The Ultimate Guide to Hiring an Author Assistant - Part 1 of 3

Part 1: When to hire an author assistant and what type of author assistant you need

Part 2: How much does an author assistant cost and where to find the right author assistant for you

Part 3: Understanding contracts and how to onboard your author assistant

To be an author you need time to write. But it can feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. And the non-writing tasks involved can feel overwhelming. 

If you need more hours to write, if the non-writing work is getting too much, you need your A-Team: an Author Assistant.

Your A-Team takes on tasks that support your writing career, leaving you free to write. Think of them as author enablers.

Perhaps you can’t afford to hire somebody full-time. You don’t have to. Maybe you only need assistance with some specific tasks, like email management. Or you just need support at certain times, like the lead-up to a book release.

Whatever your needs, help is available.

When to hire an author assistant

An author assistant, also known as an author personal assistant or author virtual assistant, can support a wide range of tasks.

Just delegating a few of the non-writing tasks can give you more time to write. But is now the right time? 

8 questions to answer before hiring an author assistant

1. Need time to write
   Do you need more time to focus on new ideas, drafting and writing? Y/N

2. Missing deadlines
   Have you missed one too many deadlines because you’re so busy? Y/N

3. Procrastinating tasks
   Do you find yourself putting off non-writing tasks you can’t do or don’t enjoy? Y/N

4. Too much administrative work
   Are you spending too much time tackling admin, like responding to emails or tweets? Y/N

5. Making too many mistakes
   Have you emailed the wrong paperwork to a potential publisher (again)? Y/N

6. Ready to publish/promote
   Would you benefit from having more time to prepare for publishing or promoting? Y/N

7. Overwhelmed
   Has writing become a chore, one task too many on top of your other responsibilities? Y/N

8. Money in the pot
   Do you have enough money to hire someone? Y/N

If you answered ‘no’ to most of these questions, now might not be the right time to hire help. But only you know your situation.

If you’ve answered ‘yes’ to most of these questions (including question 8) you’re likely ready to hire an author assistant.

The next step is to understand what type of help you need. It’s time to create a task wish list.

Creating a Task Wish List

Writing a to-do list for the day or for a project is one thing. Writing a Task Wish List is about the bigger picture. It’s an opportunity to view all the work that goes into making you an author. 

1. Tasks

Grab a notebook (not your favourite) and pen or open a new document. Now, write down all the tasks that are directly connected to your writing career. 

Ah, yes. I hear you. Why am I getting you to write a long list when you could be writing your WIP? Believe me, it’s better to spend time on research now than to waste time later. Have you tried finding an assistant when you only have a vague description of “is helpful”? It’s nearly impossible.

Back to the list. 

Think about any tasks you’re procrastinating. Think about tasks you can’t do or don’t enjoy.

Write them all down.

Here’s an example list:

• responding to emails 

• creating & scheduling social media posts 

• writing & sending newsletters

• researching subjects

• editing (spelling/grammar) 

• designing brand-appropriate images

• story bible update/maintenance 

• sending out ARCs 

• contacting potential publishers

• updating website 

2. Categories

Read through your task list. You’ll recognise several tasks that could fit under the category of ‘admin’, some for ‘marketing’, some for ‘research’. Give each task a category. Create a new category where it makes sense.

This process lets you understand the different types of work you have.

3. Time 

Now, let’s look at how much time you’re spending on these non-writing tasks. 

On average, how long does each task usually take in a week? If you only do a task once a month, once a year or at book promotion time, give the task a little star. (Other celestial objects are available.)

Add up the time next to the non-star items. This is how many hours you spend on typical weekly tasks that aren’t writing your WIP.

Here’s an example of the list with categories, stars and times:

• responding to emails = admin = 1 hr

• creating & scheduling social media posts = marketing = 2 hrs

• writing & sending newsletters* = marketing

• researching subjects = research = 4 hrs

• editing (spelling/grammar) = writing support = 2 hrs

• designing brand-appropriate images = marketing = 1 hr

• story bible update/maintenance = writing support = 1 hr

• sending out ARCs* = marketing

• contacting potential publishers* = admin

• updating website* = marketing

Weekly non-writing tasks = 11 hours.

If this was your list and you only delegated the weekly non-writing tasks, you’d get back eleven more hours to write each week. 

Those eleven hours a week add up. Over six months that will be 286 more hours. Imagine how much more you’ll write. Imagine how much more you’ll earn.

And that wasn’t even your complete Task Wish List! 

The next step is to future-proof your list.

4. Futureproofing 

Draw a line under your existing list. We’ve been looking at the present. It’s time to think about your future.

Consider the next step in your writing career. Do you have a new book ready to promote? Are you looking for new publishers to submit your work to? What networking opportunities have you put off because there just wasn’t time? 

Write down the tasks involved in your future projects. Again, give them a category and the length of time they usually take. If you don’t know how long something takes, estimate.

For example, “book cover design”. 

If you DIY your book cover, how long does it take? If you hire a professional book cover designer, how long does the entire process take?

List this as a single task (or project) with one estimated time. Do the same for all future tasks you know about. (Crystal balls are optional.)

Once you have a decent list of all the tasks you know about, it’s time to consider delegating.

5. Delegation

The tasks you want to delegate are those that take up the most time. This includes tasks where you have little to no skill. Saving time is what you want in the long run. But you can also choose tasks that you’d rather not do. In the end, it’s up to you.

Remember, this is a task wish list, not a final list. It’s still possible that you’ll improve your skills in certain areas. Maybe one task you’ve been practising will eventually open more doors for you. But that takes time.

With those delegated tasks, look at which categories appear the most.

Usually, there’s a good amount of general administrative tasks.  But which other categories are showing up? Write those categories in a separate column.

Now, take your (almost) future-proof task wish list. It’s finally time to use it to find the right author assistant for you.

What type of author assistant do you need?

Look at your Task Wish List and the delegated tasks. The categories that showed up the most indicate what type of author assistant you’re likely to need.

For example, ‘marketing’ is one of your biggest categories. So you have a lot of marketing-related tasks. You could benefit from an assistant with experience in marketing, advertising and product promotion. They’ll be able to support your admin and your book marketing efforts.

Improving your promotional efforts will mean your work will have a better chance of finding the right audience. 

One of the most sought-after types of assistant is a copywriter. They’re skilled at writing persuasive content that attracts your target audience, the readers who’ll read your work. Copywriting can include SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) which can make you, and your work, easier to find online. 

If most of your delegated tasks could be done virtually you could benefit from a virtual author assistant. They work from a different location to the author, usually their own home. 

Some author assistants work within the home or office of the author. Others may offer both options, working from their own home but present for events or book giveaways. It all depends on what you need and what you can afford.

Now you know what type of author assistant you need, it’s almost time to find them.

Read part 2 to find out how much an author assistant costs and where to find the one for you.

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Mary Wyrd offers virtual assistant and copywriting services for creatives. Yes, that includes authors.

Am I the author assistant you need? Let’s find out.