I've outlined some of her talk below but you can also follow Joanna at the Creative Penn where you'll find a wealth of advice. Joanna writes both fiction and non-fiction and it's fascinating to see how her career (and income) has grown over the years
Change of Mindset
- entrepreneurs should create value from their ideas, such as publishing e-books, print books and audio books. Some even create workbooks to do with their subject
Focus on the Customer
- for writers, it's all about the reader and not ourselves. What do they want to pay for?
- use Amazon to research and understand your target market - what are competitive titles? What are the sub categories for your genre?
Intellectual Property Rights
- if with a publisher - what rights have you sold? If e-books, then investigate using the print rights, audio and translation rights yourself.
- write more books; alternate fiction with non-fiction
- write a series and hook readers with the first one
- try novellas - from 25,000 to 40,000 words
- create a box set by offering a few similar books or series in one file for a bargain price
- some authors only use Amazon to self-publish but you could also publish with Kobo and Apple yourself.
Multiple Income Streams
- as well as writing novels, try short writing for magazines
- offer online courses (through teachable)
- try affiliate commission on your blog or website (where readers click on Amazon or whatever, earning you a small affiliate fee if they buy)
Take Action
- schedule time to include the business side of writing and to set goals
- decide what you want (hope?) to earn from your business - when (by next year?) and what you could do to achieve it.
I was so busy scribbling away while absorbing Joanna's lively talk that I've probably missed a lot. We might not all want to be entrepreneurs to such an extent but one of the simplest things I could do right away is to set proper goals - so I can finish all my ideas and fragments of stories!
Rosemary
