A 21st c Writer’s Helper: The Virtual Assistant

Therese here. Today’s guest is author Holly Tucker, whose latest book, Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution, was released just yesterday. Holly is also the mastermind behind the Writers for the Red Cross auction giveaways you’ve been hearing so much about. (Psst, up on the block this week: Bid for your chance to be our guest here at WU.)

When Holly isn’t busy writing books and organizing auctions that raise thousands for charity (20k and growing, w00t!), she’s working hard as a freelance writer and college professor. Her work has appeared in the New Scientist, Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, and San Francisco Chronicle. Sounds like someone who might benefit from an assistant, right? That’s what she’s here today to discuss. Enjoy!

A 21st c Writer’s Helper: The Virtual Assistant

March is Red Cross Month.  March is also the month that my next book, Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution, comes out. A book release is crazy-making even in the best of all circumstances.  But a book release paired with a major fundraiser (Writers for the Red Cross)—that’s full-fledged insanity.  What in the world was I thinking?

It is all Lisa Morosky’s fault.

Lisa is the Fixer of all broken things.  The Queen of efficient work flow. A Wrangler extraordinaire of rebel technology.  All of this…and we have never met.

Lisa is a Virtual Assistant and founder of https://www.vaforbloggers.com.  As her title implies, she works remotely with clients from around the US to take care of what they need to get done. This may seem like an unnecessary luxury for some WU readers.  But for me, it is helping keep things manageable during what may be one of the busiest moments of my life.

As writers, we hear all the time from editors, agents and other publishing professionals how important it is to establish a vibrant online presence.  But effective online engagement takes time.  It requires a genuine interest in connecting with others.  It means setting up multiple home bases on a blog, a Twitter account and Facebook profile.

But there is cost to all of this.  Yes, a cost in terms of money.  I’ll get to that in a minute.  But trying to do it all on your own can cost a writer dearly in other ways.  It can strip away the time, energy and creativity that you need to write. And no matter what anyone says, all the social media and blog prowess in the world can never substitute for that novel you meant to write but didn’t because you were busy with Other Things.

Every VA has a different set of skills, interests and personal interaction style…so the process interviewing and selecting a VA can be slow.  But the effort can pay off richly in increased productivity and decrease stress worrying about the small details.

Each VA will also have a specific way they like to handle their bookkeeping.  Some VA’s work on monthly retainers.  Others hour by hour.  Or as Lisa does, by “packages.”  (You can take a look an example HERE.)

By my calculations, it takes Lisa about 4 or 5 hours a week to do what normally took me about 12 hours.  She handles the routine requests to publicists for review copies for my website, Wonders & Marvels.  She connects with authors about their guest posts and provides the standard details that I used to have to write in an email several times a week.  When something is missing from a guest post, I don’t have to worry about.  In fact, often, I don’t even hear about it.   And that means more time writing.

The best way to connect with a VA is to get a referral. Many people I know have had great luck with Elance or oDesk, which can be a fantastic place to find freelancers with the specific skills you might need for a specific project.  There are also organizations such as the IVAA (International Virtual Assistant Association) that train and certify VAs.

The hourly rate for VAs can vary dramatically.  On Elance, you might find someone good for under $10 an hour.  But on the other side of extremes,, the IVAA certified rates can run as high as $50 an hour.

For me, I knew in selecting a VA that I needed a tech-savy person who could turn the ideas I had for the website into reality. I needed, as Lisa calls herself, a master implementer. And that’s precisely what does.  She implements what clients think up.

Writers for the Red Cross is one of those things.  It was a huge undertaking to bring together nearly 200 authors, agents, editors and other publishing professionals.  And it would not have been possible—and I probably would have never pitched it to the Red Cross—if I did not have an amazing VA helping out behind the scenes.

Has anyone out there hired a VA or some other sort outside help in order to write?  What tasks do you wish you could delegate? What tips do you have for someone interested in using a VA’s services?

Thanks for a great post and for all you’ve done with the Red Cross auctions, Holly.

Readers, you can learn more about Holly and her book Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution on her website, through her blog, and by following her on Facebook and Twitter. Write on!

Photo courtesy Flickr’s Nono Fara