How to Author Like a Strategist: A Primer
At a convention in Austin, Texas last year, I spoke about how writing a book is like managing a project. Scratch thatāwriting at all is project management. A book is a project that starts when you conceptualise an idea and finishes when youāre like, āI canāt do any more appearances and promo, I must move on to another book!ā Sometimes, multiple books in a series mean that instead of a simple year-long project, yours becomes like the Nigerian government attempting road construction: a neverending endeavour. To combat this going scattershot means treating your work/authorship like a project, which then means you have toāas much as I hate saying this wordāstrategize. (Yuck, I think I threw up in my mouth a little.)
At that same convention, I spoke about how the triumvirate of my time as an engineering undergrad, a senior associate at a professional services consultancy and a business unit manager at a nonprofit all informed my approach to Authorworld. Itās impossible for me to have succeeded in those three roles without some modicum of strategic management (whether I actually succeeded is up for debate, lol). I havenāt spent too long as a professional author, but if thereās one thing Iāve learned in the little time Iāve spent, itās this: Author = Business.
I know, I know; I can see yāalls artist brains gasping and falling into The Sunken Place at the mention of that word. But surely, your non-artist brain understands that when one creates something and puts it up for others to purchase, oneās a business? And guess what every business fails without? Three words: strah-teh-gee.
So, the real questions about strategy here are Whatās that? and Whatās mine? The easy answer to both is: Not what youāre thinking. But for the next five letters in this series, I will attempt to give the harder, longer answer. Now since Iām an author, itāll involve a lot of references to authoring (which is why we have that heading). But because Iām also a self-employed businessperson (face it, authors, this is what we are, lol), and have also carried over competencies gained by working within business and institutional settings, I will draw a lot from my experience within organizations and as a freelancer. Everyone will leave with something. Everyone.
But what exactly am I going to be talking about? Basically, Iām going to discuss the five facets of successfully managing a project from start to finish. Not the process of managing a projectāyou can do a Coursera for thatābut basically the five things to be most aware of when working with any project. A project culture to imbibe, if you will. These best practices will help you discover the best way to strategize for a project, as it works for you and your unique circumstances. This is particularly useful since each author differs from the other, every book from the last, every business from their competitor, each project from the next. You simply need to imbibe these five cultures:
*Failing swiftly
*Learning intentionally
*Pivoting tactfully
*Final three letters available exclusively to subscribers of After Five. Sign up to gain access.
Hereās what things are going to look like: in the next letter, for instance, Iāll start off with How to Author Like a Strategist, Part I: Planning, where Iāll break down planning meticulously. Iāll explain how planning can be interpreted in so many ways (so many!) and how you shouldnāt think of plans as Mountains That Canāt Be Moved, but as Play-Doh that can be reshaped as quickly and as often as required. Iāll talk about how meticulously means less of perfection and more of constantly being aware of your changing circumstances and adjusting plans/goals accordingly.
Interpreting these concepts in new, unfamiliar ways might not be novel for all, but Iām hoping that trying out at least one of these will bring some value to whatever project you want to embark on (especially if itās a book). Letās go through this together, shall we?
See you at the next letter, dear ones. į»khionwiįŗ¹.