The Business of being an Author

3 Reasons Books Sell and 3 Reasons Wh... Defining Paranormal Romance

The Business of being an Author

As a prepublished author (Kristen Lamb created that term) we often times have the goal of just getting our book accepted. But I challenge you to think in the long term. Don’t you want to make your writing a career? Don’t you want to ONLY be an author?

This is a dream that isn’t unattainable. However, it does present a challenge.

Successful authors like J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyers are what we all aspire to be. And when we look at their back stories we find that it seems like all they did was write, write, write, pray, pray, pray. Now these are important steps, don’t get me wrong. Especially, the write, write, write part. Backlist is one of the most guaranteed techniques to creating revenue and longevity in an author’s career.

But I challenge you to think a step further, or really many steps further.

Why not approach your writing as a business. Because really when you start making money as an author you become an entrepreneur. Take it from me I know about being and entrepreneur. I even write about it on LinkedIn. (www.linkedin.com/in/briclark/)

Here are 4 steps to keep in mind to apply to your writing business.

Quantity is important. The more product (backlist) the more opportunities you have to create revenue. (money)
Project Goals. It’s important to have goals and plans. For example, you could have a goal to write 2 books every quarter or to publish 3 books a year.
Project timeline. Based on your goals create a time line of how long each goal will take.
Accounting. Make sure to keep some kind of way to keep a record of your time, revenue, and expenses. It could be software or a simple spreadsheet.

It’s not impossible to become a full time writer. It’s completely attainable. But like everything worth achieving it takes time, talent, intelligence, and dedication. I challenge you to try thinking like an entrepreneur in terms of your writing career.

Do you think you can do it?