The Perfect Moment Doesn't Exist.
Perfectionism is one of the biggest reasons authors stay invisible online.
My father-in-law used to say, if you’re waiting for the perfect moment, you’re going to be an old lady. He wasn’t wrong. The perfect moment doesn’t exist. And if you wait for it, you’re going to get old waiting.
You are uniquely qualified to do what you do. To write about what you write about and to share it with the world. No one has your perspective, your experience, or your skills. Think about it. I’m not wrong, am I? I really want you to think about that the next time you’re putting off writing that blog post, pitching yourself to that podcast, or sharing something on social media about your book.
Done is better than perfect isn’t something I’d apply to writing, editing, or publishing a book. Perfectionism prevents many people from actually finishing or publishing, but that’s another post for another time. What I’m talking about here is the perfectionism mindset that sabotages visibility. Researching, planning, and waiting for the right caption or the perfect message isn’t a strategy. It’s a stall tactic. And it will prevent you from getting in front of potential readers, whether that’s on Substack, social media, podcasts, or video.
Don’t misunderstand me. I’m all about the plan. It’s never a good idea to throw things out and see what sticks. But when planning becomes a stall tactic, it’s time to reevaluate your goal.
Some of this is about not knowing what to say. Authors hold back because they don’t think they have something worth sharing. They’re searching for the relevant, the interesting, the perfectly timed idea, without realizing that they are all of those things. The perfect moment doesn’t exist. Neither does the perfect circumstance. Sometimes we work our butts off building something we think is amazing and it lands flat. Sometimes we throw something together at the last minute, get it out there, and that’s the thing that takes off. Will you experience failure in your marketing when something doesn’t quite land the way you meant or at all? Yes. And will you experience success, like when you say something controversial and you start trending on LinkedIn because some cranky old guy decided to fight you and your connections come to your defense? Yes. That can happily happen too. Those are our moments, and we don’t get to predict them in advance.
I suspect some of this is generational. As a proud member of Gen X, I can tell you it’s pretty common for my people to write, erase, and scroll. I used to tease one of my nieces in the early days of Facebook for having 10,000 selfies in her account. But she and her generation grew up in it. They’re just better at it.
Pull back. Look in the mirror. You are the real deal, and you have something that needs to be shared.
Post the thing. Run the ad. Pitch the podcast. Record the video. Show up.
Lynn brings her more than 30-years experience in small business marketing, publishing, and multiple best-selling author campaigns to her Substack newsletter. She helps authors build and grow their platforms to reach their unique marketing goals through private coaching, non-fiction consulting, and done-for-you marketing programs. And all this, through her computer, in her little lake house in rural Pennsylvania which she shares with her husband, son, and two fluffy companions, Kaiju and Bella. Learn how to work with Lynn here.