Authors as Entrepreneurs

[John Carroll]

Because authors are entrepreneurs, I think it's vital to be able to separate the writing from the business side of it; difficult, but vital. If the business can be run without personal feelings and emotions, it will lead to more success.

It helps to have multiple personalities to separate the tasks.

. . . or emo bunnies.

[M T McGuire]

Originally Posted by frahse

Action figures! That's where the followup money is.
The new movie "Captain America" is set up to sell distinctive action figures and neat war vehicles.

It's a close run thing but I may well make more money from postcards and mugs with snurds on than from sales of my actual book.

That said, what is successful marketing? The handful of people who have read and liked my book do tend to be quite into it. There used to be a thing on my book's kindle page on Amazon which would tell me how many hits had converted into sales. In the case of my book it was 75%. So I guess that means that on one level my book is a 'success'. Or that I have been doing the 'right' marketing at the 'right' crowd but just not enough of it.

Either that or it has a wider appeal than I thought.

Whatever the reason, I wish I could get it to sell well enough for Amazon to pick it up, then I might start to look a bit more entreprenaural...

Cheers

MTM

[frahse]

Originally Posted by M T McGuire

It's a close run thing but I may well make more money from postcards and mugs with snurds on than from sales of my actual book.
That said, what is successful marketing? The handful of people who have read and liked my book do tend to be quite into it. There used to be a thing on my book's kindle page on Amazon which would tell me how many hits had converted into sales. In the case of my book it was 75%. So I guess that means that on one level my book is a 'success'. Or that I have been doing the 'right' marketing at the 'right' crowd but just not enough of it.
Either that or it has a wider appeal than I thought.
Whatever the reason, I wish I could get it to sell well enough for Amazon to pick it up, then I might start to look a bit more entreprenaural...
Cheers
MTM

Congratulations. I would encourage you to use this information to sell yourself to Amazon. They like very much the "total integration" approach.

[greencat]

I think it's mostly new writers which have a problem with this. If you write for a living, I guarantee that 99% of you will have had to sell your wares somehow via resumee/job interview, convincing a publisher/agent/client to take you on or convincing a reader to buy.

Some types of selling might come more naturally or might be newer than others but I think it is all basically the same thing. The main difference perhaps might be that authors can speak to large numbers of potential readers much easier than before.

Michael Gerber in the Emyth revisited has some interesting ideas about the multiple personalities need to run a business which probably apply to self-published authors - and you should know when to switch between them. He says there are 3: Entrepreneur, Manager and Technician. The actual writing of a book probably falls into the Technician category.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by greencat

I guarantee that 99% of you will have had to sell your wares somehow via resumee/job interview, convincing a publisher/agent/client to take you on or convincing a reader to buy.

This is true of every field of life. EVERYONE is in sales, only the product changes. That does not mean I have to like it or be good at it, it just is.

[SelenaK]

Because of my desire to succeed as a fiction novelist, I discovered my present occupation completely by circumstance.

Let's face it, as writers we have no choice but to learn how to get our names out there and I've met many writers who've stopped trying to be authors and now run successful businesses in other fields thanks to the promotional/management/organizational skills they picked up from their days as authors.

[mattlynn]

Thanks for all the thoughts. Good to have started a discussion.

- Matt Lynn

[M T McGuire]

Originally Posted by SelenaK

Because of my desire to succeed as a fiction novelist, I discovered my present occupation completely by circumstance.

Let's face it, as writers we have no choice but to learn how to get our names out there and I've met many writers who've stopped trying to be authors and now run successful businesses in other fields thanks to the promotional/management/organizational skills they picked up from their days as authors.

That's an interesting point. I was a Brand Manager and my remit included all the verbal branding ie writing anything apearing in the public domain said by or about 'my' brand.

For me, it's always been about the writing so I find it truly amazing that anyone who managed to write for a living at any point could end up prefering to do something else. Then again... I can sort of understand it. I no longer work full time but even so, I would say that the percentage of my workload which involved writing in my Brand Manager's job was higher than the percentage of my workload now as an actual pukka author.

I am the ultimate techie. In an ideal world I'd be left alone in a room with my ideas and my computer for at least thirty five hours a week. That said, I'm not bad at marketing, or at least, corporate communications... whether I have any talent for bludgeoning people into parting with their cash for my work I've not been able to quantify. If I had more time to devote to my career, I'd have more of a clue.

Writing, for me, is like a bad crack habit. If I don't get a regular 'fix' I become very, very bad tempered and just a snadge insane. It's not always a pleasant addiction so more power to anyone who has managed to give it up.

Hmmm... I hope that makes sense.

Cheers

MTM

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by M T McGuire

Writing, for me, is like a bad crack habit. If I don't get a regular 'fix' I become very, very bad tempered and just a snadge insane.

I'm driven a lot more insane by writing what I am sure are good books... that no one buys. So far, I haven't been able to find the right marketing outlet, or throw enough money at an ad venue, to generate sales. My marketing skills just aren't there, unfortunately. And the frustration of no sales is enough to make me stop writing; if I don't see a worthwhile outcome, I don't want to make the effort.

[M T McGuire]

Originally Posted by frahse

Congratulations. I would encourage you to use this information to sell yourself to Amazon. They like very much the "total integration" approach.

Interesting idea if I knew where to start! How would I get them to 'see' me?

Cheers

MTM

[Michael Chaplin]

I have some piece work available if anyone can assist me with organizing my content to Epub /Sigil re: T.O.C. and chapter format. Being a "good ambassador to the earth" has its dividends.
This is critical work I'm new and would like some assistants from someone that won't struggle with the above task please contact me privately for details.