Need a Niche? How About Virtual Author’s Assistant

Yesterday I introduced you to Jan B. King, an author consultant who created a training program for VAs to become Virtual Author’s Assistants. This is a very high-demand niche simply because the number of authors increases drastically every year. You can read Part One here if you missed it.

Here is Part Two of my interview with Jan:

6. What are the qualifications a successful Author’s Assistant has?

A successful virtual author’s assistant knows how to provide the 24 services (or can choose to specialize in just some of them), but beyond that, I think there is an attitude and mindset that makes people successful.  Authors don’t know what they don’t know, so the VAA is part teacher and part collaborator, plus providing the assistant services.

While many VA’s accomplish what their clients ask them to, the VAA is often taking the lead in helping the author know what he or she needs, not just following a list of tasks.  There is a level of professionalism in the traditional book publishing industry that we teach VAA’s so that they can help their authors create a superior product, one just as well done as anything you would see in a bookstore.

So the really successful VAA takes initiative, likes variety, is good with both the big picture and details, is resourceful and doesn’t mind doing a lot of educating in the process.  If you really like books, this is a particularly gratifying job.  You get to see new books come out and most authors acknowledge the author’s assistant in the book itself which is especially fun.  It is wonderful to be a part of a tangible product – I have a bookshelf full of books I helped with and most VAA’s do, too.

7. How long is your training course? What topics are covered in the course?

The training course is self-paced and includes 37 short slidecast videos, where we take you through the web pages you will be working with.  It also includes 47 checklists, tools, planners and hundreds of links as resources.  When you register for the course you get the key to a password-protected web site that is the official headquarters for working VAA’s and those in training.

You can choose to take the course in a planned 30-day curriculum or take it subject-by-subject in any order you wish.  The 30-day structure is great for people brand new to virtual working, because it includes business set up information as well as the 24 services.  But for VA’s who might have a brand new client who needs something specific next week, they can go right to that item, learn it and use it, and come back to the other subjects as they have time.

We have had people finish the entire course in a long weekend when they were really motivated, but it takes an hour to two hours a day for 30 days, typically, so the participant can keep doing other work and learn this material at the same time.

8. When students finish the course, do they need any further training or are they ready to accept clients?

We have practice exercises throughout the course which simulate the experience of doing the actual tasks you will be performing with authors, so we think people are ready to go when they finish.  We also give sample language, emails, a proposal, an author’s assistant contract and many other tools to make the transition from learning to working as seamless as possible.

But, of course, we recognize that no matter how well prepared, most people are tentative when they take on something brand new.  It takes experience to have that really deep mastery of any subject, but we’ve done our best to use our experience to get them to that point as fast as possible.

I feel strongly that we best serve our clients when we work with them on what we know well and refer them to other experts when what they need is outside of our expertise and we talk a lot about what virtual author’s assistants should take on and when they should refer to someone else.  They don’t have to suddenly become book publishing experts to do this job, but after being trained they will know far more than the average person.

We think one of the biggest benefits of our training program is that it doesn’t end – ever.  We have a forum that VAA’s use to pose questions and challenges to publishing experts and their peer group.  We have live specialty classes where we help VAA’s keep up-to-date with the constantly changing book-publishing world.  And we never charge extra for any of these things.  Once you’ve taken the course, you have a place to learn, partner, collaborate and grow for the life of your business.

9. Do you teach students how to market themselves or where to find possible author clients?

Yes.  It was very important to us to get participants started right away working with authors.  Getting that all-important first client is the difference between having the confidence that you can do it and doubting it and perhaps subconsciously sending potential clients away.

We spend about 20% of the entire course work focused on marketing to authors.  We have actual marketing tools, including a video, articles, special reports and ebooks that are available to the VAA to give to authors to help them understand what a VAA does and how to work with them.

We built marketing into the 30-day curriculum, so that one of our goals is to have the VAA get his or her first client by the end of those 30 days.

We also put a lot of emphasis on selecting the right potential clients.  Not all authors make good clients.  Some are writing books as a hobby and may not have the budget for an assistant.  It is important for the VAA to know where to find good potential clients and we teach that as well as how to approach authors and how to set up a referral network that will keep the VAA stocked with clients.  We have a number of VAA’s who partner with other VAA’s so they can hand-off clients when they are too busy – yes, that actually happens!

Finally, we also have a directory of PVAA’s, the trained Professional Virtual Author’s Assistants who have completed the course. You can see that at www.AuthorsAssistants.com.  We market that heavily to writer’s groups.

10. What advice would you give to those who are struggling to make a living working from home?

It is really important to have a good set of marketable skills, have confidence in your ability to do great work for clients and get the word out.  What has really worked for me is to set up a referral network I can count on – other professionals working with authors who send their clients to me for what I uniquely do.

If you really work on setting up your own referral network, something we emphasize in the course, it will serve you well for a long time.  My author consulting business is 100% on referrals and has been for a long time.  My best source of referrals is my past clients, so doing great work for current clients is the best way you can assure yourself of future clients.  Marketing can be done in so many ways now – online, through social networking, by teaching webinars and teleclasses, in person at networking groups.  Pick what you like and what fits you and then really work it.  Persistence really does pay off!

Thank you so much, Jan, for sharing your experience and insight into the book publishing field and how VAs can develop some specialized skills for this author niche! For more information about Jan’s training program, visit VirtualAuthor’sAssistants.com