- When you become an author,
even if this is a side gig, hobby,
or part of a bigger business, your book is a business.
You're now the CEO of your book business
and you need to own that.
If you're wondering what that means
and looking for tips to run your book business
in the best way possible, then this video is for you.
(upbeat music)
Hey, there I'm Julia the Book Broad,
multi award-winning author,
Amazon number one overall bestselling author,
and founder of a fabulous self-publishing services firm,
Book Launchers.
Now, some of our authors are writing memoirs
to share their story.
A few are writing books for legacy.
Some are writing books for building their funnel
for their business,
and a big chunk of our authors are writing their book
as a tool to go grow their business brand and income.
Every one of them has a book business, and you do too.
So let's make sure you're thinking about this
like it's the business it is.
Number one, make decisions like a CEO.
You need to make decisions about your resource allocation.
I'm talking time, energy, and money.
A smart and savvy CEO of a business knows they aren't
the best person to do all the things
and they seek out the best people.
If you think a book is something you can do alone,
well, it's not something you could do well alone.
Most of our book projects have a minimum of 12 experts
and professionals that work on each book.
Some have as many as 16.
That's in addition to the author.
Books are a team sport,
so determine your resources
and then plan your allocation
to do the best with what you've got.
Number two, track your expenses.
Speaking of resources, you will have expenses,
and you will be generating some revenue from this book,
so guess what?
There is a very good chance your book expenses
will be a tax write off for you.
Now, I'm not an account.
and I've only written books while residing in Canada
or the United States,
and all three times they were part of a business,
but in every case,
every penny spent on my book development and marketing
was a business expense.
Coaching, writers, editors, designers, PR people,
or book launchers are more than likely
an expense you can write off in your business,
or against your personal income
if the book is gonna be owned by you personally.
Again, I'm not an accountant,
so consult with a good one, but keep your receipts.
Other things like part of your home office,
pens, paper, printer ink, wifi,
there might be many other things that also qualify.
The cost of paying an accountant for a quick consult
could quickly pay for itself in tax savings.
Number three, who are your customers?
Any business without a clear sense of who they will serve
will be very unlikely to succeed.
Your book is the same.
Who's your ideal reader?
What problems are they having?
What is the thing you offer that they really need?
What's the outcome you can promise
from entering your ecosystem and buying your book?
I know my YouTube besties like Mojo, Mike Hird,
Scully House of Thrillers, Linda K lee, Brian Kreeger,
and Veronica Pryor Faciane know exactly
what I'm talking about,
because they've heard me say it dozens of times.
Thank you, by the way, for all your likes,
comments, and shares.
You really are the best booky.
No, they're the best bookies, you guys.
You're awesome.
Got (indistinct) on the brain, right?
Thank you, by the way,
for all your likes, comments, and shares.
You really are the best besties a book broad could ask for.
And if you aren't in the mind of your reader yet, hmm,
I'll ink to a video at the end
that will help you become a reader psychic.
Number four, what are your business goals?
At Book Launchers, we have a monthly plan,
a quarterly plan, and an annual strategic plan,
above all of that,
we have our client-centric mission
where we want to become the first choice in book publishing,
not an alternative to traditional publishing.
And everything we do is building up towards
that bigger mission.
Most authors think of their book as far as launch,
and not much more.
Some authors think about how it will be the tool
that gets them speaking gigs,
but they don't actually strategically plan the steps
to use the book as a tool to get those speaking gigs.
So get clear, create a bigger plan,
and a shorter sub plan for your book.
A book is so much more than a launch.
Are you going to be a multi-book author?
Is this for legacy?
Are you using this as a lead into your sales funnel?
Is it a tool for speaking?
Know what you want your book to do,
so you can break it down
as to how it will actually achieve the bigger goal for you.
And now you can make decisions
with that big picture in mind.
How big is this business going to be,
or how big do you want it to be?
Now you can make sure it has the right foundation
to get there and you're committed to getting there, right?
Number five, speaking of business size,
what does this business structure look like?
Again, I'm a Canadian doing business in the US,
so my structure is very different
than what the majority of people would need,
'cause I have a C-Corp because I'm a resident alien,
like beep-boop, beep-boop.
So don't do what I've done.
Do what makes sense for you.
If your book is part of an existing business,
setting up a DBA or a fictitious business name
under that business is a great option.
No new bank accounts required,
just a quick trip to the courthouse
and file a bit of paperwork.
I have a great video
on creating your publishing company name,
whether you set up personally
or under your existing business.
So I'll link to that at the end.
Now, there are different structures,
but the bigger name authors I know often have an LLC.
If you're going to be selling a lot of books,
or you're really worried about risks,
and LLC might make sense,
but I wouldn't do it at the outset
unless you feel really strongly about this setup,
because there's a lot of extra expenses,
like in California you get to pay $800 a year,
no matter what, just for the pleasure of having that LLC
in that state.
So I wouldn't really recommend you do this
unless it's going to be
a pretty financially profitable business venture,
or you have a really strong reason for needing that set up
for your author business.
That said, you know what I'm gonna say, don't you?
Yep, consult with your attorney and tax accountant
to get the right advice for you.
Now, in a future video,
I wanna talk about a few other pieces,
like who you might wanna hire for your author business.
I'm not talking about Book Launchers,
you absolutely should work with us
if you're writing a book to grow your brand
or your business, 'cause we are awesome at that
and you should pause this video
and fill out this form right now if that's your goal.
Right there, booklaunches.com, apply.
But that's not actually what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about people like virtual assistants,
bookkeepers, social media managers,
and other common team members
that authors may want on their team
to help them with their book business.
So make sure you've subscribed to the channel
and turn the notifications on to be notified when that
and other high value videos are dropping.
Now, let's talk publishing company setup,
that video to help you figure out DBA,
fictitious business stuff, that's right there,
and that video on becoming a mind reader
and knowing your ideal reader intimately
to serve them the book they really want and need,
that video is right here.
Either way after you've smashed that thumbs up button,
click on over and start watching.
I promise, you'll be happy you did.