Tips to Balance Writing Time and Marketing Time

One of the things I often hear from fellow writers is that marketing takes a substantial amount of time, which means less time for writing. Many feel there is no easy way to balance writing time and marketing time.

Here are a few tips that might help:

Add Marketing Time to Your To-Do List

Without a list, you can lack focus and organization, which means time slips away and you’re not even sure where it went. Daily and weekly to-do lists keep you on track, and they motivate you to keep going.

See where you can add fifteen minutes to half an hour of marketing time to your daily schedule. I find that after I drop the kids off in the morning is my best time because my phone isn't ringing with real estate calls and there's no one in the house except me and the furry beasts.

Create an Online Media Kit

Every published writer needs a media kit. A media kit should include: a long and short bio, author photographs, novel covers, book trailers, excerpts, audio clips, links to previous interviews, and a schedule of events. If you write articles, it should include a list of those articles, where and when they appeared, and direct links to any articles that appear online.

By having this information available on your website and in PDF format, you’ll save time when you contact people for interview and book review requests. Even if you’re still waiting for that first sale, it’s a good idea to have a biography and quality photo available for those who request them.

Use Social Media Effectively

I have numerous social networks that I post to multiple times a day. Can you imagine how long it would take if I had to post to each site separately? By using Buffer, Hootsuite or TweetDeck, I can create one post that is submitted to all my social networks at once.

Support Local Schools and Events

Who says marketing can’t be fun and fulfilling? With tightening budgets, schools are often looking for guests to come and interact with students. When my girls were younger, I held writing workshops at their schools. I would speak to the teacher about their current course of study and then tie my workshops into that.

One year, I visited during National Poetry Month, which is held in April. The kids had also been studying Colonial America and the America Revolution. My two-day workshop was on using your senses in writing and on how to develop your powers of observation. We started off by reading excerpts from classic children’s books and seeing if the kids could point out the senses the authors used. Then the students pulled items out of a bag and had to use their senses to describe it. On the second day, they observed me reciting “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and we discussed their observations. Finally, they put all they learned into practice by using their senses and power of observation to write a short story based on a field trip they had taken earlier in the year to an early American settlement. The kids enjoyed it and they shared it with their parents, many of whom asked about my work. It was great exposure to teachers as well.

When my first book came out, I held a book signing at my church during their annual Christmas Bazaar and Tag Sale. I got a chance to sell my book, and a portion of the proceeds went to the church--a win for both of us.

Marketing is part of the business of writing. Using these tips will help you strike a better balance between the business and creative sides of your career.

Cheryl C. Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of Little Shepherd, A Christmas Kindness, Macaroni and Cheese for Thanksgiving and the recently released, Amos Faces His Bully. A blogger and book reviewer, she lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two daughters. She also has a son who is married. Visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com and her children’s book blog at https://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com