Pivot by Annette Dashofy

I’ve written before about “plans” and making God laugh. You would think I’d just stop making them.

Seriously though, as writers, we’re not just artists or craftsmen, we’re business owners. Entrepreneurs. We can’t go blindly into the world. We must have a business and marketing plan.

Granted, when things went off the rails in March, my writing and business plan, like so many others’, did as well. However, I gradually found my creative voice and started writing again. And I dusted off my business plan, made a bunch of adjustments, and refocused. June is filled with the online class I’m teaching and the release of my next book. That hasn’t changed. But each month afterward, I started scheduling the tasks needed to accomplish what I intended to publish next and into 2021 and beyond, including a brand-new project.

Then I received some professional advice on the current market and what is and isn’t selling right now. Under the “what isn’t” column sat my brand-new project. Three months ago, it would have been a hot commodity. But reading habits have changed.

Since I value this professional’s opinion, I’ve decided to change directions and put the brand-new project on hold. For now.

I’m pivoting.

This may well be the year of the pivot. Dana Kaye of Kaye Publicity has been using the term since the quarantine began. I’ve been a member of her Your Breakout Book community for quite a while now. Unable to afford to pay a publicist, I instead subscribe to YBB where Dana provides monthly online trainings, access to past webinars, templates, and videos where I and other members learn to be our own marketing experts. Dana has her finger on the pulse of the publicity world and has been keeping us current on the newest trends. Her advice has always been, if something doesn’t work for you, pivot. This holds true now more than ever before.

If you feel like your floundering in the abyss of media, marketing, and promotion, I highly recommend you try Your Breakout Book by signing up here.

But I digress. Pivoting. When all of my in-person book events were canceled, I started doing online Zoom and Crowdcast events and interviews. When the wind shifts, you either change the set of your sails or go under.

When your book contract is canceled, you look at your options and move on, either indie publishing or seeking a new traditional publisher or both.

When the new series you eagerly started writing doesn’t appeal to the agent or editor at this time, you either put it aside for later or you move forward and indie pub it.

Thank goodness we have those options now. And what’s right for one person, isn’t the right fit for another. Set your sail according to your own plan.

I’m not at liberty to share my new plan just yet as there are too many variables and hurdles to overcome. I already feel like I’m getting whiplash from all the pivoting I’ve been doing. I don’t want to send all of you to the chiropractor as well! I will tell you I’m keeping a weather eye out, I’m heeding the storm warnings, but I’m also continuing to move forward, which for me means putting pen to the page and keystrokes to an open Word document.

What types of books are you reading these days? Have your reading tastes pivoted since February? And writers, are you changing what you’re writing or staying the course?