Purple Prose + Novel

’Tis the Season for . . . Business Plans??? (Part two)

©Stina Lindenblatt

On Monday, I talked about creating your writing goals for 2013. Now, I’m going to show you how to turn them into your business plan. If you’re planning to make money with your writing, you need to start thinking of it as a business. And all successful businesses have business plans.
When you create your goals, think about the following:

Product: This is your book.

  • What do you need to do to create a query-ready book? Figure this out for each story you plan to write next year.

Competition:
  • What’s going on in your genre?
  • Are you approaching the tail end of a trend?
  • Is your genre saturated and difficult to break into?
  • What are agents and editors saying? What are readers saying?
  • Is there a less saturated genre you love that you might want to focus on instead?
  • Of course, the only way you can answer these questions is by reading LOTS of books in your genre and following industry blogs, so . . . what are your reading goals for next year?

Human Resources:

  • This includes books and workshops to help you improve your writing craft and knowledge related to anything dealing with publishing (e.g. creating a website, social networking for authors, creating your author brand).
  • Start researching services (editors, cover designers, book formatters, website designers, etc) early in your planning process. If you spread it over a few months, it won’t be so daunting, and it will give you time to find the right person. This applies to researching agents, too.

Distribution:

  • If you’re querying next year, who are you planning to query (agents or editors)? How many queries are you planning to send out with each batch, and how often will you be sending them out? When are you planning to write your query and synopsis?
  • If you’re self publishing, research what you need to know to be successful. Some great resources to check out include: Smart Self-Publishing by Zoe Winters and Self-Publishing Attack by James Scott Bell.

Promotion/Marketing:
  • Are you planning to use Facebook? Twitter? Pinterest? Come up with goals that you can live with and that will enable you to have enough time to write.
  • How’s your website working for you? Do you have one?
  • What are your marketing plans for before, during, and after your book launch? You might not be releasing a book next year, but it wouldn’t hurt to start brainstorming ideas for the future. Some agents and publishers want to know your marketing plans before they sign you. Make your life easier and plan ahead.

Finances:
  • How much have you budgeted for your business next year? By planning ahead a year or two in advance, the costs can be spread over that time period, and it will feel less intimidating.
Obviously, someone who has a book launch next year (either via traditional or self publishing) will have a more extensive business plan verses someone who is writing her first novel. Also, you don’t have to write your plans for just one year. Most companies have a five-year plan. The beauty of your business plan is that it’s flexible. You can change the dates as need be, and add or delete goals as necessary.

Do you create goals every year? Have you created business plans for your writing career?

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’Tis the Season for . . . Business Plans??? (Part two) + Novel