What’s Your Worst Writing Business Nightmare?

What’s your worst nightmare about your writing business? I’m willing to bet it’s the fear of running out of business and, therefore, income.

Okay, what’s your second worst nightmare? How about having too many writing clients or writing projects at one time?

If you’re regularly marketing your writing business, there may come a time when you suddenly realize you’re about to step into more work than you can actually handle.

Admittedly, this is the kind of problem we’d all love to have, but when it happens it can be, well, a nightmare.

If you’re keeping track of possible work as well as actual work, you’ll be able to see it coming and make some adjustments. I do this on a spreadsheet. The contracted work, with it’s price is in black. The work that looks likely but doesn’t yet have a signed contract is in light blue. The projects run down the left, and the pay or projected pay is listed month by month.

This way I have a look at what’s actually going on with my writing business and I can spot problems before they pop up and surprise me.

Of course, the spreadsheet doesn’t solve the problem of a client who is late delivering needed material, or the client who starts a project with me then for one reason or another stops in the middle. But because I have a bird’s eye view of half a year or a year’s worth of work, I know about what I can promise, what I can’t and what needs adjustment.

Getting clear on how your work is coming in is an important part of managing your writing business.

Write well and often,

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