Most of us - most writers everywhere - do something else
first, or do something else alongside. What bits of your other career(s) have
you found useful in the business of writing and what bits have you had to
ditch?
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| Some sort of corporate "do" 1992... I think I must be looking shocked because of the suit! |
Career #1: I left
university to work in advertising and public relations. Did that for other
people for seven years, then decided to set up on my own. Don’t laugh. I know!
Silly girl. But it went alright. I sold the business ten years later, having
built it up to be the biggest of its type in Europe. Career #1. Retired at 39. Result!
Career #2: academia. I was imported to Canada like a parcel, to teach marketing on the MBA course at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Husband and I bought a house (partly with the proceeds from career #1) that was too far from UBC for me to commute, so I took up a teaching role at Simon Fraser University. I retired from this career in 2013, when my second Cait Morgan Mystery was published. Career #2. Retired at 53. Result!
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| Ready, set, train...at The New Connaught Rooms, London when running my training company 1997-ish |
Career #3: crime writing. YAY! Love it. First book published in 2012, so I reckon I have a
few years left in me yet LOL!
All three
careers have required me to write for a living. I know that writing advertising
and public relations copy differs from fiction writing (sometimes not too much!)
and that writing marketing training courses and textbooks also differs from crime
writing (sometimes not too much!) but writing is writing is writing, and I find
the discipline I learned when writing to a client’s needs and tight
deadlines are lessons I apply within career
#3. I can’t wait for “the muse” to visit, nor can I wait for characters to walk
into my office and introduce themselves, fully formed…I have deadlines, I have
a work schedule, and I have to write to a timetable. I learned that during
careers #1 and #2, now I live it in career #3.
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| Proud to become a Freeman of the City of London, recognizing my marketing life 2000 |
The other
aspect of my previous lives I apply to this one is my knowledge of marketing.
Yes, I did literally “write the book” on marketing and brand building (nine of
them, to be exact) before I began this new career. Writing fiction is – as the
question this week acknowledges – a BUSINESS. I have always understood that I
am writing for a target audience, within a target market, and that I, and my
characters, will create a set of “brand expectations” in the minds of my
readers…though this is not the sort of language most authors employ. My
specialism in marketing was marketing communications, which includes brand
building and every type of promotional activity. I have done my best to put
what I learned into practice within this new career, though have to admit that
being my own client leads to some incredibly annoying client/agency meetings. I’ve
also tried to pass on my marketing and promotional experience in various ways eg:
when I was Chair of Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) I initiated the Member
Marketing Memos that are now a part of our membership offering, and to write
sponsorship proposals for CWC etc.
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| My sister (L) and me in 2000, when I was honoured to become a Liveryman in the Worshipful Company of Marketors |
Since I
decided to become my own publisher, I have found this background in marketing
to be even more useful. I have a new book coming out in June and am facing the “you’re
on your own, girl” situation for the fourth time. It’s no easier the fourth
than the first time, let me tell you that. But I shall persist!
So I’m using
a LOT from my first and second careers. What have I given up? My first career was
in London, UK. It required a great deal of networking which I don’t do any more,
other than when I’m online or at conventions, and I sat on literally dozens of boards and committees, and belonged to any number of professional bodies...all of which was an honour, but a LOT of work!
My second career required a great
deal of student meetings, faculty meetings and grading, which I don’t do any
more. I have managed to retain the aspects I enjoyed of those two careers,
while being able to dump the bits I hated (yes, hate is the word I still use
when I even think about grading papers, and I have endowed Cait Morgan with this
trait!).
Oh, and I've been able to kill off advertising agency and academic types in my books. Just sayin'!
If you'd like to find out more about me and my work, please check out my website by clicking here.
And you can find out more about my forthcoming book...the first Cait Morgan Mystery to be published since 2016...by clicking here.
8 comments:
As you say, Cathy, writing is a business and I think people forget that sometimes. But I remember when I was working in another aspect of the writing business some people would remind me it's show 'business' and not to forget that second word. I try not to, but sometimes it's hard.
Cathy, we have trod a lot of the same paths as we wended our way to becoming full time mystery writers, and I can see how your marketing experience, not linked as mine was to non-profits, has been a real value to you. Congratulations and onward!
It's like looking in a mirror! At a fairground where the mirrors are not to be trusted. You rock, Cx
Yes, Paul, it's a business, and I think we're all in a place where we realise how critical each part of the supply chain between writer and reader is. At the moment, we're all using "work arounds" as best we can, and who knows what the "new normal" we be for our business. So much can be done online and direct these days, but the human interaction factor is what remains to be somehow realigned and reestablished in the near future.
Hi Susan - I have to say that some clients ended up being closer to not-for-profit than they might have liked (!!!), and many of the organisations for whom I worked as a director were, indeed, not-for-profits or charities. But strategic marketing planning and marketing communications planning is what I did for thirty years, and it's impossible to leave that mind-set behind. Better to apply it :-)
Hi Catriona - all I can say is that I'm so glad people didn't carry a camera with them everywhere, every day, unlike now. Dear heavens, some of the outfits I wore. Little Miss Corporate, or what!? LOL!
Love hearing more about your 'other' careers.. and, of course, how they led you (or not) to where you are now. Glad you're writing and sharing with all of us. xoxo
Hi Janet - glad it was entertaining. So glad I am where I am now...and I mean that about where I actually am, as well as what I do now ;-)
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