Authoring Is a Business

As an author, do you think of yourself as just the author? And wear only the author hat … most likely, you would rather be writing.

Or, do you think of yourself as an author … and a business owner—the business owner of all things authoring? Or, if appropriate, as the business owner of a small publishing company? Meaning that once your book is written, and in production, you put your author hat down and become the business strategist and operator.


The first product of your new business is the book you authored. What are your plans for marketing it? For positioning? How are you going to get the word out that your business as created an excellent product? What expenses do you need to underwrite for your marketing needs? Are you going to do all the work, hire someone to work in your office or outsource your needs? Who do you need to partner with spread the
word? What individuals do you need in your circle to offer guidance? What about spin-offs or re-purposing the book into other products.


The creation of your book is seeded by Passion. Your Vision becomes the driver to get it moving. Your Commitment factor is what keeps it and you going. This is where your business hat is crucial. Today’s author must be involved with the running of the business—the CEO. From that point, you identify your departments or divisions, such as: sales and marketing, finance, operations, research & development.


Publishing isn't for sissies. It takes work. Learning the components of publishing and how to think as a publisher is critical to any books success. Yes, it would be so much easier if all you had to worry about and deal with is being the author. Today’s author needs to think that “I’m a business” and businesses need a plan. What’s yours?

Judith Briles is known as The Book Shepherd, the Author and Publishing expert and the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Author U, a membership organization created for the author who wants to be seriously successful. She’s been writing about and conducting workshops on publishing since the 80s. She’s the author of 31 books including Author YOU: Creating Your Book and Author Platform that has won four multiple “best” in the writing/publishing categories in book award competitions in 2013. Her latest book is Snappy Sassy Salty … Wise Words for Authors and Publishers has just been released.

Join Judith live on Thursdays at 6 p.m. EST for Author U-Your Guide to Book Publishing on the Toginet network at: http://togi.us/authoru (you can subscribe on the show’s Home page to get weekly updates of the latest show). Connect on Google+ and become a Peep on Twitter at @AuthorU and @MyBookShepherd.