The author business books we immerse ourselves intend to be related to craft, processes (such as outlining for plotters), or productivity for authors. Those are fine and helpful, but I’ve learned valuable lessons from books that are not author or writing focused and believe it’s beneficial to pull ideas from outside our industry to help build a successful author career.
The following books helped me in that regard: Eat That Frog, Profit First, and Company of One. Ultimately, they transformed my author business by helping me find balance in my work, improve my finances, and reevaluate my goals.
Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy
Eat That Frog is a productivity book for procrastinators that helped me improve a work-life balance. Despite being very organized, my to-do list always seemed to barely move, and at the end of each day, I was dissatisfied with my progress.
Reading Tracy’s book helped me rethink the tasks that I have to complete each day, and I became more efficient.
Here’s how I did it: I ate the frog.
According to Tracy, a frog is the biggest, most important task you have to complete. His advice is to make it the first thing you tackle. It could be something you dread doing, but it’s most likely to have the greatest positive impact on your life at the moment. For authors, most days, that would be writing, and that’s what I typically prioritize.
But some days, the frog might be administrative work. For example, if I’m working on a multi-author project and need to have my book uploaded to BookFunnel by a certain date, then I have to prioritize that task to uphold my end of the deal. Or maybe I have a new release coming up. The frog would be writing my New Release newsletter and scheduling social media posts to promote it.
Tracy tells us how to prioritize our tasks, which is one of my favorite quotes from the book:
You can get control of your tasks and activities only to the degree that you stop doing some things and start spending more time on the few activities that can really make a difference in your life.
There’s no way for us to complete everything we need to do, so we should shave unnecessary tasks from our lists and work on the most impactful activities. Basically, the 80/20 rule. I know, I know, it’s a no-brainer, but sometimes you (or is it just me?) need to see something in a different way for it to finally hit home.
Another valuable concept from the book is to plan every day in advance. By taking approximately 10 minutes to plan the next day, you could save up to two hours per day because you’re not wasting time floundering.
You can plan your next day at the end of your workday or later at night before you go to bed. Whatever you choose, trust me, it makes a difference. When I plan, I check my calendar for the following day and write down tasks I want to prioritize based on the time I have available. If I have errands to run or appointments, my list might be shorter, but I always know what I should be working on when I sit at my desk, and that helps me to be productive.
Although I write full time, I can often be finished by 3 p.m., with my long days lasting until 5:30 p.m. I like having the option to work longer or “clock out” and do other things that I enjoy, all because of a couple of tweaks: planning every day in advance and prioritizing the most impactful tasks.
Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
Profit First transformed my author career with a simple concept: take your profit first, instead of after your expenses.
We’re all aware that we should have personal savings, but have you considered having a business savings account? That idea never occurred to me until I read this book. By setting aside a portion of your revenue every month (profit), you can give yourself a financial cushion in case of emergency and financial stability in a career where an unpredictable income is the norm.
Michalowicz points out that the more money we have, the more we tend to spend. By dumping all our revenue into one account, we’re tempted to use those funds. The answer is to split our royalties into different accounts. He recommends five foundational accounts, but the one I want to recommend is the profit account, or as I call it, the business savings account.
Here’s how it works: First, you need to set up a business savings account. Next, decide what percentage of your royalties you want to transfer into the savings each month. Michalowicz recommends starting with 1% and gradually increasing the percentage, but start higher if that’s comfortable for you.
Every month, after you’ve received your direct deposits, calculate the transfer amount. For example, if you receive $2,000 in royalties in January, you’d transfer $20 into the savings if you chose 1%, or $60 if you chose 3%. If you made $5,000, you’d transfer $50 at 1%, $150 at 3%, or $500 at 10%.
Do yourself a favor and don’t check your savings regularly. Out of sight, out of mind. I transfer the funds each month, and the couple of times a year when I do check my balance, I’m always pleasantly surprised by the growth.
You might be wondering why you even need to do this. One of my favorite quotes from the book explains why:
When less money is available to run your business, you will find ways to get the same or better results with less. By taking your profit first, you will be forced to think smarter and innovate more.
Less money in your operating account will force you to be creative. Instead of running ads, you might do podcasts and blog interviews to get the word out about your book. Instead of paying influencers to share your book, you might use social media or tap into your mailing list to find ARC readers. Instead of paying for a pricey workshop, you might see if there are cheaper or free alternatives available that provide the same value.
The other benefit is that you’ll have a cushion for unexpected expenses. You now have the funds to participate in that reader conference you received an invitation to out of the blue, you can redesign your website, attend the NINC conference, redesign your book covers, or simply let the money sit in your account untouched, accruing interest.
What I love about profit first is the peace of mind it provides and how I now think outside the box when it comes to marketing. My expenses are lower, which means my net profit is higher, and I have a nice cushion in case I need it.
Company of One by Paul Jarvis
This book is the only one where I didn’t actually have to take specific steps. But Company of One did help me shift my mindset about business growth and confirmed something I’d known on a subconscious level—I don’t want to grow any bigger. I like being small and nimble enough to make changes on the fly, and I only have to worry about myself and no one else.
By the way, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to build a publishing empire with employees or multiple authors under you, but some of us prefer to stay small, and Jarvis insists this ideology is spreading.
One of my favorite quotes from the book is when the author points out that a company of one—a single-person business—can grow in other ways:
You can scale up revenue, enjoyment, raving fans, focus, autonomy, and experiences, while resisting the urge to blindly scale up employee payroll, expenses, and stress levels. This approach builds… a personal buffer to help you thrive even in times of hardship.
A company of one might still have help through the use of contractors. In our case, we need editors and cover artists, for example.
But just like Profit First, Company of One forces you to think outside the box. Instead of solving problems by bringing on more people—whether they are contractors or employees—and therefore incurring more infrastructure and expenses, the goal is to solve problems in innovative ways, which means greater long-term stability because less is needed to keep the business afloat.
Just because our income is growing doesn’t mean our business has to grow, too. That idea is both liberating and reassuring and reminds me that success isn’t necessarily about scaling up—it’s about creating a business that aligns with my values, lifestyle, and long-term goals.
Your turn
The books I listed above helped me think outside the writing box. Have you read a non-writing book that influenced your career? Send me an email at delaney@delaneydiamond.com. I’d love to read it.
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Delaney Diamond is the USA Today Bestselling Author of more than 50 contemporary romance and romantic suspense novels as well as dozens of romance short stories. When she’s not spinning tales of romantic fiction, she enjoys learning about time management and ways to increase productivity. She shares her recommendations on the For Authors page at delaneydiamond.com where she lists tools and resources to help her fellow indie authors save time and improve their processes to attain the elusive work-life balance we all crave.