I was watching a live stream of self-published authors, and they got into the subject of business plans. I already had documents laying out my publishing steps, formatting guidelines, marketing ideas, and so on. But not a business plan. So I decided to sit down and write one. Now, I didn’t look up how a business plan would traditionally be written, but what I came up with works for me.
I listed out what formats I want my books to be in and at what places I want them to be distributed from like Kindle Direct Publishing, Draft2Digital, Findaway Voices, etc.
Then I laid out my publication plan of what book is next and what formats it will be published in. I am expanding the formats each book with hardcover, large print paperback, and audiobook.
Next, I made my ultimate plan. This really helped me lay out my goals and dreams for the series. What are all the books that I want to do? Do I have any plans to re-release the series one day? What do I think I want to do with the books when I am older and it will be time to hand them off? What kind of merchandise would I want? All of this can continuously be modified over time.
And I wrote down general notes about the business to remember. It ended up being a great exercise and helped me know more about want I want to accomplish with self-publishing. If you haven’t written a business plan out, I highly recommend it.