Your Success-Plan to Author-Publishing

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Before you explore author-publishing possibilities in this series, lets first have a look at your business plans as an author and the most important question: Why are you writing?  Are you creating for yourself (as a hobby, just for the fun of writing),  or for an audience? If you’re creating for yourself, it means: Writing is worthwhile for you, regardless of who sees your work.
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Can You Answer These Questions:

• How many books with the same topic / the same genre are on the market?
• What is the sales ranking of these works?
• How are these books priced?
• What is the social media ranking of the most successful writers in this genre?
• Where are these books sold on- and off-line?

The advise you read here is based on the assumption that you want to entertain, inform, increase your audience and eventually earn some money with your writing.
.

If You’re Producing Work for an Audience:

• playing by at least some rules of the industry
• caring what others think of your work
• establishing an authors platform from which to communicate
• interacting with your audience and being available to them
• doing things not for your art, but out of service to your audience
• putting on a performance, or adopting some kind of “brand”
• marketing your work and being visible

.
Why Should Authors Have a Business Plan?
Unfortunately many writers first create their work – and ask questions later.  Any author can write a book, but only a successful author knows she/he is now in business.  Again: “Writing is an art – publishing is a business!”  A serious business!
.

There’s no point to go without some kind of strategy in place if your objectives really are in building a writing career. It’s never too early to treat your writing as a business – no one would open a brick&mortar business without a plan!

A business plan can help new (and established) authors to clarify the proper publishing path for their works. A business plan serves as a road map, helping to keep the project and related endeavors like marketing and platform-building on schedule and for the author to track the results of his or her efforts.

The business plan starts when you start thinking about writing a book, it covers all aspects of your future work. At the moment you begin a novel or non-fiction book, you must already have a clear vision of the message, the audience and even the venues where it can be sold.

.
Traditional Business Plans Have These Components:

• Executive summary
• Business description
• Market strategies
• Competitive analysis
• Design and development plan
• Operations and management plan
• Financial factors

.
Sounds a Bit Theoretical? OK, Here is the Version for Author-Publishing:

• The topic of your work fiction / non-fiction
• You target audience / readers
• Your competition online and in book stores
• The likely contents, length, format etc. of the book
• Your marketing and promotional strategies
• The expenses you face for publishing and promotions.

.
It is vital to have a business plan because your books and you are the products to be sold. It makes some writers uneasy, but without a plan, you can’t figure out a way for your book to sell. Think of it as your map, guiding you from starving writer to successful author.
.

What makes your book so special?
No point in writing a book if you don’t know why or if it’s special. Many writers write books they’d love to read, many write books who’s marketing studies show readers are buying, some write books because the subject is risky or has never been explored before. Know why you and your book is special – and most important: what is the readers benefit of buying your novel or non-fiction book.
.

Who Will Want to Buy Your Book?
Jot down all those people who likely will want your book, why they’ll want it and how effective they will be at getting more people to want it. Know who your readership target is. Do you have enough (at least 2,000 on each social media outlet) contacts to spread the word about your book? And with contacts I don’t mean other writers, I mean READERS, bookworms, book lovers, book clubs, avid readers, reviewers! That’s the type of audience you will want to look for.
.

What is Your Competition?
Research in bookstores and online, how many and which books will be comparable to the one you are writing. Check them out in libraries, on reader forums, such as Goodreads, Shelfari or Wattpad. Visit independent stores and go to big chains  research these books on all online stores, not only Amazon, find out what genres are they placed, what reviewers say, how their author pages are designed etc. to get a real picture of your competition – and your potential readers.
.

Which Format For Your Book?
Books can be sold in many formats and also in many languages. Research at least these three popular formats:

• e-book format
• audio format
• Print format

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How Do You Plan to Promote Your Book?
You have lots of friends and you know people, hopefully lots of people. Online and off-line. And those people know people. Unless you can spend ten-thousands of dollars every months for advertising, you should plan now, before you write your book:

• our social networking,
• book events,
• gaining interviews,
• speaking engagements,
• seeking book reviews,
• attending book shows. 

Schedule all these activities in advance, add as many readers as possible to your current accounts on reader community sites, all social media sites – minimum are: Goodreads, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and Facebook.
.

What Are Your Marketing Strategies?
OK, your book is available on Amazon or in your local book store, but where else might it fit in perfectly? Other online retailers where you can sell your book? Stretch your mind and think creatively: Libraries, book clubs, foreign right sales … there are so many possible outlets for your book. Find out what’s their commissions are, and how much you would make on each sale of your book.

.
Calculations & Pricing
Both, digital and print books need to be proof-read, edited and then formatted, not to forget a really fabulous, enticing cover.
Pricing on print books is largely based on the number of pages in the book and quality of binding, costs for cover design and book layout. Pricing is also dependent on making print books available for a wider distribution than just Amazon. Since a wider distribution is used, books must be priced
so that the other outlets will be offered wholesale pricing.

Turbulence in the rapidly changing eBook world should also be taken into consideration. Pricing may be subject to change based on sales, current pricing trends and need to create upward movement in Amazon rankings. Books may be discounted if it fits with marketing strategy and promotion.
.
Don’t forget other expenses, such as webdesign and hosting, advertising, marketing expenses, phone and internet, travel cost etc.  The good news: you can deduct ALL these costs from your writers income!
.

What is Your Timetable for Writing, Editing, Book Production, Marketing etc.?
After you have figured out your market, your reader audience, your competition and your sales planning, you will feel much better, having a clear vision of your writing / publishing career.  A business plan does not have to be scary, especially for a simple business such as your writing business. In fact, a business plan should be somewhat comforting. It spells out what you want to accomplish, in which time frame and how you plan to do it.

,
Further reading:
http://www.spawn.org/editing/sevenpublishingmistakes.htm
http://selfpubauthors.com/category/business-plan/
http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/articles/business/writereality.htm
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-32373.html

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for 3 months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/ to advertise your new book, specials or your KDP Select Free Days.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 940 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing
http://www.111publishing.com
http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

Home

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Hyper Smash

Pingate

 

Do You Know How Much Royalties You Will Get?

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Royalties

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What are your royalties?  10%-30% from the list price, 10% of the wholesale price, 20% of the payments received by the publisher, 30% of the price as it’s listed on our website, 50% of net receipts, 45% minus printing costs, 60% from gross…  One of the most confusing aspects you must face when choosing a POD service printer, is trying to figure out what they mean when they speak misleadingly of “Royalties”.
.

POD printers that are paying a percentage of the retail price as “Royalty” are straight forward and you have the advantage of knowing where you stand and what to expect. You get what they say, usually 10% from wholesale sales, 25-30% from retail sales – hopefully more…
.

There are other printers who are a little less straight forward. For example, they might pay you 20-40% from your retail price, but they won’t pay you any royalties at all for the first three copies sold each quarter. Is this a fair “hidden” charge? It depends on the number of copies you are selling each quarter. If you sell less than 10 books, then it’s very high, if you sell 1,000 it becomes almost negligible.
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Don’t Lose Money
You might get an offer for a fixed percentage of the retail price that seems to be extremely attractive (30-35%)… before you jump on board, make sure that they work through Ingram, Lightning Source and other distributors. If they can afford such royalties because they only sell their books through their site you could end up losing money…

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POD Direct Book Sales
Some POD printers offer you a percentage of your retail price, but only for direct sales. When it comes to wholesale sales they give you a percentage of the wholesale price. Infinity Publishing is such a company, they will pay you 20% of your retail price on direct sales, and 10% of the wholesale price on books sold through other channels.  For a $15.00 book with a 40% wholesale discount it would be $3.00 on direct sales and $0.90 on wholesale – not acceptable!
.

Other Charges
Even if you can buy your paper book at a discount in order to resell it, you’ll still have to pay other charges, and how can you offer it for a competitive price to bookstores?  But why do you have to buy your own book? You already paid for the printing, didn’t you?  It means you pay TWICE for your book… and on top of that bookstores can return books if they are not sold within a certain time.
.

CreateSpace / Amazon
offers do-it-yourself publishing packages for free upload of your paper book but you need to create your own cover and interior and submit it correctly edited to CreateSpace. CreateSpace recommends its free do-it-yourself packages for people with design experience (or you just hire a graphic designer).  CreateSpace offers packages that are similar to publishing packages offered by other self-publishing / POD companies, but starting for only $299.
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CreateSpace eStore
20% of list price per sale, this means if someone orders it from CreateSpace’s e-book store on your authors page, you will receive 80% (minus the production / printing cost, mines tax and shipping).
40% of list price per sale means: you will get 60% of the list price per sale (minus the production / printing cost, minus tax and shipping).  Expanded Distribution Channel:  60% of list price if ordered by bookstores, libraries etc.

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But as with almost all POD companies, you pay for printing and then you have to give them a percentage of your sales for the distribution and the rest that is left is wrongly called a “royalty”.
Read how you can cir-cum-navigate this and become your own publisher without (or with less) Print-on-Demand / “Royalty on Demand”.

More on royalties:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royalties#Book_publishing_royalties

http://www.rachellegardner.com/2009/11/how-book-royalties-work/

http://www.shawntellemadison.com/book-royalties-calculator/

http://writerunboxed.com/2011/11/28/11-frequently-asked-questions-about-book-royalties-advances-and-making-money/

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<><><><><>

.

If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 750 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

.

.
Hyper Smash

Pingates

 

How to Plan your Publishing Business

.

.

Before you explore author-publishing possibilities in this series, lets first have a look at your business plans as an author and the most important question: Why are you writing?  Are you creating for yourself (as a hobby, just for the fun of writing) – or for an audience?
.

Can you answer these questions: how many books with the same topic / the same genre are on the market? What is the sales ranking of these works? How are these books priced? What is the social media ranking of the most successful writers in this genre? Where are these books sold on- and off-line? The advise you read here is based on the assumption that you want to entertain, inform, increase your audience and eventually earn some money with your writing.
.

If you’re producing work for an audience, it means:

• playing by at least some rules of the industry
• caring what others think of your work
• establishing an authors platform from which to communicate
• interacting with your audience and being available to them
• doing things not for your art, but out of service to your audience
• putting on a performance, or adopting some kind of “brand”
• marketing your work and being visible

.
If you’re creating for yourself, it means:
Writing is worthwhile for you, regardless of who sees your work.

.
Why should authors have a business plan?
Unfortunately many writers first create their work – and ask questions later.  Any author can write a book, but only a successful author knows she/he is now in business.  Again: “Writing is an art – publishing is a business!”  A serious business!
.

There’s no point to go without some kind of strategy in place if your objectives really are in building a writing career. It’s never too early to treat your writing as a business – no one would open a brick&mortar business without a plan!

A business plan can help new (and established) authors to clarify the proper publishing path for their works. A business plan serves as a road map, helping to keep the project and related endeavors like marketing and platform-building on schedule and for the author to track the results of his or her efforts.

The business plan starts when you start thinking about writing a book, it covers all aspects of your future work. At the moment you begin a novel or non-fiction book, you must already have a clear vision of the message, the audience and even the venues where it can be sold.

.
Traditional business plans have these components:

• Executive summary
• Business description
• Market strategies
• Competitive analysis
• Design and development plan
• Operations and management plan
• Financial factors

.
Sounds a bit theoretical? OK, here is the version for author-publishing:

• The topic of your work fiction / non-fiction
• You target audience / readers
• Your competition online and in book stores
• The likely contents, length, format etc. of the book
• Your marketing and promotional strategies
• The expenses you face for publishing and promotions.

.
It is vital to have a business plan because your books and you are the products to be sold. It makes some writers uneasy, but without a plan, you can’t truly figure out a way for your book to sell itself. Think of it as a map, guiding you from starving writer to successful author.
.

What makes your book so special?
No point in writing a book if you don’t know why or if it’s special. Many writers write books they’d love to read, many write books who’s marketing studies show readers are buying, some write books because the subject is risky or has never been explored before. Know why you and your book is special – and most important: what is the readers benefit of buying your novel or non-fiction book.
.

Who will want to buy your work?
Jot down all those people who likely will want your book, why they’ll want it and how effective they will be at getting more people to want it. Know who your readership target is. Do you have enough (at least 2,000 on each social media outlet) contacts to spread the word about your book? And with contacts I don’t mean other writers, I mean READERS, bookworms, book lovers, book clubs, avid readers, reviewers! That’s the type of audience you will want to look for.
.

Competition
Research in bookstores and online, how many and which books will be comparable to the one you are writing. Check them out in libraries, on reader forums, such as Goodreads, Shelfari or Wattpad. Visit independent stores and go to big chains  research these books on all online stores, not only Amazon, find out what genres are they placed, what reviewers say, how their author pages are designed etc. to get a real picture of your competition – and your potential readers.
.

Format of your book?
Books can be sold in many formats and also in many languages. Research at least these three popular formats:

• e-book format
• audio format
• Print format

.
How do you plan to promote your product?
You know people, hopefully lots of people. Online and off-line. And those people know people. Unless you can spend ten-thousands of dollars every months for advertising, you should plan now, before you write your book social networking, book events, gaining interviews, speaking engagements, seeking book reviews and attending book shows. Schedule all these activities in advance, add as many readers as possible to your current accounts on reader community sites, all social media sites – minimum are: Goodreads, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and Facebook.
.

What are your marketing strategies?
OK, your book is available on Amazon or in your local book store, but where else might it fit in perfectly? Other online retailers where you can sell your book? Stretch your mind and think creatively: Libraries, book clubs, foreign right sales … there are so many possible outlets for your book. Find out what’s their commissions are, and how much you would make on each sale of your book.

.
Calculations & Pricing
Both, digital and print books need to be proof-read, edited and then formatted, not to forget a really fabulous, enticing cover.
Pricing on print books is largely based on the number of pages in the book and quality of binding, costs for cover design and book layout. Pricing is also dependent on making print books available for a wider distribution than just Amazon. Since a wider distribution is used, books must be priced
so that the other outlets will be offered wholesale pricing.

Turbulence in the rapidly changing eBook world should also be taken into consideration. Pricing may be subject to change based on sales, current pricing trends and need to create upward movement in Amazon rankings. Books may be discounted if it fits with marketing strategy and promotion.
.
Don’t forget other expenses, such as webdesign and hosting, advertising, marketing expenses, phone and internet, travel cost etc.  The good news: you can deduct them from your writers income.
.

What is your timetable for writing, editing, book production, marketing etc.?
After you have figured out your market, your reader audience, your competition and your sales planning, you will feel much better, having a clear vision of your writing / publishing career.  A business plan does not have to be scary, especially for a simple business such as your writing business. In fact, a business plan should be somewhat comforting. It spells out what you want to accomplish, in which time frame and how you plan to do it.

,
Further reading:
http://www.spawn.org/editing/sevenpublishingmistakes.htm
http://selfpubauthors.com/category/business-plan/
http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/articles/business/writereality.htm
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-32373.html

.

<><><><><><>

.

If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 710 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

.

.
Hyper Smash
.
.

Pingates

 

Are you confused about so-called Royalties?

10%-30% from list, 10% of the wholesale price, 20% of the payments received by the publisher, 30% of the price as it’s listed on our website, 50% of net receipts, 45% minus printing costs, 60% from gross… One of the most confusing aspects you must face when choosing a POD printer is trying to figure out what they mean when they speak of “Royalties”.

POD printers that are paying a percentage of the retail price as “Royalty” are straight forward and you have the advantage of knowing where you stand and what to expect. You get what they say, usually 10% from wholesale sales, 25-30% from retail sales – hopefully more…

There are other printers who are a little less straight forward. For example, uPublish pays you 20-40% from your retail price, but they won’t pay you any royalties at all for the first three copies sold each quarter. Is this a fair “hidden” charge? It depends on the number of copies you are selling each quarter. If you sell less than 10 books, then it’s very high, if you sell 100 it becomes almost negligible.

You might get an offer for a fixed percentage of the retail price that seems to be extremely attractive (30-35%)… before you jump on board, make sure that they work through Ingram and other distributors. If they can afford such royalties because they only sell their books through their site you could end up losing money..

Some POD printers offer you a percentage of your retail price, but only for direct sales. When it comes to wholesale sales they give you a percentage of the wholesale price. Infinity Publishing is such a company, they will pay you 20% of your retail price on direct sales, and 10% of the wholesale price on books sold through other channels.  For a $15.00 book with a 40% wholesale discount it would be $3.00 on direct sales and $0.90 on wholesale – not acceptable! 

Even if you can buy your paper book at a discount in order to resell it, you’ll still have to pay other charges, and how can you offer it for a competitive price to bookstores?  But why do you have to buy your own book? You already paid for the printing, didn’t you?  It means you pay TWICE for your book… and on top of that bookstores can return books if they are not sold within a certain time.

Consider this:
CreateSpace / Amazon offers do-it-yourself publishing packages for free upload of your paper book but you need to create your own cover and interior and submit it correctly edited to CreateSpace. CreateSpace recommends its free do-it-yourself packages for people with design experience (or you just hire a graphic designer).  CreateSpace offers packages that are similar to publishing packages offered by other self-publishing/POD companies, but starting for only $299. 

CreateSpace eStore 20% of list price per sale, this means if someone orders it from CreatSpace’s ebook store on your authors page, you will receive 80% (minus the production/printing cost, mines tax and shipping)

Amazon.com 40% of list price per sale means you get 60% of the list price per sale (minus the production/printing cost, mines tax and shipping).

Expanded Distribution Channel 60% of list price if ordered by bookstores, libraries etc.

But as with all POD companies, you pay for printing and then you have to give them a percentage of your sales for the distribution and the rest that is left is called a “royalty”.