What was different as a second time author?

I remember the first day of my writing class in 2022 - my new professor Eric Koester told us that he would teach us to “write like a second time author”. At the time, I assumed this was a clever catch phrase to get us interested in writing. Turns out, he was right! Being a second time author is significantly different that being a first time author.

As a first time author, everything is new. I was not a writing major in college, I was pre-med. I love to read, but I had absolutely no idea how the publication process works. For example, did you know that romance novels make so much money they pay for publication of all the other books? I thought writing was the hard part, but turns out that most of the work is related to publication and audience build.

During the twelve months it took me to write and publish my first book Work Smart: Use Your Brain and Behavior to Master the Future of Work, life was full of ups and downs. I didn’t know what to expect and my emotions went from giddy exhilaration to frustrated despair. I quickly learned what I liked and didn’t like about the process, and what I was good at. Here is what I learned:

I am good at / enjoy:

• brainstorming and linking together ideas
• interviewing and connecting to new people
• the practice of writing
• making complicated research topics easy to understand

I am bad at / do not enjoy:

• anything to do with editing
• punctuation (!!??;;)
• citations
• being on social media for extended periods of time

So, as a second time author, I carefully mapped out the process on a timeline that worked for me. I took the tasks that I am naturally bad at / do not enjoy and assembled a small team around me to help with those tasks. I made a budget and stuck to it. Having others focus on the the things I did not enjoy took away the despair and increased the exhilaration. Having a budget helped me feel in control and made it easier to decide what opportunities to say “yes” to.

I also infused some fun into the process. I pulled in my teenagers to the social media and cover design work. I reconnected with friends and colleagues to help out with interviews. I reached out to new people who looked interesting and they graciously spent time with me. I played with AI for things like social media announcements and videos.

Being a second time author was much, much easier than being a first time author. I believe the key was self-awareness; I knew what worked and didn’t work for me personally as an author. Book #2 was more efficient, more creative, and more fun!