Southern Fried Chicas has a fun blog about author burnout. It’s a real dilemma faced by many who’ve struggled for years to get published then fizzle out under the realities of being an author.

Here’s a newsflash. Once you’re published it’s no longer just about writing. Suddenly, you’re running a business. Your business is entertainment (fiction) or information (nonfiction). You have to create a product (book) for your client (publisher) on a regular business and market it to the consumer (readers).

The juggling act of writing and promoting takes strategy. Too much time spent on promotion and you won’t have a product to sell to your publisher. Too much time spent writing and no one will know when your next book hits the shelves.

How you handle this dilemma is up to you. You have to create your own pace. Comparison will guarantee burnout. I have seen people work themselves into the ground desperate to mimic the careers of their writing friends or bestselling authors. I am not against ambition. But I am against envy. The ‘that should be mine’ mentality is usually not a productive one.

Is it easy not to compare? Absolutely not. But try to put the blinders on and just move forward.

There will always be those individuals who are on the fast road to writing success (the bestsellers lists, large print runs etc…) But most authors get there slowly. The slow and steady ones are the ones that last. These individuals focus on their writing craft, continue to publish and connect with their readership. They do not try to jump on every new marketing opportunity available or try to write to the latest trend.

It’s the tortoise and the hare story. Go at your own pace and hopefully burnout won’t be a problem for you.