A follow-up question to my earlier post about marketing: How much time do you think an author should realistically devote to marketing versus writing? Some days it feels like modern authors are expected to become content creators, advertisers, SEO specialists, video editors, social media strategists, and newsletter managers… all before breakfast. 😄 I’m genuinely curious how others are balancing the creative side with the business side without losing the joy of writing itself.

This space is dedicated to the business side of being an author: marketing, branding, platform building, email lists, launches, revenue streams, productivity, systems, long-term growth, and navigating the realities of running a sustainable author career. Writing the book is only part of the journey. Building a professional author business requires strategy, consistency, and smart decision-making. This board is here to support those conversations. Use this space to: ✔ Ask marketing and business questions ✔ Discuss branding and audience growth ✔ Share wins, launches, and lessons learned ✔ Troubleshoot platform and business challenges ✔ Learn new strategies and tools ✔ Connect with authors building intentional careers To get started, introduce yourself and tell us: 1. What is your biggest author business goal right now? 2. What platform or marketing area are you currently focused on? 3. What business challenge are you hoping to solve this year? We’re glad you’re here. Let’s build stronger author businesses together.

Tonight I cut over 10,000 words from my manuscript and moved a gigantic cluster of scenes to their proper place. Though I'll be editing what I moved to just about smithereens, I feel like this has been a glorious end to my day.

Curious if anyone else has wrestled with this: I came from a B2B marketing background, so I assumed book marketing would feel somewhat familiar. Instead, I’ve found author marketing to be surprisingly expensive, fragmented, and often exhausting. At times, it feels like writers can spend more energy trying to become marketers, platform builders, video creators, ad managers, SEO specialists, and social media personalities than actually writing books. Some days I honestly think: “What if I just focused on writing better books instead?” 😄 I’d love to hear how others are balancing the business side with the creative side without burning themselves out.

For this morning, I am doing what I hope to be the last edits on Baker Street, a new Max Boucher series, and what I hope will re-ignite it, as it has been a while since I released a book in that one. I'm also working on ideas for new covers for the first two books - all that before tackling edits for other people. As we head toward the weekend (for some of you, I don't know what those are) what are you working on?