The 98/2 Rule

Dissecting the "critical few" inside the author hustle too few talks about

I double up on Momdom in 1990 with a second child. Little did I know the wild times ahead.

It wasn’t pretty.

I sent in my responses to the proofreader’s review of my novel’s manuscript last week. Riddled with blue markup text and comment bubbles from her thorough scrutiny. I found (again) new fact gaffes I’d made after I dipped down the research-rabbit-hole questions my proofreader asked.

Yikes.

It could be my galloping reading style, but I’d misspelled a number of proper nouns too. Easily checkable. Where was my mind? Distracted by my scrawled handwriting?

The A+ Perfectionist Me is appalled.

My Truth-teller Me has her arms folded across her chest with one eyebrow raised and is tut-tutting, “TOLD you to slow down.”

Being in the thick of tedious proofing is not the glamourous part of the author job.

Hey, what IS the glamourous part?

Looking for Glamour in all the Wrong Places

After I’d hit “send” to catapult my manuscript to the waiting arms of my intrepid project manager, I coincidentally came across something called the 98/2 Rule. I’m familiar with ye old 80/20 Rule but not 98/2. I’ve been mulling it over ever since.

I’ve been thinking of my midyear progress and whether I’m focused on the right things. Perhaps the 98/2 Rule could help.

The 98/2 Rule appeared in my Inbox via a free weekly email, Sunday Brain Food, by Shane Parrish who wrote the book, Clear Thinking, Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results.

The 98/2 Rule:

“We often fixate on the visible and exciting, overlooking that most success comes from consistently doing the mundane, unglamourous work that few notice.“The 98/2 Rule: people spend 98% of their time talking about flashy things that contribute only 2% to the results, while overlooking the fact that 98% of the results come from consistently doing the boring basics that few notice.“Ask yourself: Does the attention you give to something truly reflect its true importance?”

Hmmmm. I have a teeny bit of experience with this from years ago.

I’ve tried to blank it out, but I do remember kinda applying this as a young mom with two darling (aka hellion) children who are twenty months apart. After exhausting myself for attempting to maintain Perfect House, Perfect Children, Perfect Me, I distinctly recall giving myself permission to lower my own expectations.

I resolved to focus solely on three things: The children are fed. (Relatively) clean. Alive.

Not dishes, not personal grooming, not a kept-up house. It took a transition. In the beginning, every day at 4pm just before afternoon naptime ended I would hair-on-fire race through the house to whirlwind toss anything not moving into big baskets or behind closet doors. Then I’d smear on some mascara and pull a clean T-shirt (no spit-up, no dirt) over my head. My husband would arrive greeted by my fake all’s-in-order smile.

I’m not proud of it. Naturally, my Perfectionist Pretending did ultimately fall apart. Yet, I think of it as a part of the necessary sorting I had to do on what was important/what was not. What I thought I should be doing vs. the critical few.

I can beam fondly at the young mom who was me. She figured it out.

But today’s Author Me? Still stumbling around. Still trying to sort what I ought to be doing. I mean I’d like to be doing a few flashy things.

Because everything else kinda feels like table stakes.

An Author’s 98/2 Rule

I like using the term table stakes here. In poker it’s the minimum bet in order to be considered a viable player. Or in business the minimum offering on any product before it’s considered for purchase.

What’s in the balance for an author, especially a debut one, like me?

Finding the needle (my book) in a haystack (book universe).

Here’s a peek into that haystack via a few publishing industry stats from Michael Castleman in an excellent article on scams on the Writer Unboxed website: Castleman in an excellent article on scams on the Writer Unboxed website:

Since 1980, the U.S. population has increased 48 percent, but book releases have soared 4400 percent.

During the entire 20th century, American publishers released some 2.5 million titles. Today that many new books appear every year or two. Consequently, every new book has become a grain of sand on a huge beach.

With releases vastly outstripping population growth, sales per new title have been sliced thinner than a dust jacket. In 2023, total U.S. sales of new releases came to around 575 million copies. Divided by 2 million new titles, average sales came to fewer than 300 copies per book. Of course, some of those books became bestsellers—around one in 15,000—selling zillions. Which means that many other books published last year have sold much fewer than 300.

Today, just 6 percent of new releases sell 1,000, and only 2 percent sell 5,000.

Before my husband starts railing on population growth (tonight’s dinner conversation over grilled halibut), just note that those stats are daunting, to say the least. My “why” in writing my book is to bring awareness to the true story of Jo van Gogh and how she saved Vincent’s paintings from obscurity. Her critical tenacious work means we know of Vincent van Gogh, one of the world’s greatest artists. When I first heard of Jo’s efforts, it just felt right that her story be known. That means book sales and trying to get the book into libraries.

So back to the 98/2 Rule: What’s an author’s “critical few” table stakes?

Author website - curious minds want to know you, origins of your story, buy links to your books, etc. Today, you need to be on the web. Period. Newsletter - be a “voice” to create connections, share ideas, give updates and insider scoop in order to connect. It’s a humble honor to be granted entry into another’s Inbox. Social media - avenue for discoverability and connection. Lotsa booklovers do all their book discovery online. Blurbs - wonderful endorsements printed on my book cover from other authors vouching for my book. Third-party cred is golden. Paid reviews - I foot the bill for professional review organizations to write an editorial review. Important because librarians rely on their legitimacy. Reader reviews - the number of reviews is one of the key criteria potential booklovers check. Actively soliciting reviews from friends, family and all has to happen. Literary citizenship - read and review others’ books, celebrate others’ Substack’s, show up for book launch events, advocate for important causes like banning book bans, and more.

Doggedly, I spend a lot of time unglamorously trying to get my arms around each of these.

Never quite feeling like I’m doing enough.

I haven’t solved the 98/2 Rule yet. Have you? Do you have a critical few you’re 98% dedicated to, and have you dropped some other tasks?

I’d love your ideas.

One Small Moment of Glam

On a final note, every now and then a moment comes along that makes it all feel like it could be worth it.

One of these moments happened unexpectedly, without any foreknowledge or fanfare one day at lunch a few weeks ago. My husband and I are sitting at a picnic table on the patio of a lunch sandwich shop. See me: eyes closed; face tilted to the sun for a little Vitamin E after a morning at the computer screen. Birds are chirping, a flurry of air fans my cheeks. Across from me, my husband’s goofing around on his iPhone as we wait for our BLT’s (home grown tomatoes!). He says to me, “Hey, look at this.” I blink. He’s holding his phone out. I squint. Something about the Loving Vincent 2017 film at the top of the screen. “I saw it,” I say and shut my eyes, tilting my head back again. I hear his fingers tapping on his screen. "Look again.” I open my eyes to a new screen. And holy, moly, right there in broad daylight with songbirds twittering and leaves clapping in the breeze, and I could swear across the sky with a rainbow’s arc breaking out in front of me. . .is my book cover. Saving Vincent, A Novel of Jo van Gogh is on Simon and Schuster’s site. An actual publisher’s site. My eyes fill with tears.

Simon and Schuster - Saving Vincent

Published by She Writes Press, distributed by Simon and Schuster.

In that moment, I feel glamourous. And surreal. And thankful.

This book just might get published.

Gratefully,

P.S. One Very Important “boring basic”:

I write every weekday, beginning at 7 am by joining an Early Bird writing group. We click into Zoom, say hi, turn off cameras and mics, and write for an hour. I often join other Zoom writing groups later in the day too. Except for when I’ve been overseas, this has been a daily weekday routine for several years now. When in the Pacific time zone, I have been known to show up in pajamas!