I planned for it, but I'm learning to embrace things as they come. 

Do you have a full or part time job along with your writing? Do you have a 10 year plan?