Develop a business plan as you write! Part I of a Series

When I first started my venture into the world of publishing and writing books, I had no business plan. What a mistake that was! It proved to be costly in two vital resources for an author, financially and time. Still, I learned a great deal in the process and perhaps the "expense" of those first lessons will prove financially beneficial in the future, or so I hope.

Why have a business plan? Unless the sole purpose in writing your books is to entertain yourself or to provide copies to friends and family only, then a business plan is not necessary. But if you want your books to reach an audience and to be read and to make money in the process, you must have a business plan.

What elements must be included in a business plan? Based on my experience the following factors must be considered: who will want to purchase the book, what will book production costs be, how will the book to be delivered to the customers who want to purchase it and how will I make the consuming public aware of the book?

Ideally all of this should be considered before you start writing the book and certainly should be finalized before you are ready to begin production work for the book. Marketing efforts should be started while the book is still being written so a demand for it will be present when it becomes available on the market.

In the next edition in this theme I will discuss factors in book production and the costs involved.