A ‘Logic Model’ for Author Success
By Sharon Bially | April 14, 2014 |
“Managing our career.” “Managing our expectations.” “Managing our resources and time.” All these “management” terms being applied to the writing life — with good reason — can make it sound like we might actually need an MBA to reach our goals as writers.
In fact, in this age of the “writer as an entrepreneur” responsible for a growing share of the work required to not only create but also to sell a book, adding management skills to our repertoire of abilities is not at all a bad idea. Which is why a group of smart thinkers at GrubStreet — the Boston-based writing nonprofit that happens to be my in-town writing family — have come up with a tool to help writers become more strategic without having this task become yet another item on an already-overflowing to-do list.
And it happens to be based on a classic non-profit management tool.
Fascinated by the concept of applying a real-life management system to the often messy and unstructured process of writing, publishing and promoting one’s books, I asked authors Katrin Schumann and Lynne Griffin, who together lead GrubStreet’s Launch Lab program where this tool is taught, to walk me through it.
Called the “Logic Model” (sound like an MBA course offering? read on….), its goal is to help writers make the best decisions about where to focus their creative energies and efforts when it’s time to launch their books.
Katrin and Lynne explained that often, as launch time approaches, authors get overwhelmed by thinking that they have to do “everything:” Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, ad campaigns, bookstore talks, conference panels, media articles, email newsletters, book clubs…you name it. But inevitably, this kind of effort is depleting. We wind up doing too much, including things that don’t match our unique personality, skills, or career goals.
The Logic Model frees us from this by helping identify what our goals really are and where our true interests and strengths lie, allowing us to then develop a framework for deciding which areas it makes the most sense to focus on when launching a book.
It starts by dividing the thought process into three categories:
1. Mission / intent
Here, we ask ourselves, honestly, what our goals are beyond sales. Do we want to educate people? Influence or move them? Entertain? Having sales as a unique and overriding goal is far too broad to act on in a meaningful way, so honing in on other goals — not just about a specific book or books but about our broader career — enables us to develop a more actionable plan. It all boils down to: “Why do I write?”
2. Definition of Success
This is where we can too easily set ourselves up for disappointment by focusing only on quantitative objectives and not qualitative ones too. Quantitative, measurable goals crop up at nearly every step along the path to publication: finding an agent, then a publisher. In many cases, receiving an advance. Or choosing to self-publish and, if so, making the various concrete decisions that come with it. Eventually, the goal-setting process leads to, “how many copies will I sell?” But this can distract us from focusing on the journey and discovering along the way that success comes in many shapes and sizes.
A more viable definition of success does have a quantitative element, but it doesn’t necessarily mean “number of copies sold or dollars earned.” It can mean other measurable outcomes such as landing a teaching job or a column in a respected publication.
The crucial qualitative element, however, is often overlooked. This is the side of the equation that writers actually find more meaningful. And it’ll help us rule out unproductive priorities. For example, perhaps giving talks in bookstores even if we loathe public speaking will only make us feel drained and unsuccessful. Or maybe we know we’ll never want to engage with strangers on twitter — but on the other hand, enjoy blogging. If we set goals that suit us specifically, then we can focus on putting our energies toward endeavors we love, which yield a tremendous amount of satisfaction. Isn’t that a valid measure of success?
3. Activities
Based on our mission and our definition of success, we can then work out a manageable set of steps to take in line with our specific interests and goals. We feel more in control and less anxious about having to “do it all.”
Visually, the Logic Model looks like this:
In the Launch Lab, Katrin and Lynne work one-on-one with authors and in small groups to map out their individual logic models and set up the right action plans. For example, author Ron MacLean discovered that he loves connecting with readers online. The steps he took subsequently — authoring a series of articles published by online outlets such as Cognsocenti — helped him celebrate the achievement of having written a novel and feel engaged with the reading community.
At GrubStreet’s upcoming Muse & the Marketplace conference, Katrin and Lynne will lead a targeted “conference-within-a-conference” called the Marketplace Clinic drawing on the logic model to help writers build their careers and focus their book marketing efforts in authentic and sustainable ways.
Having led a session myself at the 2011 Muse & the Marketplace on Redefining Success as an Author, I’m thrilled to see this concept being translated into a roadmap for action — one I think can be useful to all, time and again, at various places along the writing path.
How do you define success as a writer?
Have you found yourself taking steps in the process of launching your book that aren’t a good fit for you? If so, what?
Sharon Bially (@SharonBially) is the founder and president of BookSavvy PR, a public relations firm devoted to authors and books. Author of the novel Veronica’s Nap, she’s a member of the Director’s Circle at Grub Street, Inc., the nation’s largest independent writing center, and writes occasionally for the Grub Street Daily.
This was very comprehensive, Sharon. I like all your specifics. I’m not terribly business minded. I find promoting my work as an author (that is, being an author) to be quite different from being a writer creating stories. It’s such a conflict. I end up asking myself, do I want to spend my time writing stories and having a small readership or spend time promoting and campaigning my work to get more readers and sales? I think your “If we set goals that suit us specifically, then we can focus on putting our energies toward endeavors we love, which yield a tremendous amount of satisfaction” is right on the money!
Sharon–
This all makes good sense. But after I identify my goal (not sales, just getting people to be aware of my books), I am still left with the (up to now) unanswerable question of how to achieve it. I have paid two marketing “experts” for their help, and have nothing to show for it. Has anyone yet imagined the world experienced by older writers, specifically the barriers they face by not growing up with current technologies? If such a person exists, has he or she yet put together a plan for such people–you know, the marketing equivalent of big-button phones for seniors, offered to AARP members?
Barry, you should have seen some results as far as your books’ visibility if you hired a marketing expert. And if you hired somebody, in principal he/she should have taken the steps involving technology that you’re not comfortable with yourself. I’m afraid we can’t turn back the clock on technology’s importance, but many local libraries offer classes on social media and other internet-based platforms.
I have the MBA but it doesn’t seem to help much. I determine my success by continuing to improve. If I do a little better than I did last year, I’ll call that a success. I’ve pretty much decided to move into YA fiction, so I’ve spent time lately finding my readers. Twitter and Goodreads seems to be my best shot, so I’m joining groups and following hashtags where my readers will be hanging out. Building relationships takes time, so I need to get a jump on this now. Other than that, I continue to blog, keep up with facebook, and stay on top of the industry (this is my favorite place to do that). We’re always marketing when we’re online.
It’s true that creating art and promoting it are different mindsets. Still I think having a strategic plan for bringing work to readers helps enormously. There is a lot of pressure for authors to “do it all”–but I’d rather do what suits my temperament and my career goals. The logic model we use in Launch Lab–plus the one-on-one coaching–turn the plan into reality in a way that feels right and personal. Thanks Sharon for capturing what we aim to do so thoughtfully.
Good questions all.
As I approach the point of deciding when and how to publish (also known as ‘the final versions of the writing is almost done’), I ask myself those questions.
My specific answer is that it has to be the writing, not the personality behind it, that matters to someone.
I realize that’s a lofty aim, but for physical reasons, there is barely enough energy for creating, etc. – and, from my limited experience as a blogger, I have found that interacting with my lovely readers is an energy sink I could not duplicate if/when there are a lot more of them.
How to go about that in practice – sell Harry Potter and not JK Rowling – will be interesting to figure out.
Every writer says he or she is concentrating on quality – but what I see is a lot of promotion on everything else.
Alicia, yes, there’s a lot of promotion going on, mainly because publishers no longer do much of it and many people are self-publishing. But I suspect that many authors share the sentiment of wishing Potter would sell with no Rowling involved!
I love so many things about this. I like the strategic approach, and I do think that a lot of authors are bombarded with tactics without giving clear thought to objectives or why they’re doing what they’re doing. I’m more on the quantitative side than you are, it sounds like, although I agree, it doesn’t have to mean sales per se. Newsletter or announcement list sign ups, for example; traffic to your website, or reviews. That’s more business than mission, but I do think that it applies.
What I like best about this model is that it focuses on an individual author’s strengths and isn’t about doing everything that everyone else did to have “success.” Thanks for sharing a sane and logical method to marketing. :)
Wow, Sharon. This concept is so simple, yet brilliant. I can’t wait to try it! If you’re comfortable, I’d love to hear YOUR definition of success?
Great article and what a timely resource. So many times it feels like taking stabs in the dark, hoping something, anything connects. I think my problem is allowing myself freedom to say “just because it worked for them doesn’t mean I’m meant for the same mold”. Grubstreet, through framework, is creating freedom for many writers.
Hi Dede –
Wow, my definition of success? It has evolved a lot over the years and gone through various stages. The one it’s at today may not at all sound like every writer’s dream: to be able to write WITHOUT thinking about the career path ahead, or any of the qualitative goals. Just having given up my older hopes of making writing into my paying career and found a paying career that’s related and that I love (publicizing other people’s books!) is, to me, success. I have successfully broken out of the cycle of longing and frustration I was stuck in before and am making a positive contribution I feel great about. Accepting that quantitative goals such as being able to interact — as a writer — with writers I admire and be an active part of the broader conversation — and doing so — has brought me a lot of peace, and makes me feel successful. So I guess that’s my definition :-)
I suggest banding together with other debut authors–instead of creating a “Book Club,” create a Launch Club! When you are part of a community of other like-minded, energetic, creative types that is half the battle. It’s amazing how shared resources and ideas can add up.
We hear so often from authors who are frustrated because they are willing to put in the hard work to reach out to potential readers, but find that they don’t know where to focus their energy. It can be very frustrating. What’s exciting about running a program like this is the hard work we do over a period of months really strategizing about what an individual author can do for their specific book– all in light of their goals for their long term careers.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I’m filing this under “marketing” for when I get there!
Thank you for sharing this helpful information. I’ve pinned this piece on Pinterest as suggested above. Thank you again.