Business Plans for Authors

Introduction:

What is a Business Plan?

A business plan gives you a roadmap of where you’re going, with signposts to guide you along your way.

There is more to being an author than writing and publishing your books. You’ve now become an entrepreneur and are running a small business. This may be your first business venture, or maybe you’ve had other businesses. Perhaps you’re adding a book to your other product and service offerings. While many business principles apply, the indie publishing industry is slightly different from other businesses. There are additional concerns and issues you need to address that you don’t in other industries. These include:

• using ISBNs
• which platforms to use to distribute your book
• where you’ll go to print your books
• Your purpose for writing
• the goals you have for your author business

Flying by the seat of your pants works for writing, but it can be disastrous for your business. It’s important for any business owner is to have a plan to guide them in the myriad decisions they have to make to be successful. Success isn’t one-size fits all, but individually determined. The way you define success IS success for you! Your plans should reflect your goals, values, and vision for your business.

One of the best things you can do when starting your author business, really any business, is to write a business plan. There are many decisions needed in being an indie or self-published author that you should document. This plan establishes what you want for your business, why you’re writing, and how you’ll conduct your business. It outlines your plans for:

• marketing
• distribution
• reader connection
• production
• and many others

This book is appropriate for both the beginning and seasoned author, whether you write fiction or nonfiction. I’ve noted those places where it applies to a certain type of writing.

For the beginning author, it will help you start your business with a good plan in place. This book will give you a guide of the million things that need to be done in a publishing business in a way that is manageable and without feeling overwhelmed.

Even if you’ve been in business for a while, creating and reviewing a business plan is incredibly helpful for the success of your business. It will help you focus on your current plans for your business. It gives you the opportunity to examine what you’re doing to determine if it’s still applicable or what you may want to stop doing. Often a writer may have been self-publishing for some time, then realize they are lost and don’t know how to organize their business for success. This book will give you a path for evaluating your business and resetting as necessary.

Often nonfiction authors have another business and are adding writing and indie publishing as another revenue stream. If this is you, creating a business plan for your writing is good since the needs of this industry are so different than doing coaching, or healing, or another type of business.

Even if you aren’t a person who likes planning, having and writing down what you want for your author business is important. A business plan gives you a roadmap of where you’re going, with signposts to guide you along your way.

Ideally, your business plan is a living document. It shouldn’t be something that is done once because some course said you needed one, then put aside. Any time you are faced with a major decision, your business plan can help you in making the right one for your business. Each business is unique and different. But there are certain aspects that apply to all businesses, no matter the size.

A business plan is “what” you want to do, but doesn’t include the nitty-gritty “how” you’re going to accomplish your goals. For instance, the production plan talks about what books you plan on writing and may even include deadlines and such. But it won’t include how you’re going to write the books. The marketing plan is about what you plan to do for your marketing. It doesn’t get into the details of what ads you’ll place or how long you’ll run them.

However, your business plan can include practical steps you need to take to reach your business and author goals.

At the minimum, you should review your business plan at the end of the year to see where you’ve stayed on course or veered off on a tangent. At this time, you would consider the coming year and make any changes and updates to your current business plan. Ideally, you should review your plan every six months, or even better, quarterly.

When you review your plan, you may decide to scrap the old one and write a new one. This may arise because your focus and motivations changed. You have changed what genre you write. The needs, marketing, distribution, and audience for writing fantasy are different from writing cozy mystery, thriller, or romance.

This book and the companion workbook will guide you through the process of creating, reviewing, and updating your author business plan. It includes information for each plan section, questions to consider, checklists, and a place to summarize your decisions. For the most part, this is applicable no matter where you live. I clearly note any places that only apply to the USA.

This book is broken down into five parts. Each part focuses on a different aspect of your business plan.

These parts are:

• Business
• Product
• Marketing
• Financial
• Final Plan

You may create your business plan in a journal, a word document, or use the companion workbook. This book, and the accompanying workbook*, organizes the information so you can easily find it when you’re faced with making a decision. You may want to print your answers to the section questions and the checklists and put them in a binder.

I invite you to take your time, contemplate the questions, and answer them in depth. If you do, you’ll not only have a plan for your business, but you’ll understand yourself, your motivations, and the way you work better.

Your business plan is just one step in successfully running your author business. To learn more about managing your author business, tracking your money, and reading your financial statements, purchase my book, Business and Accounting for Authors. It helps you learn how to treat your writing as a business, manage your money, and use your accounting data to make better decisions. It’s available on my website, or at your favorite retailer, in print and e-book.

I’ve used this process to create my own business plans. I’m a serial entrepreneur, and I write a business plan for each business I start. Even though I only have one publishing company, I have two different areas that I focus on. I’ve written a business plan for each area. I have one for my fiction author business and one for my nonfiction. This helps me keep track of what I plan on doing for each one.

*Note: The workbook is only available to purchase from my online store.