Behind the Scenes: Shifts in My Author Journey

As mentioned before, I started a full-time job in February, and it’s going well so far. Though there’s a lot to take in. Not only the usual process of getting to know the company, its people, and its products, but also the fact that I'm stepping into a newly created position. The latter means that I also need to figure out my role and responsibilities within the organizational structure. I’m also adjusting to this new role after spending the past few years writing full-time at home.

Altogether, there’s a lot to take in, but I’m not complaining. I most enjoy figuring out and laying the foundation for a company's marketing and public relations. This involves building structures, developing content strategies and workflows, and shaping the company’s voice from the ground up.

I’m enjoying going to a full-time job in a regular office, which is a novel concept for me. For most of my career, I dreaded going to work. Not because I disliked the work itself, but because of the circumstances of previous jobs. So, going to work without feeling dread in my stomach every day is rather welcome, as you can imagine.

Changes for my Essentials for Authorpreneurs

All this sounds good, but there are some drawbacks. Obviously, working full-time doesn’t leave me with as much time for writing as I had before. This isn’t a unique situation for self-publishing authors who have day jobs, but it’s new for me.

When I started my author journey in 2021, the pandemic was at its peak. At that time, I didn’t work full-time. And afterward, I continued to work from home, so I didn’t have to commute. Therefore, I had a lot more time for writing.

Because that has changed, I need to adjust my plans. With 50+ fewer hours per week for writing, it’s clear that I won’t reach the goals I set at the beginning of the year.

Despite my preparation, there’s still a gap between what I planned and what I’ve accomplished. I have a backlog of blog posts, articles, emails, and social media content in progress, but none of it is ready for publication.

Therefore, I won't be able to stick to a weekly publishing schedule for fiction and nonfiction. That’s fine, though, because my focus right now is to get established in this new role and acclimate to the changes in my daily life. The upside is that I’m learning a lot, especially about content workflows and strategy, which will improve my work in the long run. Moreover, it allows me to draw on even more personal experiences when I write about that in the future.

Shifts in focus

Given everything that’s going on, I’ve had to rethink my publishing approach. For now, I’m putting various plans on hold.

First, I won’t launch the branding e-course this year. It makes little sense to expand my ventures when I can’t even properly promote my books on Amazon. On top of that, I still need to work on my author platform, especially by creating consistent content. Even if I create the content, I won’t have time to edit, launch, and market it properly.

Currently, I’m deciding whether to postpone the launch to 2027 or cancel it entirely.

E-course or no e-course?

E-learning, and especially a course about branding for authorpreneurs, has always been part of my long-term business plan, but the landscape has changed. When I started, there was comparatively little content on branding for authors. That was one of the main reasons I wrote a guide on the subject. 

However, many others have also noticed the lack of products on this topic, or their AI of choice has informed them of this. Either way, the result is the same: now, the space is crowded. Many more authors have written books and blog posts on the topic. So, if I want to stand out with my content, it must be unique and meet a demand.

This doesn’t mean the idea is off the table, but it does mean I need to rethink my approach—and that is true for my entire author business. Although I have constantly adapted my business plan, I need time to work on it again. 

For now, the sensible path may be to focus on writing nonfiction guides and supporting content. I should build depth first and expand later, if it still makes sense creatively and financially.

Upcoming non-fiction projects

Second change is that I also won’t publish another guide this year. Since I didn’t publish a fiction novel in 2025, I will focus on that in the coming months. I’m releasing the second installment of my supernatural thriller series soon. At the same time, I’m translating my published novels and guide back into my native German.

I have narrowed the focus of my next guide down to two topics, but I still haven’t made a final decision yet about which book to write next. As I mentioned before, the two most likely topics are writing your business plan and building an author platform.

For the latter, I have two options for what to highlight. First, I could delve deeper into the topic I have already covered in several blog posts and in Branding for Authorpreneurs. The second option is to focus on what I mentioned above: content strategy and workflow.

All three are topics that some of you requested last year when I asked for suggestions. I already have preliminary outlines for those guides, but I haven’t finished them. 

Since I’m going to focus on my fiction and building my author platform in the coming months, my goal is to release the next guide in early 2027.

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