On business plans and self-publishing books

I’ve been thinking some more about business plans and writers.

You know, I really think most writers (and maybe this is also true of other artistic people) hope that if we have something important to say, that’s really all that matters.

And for writers whose overall desire is to help others rather than to get rich and famous, we assume God will take our good intentions and see that it all comes out right.

I wish that was true. But it rarely is.

One prime example is in the area of publishing books. Over the years, I’ve talked to lot of people who have written and self-published a book without any idea of how the publishing business works. And many of them are offended when you ask them if they’ve studied the business of writing and been published elsewhere and so forth. Some of them have told me they didn’t even want to have an editor touch their words because the words are precious - either it’s their story and can’t be changed, or the words/thoughts came from God and should not be altered.

The problem is, this attitude is both unrealistic and self-defeating.

There are three problems with 90% of the books I’ve seen from these authors.

1. Although the work may be okay in the sense of having few spelling or grammatical errors, the writing is usually of poor quality, often lacking in direction.
2. The product itself is not usually comparable to what is on bookstore shelves. In other words, it “looks” self-published to the objective eye.
3. Usually, there is no marketing plan, and little work has been done towards actually selling the book before it is in print.

What’s that saying, “Three strikes and you’re out?”

I do understand. In their minds, what really matters is the idea they are trying to pass on to others.

I wish it was easier to get that idea across.

But the reality is that most people will never read past the first few pages.

The packaging has to be there. Every day, people judge books by their cover and by the words on the first page.

From my experience, those writers who succeed are generally the ones who are able to balance the art, craft, business, and ministry of their work and not get bogged down too heavily into any one of the areas.

A business plan template for writers

I’ve always been good at coming up with goals and steps to take to achieve those goals. Okay, the truth is, I’m one of those people who can easily go overboard and come up a million intricate little steps - 1, 2, 3… a,b,c… - and then get busy and forget all about half of them. In other words, the planning is more fun for me than the doing.

 

 

But when Linda Wegner posted a blog about how writers and editors need to have a business plan, I had to sit up. I’m a freelance writer; but because I’ve never had to support myself by my writing, I had never really thought of it in quite that way. Plan? Yes. Business? Not really.

 

 

And yet… it made sense. Most of us would like to at least break even, if not earn some income doing this.

 

 

Since I did have goals for 2007, and since I do think of writing as my career path, I decided to do the business plan thing. There were a few difficulties. It was hard to find a template that gave me the categories I needed to use. And it’s hard to say what will happen in something as tentative as writing. You can do all the right things and not make a sale. Or you can do one little thing and come up big.

 

 

But anyway, I forged ahead. And because I have this inborn need to share whatever I learn, I came up with some basic questions a writer could use to begin putting together a business plan.

 

 

1. What is my overall long-term goal (strategic plan)? (Write a book, become a full-time journalist, earn x amount of money per year through writing, develop a ministry using my writing skills…)

 

 

2. What do I need to do this year to move closer to achieving my long-term goals (tactical plan)?

 

 

3. What resources do I already have that will help me learn the skills I need and keep me motivated? (books I’ve bought but need to read; yahoo groups I’m on; organizations I belong to; friendships with other writers, etc.) What can I do to make better use of these resources? (read the books, get more involved with the organization, start/join a critique group, etc.)

 

 

4. How much money can I invest in buying books, getting the equipment I need, taking classes, membership in writers’ organizations, attending conferences, doing research, etc.?

 

 

5. How much time can I invest in writing? (an hour a day, one day a week, two months out of the year?

 

 

 

6. When will I write? (first thing in the morning, from 9 to 12 PM, Saturdays…

 

7. When do I need to begin earning money, and how much do I need to earn to make this viable for me?

 

 

8. Are there any writing-related ways I can earn money that are less open to chance (editing, critiquing, speaking, etc.)

 

I think answering these questions will give you a good start. Please leave a comment or suggestion if I’ve missed something!

 

 

Some suggestions for people just starting out:

 

 

1. Think in terms of five years. Where do I want to be in five years? What do I need to do this year to get myself closer to where I want to be?

 

 

2. Think in terms of building a resume. Start with small tasks, local or denominational markets, and then when you have learned the basics, look for bigger challenges.

 

 

3. Look for things you are good at and leverage the skills you already have before worrying about learning new skills. (eg. if you are a nurse, consider starting by writing articles about nursing and related things rather than jumping into a whole new area you don’t know much about.)

 

 

4. The kinds of writing more likely to earn you income: technical writing, journalism, fillers, business writing

 

 

5. The kinds of writing least likely to earn you income: poetry, fiction, memoir, personal opinion