Your Author Business Plan

Take Your Author Career to the Next Level

Joanna Penn

• Publisher: Curl Up Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781913321543
• eBook ISBN: 9781913321536
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Authorship
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

You are an author. You turn ideas into reality in the shape of a book.

You turn the thoughts in your head into valuable intellectual property assets. You understand how powerful the written word can be. Now it's time to use your words to create a business plan to take your writing career to the next level — whatever that means for your situation.

I'm Joanna Penn and I've been a full-time author-entrepreneur for almost a decade. In this book, I'll guide you through the process of creating a business plan that will help you achieve your creative and financial goals.

It's relevant for fiction and non-fiction authors, as well as those who want to include other products, services, and income streams. It's also applicable whether you're just starting out or if you already have a mature author business. A plan helps at any stage of the journey.

Part 1covers your business summary and author brand, taking you through the process of deciding the overall direction for what you want to achieve and who you want to serve.

Part 2goes into the production process around your writing, publishing and licensing, products and services.

Part 3covers your marketing strategy and author eco-system.

Part 4goes into the financial side of your business, from mindset to revenue and costs, as well as paying yourself now and into the future.

The final chapter will give you a framework for simplifying your plan and turning it into achievable steps across a chosen timeline.

In each section, I give examples from my own business plan and there are questions for you to answer, templates, and resources that might help along the way, as well as example business plans for different kinds of authors.

It's time to take your author career to the next level. Let's get started on your business plan.

Please note: This book doesn't go into detail on how to do the specific topics, for example, how to self-publish a book, or how to do content marketing. I cover those topics in my other Books for Authors.

If you already have my previous business book, Business for Authors, this is a rewritten and updated sub-set of that material, focusing on the specifics of a plan as opposed to everything involved in running a business. This book acts as a companion as well as a more recent update to my own author journey. It will help you bring it all together into a coherent plan that you can use to take your author business into the future.

Books for Authors by Joanna Penn

How to Write Non-Fiction
How to Market a Book
How to Make a Living with your Writing
Productivity for Authors
Successful Self-Publishing
Your Author Business Plan
The Successful Author Mindset
Public Speaking for Authors, Creatives and Other Introverts
Audio for Authors: Audiobooks, Podcasting, and Voice Technologies
The Healthy Writer
Business for Authors: How to be an Author Entrepreneur
Career Change

Appendix 1: Business Plan Template

You can download this template and all the Appendices at:

www.TheCreativePenn.com/yourplan

Date:

PART 1: BUSINESS SUMMARY

Company structure:

Business (or author) summary:

Business goal/s:

Author brand:

Genre/category and subcategories:

Comparison authors:

Reader avatar/s:

PART 2: PRODUCTION

Products:

Services:

Writing process:

Production schedule:

Publishing and licensing strategy:

Pricing strategy:

PART 3: MARKETING

Author ecosystem:

Author website:

Email list and ARC team:

Content marketing:

Paid advertising:

Social media:

Author network:

PART 4: FINANCIALS

Money mindset:

Revenue model and income:

Initial investment and ongoing costs:

Paying yourself first and long-term investing:

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Next review date:

Appendix 2: List of Questions

PART 1: BUSINESS SUMMARY

• What is a business plan?

• Why do you want to create one for your author business? Why will you spend time on this?

• What is your company structure now? What author name/s and/or imprint do you publish?

• What would you like your structure to be in the future? What will trigger action on this?

• What do you need to research so you’re more confident in this area?

• What is your why? Why do you want an author business, anyway?

• What is your core life value? Or your top three, if you’re struggling with one.

• How are you currently living this value? How could you move closer to it?

• Who do you serve? Who is your target market?

• What will you say “no” to?

• What is your business summary, by author brand if applicable?

• What is an author brand?

• What is your author brand (by author name if that is applicable)? What is your promise to the reader? What are the feelings that are associated with it?

• What images, colors, and words currently stand out on your book covers and website?

• What can you do to make your author brand more recognizable?

• Do you have a Brand Manual? Is it time to work with a graphic designer to create one in order to maintain consistency?

• Who are your comparison authors and what are your comparison books? List by series and author name.

• What categories and subcategories are your books in? When was the last time you refreshed these if your books have been out for a while?

• What is your reader avatar? By author name and series, if appropriate.

PART 2: PRODUCTION

• Have you listed your current books or completed the Asset Master List? Are you making the most of your possible streams...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• What is a Business Plan?
• I. Business Summary and Brand
• II. Production
• III. Marketing
• IV. Financials
• Your Next Steps
• Example Business Plans
• Conclusion
• Appendix 1: Business Plan Template
• Appendix 2: List of Questions
• Appendix 3: Asset Master List
• Appendix 4: Resources
• Appendix 5: Bibliography
• More Books And Courses From Joanna Penn
• About Joanna Penn
• Acknowledgments
• Copyright