One of the things I had not done properly was my business plan. I wanted to publish and I wanted to make sure it was the best product I could master (with the help of editors and cover designer, and, and, and…) but I didn’t sit down to think:
- “What’s my big goal?”
- “How do I define success for myself?”
- “What will my promotion schedule look like?”
- “What will be the costs and the possible unknowns?”
- “What’s my two-years goals, my five-years goals?”
- “How many books will I be publishing a year?”
- And so on…
The main reasons I didn’t do this were: (i) lack of time (my full-time job was time and mind consuming) (ii) the main job was definitely providing me enough funds to not worry about meeting my costs, and (iii) did I mention my unrealistic expectations?
Basically, if I want to succeed, I need to start looking more at the business side of things. I will be revamping my business plan and to do this, I have been reading more and more about the topic: here are a few wonderful articles/podcast that have helped my research:
- Podcast with Denise Grover Swank – Business Plans for Authors on Rocking Self-Publishing
- A business plan for self-published authors in 3 parts by Denise Grover Swank (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
- The 7-step business plan for writers by Angela Ackerman
- How to Plan your Publishing Business by Savvy Writers
- The Publishing Business Plan – 7 Essential Elements by The Future of Ink
Join me tomorrow for C….like Costs
Elodie Nowodazkij 
Excellent post. I shall definitely be looking at these links. You said you will be revamping your plan; I have not created a business plan at all. Maybe that’s one reason why my book sales have plummeted. 😦
Ros, visiting from GenWestUK
Thanks for passing by 🙂 Glad it was helpful! I think there are so many components to a book selling well, on top of course of good writing…a business plan is only a part. Tomorrow, I’m talking about costs and that was one a tough one to write.
On Thu, Apr 2, 2015 at 6:56 AM, Elodie Nowodazkij wrote:
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great post Elodie! I hadn’t thought about making a business plan and or goals for self publishing 🙂
Thanks, Rachel 🙂 I think the business plan really helps to stay focused also on the business side of self-publishing. I now only need to be more efficient and actually have a “real” business plan…
On Thu, Apr 2, 2015 at 9:50 AM, Elodie Nowodazkij wrote:
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Great advice. Will definitely work on this as I move closer to self publishing.
I tried to make a business plan and it was so overwhelming that I just didn’t finish it. I will definitely be checking these links out. Thank you for sharing.