©Stina Lindenblatt
It’s that time of the year when we reflect on what we have or haven’t accomplished this year, and we plan for next year. No, I don’t mean the dreaded New Year’s resolutions. Most people fail to achieve those. I’m going to go one step further and have you think about your business plans.
Now, a few of you are freaking out because we are writers. Business plans are for, well, businesses. But 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. A strong business plan will help your book achieve the level of success it deserves.
The good news is that business plans aren’t much different than the usual goal setting we do each year. Only this time, I want you to delve a little deeper. It doesn’t matter if you’re planning to self publish or traditionally publish your stories—or if you’ve just written your first first draft—if you want to be taken seriously, now is the time to start planning. And it’s easier to do it now than a few weeks before your book launch.
Step One: Brainstorm
What do you want to accomplish next year? Sorry, landing an agent or having your book become a bestseller doesn’t count. Those are dreams, not goals. You have no control over whether an agent or readers will love your book. Goals are achievable, unless you get lazy and don’t do them. For example, losing five pounds is achievable, unless you don’t exercise and don’t decrease your caloric intake.
Step Two: Dating
Figure out by what date you want to accomplish each goal. It’s not enough to say, “I want to write a novel next year.” When you do want to achieve this by? Also, this goal is not specific enough. Do you mean you want to finish the first draft by October 1st, or do you want to have a novel ready to query by then?
Step Three: Division
Break down each goal into manageable tasks and give them dates by which you want to accomplish them. For example, say you want to set up your website by April 1st.
Goal: Set up website (April 1st)
- Determine author brand (January 15th)
- List ten authors who write similar stories to me. (January 20th)
- List the things I like and dislike about their websites. (January 25th)
- Research website designers (February 15th).
- . . . .
By breaking down the larger goal into bite-size pieces, it will make the goal seem less daunting and you’ll be more likely to achieve it.
On Wednesday, I’ll be discussing how you can turn your regular writing goals into business plans.
Did you write your goals for 2012? Are you close to accomplishing them? Have you thought about your goals (business plan) for next year?