Patricia Fry here:
It’s that time of year again when I’m wishing for fairies to come in overnight and take care of some of my office tasks. Actually this happens several times a year—most predominantly Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall.
I’ve actually hired a friend to do various projects for me over the years. In 1998, she typed the entire 300-page Ojai history book into the computer. That book was created on a typewriter some 20 years earlier. She used to send out query letters for me during really busy times. Most recently, she has been doing some online research for promotional purposes.
As an author, aren’t there jobs that you could hire done so you can be productive in areas of more importance? Wouldn’t you accomplish more if your office was organized? Just think of the mundane tasks related to your projects that could be handled by someone else. The someone else could be from a secretarial service, an intern, a friend who wants a project and a little spending cash, one of your grown or growing kids or…
Here’s my list of “fairy†tasks:
• Clean equipment. When is the last time you got serious about cleaning your keyboard, for example? Is it becoming as grimy as mine? And have your computer vents sucked up another big batch of cat fur? If your office is like mine, there are areas where the vacuum cleaner can’t go and there are places where I simply dust around things.
• Filing. I cannot keep up with my filing. In fact, even after I’ve just finished filing 3 weeks worth of stuff, I still have a stack of things left over and no ideas about where to put them or how to label them.
• Research. I’d love to have someone else spend a few hours each day searching for appropriate sites and magazines needing books to review, article submissions, authors to interview and so forth.
• Locate promotional opportunities. I am in constant promotion mode when it comes to my books on writing/publishing. How nice it would be to have someone sharing in this duty—someone with a different perspective, fresh ideas, maybe even better computer and research skills.
• Submit articles. There are hundreds of little-known newsletters and magazines related to writing and publishing. I locate new ones every week and I submit reprints or fresh articles in an attempt to become more widely known. A helper could certainly handle this task for me while I’m writing new articles or even a new book!
• Locate new organizations and groups. Of course, my topic is writing and publishing, so I am interested in finding groups and organizations within this realm. What’s better than promoting to a single person? Promoting to a group. And what’s better than having to sit in front of a computer for hours trying to locate obscure orgs and groups? Watching someone else do it.
• Find writers/publishers conferences where I could apply as a workshop leader/speaker.
• Send out email and snail mail press releases to a targeted audience for promotional purposes.
• Design promotional material.
• Run surveys to discover what authors really want to know so I can write articles, books and workshops on those topics.
• Visit related forums and discussion groups and leave informative posts with my name attached and mentioning whatever book I’m promoting at the moment.
I’m sure that this list has conjured up all sorts of ideas for things you’d like your overnight fairies to handle in your office. Wanna share some of them with me? Email me at plfry620@yahoo.com.
In the meantime, there’s just a little over 2 weeks left to take advantage of the prepublication Discount offer. I recommend the Combo—The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book (366-pages, revised edition) AND The Author’s Workbook (brand new) for $25.00 through September 20, 2007. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html
Why do you absolutely need this book? Not only is it an amazing guide for anyone at any stage of authorship, it is an extremely valuable reference book. Readers tell me that they refer to The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book frequently throughout their writing, publishing and promotion process.
Now, for those of you who are having a little trouble writing that book, deciding on a publishing option, finding a publisher, self-publishing, writing a book proposal or understanding the publishing industry, for example, The Author’s Workbook is coming to your rescue.
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html and http://www.matilijapress.com/workbook.html
Books by Patricia Fry