Virtual Assistant for Writers

When it comes to the actual writing you do, you don’t always have to outsource it. That can be 100% you. But depending on what kind of writing you do, you may find that it helps to invite the VA into the overall writing process to varying degrees. Let’s take a look at all of the ways VAs can help:

• Social Media: Sick of writing your own Tweets and Facebook updates? A virtual assistant for writers can take over the social media portion of your work so you don’t miss a beat.
• Blogging: Bloggers who need a VA can easily make them fit into their process—including outlining, drafting, editing, and even getting the VA to become one of the bloggers themselves.
• Proofreading: No matter what kind of writing you do, it never hurts to have an “author assistant” who stands ready to review your work.
• Small business tasks: If you’re a freelancer, you can outsource a wide variety of small business tasks that may even have nothing to do with writing. Virtual assistance is about more than simply being a second writer on your team. If you have a writer’s podcast, for example, you can have the VA handle the logistics of managing that podcast.
• Marketing for a published author: Already an author with a loyal stable of fans? Then you likely need a VA more than anyone. You can have a VA handle your email, respond to fans, and interact with them on social media. You can also outsource a number of marketing tasks, such as social media management and scheduling new announcements for your blog.
• Other types of writing: You can have a virtual assistant tackle writing press releases, writing book reviews, or even handling a number of book marketing tasks that are vital for your self-published books, such as helping with outreach to bloggers and handling book summaries.
• Dealing with Amazon: Speaking of self-publishing, you’ll find that your self-publishing efforts and Amazon don’t always see eye-to-eye. To resolve those issues, you can assign a VA to deal with Amazon while you focus on the bigger picture.
• Expanding your online presence: Whether you’re traditionally published, engaged in self-publishing, or simply need to expand your online presence as a freelance writer for businesses, you’ll find that a VA can step in. Many VAs have experience with self-publishing that they can put to use right away.
• Bookkeeping and other office administration: Even writers have to think about those other books! Bookkeeping and other office administrative tasks will take up much less of your time if you have somewhere to outsource them. To free yourself up for more content creation, make sure that you bring on board a VA who can handle these tasks with ease.
• Dealing with computers: Need help managing Google and your search engine results? Need someone who can check your Gmail and make sure that you’re on task? Need someone who you can call whenever you have a computer issue? Some writers can be notoriously tech-averse; if you find yourself falling into that category, having a VA who can handle your tech issues can be invaluable.

These are just a select few of the tasks you can accomplish without having to do it yourself—at least, once you hire a VA. But we still have to get to that central question: why hire a VA in the first place? What are the benefits?

If you need a virtual assistant to get things done, it doesn’t mean that you’re not capable. If anything, it shows just how successful you’ve become. But you’d be surprised to learn that you don’t have to be a self-publishing superstar or a New York Times bestselling author to make virtual assistance work for you. Here’s why:

Cost

Did you know that it’s cheaper to hire a virtual assistant than if you were to hire a full-time employee? We didn’t just mean that because a part-time virtual assistant works so much less. According to BestOfBudgets.com, it can cost as much as three times more to hire a full-time employee than if you were to outsource to a virtual assistant. With a virtual assistant, you don’t have to worry about extensive benefits packages and a long-term commitment.

Remote working breeding more efficiency

Let’s say you’re an indie author in the world of self-publishing. Don’t you enjoy the freedom you get while working from home? It’s the same for virtual assistants, many of whom can dictate their professional life on their terms because they can work in their pajamas. And that shows up in the productivity of each remote worker, as Canada Life notes that remote workers tend to be among the most productive.