The Discipline of Writing While Working Full-Time
Barbara Hinske is a successful lawyer and the author of several books including The Rosemont Series. She talks about how self-publishing and marketing her book landed her on the bestsellers list – but this requires tenacity and hard work.
What We Discuss with Barbara Hinske:
- What got Barbara into writing The Rosemont Series
- Barbara’s writing process and hiring a writing coach
- What keeps her to push forward
- Traditional vs. self-publishing
- Marketing her book and how she landed on the bestselling list
- Writing about going back in time and never running out of ideas
- Getting over a writer’s block
- Pushing ahead and reading bad reviews
- Barbara’s advice to aspiring writers
[01:15] How Barbara Began Writing The Rosemont Series
Barbara intended to edit the manuscript her dad wrote which didn’t get the chance to be published. But she got into an accident that prevented her from doing anything. At this time, she came up with the whole Rosemont world and she began writing about it.
She initially used her maiden name on the book so she wouldn’t get as embarrassed had the book turned out horrible. Today, the Rosemont series has become one of the top-selling books on Amazon.
[03:25] A Typical Writing Day
Writing books 2-5 of the series, she would write for six solid days, sometimes 12 hours a day. She’d write 20,000-25,000 words, which is about one-third of a book.
Writing the sixth book in the series now, she decided she didn’t want to go through it all again. Aside from a detailed outline, she’d write primarily on weekends. She gets 2,500 words a day, within one and a half to two hours of writing sessions, with a good 1-2-hour break in between. She’s currently at 5,200 words on Book 6, with a goal of 70,000 words.
She also works with a writing coach, who is her developmental editor, helping keep her on track and save time.
Her mission is to uplift, inspire, and bring comfort to people. Keeping this in mind is what keeps her to push forward.
[09:12] Publishing and Marketing Her Book
Barbara decided to go down the self-publishing route as she would still have to market the book herself. She began following blog posts about publishing and marketing, which she read every night.
She ultimately found a group to help her with Facebook marketing. She also developed a community page and eventually shifted her marketing to Amazon.
On July 4, 2014, she sold 10,000 books and ended up #4 on the BookBub Bestseller List. Then she landed #10 on Kindle. What got her through was the willingness to just keep going.
From self-publishing her book, she’d receive in excess of $3/book. Had she went down the traditional route, she’d probably only receive $0.51/book.
Today, there are more platforms for self-published authors, as well as resources and data analytics tools. Everybody can learn this!
[20:40] Going Back to an Era, Writer’s Block, and Reading Reviews
Barbara wrote a Christmas book set in 1952, which was during her childhood years. It was very real to her so she tried to dial it back to focusing on that feeling of community.
She never runs out of ideas. When she gets stuck on something, she walks and creativity sets in.
Just push ahead and you will eventually get into the flow. Having a writing coach can give you the feedback you need. There’s no substitute to just doing it.
Read the reviews and take in what you can incorporate in. But don’t let that spoil you down.
[30:10] FInal Words of Wisdom
Tell your story and see it through to the end. It’s not going to be blissful. It’s going to be hard work. But if you have that calling to do it, write your book.
Don’t get discouraged. Take advice. Spend as much time and money as you can with your resources making it.
Finally, put it out there! Give it a shot to fly and keep working on it. Just keep going. You never know what kind of impact you have on people that can jet-fuel your soul making it all worthwhile.
Episode Resources:
The Rosemont Series
Find out more about Barbara on her website.
Connect with Barbara on Facebook.
Find all her books on Amazon. Listen on: 
