Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Busy Mama, Busy Self-Publisher


I was asked yesterday how do I manage being a stay at home mum (SAHM) and a self-publishing business owner. It is a really great question. I have only been a sole trader business for 18 months and learning to manage my home, the squidlets, laundry and a book business has been interesting. It became much easier when my daughter turned three and we could place her in kindy a few days a week. It also helped that my hubby lived in another city at the time, studying towards his degree. Empty evenings became full of writing and illustrating, formatting and publishing.

I love what I do and I only do what I love. That means the stuff that I should be doing doesn't always get done. I am two months behind on my accounts, and laundry - although washed and dried daily, it doesn't make it off 'cloth mountain' until the weekend. Some days I nail it! I write new stories, connect with my illustrator, promote my books and a bunch of others, and move up the Amazon rankings, all the while keeping kids safe, fed, clothed and the house spotless. Other days – not so much. It wasn't until after leaving the house, dropping Mr 5 off at school, and arriving at our first appointment today that I realised that, not only had I not brushed my daughter's hair, but she had glumps of tooth paste in it, on her face and on her Petal the Owl hat. Oh. My. Goodness!

What I have come to realise is that my business comes second to my kids - always. It didn't use to. I spent camping last New Years glued to my laptop watching book sales roll in – not that watching it would have made any iota of difference to the numbers. I get carried away at times, so excited about writing my latest story, reading my latest novel, watching my latest numbers that I forget that two littlies need my care and attention. Tooth paste fights in the upstairs bathroom only ever happen when they believe I'm not going to take notice.

We have a rule in the house now. No computer time before or after school. That rule applies only to me. Pretty bad, I know, but at least it works - until I made the local paper yesterday and got inundated with workshop registration enquiries. http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/western-leader/9281179/Family-live-e-book-fairytale

I'm a SAHM who sells self-published children's ebooks on Amazon. And I am bloody good at it!


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