September was a heavy marketing month for me. With my debut having gone out in the summer and the hardcover coming up in November, I felt the press of time to DO SOMETHING. And so I did. I learned how to use Tiktok, watched tutorials on how to use Canva, sent out innumerable social media blasts, ran a half dozen ad campaigns and more. By the end of it, I was exhausted and feeling pretty overwhelmed.

Unless you’ve already got a significant fan base and a big company doing the work for you, marketing is a part of this author life. It’s something that must be learned, honed, and balanced so that it builds up our brand without breaking us. The problem? I did not become an author to become a marketer. I hate selling things. I’m no longer the worst at selling things, but it still makes me feel ick. Marketing is pushy, and annoying, and repetitive, and it’s hard work. I don’t mind work, but I already have plenty of it. The laundry alone is out of control.

When you’re in the thick of it, marketing can easily overwhelm you. Maybe an ad didn’t do so well, so you feel pressure to work on another idea. A better idea. A flashier idea. Or do multiple ads, a song and dance performance, and don’t forget to be present and active on all your social media groups. Post early, post late, post often. Be interesting; be funny. Be subtle and not so subtle. It’s exhausting. And it takes away from your writing time, too. I spent less than 5 percent of my time on actual writing in September. Isn’t that sad?

I’ve given it some thought, and I’ve reviewed the metrics I already have in place to figure out where I went wrong. Now I’m going to share my thoughts with you. So here are three things you can try when marketing becomes overwhelming.

#1 Establish Boundaries

Set Time Boundaries

I already have metrics in place to prevent writer burnout (Check out my article on the subject). I give myself a time allotment every month, and if I go over the limit, I self-correct. I am an impulsive writer and, apparently, I am also an impulsive marketer. The time between idea crafting and idea execution is usually dependent on how quickly I can get to my computer.

This is okay in the short term, but unsustainable in the long run. Initially, my time logs for marketing were few and far between, so keeping track was easier. But from July to September, I lived and breathed marketing and, what’s worse, I didn’t log most of my marketing time. This was a mistake. I have no idea how much time I actually spent on marketing during that time, which means I have no metrics to measure. In order to self-correct, I’ve established a boundary for myself and will start my timer before beginning any marketing work. This includes social media posts, which can be a major time suck. Making this small adjustment will help me monitor my productivity and cut back when I go over my limits.

As someone with a family and loads of other responsibilities, there are other boundaries I’ll need to set to ensure that marketing doesn’t take over my life. Your parameters may be different, but it’s important to establish your boundaries and stick to them. Maybe your boundary will be no marketing on weekends, while you’re on vacation, or after a certain time of night. Maybe, like me, you’ll limit yourself to a certain number of hours.

Whatever it is, remember two things:

1) You won’t know what works until you try it, and sometimes the boundaries we set don’t work. Don’t be afraid to adjust your boundaries. Maybe you started off with a ‘no weekend’ rule but found it to be unrealistic. So you’ve adjusted and now you don’t do more than an hour of marketing on the weekend.

2) Boundaries don’t work if we don’t stick to them. Once you’ve got a system in place that works, follow it. Be firm in establishing your boundaries. Say no to other things when it’s time to market, and say no to marketing when you’ve reached your limit. Are there exceptions? Yes. But if you make too many, you’ll find yourself quickly overwhelmed.

Set Relationship Boundaries

Have I told you that marketing makes me feel ick? Well, it does. And if it makes me feel ick, it probably makes other people feel ick, too. So there are certain people I don’t market to. My friends, my social groups, and my family. Will I tell the people I know about my book? Sure. Will I blast them with ads, email campaigns, and constantly follow up asking if they’ve bought it, if they’ve read it, or if they’ve reviewed it? Absolutely not. Because I want them to see me coming and not walk the other way. That’s how we feel when we see the guy in the grocery store who’s trying to sell us a new phone plan. We don’t want our friends feeling like we’re that guy.

I only harass the people closest to me (namely, my husband and my siblings) and the people farthest away. Establishing a boundary within your relationships is helpful, because overmarketing to friends and family can isolate you, which will make marketing even more burdensome.

#2 Take A Break

Switch Tasks

If you’re struggling with an ad campaign, try doing a fun Tiktok video instead, or posting a writing related thought or meme on one of your social media groups. You don’t have to stick to one thing, especially if that one thing isn’t working, or you just don’t have the mental head space for it.

Switch Projects

You may need to take a break from marketing altogether and switch to a completely different project. Swap out your marketing hat for your writer’s cap. Or your editor’s sombrero. Get back to your craft and doing what you love. Start on a new project, tweak an old one, or find a writing prompt and just create.

Switch Off

If you find yourself too tired to write, then a complete cut off may be in order. Take some time for yourself to decompress. Take a walk, take a trip, take a nap, take a day to do nothing. Forget about marketing and writing and Booktok and all the things and just be. Sometimes we need a break. If we don’t allow ourselves any down time, we’ll start to hate the work. And coming back from that is a long, slow road. So take the breaks you need.

#3 Delegate

Oh, this writer life is lonely sometimes. But it doesn’t have to be. If you’ve got people in your life who care about you and are excited about your work, it’s okay to ask them for help. Here are a few places to start.

Reach out to close family and friends

Not everyone around you will be a writer, editor, or marketer, but the people who love you probably want to see you succeed. There are some tasks you can delegate to your faithful friends and family. For example, research. Say you need a list of email addresses for local newspapers, magazines, bookshops, etc. That’s a task you can delegate to anyone with a computer.

Maybe you need to brainstorm ideas for an ad campaign and one of your friends has read your book. Ask your friend some specific questions about the book to help you generate ideas. What stood out the most? Were there any lines they really liked? Any scenes they thought were memorable? Any characters they really loved or hated, and what made them love or hate them? If you ask your friends for help, they’ll likely help you, and even have additional ideas you haven’t considered.

Form a Coalition

One of the ways I’ve grown as a writer is through forming friendships and connections with other writers. We encourage each other, assist each other, read and critique each other’s work. I’ve gotten to know some really great people, and when it comes to the business of writing, we’ve all got different strengths and weaknesses.

If you’ve got a group of writers together, you’ve got a powerful coalition on your hands. Together you can post about each other’s work in blogs or social media, and you can even swap tasks. Maybe you’re really good at creating Canva posts for social media, and your writing friend is really good at proofreading. You can help each other by offering to swap those tasks. Or maybe one of your friends is more active on social media but struggles with dialogue, or editing, or whatever it may be. You can offer your strengths to each other to help build each other up.

I hope this article helps you as you navigate your own writing journey. Marketing is not an easy thing. It’s tricky and unpredictable and requires a lot of trial and error. We try our best, adjust, try again. But if you find yourself feeling less like a writer and more like a marketer, you may be overwhelmed. Try one of the tips I suggested above. Establish your boundaries, take a break, and delegate where it makes sense.

That’s my write or die advice. Happy Marketing.