This is not some form of naivety, I knew that as an indie author the marketing would be time consuming, but it's something I can't leave alone. Instead of writing about Shaun Young's latest dilemma, I find myself twiddling with Google Adwords or updating my Facebook author page or Twitter or blogging (and here I am!). What I can't work out is whether I am still on the learning curve of optimising social media marketing or whether it is a convenient excuse to avoid sorting out the latest plot twist. Whichever it is, I am certain of one thing: the constant nagging from the marketing side of my brain is seriously interfering with what I know to be my creative process.
In the days before I had to worry about marketing, my daily writing routine allowed me to be subsumed within the writing process. Within a few minutes I would living the story, happily countering out 3,000 to 4,000 words a day, the hours flying by. I am finding it almost impossible to regain the immersion that I had before because of that irritating little sales finger poking the side of head.
So, what am I going to do about it? Well, I can't stop the marketing but I need to get the time I spend on it under control. I remember Stephen King saying that he devotes his mornings to writing and the rest to 'other stuff' (I suspect he doesn't have to worry about the marketing quite as much as I do). Perhaps this is an approach I need to take? Put aside a few hours a day or a specific marketing day so that I can compartmentalise the 'other stuff' to leave the lion's share, or a known dedicated time, where I can try to regain the immersion I need?
I am going to start this new approach and I'll let you know how I get on. Perhaps, if you can spare the time, you'd leave a few comments below to let me know how you deal with this dilemma or have some advice that I could use - it would be greatly appreciated...
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