Spill the Tea Tuesday: Do's and Don'ts for Being a Professional

Today, author Laurie Wood is spilling the tea...

Today I’m “spilling the tea” on a pet peeve of mine—professional authors who don’t act like professionals! This may be a bit of a rant, so settle in with your coffee and see if you recognize anyone you might know in these examples.

We’re all busy, overwhelmed people with deadlines, marketing to do, families with multiple activities, and pets to look after. However, just because most of us work from home, doesn’t mean we get to behave in our work life as if we’re the only ones who count in our professional lives. And I believe it all comes down to—you guessed it—common courtesy.

Let’s talk about those group writer activities we get invited to take part in, or those we might start ourselves.

Have you ever been part of a Facebook party? Check. A group blog for a few months to a year? Check. A newsletter swap? Check. A group promotion for your publisher? Check. An anthology with multiple authors? Check.

Okay, let’s look at some Do’s and Don’ts of this wonderful world of being a professional author in a professional space:

DO:

1. Be polite, and prompt with emails to the group.

2. Get whatever written material, graphics, and photos to the person in charge ON TIME. 

3. This shouldn’t even need to be said but proofread/edit/spell check your work first!

4. Follow the directions of the other author you’re working with—she has reasons she wants certain things done that way! I once had an author write to me, “I’m too old to learn new technology so I will not use bitly.com.” Ahem. If you’re too old to know how to cut and paste, then I’m assuming you’re still working on an IBM Electric typewriter, and shame on me for not checking out the quality of your books before I agreed to have you as a guest on my blog! It turned out it was a good thing I double-checked her quality because it wasn’t up to the standards I have for my blog. We canceled.

5. DO what you’ve agreed to do. If something goes wrong, and you don’t have time to write the blog, make the graphics, etc. then be up front about it and let the other author know right away. Honesty is always the best policy. 

DON'T:

1. Invite an author to be a guest for your Facebook party, and then ask her to make up graphics for the party. She’s your *guest*. She’s bringing her readers with her to fill out your party attendance. It’s up to the host to make the party graphics. If you need her to make her own graphics for her time slot, that’s a different thing. I’m talking about making Facebook headers, teasers, etc. Just…don’t.

2. Ask for a newsletter swap and want the other author to provide you with a cover jpg, back cover blurb, buy links, and her headshot, and then just put her cover jpg in as a *thumbnail* and say, “I haven’t read this book, but I thought the cover was pretty.” Don’t then assume you’re going to get the coverage you asked for in HER newsletter. Shame on you. Again, common courtesy and integrity apply here.

3. Invite an author to be a guest for your all-day Facebook party and insist that *every* post she does must include a giveaway! Seriously? Not only is she going to spend hours making up graphics and games for her time slot to entertain your guests, she now has to give away and ship prizes on her own dime? That’s just tacky, and enough said about that…

4. Forget what time zone your group blog is in. I’ve been guilty of this myself (lol) BUT I’ve always stayed the course and written my post in real time to get it up so that it hits in the middle of the night on the other side of the world. I’ve never pooched out on my compatriots and left them with a blank spot on the blog, although I know others who have…yes, life comes at us but unless you or one of your kids is in the hospital in surgery you write till you drop.

So often, I see authors who think they only need to be “professional” with their publisher, agent, or editor. But you know what? We need to be professional with *each other* as well, because when we’re between contracts and the pickings are slim, or the words just aren’t coming some days, we need our writing friends to keep us going. 

So, play nice, be a friend, and be professional! Your reputation is all you have in this business and it’s everything.

Laurie Wood has followed her RCAF serving husband across Canada, raising their two special needs children to adulthood while she began her writing career. She's a member of Sisters in Crime International and SinC Canada West, as well as Faith, Hope & Love Christian Writers. Laurie writes both romantic suspense and historical novels and is currently working on her next book. You can learn more about Laurie on her website, blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

The tea has been spilled! Who's gonna clean it up? 

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