What authors should do in an economic recession

We’re not in a recession yet, but the signs are all there. If you’re a nonfiction author, it’s prudent to prepare.

Authors typically make money from speaking, workshops, and consulting — all types of work that may become harder to secure in a recession. What you should do now depends on how secure you are financially.

Authors who can ride out the storm should invest in themselves

If your schedule has previously been frenetic and filled with client work, you’re likely to get a breather. Now is the time to:

• Improve your online presence. Update your web site. Sharpen up your LinkedIn presence. Invest now to make it easier for potential clients to see what you do and how to hire you.
• Start planning and writing the next book. The planning, writing, and publishing process typically takes a year or two. By then economic conditions will likely be better. With fewer client demands, you can take the time to concentrate on your next powerful idea.
• Ramp up the free appearances. Were you too busy to line up free speaking slots or participation in panels at events? Now you can turn your attention to appearances that will boost your visibility.
• Reach out to clients. Your clients will soon be under stress as well. Open up conversations, not about your offerings, but just to check in. The churn from people whose careers are shifting might turn into opportunities for you with different companies. And some clients may need freelance help to plug gaps caused by employees who’ve been let go.

Authors who need cash can focus on building a stronger clientele

If you count on a steady income every month, a recession could threaten that. Here are a few ideas on how to build business during a downturn:

• Explore writing-adjacent businesses. Have you considered editing? Ghostwriting? Working with publicity agencies? If you can write well, you may find these as rewarding as whatever your book-related business was before.
• Pick off clients disappointed with AI. AI was supposed to make workers more efficient, so fewer could do more. It mostly hasn’t. At companies who invested in this promise and were disappointed, you could do the work that they hoped the AI would do.
• Lock in long-term consulting relationships. Contact your best clients and offer reduced costs in exchange for longer commitments. If they’re cutting back, this is one way to help ensure that you’re not the consultant on the chopping block.
• Diversify away from government. Government contracts are sweet; while you have to jump through lots of hoops, you typically get paid at an excellent rate. But if DOGE has its way, those deals will be much harder to get. Now’s the time to reach out to private-sector contacts — some of whom might have been laid off from government — and reconnect. You may find that state governments are picking up some of the slack from the feds.
• Offer some freebies. You might have to do some trial work to prove your worth. If you judge that doing a good job will actually get you more business, this is a time to give some help away for free.
• Expand down-market. If you typically do high-end conceptual work as many authors do, you may discover that your clients need help on execution, not just strategy. If you’re short on paying clients, you may find that you can fill their execution needs at a lower rate, but with greater total returns.

Better to prepare

Maybe the recession isn’t coming. Maybe conditions will improve. But it’s a lot better to plan for the worst than get caught unprepared if it happens to get here.