In early February, I attended a conference in Ireland called the Author Sustainability Conference (ASC). It was an incredible experience. I had the privilege of speaking at the conference and I thought it would be interesting to share some of what I discussed at the conference.
ASC is for published authors seeking to make their writing more sustainable. If that sounds like something you’re interested in, I highly recommend looking it up. The next conference is scheduled for April of next year.
The internet is full of get-rich-quick schemes, but what they don’t tell you is that these are often also get-poor-quick strategies. When you do something that generates revenue quickly, it’s often not sustainable. As soon as you stop, the revenue stops. At ASC I discussed how to build a long-term revenue stream.
Instead of discussing specific strategies or tactics, I focused on principles. When it comes to sustainability, there are a few key principles that I believe are helpful. These aren’t the full list that I presented at the conference, but they are some of the more applicable ones for people at all stages of their career.
The first principle is understanding your bandwidth. Bandwidth refers to your time and energy. Everyone has a different amount of bandwidth due to their unique circumstances. However, bandwidth is always depleting. It’s like a sand timer; it just keeps going. Your energy constantly drains throughout the day. So, whether you’re using it or not, your bandwidth is always diminishing. If you don’t understand it, you won’t be able to use it effectively, and you’ll lose bits of it. However, if you understand your bandwidth and how much each action will cost, you can use it more efficiently.
The second principle is understanding your constraints. You need to know what is blocking you from moving forward because not all actions are equal. Different actions taken at different times have different effects. For example, if I write a book, advertise it on Facebook, and get some people to buy it, that’s great. But if there’s no follow-up book for them to read, they won’t stick around. The next time I write a book, I’ll have to go through the whole process again. However, if I have six books and advertise one, some of those who buy the first book will naturally buy the others. The same action, advertising a book, has a different impact because my constraints are different. Understanding your constraints allows you to take action to resolve them.
The final principle is understanding leverage. Leverage is the ability to take an action and have a magnified result. For instance, if I’m speaking to a crowd and want everyone to hear me, I could use a loudspeaker. I’m still speaking at the same volume, but my voice is amplified, and everyone can hear me. That’s leverage. As authors, we want to write a book once and sell it many times. The problem is that many authors get stuck trading their time one-to-one and don’t understand how to take actions that give them leverage.
I hope these principles are helpful. If you have any questions, please send me an email. I’d be happy to answer them.
YouTube Video Link: https://youtu.be/uoCYQhw3tK8
Thanks for reading and watching.
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