A couple of years ago, author marketing burnout nearly convinced me to walk away from writing altogether. A couple years ago, I had a day when...

I was done.

Done writing. Ready to quit, unpublish everything, clean off my shelves, get my room back, and fully retire from it all. I wanted out of the prison of shoulds.

I had officially hit author marketing burnout.

But then, I acknowledged I love to write. Every new book published was a goal achieved!

How had I imprisoned myself so badly? What could I do differently?

Looking back over my writing career and the many shoulds I had tried—advice from successful authors and experts where some shoulds I was still struggling with, some I had failed at, and some I still hadn’t attempted—had become a huge tipping point of anxiety and frustration.

The list was long. Podcasts, interviews live or recorded, blogs, social media, street team, ARC team, paid ads, promotional posts, videos, major book launches, creating pages and groups and moderating them, book signings, blog swaps, websites... Most of these pertained to marketing and promoting.

Knowing no two writers share the same path to best-selling status and that my path has been unlike that of other authors, why was I taking their shoulds to heart? Admittedly, I never enjoyed selling. So, why was I shoulding myself onto their paths?

That day when I had hit peak author marketing burnout and was overwhelmed by the list of tasks, having just published a new book, I had only one question: What was really going on?

The year before, I had created a spreadsheet to track my writing hours. I now had data to analyze. My frustration revealed itself in the spreadsheet totals. I was writing only 60% of the time. Promos were 30%. Everything else was 10%, including meetings and teaching.

I wanted to be writing 80-90% of the time! Why? Because it’s new books that generate excitement among readers, which leads to the discovery of a backlist and creates a following.

Identifying those shoulds I did and those I didn’t, I saw:

1. I wasn’t solid about my why.
2. I was comparing my activities to those of other writers. Such comparisons are never good. How many times have I given that advice to other writers?

So, I asked myself two questions:

Question #1: Why Do I Write?

I write because I have to. It’s my purpose for being here, along with teaching. My goal is to entertain with fiction and share what I’ve learned in nonfiction. Strangely enough, after two decades of publishing, teaching writing as a degreed writing professor became a priority. Promoting was never a part of my why. That realization explained why my focus was strong in writing and publishing but weak in promoting.

Question #2: What Should My Shoulds Look Like?

A simple answer that came quickly. I wanted my promo shoulds to be easy and not require lots of time doing them. I didn’t want my shoulds to remain as the detested chores they had become.

I was working hard but not working smart. With marketing not my forte, I was trying to do too much. I needed to simplify my shoulds.

Realizations Since That Day

Today, publishing has become a fluid endeavor. What works today won’t be the same tomorrow, as websites and platforms come and go more quickly. Many of the businesses we use and love are changing their policies and increasing costs.

Newsletters once ruled how authors contacted readers. Today, readers scroll to find new books and join groups where they ask for referrals.

I needed to change my shoulds to better reflect industry changes. I had a strong writing and publishing process that worked well but had a haphazard promo process.

Where Are My Readers?

Researching where readers browse particular genres helped me decide which social media platforms to use and which ones to leave behind.

Social Media Longevity

Additionally, I researched social media in depth and learned that they, along with blogs, have different longevities. To work smarter, I should spend more time on longer-longevity sites and less time on others.

• TikTok, Snapchat, and X/Twitter have short lifespans of a few minutes to less than an hour.
• Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram have mid-lifespans of about one to five hours. LinkedIn has a lifespan of about half a day.
• Pinterest, YouTube, and blogs have long lifespans of weeks, months, and even a couple of years.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Blogs and webpages that use SEO have the best extended shelf life—years! Once I discovered Pinterest operates as a search engine, Pinterest became a should priority. I took a class on how to best use it. 

Moving Out of Shouldshank and Past Author Marketing Burnout

So began my re-evaluation and acceptance that my shoulds were okay not looking like those of other authors. I didn’t have to do big launches, paid ads, multiple signings, and other shoulds that didn’t work for me.

Joining genre reader groups became a new should activity. To engage as a reader, not as a writer. To let them discover I’m an author on their own.

My website became a stronger promotional foundation. Now, rather than listing links to books, blogs, classes, announcements, etc., I use one URL. One link. To my website. Two links if a book’s direct buy link is needed.

When WordPress morphed my website’s blog into a blog/newsletter combination, I was ecstatic. I got rid of my third-party platform newsletter, which made my website more powerful. Now my audience is led to the announcement-only blog/newsletter page where they can follow or subscribe, or do both.

Maintaining three other blogs, I had already changed one blog into a landing page. The other two blogs stayed the same. I write on those blogs when I have something to say rather than sticking to a stressful, rigid schedule.

To simplify promo postings, I use a simple scheduling program where I can create and schedule posts that go out to half a dozen different websites and social media at the same time. The goal is to create evergreen posts I can reuse and schedule on different days at different times.

For now, other shoulds will be considered as they cross my path. 

Am I doing the right thing by not heavily promoting, knowing I’m going against the norm? Maybe, maybe not. That said, I’m close to hitting that 80% mark of writing time, and that makes me happy.

The Redemption

By committing to what feels right for me, I’ve been able to dial down the author marketing burnout and keep myself from returning to Shouldshank. Now, I control the shoulds, rather than them controlling me. My redemption is complete.

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About Diana

An award-winning writer, author, screenwriter, and former English professor of writing classes, Dr. Diana Stout, published her second thriller, When the Walls Listen, recently. Her third mystery/suspense/thriller, Buried Trash, will be published this winter.

Future writing plans include adding books to both her Finding Your Fire Series and her Grammar & Writing Rescue Series this year, along with a suspense/mystery/thriller. With a couple other thrillers lined up, along with a historical based on a true event, she keeps eyeing the newest puzzle she just cracked open, wondering when she’ll start piecing it together.

To learn more about Dr. Diana, check out her website, Sharpened Pencils Productions LLC.

Header image by LARAM on Unsplash