How To Avoid Burnout As An Author
7 Simple Shifts So You Can Stay In It For the Long-Haul
Last week, I sent out a survey to everyone who subscribes to this Substack and asked them to answer a few questions.
And the majority of the people who responded said theyâre worried about burning out as an author. Burning out on marketing, burning out on writing books, and burning out before theyâve created the career success they desire.
So I wanted to address this. Because I get itâbeing a self-published author requires a lot.
You arenât just the one writing the books; youâre also the one who has to publish the books, launch the books, market the books, sell the books, provide customer service for the books, all while thinking up and writing new books.
It can be exhausting. But it doesnât have to be.
Over the course of my 16-year author career so far, Iâve found ways to make things easier on myself. So even though Iâm pretty much doing everything (besides editing my books and designing my covers; I hire people to do that stuff), it feels like a flowing system and not like something thatâs hard to do.
The caveat to this would be if you also have a day job. That can make a lot feel like even more. If you do, you have to figure out a schedule for yourself that works with your day job and still allows you to do what you need to for your author career, whether that means using PTO days when youâre on a deadline or skipping the Netflix binge after work so you can put words on the page.
Hereâs a post I wrote about how to structure your work week even if you have a day job:
Being an author and a writer is my day job. So that makes it a little easier for me.
But even still, there are ways to avoid burning out, whether you have a day job or not.
Hereâs what has helped me to keep writing books and building my author career for the past 16 yearsâand what will help me continue to do it for the rest of my life:
1. Create Foundational Beliefs To Support You
The number one belief I created early on in my career is that my books sell themselves. I knew I wanted to spend more time writing books than I did marketing and selling books, so creating that belief has helped me be able to do that.
These days, I rarely promote my books unless Iâm launching a new one, and yet every month I consistently make royalties from Amazon and Audible.
Why? Because my books sell themselves.
If you want to move the needle without having to work super hard, I highly recommend creating some foundational beliefs that align with the results you desire to achieve.
Hereâs how to do that:
2. Know Your Why
It can be tough to stay motivated 24/7/365 to keep moving forward on your goals. Thatâs why itâs so important to know your why.
As in, why are you an author? Why do you want to sell books? Why does any of this matter to you?
Why are you doing this?
When youâre clear on your why, it will be much easier to push through when you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or want to quit.
Many authors are just writing books but without any bigger vision or reason for why theyâre doing it. And thatâs what makes burnout an option to begin with.
But when you know why youâre doing something, that why will overpower everything else, including burnout.
So figure out your why and use it as a North Star to guide your career journey.
3. Do What Works For You
As self-published authors, itâs so easy to get caught up in trying to follow what traditionally published authors are doing or what other self-published authors say you should do.
Be on social media. Start a Substack. Post five times a week. Market your books every day. Pay for ads. Make videos for BookTok. Send emails out every week. Collab with other authors. Run free book promos. Record an audiobook.
Thereâs an endless amount of potential things you could be doing or that other authors are doing. But that doesnât mean itâs what you should be doing.
In my opinion, the only way to avoid burning out on being an author is to do what works for you.
And that means doing what you want to do and what feels good for you to do, and letting everything else go.
Donât feel like making videos? You donât have to. Donât want to spend money on ads? Donât do it. Have no desire to learn how to do email marketing? Skip it.
Burnout happens when youâre trying to do everything or comparing yourself to what other authors are doing and feeling like youâll never measure up or get it all done.
There are no âmustsâ when it comes to being a successful author other than writing books, so find the marketing tasks you actually enjoy, and stick with those.
4. Prioritize For Real
Since there are so many things you could be doing, you have to figure out what you want to be doing. And then you have to prioritize doing it.
As I mentioned, I never wanted to spend a lot of time marketing. I prefer to write more books.
So thatâs what I prioritize.
My entire work week is built around putting words on the page, moving the needle on my current book project, and getting it to the finish line by my set deadline.
If I have time for other stuff, like posting on social media or writing Substack posts, I do it. But if I donât?
I donât worry about it.
5. Commit To Doing What Moves the Needle
For me, writing more books is what helps me to sell more books. Whenever I launch a new book, sales for my backlist books start picking up too.
Example: when I published F*ck the How, it did okay sales-wise. But a year later, when I published Quantum Leap Your Life? Sales for F*ck the How took off.
And the sales increased even more when I published the audiobooks.
So in my career, writing books is what moves the needle, and thatâs what I focus the majority of my time and energy on.
What moves the needle for you? Figure that out and then commit to doing it consistently.
6. Drop Everything When Youâre On A Deadline
When youâve got a deadline, you have to be okay with letting everything else fall by the wayside for a while. Itâs only temporary.
That means focusing on getting the book done, or launching the new book, or whatever your deadline is for, and not worrying about your social media or Substack or anything else you usually do.
Trying to hit a deadline while also doing all of that other stuff at the same time is why authors burn out. Itâs just too much to handle.
Iâm a high-volume writer. I post on social media, I write posts on Substack, I send a weekly email out to my email list. I also have multiple book projects in various stages Iâm working on simultaneously.
But when a deadline is coming up? I drop everything else.
Iâm okay with not posting on social, skipping a Substack post, or not sending any emails for a couple of weeks, but Iâm not okay with missing my deadline.
7. Throw Money At It
As a self-published author, you can learn to do everything yourself, but you donât have to. You can also hire help.
Whether thatâs a virtual assistant, someone to design your book covers and format the interior of your books, or just running some ads to sell your books so you donât have to, hiring help is always an option.
This is tough for a lot of authors.
But if you want to do this long-term, you have to get better at asking for and accepting help, and setting money aside each month that you can invest in your author career.
By getting some help, especially for the tasks you either donât enjoy, donât want to do, or donât know how to do, you can avoid wasting time learning skills that someone else already has and focus only on what youâre good at.
Authors who donât do this are the ones who eventually end up burning out.
My Burnout Signs + How I Avoid Burning Out
While writing this post, I thought about what happens for me when Iâm heading toward a feeling burned out/wanting to quit phase, and what helps me get out of it quickly.
I made you an audio where I talk through what my burnout signs look like, and what I do immediately to avoid burning out, so you can get clear on your own signs and what you can do to avoid landing in that phase yourself.
You can listen to it below:
