Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello authors. I'm Joanne Morrell, children's and young adult fiction writer and author of short nonfiction for Authors. Thanks for joining me for the Hybrid Author Podcast, sharing interviews from industry professionals to help you forge a career as a hybrid author both independently and traditionally publishing your books. You can get the show notes for each episode and sign up for your free author pass over at the Hybrid Author website to discover your writing process, get tips on how to publish productively, and get comfortable promoting your books at ww.
[00:00:34] Let's crack on with the episode.
[00:00:42] Hello authors. I hope you're all keeping well in whatever part of the world you reside and listen to the podcast in. Today's interview is a loner sword from me and I'm chatting self publishing burnout how to stay in the game without losing your spark. And I touch on what burnout is why it's so common in self publishing Mindset shifts that change the game, practical energy saving strategies, creative recovery practices, reframing the writing life so in my author adventure this week the Western Australia premiers Literary Awards. It's a fabulous night full of what I like to say, all of my writing industry buddies coming together from all different areas. You know, you've got the children's literature community, you've got the literary community, the adult side, the non fiction side. It's just, it's a really great night. I think it's televised as well and really, really big, good prizes in literature, amazing works, good networking events, free booze and canopies. And I have been able to go the last couple of years and yeah, it's a really great night. So I'm very, very excited to be going to that. It's actually one of the first events I think that I've gone to this year. I really, really pulled back on getting out there and so yeah, it's going to be really nice, loose and enjoy that. I am excited. If you've seen on social media and if you've been listening to the podcast, the book that I'm writing at the moment, which is the romance book set in the Vineyard, is with a publication for Harlequin in mind, which is a traditional publishing house. And if you look on Harlequin websites, they have different categories in the romance genres that you can write for and there is books in each category that they suggest reading which are new titles. And for some reason Australia is not part of their jurisdiction. You can't buy direct from their website there. So I had to go into my local library and order these books. And so yes, they came I forgot that I'd ordered so many. There was about six that came brand new as well because all the other harlequin ones from the library are so well thumbed from obviously lots of people reading them, which is cool. So I'm really, really excited. Already started getting into that, which is great. Apart from that, just busy with podcasts. It's blasting out there for guests, lots of pitches and lots of people coming on. Lots of speaking gigs kicking off next Saturday 30th is the first one. There's a whole bunch you can on site the hybrid author.com au work with me. I have started uploading where you can come and see me, talking about the power of podcasting, roadblocks and writing getting published and business startup success at various libraries around Western Australia. So if you're in the vicinity please come and see me or check me out. And I'm also speaking at the Writers Festival, the Armadale Writers Festival. I am hosting an event where I'm interviewing Holden shepherd who is a really prolific and amazing writer from Western Australia talking about books to screen. So currently listening to Holden's book on Audible and it's really, really fantastic as is all of his work.
[00:03:57] You have a story. Share it with the world. IngramSpark offers everything you need to publish, promote, sell and print your book. Reach millions of readers worldwide with powerful tools created for independent authors. Get started for free at IngramSpark.com forward slash. Learn more so as you've just heard, I'm absolutely delighted, thrilled and honored to announce the new sponsor of the Hybrid author podcast is IngramSpark. Most of you know I have printed both of my short nonfiction books for authors via Ingram in the past and my experience with them has been second to none. Their product is of the highest quality, their in house help even better turnaround time shipping. I have only positive feedback with self publishing through Ingram and of course this was way back when you had to upload your files and there was charges. Things have definitely changed and I feel very humbled to have them on board supporting the podcast. So if you are an author at whatever part of your author adventure and Considering self publishing, IngramSpark is the platform I would recommend you review and publish through. It's got built in distribution channels to libraries, schools worldwide and this is something that my women's contemporary fiction book the Right of the Hairdresser and the Nurse, which I publish locally is without and it makes just it a lot harder to have to go around and get this done yourself. At least with ingramspark it's a bit of a collaborative process, so head on over to get started for free at IngramSpark.com forward/learn more Self Publishing Burnout how to stay in the game without losing your spark Self publishing is empowering, but also exhausting. When you're juggling writing and publishing deadlines, marketing and all the hats, you'll learn practical energy saving strategies, mind shifts and sustainable habits to help stay inspired for the long term. Coming up in this episode Burnout. It's the word no self published author wants to say out loud, but almost every one of us has felt it. Maybe you've been there, staring at your manuscript, feeling resentful instead of inspired or pushing out content on Instagram, but dreading every post or just wondering if this author dream is worth the grind. So many times I have had that thought. I want to talk honestly about burnout, why it happens so often in self publishing and how you can protect your creative spark for the long haul. What Author Burnout Burnout really looks like it's ironic that I actually experienced burnout the very day I was to produce this podcast episode, so it's extremely timely. I woke like a dead weight. I couldn't even lift my head off the bed. I wasn't ill in health. I hadn't had a big night on the grog or burnt the midnight oil. Working. I just had nothing. And it scared me to death. The usual chugging about the coffee wasn't working, the energy drinks, the mindset shifts. I just couldn't function. Not in work, not in caring for my children or myself or the house or just anything really. It was a really scary feeling. I hadn't realized how much I'd just been piling on the jobs, powering on through what needed to be done, jumping from one thing to the next, the list bursting at the seams but very little getting done. Avoidance. I spent that day flat on my back. I had nothing left to give and I just couldn't get going. I realized I hadn't been prioritizing myself in between this book business, my casual job in the wine cellars, the children and the like. And so I had no choice but to rest up that day, make a plan to do something for myself as my partner kindly nud and bestowed his kind words on me. So I went for a swim at my gym and a steam, and the next day I felt like a new person. I realized that I needed to factor myself into my day or days to do at least one thing for myself, to balance the scales. Or at least not feel like how I felt that Tuesday. I've since prioritized walks along the beach, gym visits, and I'm trying to get to pamper sessions and really make me time a priority because I wholeheartedly believe this is the key to avoid burnout. I have also stopped writing up a never to do list of jobs. They're still there circulating. Instead I have a clean page on the notes app in my phone and I have laid out one to five in order I need to get done. Even if it's for the whole week. I do not stray from a task. Instead, I give my complete focus to it until it's complete and I don't let myself get distracted. And the feeling of achieving it and ticking it off has been immense. I have a goal. I have to go at my own pace and be kind to myself. So I just wanted to share that personal experience of burnout. But it can look quite different for each individual and it can take the form of not just tiredness, but avoiding writing even when you have time, feeling guilty for resting, constant comparison to other authors, marketing dread, resentment towards your book. So in my women's contemporary fiction book, the Right to the Hairdresser and the Nurse, I write about burnout in the form of the nurse character Christie, who is an overworked ad nurse, single parent of five children and juggling a deadbeat husband who is very little help to her. It's more of a hindrance. And she also has other family members who are feigning for her att tension. And she just begins to let her social life frazzle her family issues.
[00:09:01] You know, she's got them coming out of her ears and she just really starts to break down and turns to alcohol to see her through. So the truth is, burnout doesn't mean you're weak. It means you've been carrying too much without enough recovery. And that's something that I literally wrap my head around recently. Why self publishing breeds burnout. All the hats. Author, editor, marketer, accountant, publicist. We do everything.
[00:09:23] And even if we outsource some of these jobs to other people, we're still very much involved in the process. And you still got that mental law, constant decision making, covers, ISBNs, formatting platforms. You're circulating it all in your mind. It's just, it's a lot. Visibility, pressure, algorithms make you feel you must constantly create content. I know how I feel about that isolation. Without a team, every failure feels personal. So, you know, you might be self published, you might be alone in the journey and feeling like you've got Nobody to sort of share it with or talk to. You know, the highs and the lows. The pressure build. Self publishing gives us power, but it also asks for everything. And if we don't build in breaks, our creativity pays the price. Mindset shifts to break the cycle. Longevity over urgency. You're not behind, you're building a career. So I've realized this as well obviously over different periods of self publishing and this book business that it heat from past goals of wanting to publish four books a year when really at this point I'm a one book a year author. And that's fine. That's the way it's got to be.
[00:10:31] Progress over perfection. Better to release imperfectly than never publish at all. Curiosity over comparison. Ask what I can learn from them instead of why aren't I them? And a mantra that you should use is I am creating a sustainable career, not chasing someone else's deadline. So it's really tuning into yourself, your self publishing adventure, what you have to give and when and not looking on at everybody else and wishing you had their stamina or keeping up with them and especially in this world with AI coming to market and things like that. Just stay in your little bubble and focus on what you love doing. Go at your own pace. Do you be you and don't compare yourself to others. So some energy saving strategies are batching and boundaries right in one season and market in another another. Don't do both daily. Now I think that it's all about what works best for you that could work best for you. But I've definitely found in this last week rather than avid listeners of the podcast will know that there's a timetable that I had put together and there's different bits of this business that I had to do. But I really feel like focus focusing on one thing and getting it done is really what is working for me this week anyway. I'm not always going to be perfect and do the same thing all the time. That's where the hybrid author podcast we do all sorts of things and we do them differently. I'm not rigid in my processes and the way that I do things and there's good and bad to that, but you need to find what works for you. Marketing on autopilot, evergreen posts, quotes behind the scenes facts on rotation. There's an author I know I won't name names, but they repost the same posts that they have done yearly. And yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. I guess it's just like a refresher and maybe people who haven't seen them before will see them. Templates for re captions saves brain power. Now this is where AI can come in handy that you can help brainstorm for social media or different things in the marketing side. Track your energy, not just time. Morning writing. If that's when creativity flows, reserve admin tasks for low energy afternoons. I'm not sure about this point because again, it just depends. And sometimes I feel like I do start my workflow with admin tasks because it just gets me in my brain going into the business, into what's happening. And as long as you can sort of break off from that and actually get the work, get the productivity stuff done again, everybody's different. Some people are morning, some people are midday, some people are night owls. And it really just whatever works for you. I mix it up again all the time. It just depends on my kids, my schedule, my life, what's going on and where I can fit what. I'm recording this right now and it's quarter past ten at night and I've worked a full day at the sellers because this is the only moment now that I have to record this. So you just have to roll with it. Micro moments of creativity. Five minutes of journaling or dictation while driving still counts. I used to do that as well when I used to work for a technical script writing job. And on my way to work I would dictate my book and things and even on walks around the lake. So small sparks add up to big fires. Creativity recovery practices, artist dates go to. This is where the prioritizing yourself comes in and something that I definitely want to do more of. Go on artist dates, go to a cafe, a gallery or a vineyard. Just soak up the inspiration. It doesn't have to be, you know, writing related. Definitely vineyards for me at this point are inspiration. Over the weekend we went to Belt Rapids, which is water. Like yeah, it's filled with water at this point because there's been a lot of rainfall. So it's a beautiful sort of up the hills and you drive through Swan Valley where all the vineyards are. And that's the setting for my romance book. And I just. It's my happy place at the moment as well. So I want to spend a lot of time, as much time out there as I can. Morning pages. I know of writers that do morning pages. They do a quick dump of thoughts to clear the noise in their mind. Creativity, play, paint, collage, bake, anything with zero stakes. Rest as productivity, walking, napping or doing nothing. It gives ideas for space for ideas and it's this part of recovery. It's just what we have to do. When you take your foot off the gas, you realize the book doesn't disappear, but the joy comes back. Redefining Success as a Hybrid Author Sales are not the only measure success, joy, consistency, creative freedom and community. And outsource, where you know that last bit means a lot to me because this business is actually all coming together and it leaves me sitting stunned. But what's happening? Yeah, outsource. Where possible. Shout out to my lovely VAs cover designer Peter Ryan. Everybody that has worked on my books. The formatting, the editing and the marketing tasks have all contributed to my team. For self publishing, you don't have to do everything to be a professional. You just need to protect your spark.
[00:15:31] So there you have it folks. Self publishing Burnout how to stay in the game without losing your spark Burnout is not the end of the Author adventure. It's a warning light telling you to adjust to protect your energy, guard your joy and remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint. I'd love to hear what part of burnout you're struggling with the most and which of today's strategies you'll try. Tag me on socials. Joannybridauthor.com I love connecting with other hybrid authors who are blazing the trail. Next time on the Hybrid Author Podcast we have awards, substack and storytelling A Hybrid Career with Julia Lorenson Julia Lorenson is a writer, presenter and consultant living on Woodchuck Noongar Boodja, Perth, Western Australia. Her first novel, Obsession, published with Fremantle Press in 2001, won the WA Premier's Book Awards for Young Adult Writing and since then she has published 15 more books for children and young people. Several of her books have been notable books in the Children's Book Council Awards and others have been shortlisted for various awards including the Queensland Literary Awards, Young Readers Book Awards, Australian association of Family Therapy for Children's Literature and Educational Publishing Awards Australia. Now she's expanded her audience into memoir with how to Avoid a Happy Life, Fremantle Press, 2024 and this is the book that's listed in the shortlist for the Premier's Book Awards. I wish you well. New Author Adventure this next week. That's it for me. Bye for now. That's the end for now. Authors, I hope you are further forward in your Author adventure after listening, and I hope you'll listen next time. Remember to head on over to the Hybrid Author website at www.hyperdauthor.com to get your free Author pass. It's bye for now. Thank you.
