Quick Mental Health Tips for Self-Published Authors

Every Author Feels Pressure

Like most highly independent and long term endeavours, self-publishing books can take a toll on your mental health.

We don't often talk openly about this feature of self-publishing, but we should: pretty much everyone goes through similar experiences, and without talking about them, it's easy to feel like "I'm the only one".

External Pressures on Authors

Typically, external pressures on self-published book authors include the following:

• Getting little or no attention for your work
• Low or declining sales
• Low attendance at planned events (both IRL and online)
• Social media pile-ons
• Other forms of abusive attention, whether from fans or "anti-fans"
• Self-publishing platforms that are not responsive when asked for explanations or support

Internal Pressures on Authors

External pressures are hard, but internal, self-imposed pressures can be worse.

Here are some examples of internal pressures authors burden themselves with:

• Feeling like you're not writing enough
• Feeling like you're not marketing yourself or your books enough
• Feeling like you're not working at building your online profile enough
• Feeling like you're not optimizing your use and understanding of the available technology and tools online
• Feeling like you're falling behind with the latest technology and marketing apps and opportunities
• Feeling like everyone else knows something you don't
• Feeling like a failure

Three Keys to Reducing Stress from External Pressures

Remember, you are not in command

One thing to recognize about external pressures is they all, by their nature, involve your interacting with something or someone that has its own independent causal agency.

This doesn't mean there's nothing you can do, of course: if you're having trouble getting a reply from customer support somewhere, for example, you can try again.

But you need to keep in mind that the external world simply isn't under your control, which sounds obvious, but we're all really good at fooling ourselves when it comes to this stark fact.

Getting over a sense of being deprived of a level of control you never in fact had in the first place, can help you focus on finding a solution.

Think of things from their perspective

People often confuse this very important approach to problem-solving with agreeing with the other person, or sympathizing with them.

That may be the case in a subset of scenarios in which you try to see things from someone else's point of view, but it won't be in all cases, and it's absolutely not required.

For example, if you're asking someone to do something for you - whether it's answering an email, writing a blurb for your book, or especially anything involving money or time - frame things in a way that makes it clear you understand their side of things.

Make a list

It's easy to feel overwhelmed by external pressures, and like they're just piling one on top of the other, and you're getting nowhere.

But the thing about external pressures is that however big any one issue might be, they are finite in number.

One great thing to do to manage external pressures is just to make a list of them, and step back and take a look at it, to internalize a sense of the fact that your pressures are, in fact, limited.

Three Keys to Reducing Stress from Internal Pressures

Ask yourself if it's really an issue

A lot of our self-imposed pressures exist just because we have ceaselessly active minds.

Even if you have no problems - which isn't a thing, but just imagine it were true - it's likely your brain would kick down the door and make some up.

Ask yourself why you don't want to do it

A lot of the time, if you find yourself not doing something you believe should do, it's actually because you don't want to do it.

That doesn't mean you should just take it off your to-do list, though you should absolutely consider that.

What it means is that you should think about what it is about the process that makes you dislike it, and change that if you can.

Take working out as a general example: if you find you're not doing your daily, planned exercises, to stay strong and healthy in the long run, try adding something you enjoy to your workout, like listening to a podcast or watching a show, that you only allow yourself to listen to or watch if you're working out.

Alternatively, if you find yourself avoiding a process, like tallying up your sales and royalties, you might want to try starting over: just make a brand new spreadsheet and build things up differently, keeping in mind what you hate about how you were doing it before.

Ask someone else if it really matters

The image we have of "keeping things bottled up" implies it's good to let things out, so the pressure doesn't build and the bottle - you - doesn't blow up.

That's a fine enough way to think, but the real reason telling someone about your problems is so important, is that they might have a solution for you - including the fact that you might be worried about something that doesn't really matter.

A classic example of this for self-published authors in particular, is being overly concerned about your your book being pirated.

Another example is "sweating the small stuff". For example, when it comes to money, set a floor beneath which you're just not going to worry about something. Getting worked up about and wasting time on, say, some ten dollar discrepancies here and there, is just not worth it. (Unless it really is, of course; everyone needs to set their own floor!)