Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Getting Started
Chapter 2: Business Basics
Chapter 3: Financials
Chapter 4: Business Planning
Chapter 5: Start a Publishing Company
Chapter 6: Other Stuff
Chapter 7: Checklists
Chapter 8: About the Author
Chapter 1
Getting Started
Back to the Table of Contents
To Begin
The purpose of this book is to give authors an introduction to a few fundamentals involved in running a business. And why do authors need this? I hear you ask. Because once you publish a book -- no matter how it became published -- the author now owns a business. Therefore, the author needs to understand business practices. In the process of selling the books, you will incur expenses. You need revenue to pay for the expenses. If the revenue exceeds the expenses, you and your company will show a profit.
Here's an other factor on why you need some business skills. Did you know that selling books is a taxable event? Say what? Yeah, you owe taxes on your income from book sales, unless you offset the income with business expenses. To deal with revenue and expenses correctly, you have develop a business-like approach to your book company
Did I get your attention yet? Hopefully, the book will explain these issues and give you a leg up on these matters.
This book is written with the self-published author in mind, but you need this information if your book was published by an indie publishing house. Even if you have a contract with a big publisher, you can still use the material in this book.
If you have one book published and you don't plan to write more books or to market the one you have, you don't need this book. If you have a single book published and you plan to market it, you can use the information in this book. If you plan to write and publish more books, you definitely need the stuff in this book.
The bulk of this book deals with a company (yours) that sells books. In Chapter 5, I discuss the option of starting a publishing company for your books. This is a new operation for your book-selling company and doesn't affect what you do about marketing and selling your books.
The book won't make you an expert in the publishing business, and it won't earn you an MBA, but it will give you some insights into business and business planing. Both are essential to your success. You can research and study additional topics to increase your knowledge. There is plenty of material on the web and in libraries if you wish to search for it. If nothing else, this book will get you started on asking the correct questions.
Think Like a CEO Besides Thinking Like a Writer
Whether you like it or not, whether you accept it or not, when you published your first book, you become the owner of a business. This happens no matter how the book was published or what the book was about. Whether it was self-published, put out by a small indie press or one of the major publishing houses, you own a business. Your business is to sell a product and the product is your book.
I believe a major reason that authors fail to sell many books is because they don't think like a business owner. Their marketing efforts use a shotgun approach, are without a focus and are piecemeal instead of continuous. Their business and any marketing efforts often happen without any plans. A business plan will focus the energies of the company (you!) on the important aspects. A marketing plan organizes the efforts to tell the world about the book.
You are the Chief Executive Officer or CEO of that business and you are the Marketing Manager for the book. Since you are also responsible for the budget and tracking revenue, you are the Chief Financial Officer or CFO.
A business needs an organization chart so everyone in the company can see where they stand in the hierarchy. Here is the organization chart for your company.
Another brutal fact about publishing is that several thousand books were published the same day yours was. With all these books showing up at once, no one knows about your book and no one cares about it. Your job as Marketing Manager is to tell people about your book and make them care.
With you in the role of all these company executives, you may need help handling the various functions. Fortunately, the other books in the Self-publishing Guides series can provide a measure of help for these various functions in the organization chart.
Here's how my Self-publishing Guides can help your company.
CEO: needs Business Basics for Authors and Manage Your Self-published Project.
Author: needs Self-publishing a Book.
Marketing Manager: needs Marketing Plans for Self-published Books.
CFO: needs Business Basics for Authors.
The four books fit together this way:
As you can see, the puzzle pieces fit together to provide a comprehensive guide to demystify the publishing process and running your business.
