The Value of an Author’s Assistant Part 1 by Melinda B. Pierce

Today Melinda B. Pierce will share part one on her tips on hiring a qualified author’s assistant. Stay tuned for part 2! Enjoy!

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Have you wrestled with the idea of hiring an author assistant? Not sure what you’d have them do, how much they’d charge, or if it would be worth your time and money? As an author, your job is to focus on writing the next book. But if your focus is divided between book promotion, a day job, family, possibly teaching to supplement, and other pressing obligations, where would that writing time fit in?

I recently interviewed two author assistants to gain some insight (honestly, I’m nosy and not afraid to ask) on their jobs and to hopefully assess their value. All names are anonymous so they could speak freely.

Read on and I think you’ll find some interesting responses to a few simple questions.

What is the most important service you provide, and how many types of services do you provide?

Valued Assistant No. 1: The most important service I provide is organization.  Authors tend to have so much on their plates that just having someone behind the scenes clearing the clutter and pushing the Top Priority items to the surface helps dramatically.  I provide many services, ranging from sorting/answering emails to website upkeep, to traveling with the authors to different events.

Valued Assistant No. 2 (whose author teaches as well as writes): I handle the non-teaching aspect of the workshops so my author can do what she’s there to do — teach writers who are serious about writing. And, of course, meet the deadlines and schedules for her own writing.

My author and I also discussed things like handling fan mail, but she prefers to do that herself.  She worked as a personal assistant for a couple of people who got a lot of fan mail and set up a system of logs and tracking systems and ways to build up the mailing list and all that.  Positive ways to include the readers.  Also, ways to track those individuals who always try to take advantage of someone they perceive as being rich and famous and “owing” them something.  My author’s certainly not rich (although she makes a living at this) and doesn’t want to be famous.  She just wants to write the stories she loves and get better with every book.  In any case, she prefers to handle her own fan mail, but knows I’m there for back-up if necessary.  I’m hoping she’ll turn more and more of that over to me as we progress.

Every minute my author spends on administration or student work is a minute away from her own work.  It’s a minute’s worth of her writing that will never happen, that we, her readers, are cheated from forever.  So every minute spent away from writing needs to be something she chooses, and I’m happy to handle the rest.

How did you find your author? Or did she find you?

Valued Assistant No. 1: I was a Children’s and Teen’s Librarian in my local library & I invited my author up for a signing. I booked her at several libraries in Iowa and we traveled together for about a week.  We hit it off, and about 6 months later I noticed she was posting a lot on social media about being swamped. I emailed her and offered to help out, and I’ve been her assistant ever since.

Valued Assistant No. 2: I’m close friends with a close friend of one of her family members up in Maine.  We met at a gathering and starting talking.  As an avid reader and bibliophile, I’m fascinated by the writing process. I’d read all her books, of course, and a lot of her online interviews.  I admire her work ethic. She was going through a tough time in a place where the administrators didn’t “administrate.” She’d been talking about working with fewer students in a more structured environment, but didn’t feel she could take on the type of administrative work involved, based on this previous experience. I told her if she was serious about it, I’d be interested in working on the administrative end.

Are you an aspiring author yourself?

Valued Assistant No. 1: Oh dear lord no. We often joke that I am one of the only people in publishing with no desire to write a book myself.

Valued Assistant No. 2: No! That would be a huge conflict of interest. My job, as an administrator, is to put my author’s needs first, not use it as a stepping stone to getting published myself.

When my author and I first talked, I took a couple of online writing classes, just to get an idea of what was involved.  That was an eye-opener! I feel lucky to have partnered with a writer/teacher who has high standards and doesn’t let students get away with not doing the work. No matter what your profession, you have to show up and do the work.

Before my current job, I worked as an administrative assistant for a small regional publisher and was a slush pile freelance reader for a literary agent who has since quit the business. I do know a bit about the way the business works. Currently, I’m an executive assistant for a top executive at a green engineering firm.  He’s supportive of my doing this on the side, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the firm’s work, and my author doesn’t need me full time. He’s also a big fan of my author’s work.  Because the fields are so different, there’s no conflict of interest. If I was still working for the publisher or the agent, I couldn’t do this.

To be cont. – don’t you hate that! Come back tomorrow as I complete my interview and get to the burning question of – how much do these awesome assistants charge for their services?!

As always, Happy Writing!

Melinda

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Melinda B. Pierce is an author hobbyist, mother of two, and Membership Director for Savvy Authors.  When she has time she writes in almost every sub-genre of romance and refuses to follow the path of most resistance.  Connect with her on twitter @MelindaBPierce