Writing
Make Writing Your Business
Four entrepreneurial tips for writers
I ran into a former colleague this week, and he asked how my freelance editing business was going.
“Great,” I gushed. “I get to work with such interesting topics, help writers, and even get a little writing done myself.”
He then looked around furtively and said, “You know, I could really use your help. I have this idea for a novel…”
How often does this happen to us writers? Seems like every time, right?
Tell anybody you’re a writer, and chances are the person you’re talking to will tell you they want to write, or started to write but haven’t done anything with those pages, or have all these story ideas, etc.
Every one of these people can learn and apply writing craft like we do, so why don’t they?
Taking on creative writing, especially a project as long as a novel, is a major committment. It’s a challenge on the level of starting and running a freelance business. To succeed in both, first you have to try, then you have to learn, but ultimately you have to do it consistently and see it through. Even when it’s hard (especially when it’s hard).
So below is freelance advice that helped me build my business, which can directly help writers see a project through to completion.
First, see yourself as a business owner
No, really. Your ideas are intellectual property. Writing them down is just documenting that commodity.
New freelancers often struggle with calling themselves “business owners” because they’re so new. The first step for entrepreneurs is to embrace their business.
Some people who write have a hard enough time calling themselves a “writer”, but I encourage writer to take it a step further. Make writing your business.
One of my favorite terms is “authorpreneur” — a blend of writer and entrepreneur. As an authorpreneur, we can enjoy the creativity of our craft, and still understand the serious side of the business of writing to enable us to keep writing.
Treat your craft like a professional skill, and you’ll see it develop into true competency.
Don’t be afraid to take yourself seriously. Once you do, other people will follow.
Make the commitment
If writing is a hobby, something you do to destress — or for pleasure with no expectation of result — don’t let talk of business ruin your fun.
But if you hope to one day earn money from your writing, or even turn it into your career, you must commit.
New business owners need to know their own industry skills, but they also have to learn how to run a business. That’s a huge commitment.
Believe it or not, many successful freelancers never even took a business class. They learned through research like reading books on business and marketing, or taking classes. They also learned through networking: joining professional associations, making business friends, and attending industry conferences. They invest in their business, and it pays off.
What does this mean for writers?
It means taking time to read books on writing, reading other titles in your genre, sticking to a consistent writing practice, and seeking feedback so you can improve.
It means meeting other writers and learning from them. Invest in your writing by taking a creative writing class, attending a writing conference, or joining a local writing group, and it will pay off.
If you’re not constantly putting in the effort to improve, your skills become stale. Commit to your writing as if the future of your business depended on it.
Embrace failure
Even people who’ve never been to Silicon Valley know this one: “Fail fast.”
It’s a start-up mentality highlighted in the book Fail Fast, Fail Often: How Losing Can Help You Win by John D. Krumboltz and Ryan Babineaux. New business owners know the only way to know for sure if something will work is to try. Every mistake we make teaches us what not to do, getting us closer to our goals.
Discovering what doesn’t work is not so much about “failure” as it is about quickly addressing it to find what does.
So, how can that help a writer?
“Failure” comes in the form of feedback. Sometimes we think we’ve communicated an idea, only to find out the reader came to a completely different conclusion. It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that feedback is a personal slight, a commentary on you as a writer, but it’s not. Negative feedback gives us valuable insight into what isn’t working, so we can fix it.
Sometimes we writers find out that an element of our craft is weak. That means we need to learn those techniques. Easy enough.
Other times we pour ourselves into a project that just doesn’t seem to work. And that’s when that fear of failure can really kick in.
A shelved manuscript can feel like a shameful thing, but it isn’t. It’s just a project that didn’t work. Maybe you can salvage the good parts, or maybe you can reattack when your skills are more advanced, but that shelved manuscript was a tool. It was practice that helped you sharpen your skills. All that work made you a better writer — which really isn’t failure, is it?
Network, then network some more
Freelancers know that and you can’t get work if people don’t know you’re in business. Networking gets the word out, leading to either new customers or great resources from other business owners.
For writers, networking is critical. It’s what brings in readers. And it can lead to a circle of writer friends whose advice can get you through the sticky spots.
A new writer might get halfway through a novel only to feel like they are stuck, completely unable to finish a book. But their network of writers will tell them this is completely normal. We all struggle once that initial sheen of a new idea has faded and we’re faced with seeing the project through.
But it’s the completion of a project that sets writers aside from people who have ideas and “would like to write a novel”. That support network will help you get there.
Remember, any freelancer had to persist to find success likely did not do it alone. Neither do writers find success in a bubble.
As for that former colleague of mine, I was happy to send him resources, and encourage him to write the story that keeps from getting a good night’s sleep. “Worry about the editing once it’s finished,” I told him. Because first he has to write the thing. But if he does, he’ll be well on his way to making writing his business.
