Ever heard the phrase, ‘creatives wear many hats’? Me too. It circles around often, especially in the publishing world where indie authors are filling many different roles in order to get their book in the hands of readers. Let’s talk about that.
Approaching Creativity as a Business
When I was in high school and college, I collected baseball hats. I’d grab one on every vacation, each new year at college, or when a favorite movie came out and I needed to feel a little subtly “extra” (with that IYKYK type style). I got one to complete my Converse merch. I had one from the pawn shop my friend and I once explored in western Washington. The variety was endless, and each one had a specific occasion to be worn. Each one had a story.
I always laugh at the irony of the words, “creatives wear many hats.” That has always been the case for me, very literally. But let’s not skip over the truth of the statement—what it means for a creative to wear all the hats, why we do it, why we must do it, and how we struggle with it. Then, perhaps we can start shifting our mindset when it comes to sharing and promoting our own work.
Hat #1: The Manager’s Hat
When a creative decides to share their work with the world with the intention of making money, the first hat they have to wear is the one that looks over a whole operation and decides how it’s going to be run. Are you going to write one book a year? How many will you write? How full do you want your calendar? When will you take time away from it? What resources will you use to share it?
Creatives need a manager’s hat. To be successful, it is vital to maintain a dual perspective. We must see both the forest as a whole and each individual tree. This is our administrative hat that sets hours, processes, systems, prices, and policies to keep your head above water, and if we’re going to approach our writing as a business, we need to wear a manager ‘hat’ to know what’s not working, how to fix it, and when enough is enough.
(Note: The hat doesn’t actually do any of this for you, unfortunately. This is a role you fulfill. If you happen to find one that does, please email me immediately.)
Hat #2: The Producer’s Hat
You’ve got your plan in place, and now it’s time for the best part: creating. In the writing world, creating your masterpiece may take weeks, months, or years. You’ll spent most of your time reading similar stories, pouring through craft books, and watching YouTube videos about true crime for ‘research.’ With enough time and consistency, however, you’ll manage to stumble your way through a first draft and perhaps even a plot outline. You’ll write the thing. It’ll finally exist, in your hands, on the page. That’s what you live for—that’s what you love. Writing. Creating. Imagining.
The producer’s hat is important for many reasons, most of all because it is the lifeblood of your work. It is the reason you go through the effort to wear all the other hats, why you would ever put yourself through the suffering that is editing, self-promotion, making reels, working with vendors to create your book, spending too much money on commissioned character art, formatting, launching, and dealing with self-employment taxes. If you love your work, it makes everything else worth it.
Hat #3: The Marketer’s Hat
This hat is pretty self-explanatory. After you create your masterpiece, you have to spread the word. Contemporary methods demand a presence on social media, and while you may grumble at the thought of perpetually wrestling with the algorithm for views, it’s important to remember that no other method can get you in front of your target audience like social media can. I find it often feels as casual as the high school cafeteria, complete with its own cliques, fangirls, bullies, and drama. Take a deep breath, don your marketer’s hat and do your work justice by sharing the truth: you wrote a book, and you are your own biggest fan.
By showing up as your own biggest fan, you communicate to audiences that your work is your passion—and the people of the 21st Century love that. No marketing strategy will work quite as effectively or be quite as evergreen as the creator showing up, sharing their life story and their source of inspiration, and then sharing their work.
Hat #4: The Accountant’s Hat
I’ll keep this one short since it’s probably the only hat worse than marketing, but writing can prove to be an expensive hobby. Editors, artists, proofreaders, formatters, cover designers, ISBNs, production and shipping costs, advertising, the warm sips that keep you going in the late hours of the night or the wee hours of the morning—your budget plays a huge role in your journey as a writer and makes your book possible. Keep track of your expenses on a little spreadsheet, starting today. Save receipts to a receipt folder as soon as you spend anything on your book. When you start selling, keep track of that income, too. Bookkeeping is intimidating but super important, and there are far too many friends out here who don’t know how to be financially wise. Let’s learn together.
Why the Hats Matter
By now you’ve hopefully surmised (if you didn’t already know) that writing a book is a lot of work. Writers do indeed wear many hats. Why?
Independent writers rarely have the kind of resources that a publishing house does. As someone who works in a full-time corporate graphic design position, there’s a certain peace of mind when I know I’m getting professional photos from the photo team and copy from the writing team and I don’t have to do everything myself.
Writing a book doesn’t work this way, not when you’re a creative with a vision that needs all those pieces in order to come to life. And in the creative world, no one can capture your vision quite like you.
But beware, fellow writer—burnout comes for all of us. Remember that manager’s hat we talked about? And that part about deciding when to step away and take a break? That’s an important one. Don’t run yourself ragged. Focus on your consistency and the book will happen.
Sharing Our Work (The Marketing Mindset We Really Need)
Reading through this, you may feel overwhelmed. You may also despise the thought of having to share it all online when all we’ve ever wanted as writers is a quiet room stuffed with books, a big window, a comfy place to sit, a blanket, perhaps a candle burning, and something warm to sip on as we draft our stories. Self-promotion feels like the polar opposite of that.
But think of it this way: as you are writing your book, you are also living a real-life story that is different from anyone else’s. Don’t worry about what the influencers say; scroll past all those reels trying to convince you to make 50 reels in 5 minutes to automate the feed and fill the empty space. You don’t have to have a certain look or background or expensive new release to be relevant. Instead, document your own process. Share your own thoughts as they come to you. Be genuine, and pace yourself. Start early.
I hope this article helped you find new things to add to your self-marketing plan or your approach to writing! We’re capable of far more than we think, and if we take the writing process just one day at a time, incredible things will happen.
I’ll leave this little plug here for you. If you find yourself struggling to manage all these ‘hats,’ it’s okay to outsource. Allow me to wear a few of those hats and help you prepare for beta readers, agent queries, self-publishing, or anything in between. And of course, I will always invite you to subscribe and follow me on Instagram to stay in the loop for new articles. Happy writing!
Hannah L. Ackerman
Hannah L. Ackerman Portfolio 
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