A blog can be many things—a place to share, a teaching tool, a resource center, and more. Sometimes we use our blogs to vent—to rant and complain. Today, I’d like to vent a little while also providing some gentle advice. (Although some of you may view this as a slap in the face.)
You’ve heard (read) me and others say over and over again that when you decide to enter into the world of publishing, in order to be successful, you must do so from a professional perspective. While writing is a craft, publishing is a seriously competitive business. Once you become published and begin the rely on, work with and otherwise communicate with publishers, agents, publicists, organization leaders and so forth, you should do so with as much professionalism as you can muster.
What does this mean? Actually, many things. Here’s my short list:
- Check and double/triple check every email, blog post, article, written interview, inquiry, query letter, request, book proposal, etc. before sending it. There is nothing that reveals a lack of professionalism as clearly as carelessness in what you write.
- Take responsibility! By this I mean when you agree to participate in an interview or another activity designed to promote your book, for example, keep good records and follow through as promised and within the deadline. Don’t whine, become needy and make excuses for your repeated shortcomings and mistakes.
- Carefully manage your business and if you can’t handle it, hire someone who can keep track of the dates and requirements for your commitments, manage your emails so you can reference them when needed, and so forth.
Sure you’re busy. We all are. And certainly, things happen—you lose or misplace an email or note. You forget a deadline. You are confused about instructions and need assistance. But it is oh-so unprofessional when you keep sloppy records, get lazy and refuse to search for the information you’ve been sent and then ask the interviewer or organizer to backtrack and reiterate pertinent information or instructions.
A real pet peeve of mine is the individual who emails me with a question and then neglects to even check their email for days or even weeks. A few weeks later, he or she contacts me again asking for the same information. This is a good way to disrespect someone who is trying to assist you. Don’t you know that sometimes they have spent a good deal of their time to accommodate you? And you don’t have the courtesy to take responsibility on your end? Unprofessional, indeed.
Sure, I’m aware that everyone is writing books these days. A published book makes you an author even when you pay someone to produce your book and no matter whether you’re the CEO of a large company, homemaker, retired factory worker or telemarketer. Obviously, authorship does not a professional make. But every author should consider him or herself the CEO of their book and come out of the publishing gate with a professional persona.
Again let me say: publishing is a business. Most of the people you’ll be dealing with once you are a published author are professional people in their fields or positions, whether they are
publishers/agents, organization leaders or in businesses that support publishing and book promotion. I have to say that most of the people I meet and work with are wonderfully responsible and reliable, but those needy ones can sure be energy-draining. Just look at how much time these people took from me this morning by eliciting this rant.
Okay, the next blog post should cover how to shield yourself from the negativity from unprofessional, unreliable, irresponsible authors. I may or may not write it. Stay tuned. And leave your comments, if you dare.