Author Business Plan
A Framework for the Creative Entrepreneur
Does the thought of writing a business plan
make you wince?
You’ve been struggling valiantly through most of the non-writing, left-brained activities that have been thrust upon you as a modern writer – do you really need to go through the formality of crafting your “executive summary”, “sales forecasts” and “market analysis”?
Well… yes. (sorry)
But if you’d prefer to skip the spreadsheets in favour of a more “writer-friendly” planning process – because deep down you know you could use a bit more direction to move your writing career to the next level – you’re in luck!
I’ve designed this business plan framework with the creative entrepreneur in mind.
Yep, it’s still a business plan.
But, I’ve created an in-depth training and workbook to guide you through the process. And I’ve tried to soften the corporate jargon, as well as give you ideas as to how you can use each section of your business plan to grow your writing career.
PRIORITIZE YOUR BUSINESS PLAN
It’s time to overcome your resistance to the idea that, as an author, your job is no longer just to write (if it ever was).
If you want to turn your passion for writing into a business, you’ll need to have a solid and strategic plan in place.
And a business plan is simply a guide to what you hope to accomplish, how you plan to meet those objectives, and your financial projections based on these efforts. It’s a field guide to your writing business – that you navigate with your readers in mind.
BUSINESS PLANNING
Here’s what you can expect a thorough business plan to help you accomplish:
It will help you to...
- Clarify and articulate a clear vision for your writing career, which will help guide your business actions and decisions.
- Nail down the specifics of what you need to get done to move your business forward.
- Share your strategies, priorities and specific action points with others (agents, assistants, collaborators or even your spouse).
- Recognize and filter out the distractions, so you can concentrate only on those activities that will help you grow.
- Determine future needs ahead of time (software, skills, tech or other resources) so that you can plan for the cost or time expenditure.
- Beat inertia and take confident action on those things you’ve determined will move your business forward.
- Notice opportunities to reward yourself for both small accomplishments and big wins.
One of the most important (and often ignored) steps to effective goal setting and increased productivity, is to write your goals down and review them daily.
This can be a game changer.
By dedicating the time to write your business plan – and review it frequently – you can change the trajectory of your writing career.
Get started now!
Your Instructor
Kimberley Grabas is a Canadian writer and the founder of YourWriterPlatform.com – a site where she provides writers with the resources, tools and inspiration they need to build their platforms, engage their fans and sell more books.
With degrees in both Business and Psychology, as well as over 14 years in sales and marketing, Kimberley uses her unique mix of skills and experience to help writers promote their work, build community engagement and develop an online presence in a genuine and meaningful way.