How do I decide what to outsource?
- Outsource tasks others do better or that drain your writing time.
- Editing, design, and formatting are common outsourcing candidates.
- Weigh cost against the value of your reclaimed time.
- Keep core creative work; delegate production and admin.
- Budget and stage of career shape what is worth outsourcing.
Decide what to outsource by asking two questions of each task: does someone do it meaningfully better than I can (editing, cover design, formatting), and does it drain time I could spend writing or on higher-value work? Weigh the cost against your effective hourly value and your budget. Outsource production and admin where the answer is yes; keep the core creative work that only you can do. As income grows, the threshold for outsourcing more usually drops.
Chapter i·Why it matters
Authors who try to do everything themselves often produce weaker books (an amateur cover, unedited prose) and burn the time and energy that should go into writing. But outsourcing everything is costly and unnecessary. Deciding deliberately — based on skill, time value, and budget — lets you invest where it most improves the book and frees your time, while keeping the creative core yours. Good outsourcing decisions are central to running an efficient, sustainable author business.
Chapter ii·What to include
- A skill test: does someone do it better?
- A time test: does it drain writing time?
- Cost weighed against your hourly value.
- Production and admin as delegation candidates.
- Core creative work kept in-house.
- A threshold that shifts with income.
Chapter iii·Example
An author lists her tasks. Cover design and editing — done better by pros — she outsources. Formatting, which eats a weekend, she delegates too. But drafting and key creative decisions she keeps. The money buys a better book and reclaimed writing time, while the work only she can do stays hers.
Chapter iv·Related questions
WriteLoom keeps your tasks and costs in view, so you can see what is worth outsourcing and what to keep.
See WriteLoom