Chip MacGregor .com

More on the "Part-Time to Full-Time" Discussion

Danny wrote to say, "You've offered some basic ideas for those of us trying to make the move from part-time to full-time. What else do we need to know?"

I can think of several things that might be important...

First, invest in a separate business phone line. You can write it off as a business expense, and it'll help you separate your private life from your professional life.

Second, invest in the technology you need. Let's face it, if you plan to do any serious internet research, you need a fast computer and high-speed internet. (This may sound obvious to most of you, but I was speaking at a conference recently where nearly every writer in the class claimed to have dial-up. Yikes! I wondered if they were also listening to 8-track players and watching black-and-white TV.) The fact is, you're paying for what you need and don't have. So if you're trying to get by with a cheap-o computer, you're making a mistake. (And here I'll offer an unsolicited commercial: I finally went to an Apple MacBook a year-and-a-half ago. In that time, it hasn't crashed once. Just so you know.) The same goes for software, a printer, and whatever bells and whistles your particular type of writing requires. Organizational theory teaches us that things don't get less complicated over time; they get more complicated. So educate yourself on the complications, then spend the money to bring your office up to date.

Third, invest in a great web site. People used to think of web sites more or less as freeway road signs -- something you passed by on the way to your destination. Now we understand web sites are interactive places where we can get information, ask questions, and make comments. If you want to build a readership, think about spending some serious cash to create a dynamite site.

Fourth, invest in great business cards, stationery, and brochures. If you're going to be a pro, don't use something that makes you look like an amateur. Your card is often the one thing that gets left with an editor or agent -- make it unique. With the advent of desktop publishing, there's no reason to have cheap cards any more.

Fifth, invest in bookkeeping software. It's time to pick up a copy of Quickbooks, spend the weekend filling out all the information, and start forcing yourself to use it. You'll see the value come tax time. Your spouse will thank you. And your financial life will never be the same again.

Sixth, create a business budget. Figure out how much you need to make from your writing business. Give yourself a quarterly goal, then determine what projects you're going to write in order to meet your goal. (This meshes well with the advice I gave last time to create a writing calendar. These two tools are some of the best steps you'll ever make in terms of moving toward full time writing.)

Seventh, learn about taxes, expenses, and investments. Yeah, this one probably doesn't excite you. But if you really want to go full-time, you're going to start without an administrative assistant or an accountant to shepherd you through everything. So take the time to learn the financials. Besides, if you learn it, then you'll be much more comfortable when you have some success and decide to turn the job over to someone else.

Eighth, learn to keep good records. This is really important, but it's the one thing most creative types struggle with. Save your receipts. Write down your expenses. Keep track of your mileage. Record what lunch with the editor cost. All of that will help you come tax time, and once you  establish a system, you'll find it easy to keep going.

Ninth, work to keep your contacts fresh. Publishing is all about relationships... just like every other business in this country. Who cuts your hair prior to a big meeting -- somebody you trust, or somebody you've never met? When your car breaks down, do you want to take it to a mechanic you've come to know, or to whoever happens to be open? All of us prefer to do business with people we trust. Editors are the same way. If they like you and trust you, they're more apt to do business with you. So keep the relationships strong.

Tenth, keep writing regularly. All the organizational advice in the world won't help you as a writer if you don't sit your butt down in a chair every day and write. Write every day. That's still the best advice for moving forward in your writing career.

-chip

State of Confusion

I'm not really in the state of confusion. I'm in the state of Washington. But the two apparently border each other. A week in the mountains with no cel service, no internet, no emails -- and no chance to update my blog. Sorry! I'm back at it.

Dianne wrote to ask, "If I really wanted to move from being a part-timer toward being a full-time writer, what advice would you have? What are the steps I need to take in order to make the transition?"

I can think of a long list of things you should consider...

1. Find a place. Make this your writing space and designate it as your office. (If you're serious about this, make that your official home office and start looking into the tax deduction you can get from the IRS for establishing a home office.)

2. Establish a writing time. Having a block of time dedicated to your writing is probably the first step every professional writer takes on their way to a writing career. You want to have a protected chunk when you're not checking emails, answering phone calls, or meeting people for coffee to bitch about how little writing time you have. For many authors, it's simply "morning." When I began writing full time, I set aside 6 to 8 every morning to write (I had one job and three small kids, so I couldn't do it later in the day). I would get up and write every morning before going to the office... which was amazing, since I'm really not a morning person. But it was the discipline of sitting and writing for two hours every morning that really helped me flip the switch in my head and get me going on a writing career.

3. Create a filing system. All it takes is one office box and a set of files. You can arrange it alphabetically by topic, and create sub-files as you get deeper into your work. Doing this will keep you on track, and has the added advantage of giving you the feeling of being a grown-up -- as though this writing thing were an actual JOB you're doing.

4. Set up a bank account. Make this just for your writing business. Run all your expenses through it, so that you can see what sort of investment you're making in your writing career. Deposit every dime you make off your writing into this account, so you've got a clear record of what your income and expenses are come tax time.

5. Fill out that stupid address book. Type in all the names, titles, addresses, phone numbers, and emails of everybody you know in publishing. Yeah, it's a drudgery. But you only have to do it once. Then you'll never be in that situation where you REALLY have to ask somebody a writing question, but can't figure out how to get hold of him.

6. Give yourself a goal. Many writers have a goal of 1000 words a day. Others work on a bigger scale, like "one chapter per week." A writing goal gives you something to work toward.

7. Create a to-do list. Work on the top thing of your list every day, cross it off, and move to the next thing. On Fridays, start at the bottom of your list (so that you get to that one task you're always putting off).

8. Establish a calendar. This is critical if you're trying to move from part-time to full-time. A writing calendar just gives you a big-picture view of what you need to be writing. It might show something like "take the first two weeks of the month to complete your introduction and first chapter," then remind you to take a week to write that magazine article, followed by a week of revisions to an earlier project, then three weeks of working on your book chapters. In other words, you're using a calendar to break a big project into bite-sized chunks. It'll also reveal what night you're going out to dinner and remind you to take Kaitlin to the orthodontist.

9. Learn to group similar activities. Do all your snail mail at one time. Schedule your phone calls back-to-back so that they go faster. Things that are "occasional-but-regular" (for me, that means "looking at submissions") will move much faster if there's a time on the calendar to go through a bunch of them all at once.

10. Invest in yourself. Take a class, join a critique group, attend a conference, get therapy -- whatever it is you need to grow. Oh, and buy a good dictionary and thesaurus.

That's a start. Let me know if that's helpful. And if you have a publishing or writing question, send it to me. Now that I'm back to work, I'll catch up on the questions you've been sending.

Chip

Negotiating Your Contract

Yeah, yeah... I've had a dozen people write and point out that it's been a long time since my last post. Blame it on Santa.

Kevin wrote to say, "I'm about to negotiate my own book contract! What is important for me to know?"

If you're really at the stage of negotiating your own contract, congratulations. It means you've created a strong proposal, shopped it to publishing houses, and found an editor interested in your work. Those are huge hurdles, so you've already done well. Now what's going to happen is that the publisher is going to approach you with some details and numbers. Let me offer a handful of thoughts for you...

1. Have a Plan. A contract negotiation isn't just a bunch of random conversations, helping two people move things forward. It's one piece of a larger discussion about your book -- how both sides view its value, what it will pay, how it's going to be produced and marketed, etc. Therefore, do your homework before you go into the negotiation. You should have researched what the market is paying (so you get a fair deal, but you don't ask for the moon), you should know what rights you want to keep or give away, and you should have a familiarity with the issues that will be involved in a publishing contract. All of this takes time (and all of this is why authors get agents who, presumably, know this stuff).

2. Take a Positive Approach. Too many people seem to have learned all their negotiation strategies from watching television dramas -- the two high-powered lawyers point fingers, make demands, and generally act like bullies. That's not an approach that's going to work very often in publishing. From my point of view, you have to develop a relationship with the person you're going to negotiate with. That way there's a sense of trust on both sides. You really want to establish some rapport with the person you're negotiating with, so that you both keep in mind the big picture of making this a successful book. Think of it this way: would you rather buy insurance from a trusted friend who happens to sell insurance, or from some stranger who shows up at your door? All of us prefer doing business with people we know. So approach your contract negotiation in a spirit of cooperation, rather than a spirit of confrontation.

3. Think Win/Win. The publishing of books is a business, so put away all your thoughts about just being helpful or friendly, and approach this as a business. Believe me, the publisher will take this approach. But the goal isn't just to "win," but to help both sides feel as if they're winning. The publisher needs to be able to sell the book at a profit. The author needs to be able to make a living. From the start of your discussions, let both sides be thinking of winning, of doing well, of making this project succeed. Again, television dramas have a tendency to make it seem as though one side must win and the other must lose. In the real world, that doesn't work. I want every publisher I deal with to be successful. I want them to make money, to sell lots of books, and to want to work with me on other projects. So as you're putting your plan together, don't just focus on "how can I get this deal to my advantage?", but think of how you can help the publisher succeed. If both of you come out of this negotiation feeling good, you've set yourself up for a healthy long-term relationship.

4. Be Clear when Talking. One thing that will hurt you in a negotiation is to wander around your point. If you know you don't want to grant dramatic rights to your novel, for example, be clear about it. Problems often arise in a negotiation because of the things that aren't said -- an author wants a certain advance, but won't admit it, or the writer wants to retain foreign rights and doesn't say so clearly. If you know what you want, be ready to say so clearly in a polite, organized, and clear manner. This is why it's important for you to have a plan and write it down before you begin talking, so when faced with a question, you can refer to your notes and remind yourself of what is important.

5. Learn to Listen. Kenneth Tynan once referred to the activities at the United Nations as "a dialogue for the deaf." One speaker gets up and harangues people with some information, then the next guy gets up and acts as though he heard nothing that was just said. You'll be amazed at how much better negotiations will go when you learn to shut up and hear the other side occasionally. You'll discover you learn things about the publishing house when you listen. It will make you a better negotiator. And a bit of silence can help you focus in the midst of a discussion.

6. You Have Options. Keep in mind that don't have to agree to a bad deal. You always have options -- even if the only option is to get up and walk away (whether permanently or temporarily). This is a basic truth that people in negotiations sometimes forget. The fact is, you may not be able to come to an agreement, so it could all fall apart. If you have a plan for what you really need in a deal, you'll know what that threshold is. But remember that there's a give-and-take in negotiations -- the publisher will ask you to give them world rights, and perhaps you counter with granting foreign rights so long as you retain dramatic rights. Or the publisher is offering a small advance, and you counter with something a bit bigger, but offer them a reason why they should be able to pay a bit more. Keep track of what you get and what you give away -- it'll show both sides that this is a good-faith negotiation.

7. Everything is Negotiable. Everything. Not just the advance and royalties, but the grant of rights. Your book title. The page count. The due date. Author copies and buy-back rates. Revisions, acceptance policies, cover approvals, your reversion rights, publication date, termination, and non-compete language. You're not going to win every point. You're probably not going to get everything you want. But that's what a negotiation is -- a series of compromises, so that both sides feel they like the deal that's put into place.

Know what's important to you ahead of time, do some research so you know what's fair and workable, then negotiate in a spirit of cooperation. This will keep your negotiations from being those painful, knock-down-drag-out affairs that leave you with a bad relationship and too much brain damage.

I hope this helps you, Kevin. Best of luck with your negotiation!