By Michael Evans May 25, 2024.
One of the most important things we can do as authors?
Make the next best decision for us.
We make decisions constantly— hundreds and hundreds each day.
Over 90% happen subconsciously and almost all of our decisions (nearly 99%) are majorly if not almost entirely influenced by subconscious thoughts.
That’s kind of wild to think about. When we write stories— in many ways a part of our brain that we can’t consciously access is writing the story. This is the flow state and is the part that I love most about writing.
When your fingers fly across the keyboard, your word processor unable to keep up with the speed of your imagination.
Can we reach a similar flow state with our marketing and the rest of our author business? A state where the process moves forward without us feeling like we have to make energy draining decision after decision?
Today I want to help you get one step closer to your “flow state” for how you run your author business.
That’s why I’m sharing 3 principles I have found extremely helpful in making decisions. It’s not meant to be prescriptive. Some folks may resonate with one principle more than another. BUT it is meant to help you start to think about what simple heuristics you can use to help you make better decisions.
Less energy going towards business decisions means more and more energy to pour into your storytelling 💜.
Principle #1: Double Dipping
Double Dipping is when one action you take has multiple benefits. In this way you are hitting “two birds with one stone”.
Double Dipping is powerful because it acts as a hedge against your decisions. Maybe you choose to invest in a marketing activity such as creating content on TikTok. You hope that one benefit is reaching new readers on TikTok, maybe specifically 100 new mailing list sign ups from your TikTok in the first 90 days.
This benefit is great and may alone make this activity worth it for you. But there’s no sure fire way to tell whether you will achieve that or not.
However… we can change this.
Maybe you offer your TikTok videos for early access to your fans in your subscription. Maybe, you also market your TikTok to your existing readers, using the platform to build a deeper relationship with your existing audience. Or maybe you use your TikToks as part of a media kit that you send to influencers and online creators as guides when helping them promote your books.
These are just a few ways you could approach your TikTok creation strategy to allow yourself to benefit in multiple ways.
Thus, even if you only get 3 mailing list subscribers from TikTok inn your first 90 days, at least you have also benefitted in other ways.
This is the power of double dipping. And I encourage you to think of ways you can double dip (or triple or quadruple dip) from everything you do.
Principle #2: Shoulders of Giants
When studying the successes of other authors, we can sometimes either feel inspired to do everything they do OR can feel defeated and say “that can never be me”.
Instead, I encourage you to stand on the shoulders of giants. Or in short, build on the work of other previously successful authors, creators, and entrepreneurs when building the story business of your dreams.
This principle recognizes that in an ever-changing world, there are some archetypes and themes that continue to resonate throughout generations. Don’t ignore storytellers from the past. We have lots to learn, and even more to learn by expanding our horizons.
However, standing on the shoulders of giants crucially means building ON TOP of what others have done. This means we should always put our own unique spin on things, combine tactics we see from others, and try new things!
With this said, if you find yourself making a business decision without any “giant” to stand on top of, that could be a red flag. Even if it’s someone in a completely different industry, it’s very useful to learn lessons from others. This helps us direct our passions more effectively and learn from the mistakes of others.
Principle #3: Market Physics
The best scientists are humble. So are the best storytellers.
To “know” the world in its truest form is an idealistic but also impossible pursuit. As authors, to “know” the best story to write for a specific group of readers, to “know” the best way to marker our books… is a constant challenge.
The truth is there is never a singular BEST way. So be easy on yourself… don’t spend months and years searching for the perfect path forward.
Instead, make decisions with the knowledge that you can CHANGE up what you are doing.
Just like a scientist running an experiment to determine the physics of the universe, each time we try something as an author is a new experiment. Going into it what is your hypothesis and how will you know if you are correct?
This helps to take the negative emotions out of our business decisions, namely the ones where we blame ourselves and can sometimes spiral out of control in self-doubt.
Some of the greatest scientists had “failed” experiments for years and years before finding that one theory that changed everything for them.
Be easy on yourself. Take an experimental approach and don’t be tricked into thinking you know it all. The faster you can “update” your view of the world, the better you decisions you will make for yourself and your readers.
These are 3 frameworks that I’ve started using more recently and they have been super helpful for me! Let me know if you like these and if you want to hear some more of my advice on decision making for authors. I LOVE strategy, so I’m very open to doing deep dives on this.