Sorry, I can't offer you free services. Here's why.
If I had a fully functional magic lamp, or if Jiminy Cricket appeared on my windowsill promising a wish on a star, I wouldn’t wish to win the lotto, or for money to grow on trees.
I’d ask for more time.
It’s such a shame to only have 24 hours in a day. Since a third of my day goes toward writing and another third goes toward my brain cataloging memories and refreshing its cells or whatever the heck it does at night, I must choose how I spend those remaining few hours wisely.
If I sent you a link to this post, or if I haven’t responded to your email, contact form submission, or DM, please know that I’m flattered that you reached out. I’m sure whatever you need help with is really important to you.
Disappointing others is one of my greatest fears. Because of this, I say “yes” to things too often. But every time I say “yes,” I siphon time from my priorities. And as much as I hate this—because I know what it’s like to be in your shoes—since I’ve said “yes” to so many other things, unfortunately I have to say “no” to you.
I know you don’t think you’re asking for much. But if you knew how many people reach out to me asking for help, you’d understand how much time it would take to say yes to everyone.
Here are the things on my plate I must prioritize:
In no particular order, here’s what must come first, in addition to obvious priorities like my family and my health:
1. Writing novels. I’m fortunate to write-full time now, but I don’t get paid if the words don’t get written—I no longer get PTO!—so I must make sure I have the brain space to write on short deadlines.
2. Marketing tasks. Authors are expected to do their own marketing these days, and I’m no exception, especially now that I’m both traditionally and self-publishing. This work involves sending email newsletters, running an ARC team, creating bonus content, producing videos, designing graphics, taking photos, updating my website, and so on… and it’s very time-consuming.
3. Book marketing coaching gigs. I took a pay cut when I quit my salaried day job to write full time, so I need to take on freelance projects in order to make up the difference.
4. Author admin tasks. It takes a decent chunk of time to handle things like reviewing interior page designs, providing feedback on cover designs, tracking payments, fielding emails from my agents, editor, publicist, etc.
5. My personal life. I like to have some semblance of a social life every once in awhile, to exercise, read, and play video games. Otherwise stress will reduce me to a useless blob. And I really don’t want to be a useless blob.
So, I’m very sorry, but I simply must say no to you—and lately, as much as it pains me, I may not have the time to reply at all. There just aren’t enough hours in the day, and oh how I wish it were different.
Thanks so much for understanding. 🫶
Here are some useful links based on questions I get a lot:
1. My Substack “Diana Urban: Author Tips & Tea” has loads of publishing, writing, and marketing tips for trad authors (like querying tips, what it’s like to go on submission, how I’ve promoted my books) and indie authors (my first steps, how I ran a beta reader team) alike.
2. If you need more detailed book marketing advice, you can read tons and tons and tons of posts I wrote back when I worked at BookBub on the BookBub Partners Blog.
3. If you’re trying to learn how to do inbound marketing, you can find information here, here, and here (search for anything, you’ll find it).
4. If you’re looking for marketing advice specific to your unique circumstances, I’d recommend posting your question to:
- PubTips on Reddit
- The Absolute Write forums (for traditional publishing and writing questions)
- Kboards Writers’ Cafe (for self-publishing questions)
- Threads. Truly, just post on there and chat with fellow authors with the Author Community tag. You’ll learn so much!
There are tons of helpful folks on these sites who may have more time on their hands and who’d be willing to share their expertise.