Will This Distract From My Writing?

Authors are always looking for ways to get their names out there to the public. Marketing your latest novel is a must in today's competitive world. But with that said, authors need to take some time to consider if the work they are doing to promote that book is getting in the way of their writing. If this is going to slow down your progress a lot, this might not be the best approach.

Let's say you have a great contract with a publisher and then you see an outside writing opportunity. Maybe it is a collection of short stories, maybe a novella. Doing this writing will certainly get your name out to the public, but you have to ask yourself, how much time is that going to take away from your original plan? That contract is priority 1.

When I work with my authors, and they are thinking of expanding into a new area, we always take the time to talk out a schedule that accommodates everything. I always point out that this will delay release of some of those stronger projects.

I always think about those parents who throw their kids into a ton of different activities. They often say they want them to try a lot of things. That's great, but now, the kids are worn out and often are just mediocre in everything. The same goes with your writing. Having a lot of mediocre projects out there is not going to do well for promoting your writing.