Getting Down to Business--Part I

I’ve been on a short trip visiting son, Brooklyn, and daughter-in-law, London. New York, New York! DH’s best line about going to NYC is that it is impossible to bring too much money. Can’t be done. When a hamburger is $19, well, let’s just say we plan ahead--far ahead for our trips there.

But I’m back and ready to work on edits for my two contracted books (Mission Impastable with Oak Tree Press and Streetwalker with Sizzler Editions). I am eager to get the marketing balls careening around. Even though I have kind of pushed the balls and got them rolling, I want them zipping.

All of what I am doing is part of my overall business plan. I’ll do a blog series on what I have learned about making a writing business plan and share parts of mine with you in hopes of helping you figure it out, too. Like trips to NYC, one needs to anticipate a budget for book projects, both fiscal and time budgets.

I read an article series that really changed my perspective. The link is at the bottom, and I highly recommend reading them. First of all, dumb as it may sound to you, I never came at my writing career from a business perspective. I know, I know. I told you it was dumb.

I just wanted to write, and, you know, publish! That was my new career after transitioning from 39 years as an educator. Writing. I never really thought of it as a business except from a tax deduction standpoint. I claim a home office and business expenses, but that was as far as I had taken it.

After reading Swank’s posts, I was convinced that I need to take all aspects of my writing career as seriously as I did the day-to-day writing. If I am a professional writer, that comes with expectations for goal setting, a mission statement, marketing, budgeting, and other aspects of the business world. Admittedly, she is an indie author, and I have support from my two publishers she can’t count on; still, the onus is on me to make this happen. No one cares more than me that my books are read by lots of people.

She convinced me that a business plan added to the actual writing I do will help me achieve at a higher level than I might have. I have goals set for books to write through 2016. I am serious!

I will share what my business plan looks like over the next several posts. The headings I am using are largely based on the original posts I read and other things I read about how to do a business plan. It is titled Business Plan for 2013. That means I intend to revisit the plan at the end of the year and revise it for 2014. Just like real businesses do. And I am a real business.

2013 Business Plan for Writer’s Ink

1. Description of Writer’s Ink
2. Ownership of Writer’s Ink and Location of Business
3. Products
4. Pricing Strategy
5. Financial Plan
6. Production Schedule and Writing Plans
7. Targeted Audiences
8. Marketing and Promoting Plan
9. Web Plan
10. Long-Term Goals
11. Summary

Based on the blog series by Denise Grover Swank, http://thewritersguidetoepublishing.com/a-business-plan-for-self-published-authors-part-one-of-a-three-part-series