Publishing a book can pile on the overwhelm. Let’s face it, there are a lot of things to be done besides writing the book.
Actually any project can seem overwhelming when we consider all that must be done and think we need to do it all at the same time.
A good method to deal with overwhelm is to break your project into smaller pieces. A supervisor I once had taught me this. She called it the swiss cheese method—poking little holes in the project one at a time.
Break It Down
Publishing your book will be more manageable if you break it down into it various steps and, if you like, assign dates to start and complete those steps
Maybe even this idea of managing your project seems overwhelming. But you project manage every day. Yes, you really do!
You know what time you have to be at work and what time the kids have to be at school. You set your alarm for 6:00, get up, shower, and dress. Then you wake up the kids and get them breakfast and off to school, then yourself off to work.
You know when you come home after work you will be preparing dinner, helping the kids with homework, and then getting them and yourself to bed. You plan your day accordingly to allow for each of these things.
And that is the essence of project management.
An Example
So, let’s look at your book. Managing the writing might look like this:
- Write the draft
- Edit and revise the draft
- Send revised manuscript to beta readers
- Build and nurture my followers while manuscript is with beta readers
- Finalize manuscript once I get feedback from my beta readers
My blog post “Getting your book to the virtual bookshelf” gives you a good guide to the steps involved in publishing and will give you a springboard to get started.
Breaking the work down into sections (e.g. writing, designing, marketing) and creating a plan, even if it’s minimal, allows your mind to focus on the task at hand and will help alleviate the overwhelm.
If you’re a tech geek and want to use project management software or a tool, check out this post from Asana, “Project management software and tools.”
Otherwise, use what comes naturally, be it something on the computer or on paper.
Your first step? Set a day and time to brainstorm the steps you need for your project. Stop right now and set that appointment with yourself, then come back and let me know in the comments that you made it.
Remember, take one thing at a time. Poke little holes in that big project and it is less likely to overwhelm you.