Successful freelance writers have one thing in common: They know they're not just writers. They're also entrepreneurs, marketers, salespeople, and many other trades.
The reality is that
authors cannot just be writers. If you are not willing to put on the other hats
I mentioned earlier, you will continue to struggle to find success. You can
indeed hire a whole team to help you, but If you want to reach your goals, you
have to lead the way, and for that, you must know what you expect from each one
of them, in how much time and how much it will cost you.
So why do you need a
business plan?
Without a plan, you
will most likely get lost along the way. After all, you're a writer, not a
business manager. When you create a business plan, it is like getting a map. If
for any reason, you feel lost, you can return to it and find your way.
Business plan writers will also help you avoid procrastination and focus on what
matters, thus avoiding spending more money than you should and helping you sell
more books.
Freelance Author
Business Plan
1- Finish your
product
All businesses start
with a product idea. As a writer, your product will be your book. If you
already have a book available for sale and what you want is to get a new one,
it would be very good for you to have a business plan for each one since they
belong to the same saga, they are different products, and for this reason, they
are marketed, and They market differently.
2- Write down your
goals and your deadlines
Now that you know
which of your products you will create your business plan for, you must
establish your objectives and your deadlines to achieve them. Your goals can be
anything from writing every day, writing a thousand words, or selling copies of
your book.
Remember that goals
are good, but you rarely achieve them if you don't set dates. Therefore,
setting realistic dates is also very important. You're not going to write an
entire 200,000-word novel in a day or a week, so setting these goals will only
stress you out. Your dates should include when you will complete your first
draft, edit it, produce it, and market, sell and deliver it to the reader.
I cannot tell you what
the goal is that you must achieve since that depends on you, your projects,
your dreams and your reality. However, I can tell you that knowing where you
are going makes it easier to get there.
3- Analyze your
competitors
Do you know what other
authors of your genre are currently being sold in bookstores? Who publishes
them? What channels do they use for marketing or selling their books? Who is
your target reader?
Those are just some of
the questions you should ask yourself to analyze which are the other market
players you will meet.
As there are millions
of writers worldwide, the best thing you can do to avoid going crazy is to
analyze those who become your direct competition: those who are selling where
you want to sell. It can be your neighborhood bookstore, for example. Look for those
whose works are similar to yours or work on similar topics.
4- Create a
marketing plan
Now that you know who
you are against, you have organized a part of your marketing plan, and you can
get many ideas from there. However, if your goal is to sell a certain number of
books, you must take the time to create a good marketing plan.
I can tell you, with
known cases, that the marketing plan is where most authors fail.
You must know that
without marketing, your readers will not know that you exist, and if they do
not know that you exist, they will not buy from you, even if your work is what
they want to read. Therefore, the sooner you start working on your marketing
plan, the better. And if you have it in mind even before writing your work,
then all the better.
What should your
marketing plan have? Here are some components:
Target reader: age, gender, location, interests, etc.
Marketing channels: social networks, blogs, bookstores,
face-to-face events.
Price strategy: How much will your book cost on paper,
eBook, hardcover, etc.? And because?
Special offers: Will you offer discounts for releases?
Will you leave some chapters so they can read them for free? Will you make the
first volume of your trilogy available on a reading platform like Wattpad?
Your marketing plan
can include many other components that will help you make it more specific, but
having the ones I mentioned is a start. You should always ask yourself: how
will my readers know that I exist?
5- List of
collaborators
Hiring professionals
to help you create your book is very important if you want to be successful.
Whether it's an editor, a cover designer, a layout designer, or someone
reviewing your book on their blog, you'll need to spend money to get a
higher-quality product.
So, the best way to
know how much money you will need is to list the professions you will need to
work with and research how much they will cost you.
6- Identify your
sources of income
Most of the steps you
need to take to get your book off the ground and meet your goals will cost you
money. For example, marketing your book will cost money, and hiring
professionals to edit and design your work will cost you money. Even taking the
time to write your work will cost you money. If you invest in your book could
be a time that you would be billing with other activities.
The point of this step
is to identify how much money you will need and where it will come from. A
successful entrepreneur must master this part of the business plan, keeping in
mind that lack of money or liquidity is the main reason a company goes
bankrupt. So now you are an entrepreneur, and for this reason, you must think
like one.
When you plan, you'll
have plenty of time to save money, borrow from a bank, or ask that friend who
owes you to pay you back. It will also help you know exactly how much you will
spend and when you will need the money. If, in the end, you realize that it is
much more than you can get, look for solutions within your financial
possibilities.
7- Create a sales
plan
The sales plan will
help you answer this question: how am I going to sell my book to interest, my
ideal potential reader?
This is an important
question considering that there are so many options: Will you sell on amazon?
In paper format? Hard or soft paste? eBook? From your website? For bookstores?
One of the good things
about being a modern writer is the wide range of possibilities you have to get
ahead. Technology has made it easier to sell books. The only problem with
having options is that you can't choose them all at once, or you'll go crazy,
so think about which one to start with and then expand. Analyzing your
competition and the marketing plan will help you decide which one to start
with.
Worry less about your
personal opinions and more about those of your ideal reader. Make sure it's
easy for them to find and buy your books.
8- Create your
business plan
Now that you have
clear goals and an idea of what you will do, when, how and how much it will
cost, it is time to put everything on paper and put your ideas in order.
Simplify everything
you have discovered into a concise business plan. It will be ideal if it
manages to occupy less than 8 pages. For creating business plan hire business plan
consultant for best guidance
related to your business plan.
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