Your book is a business

Some 400,000 new businesses start up each year, with over a fifth of them failing within the first year of trading. One of the main reasons they fail is lack of business planning.

Of the 200,000 new books published every year, thousands will sell less than 15 copies, some won't even sell any at all. The reason why? Poor planning. Writing your book is just one part of the process of ensuring your book sells thousands of copies rather than 10 or 20.

Before you even start to write your book, do your research. What else has been written about your subject? Who are your competitors? What makes your book different? Where are the gaps in the market? How big is the audience for your book?

In addition, you need to understand how to sell your book. How many copies are you going to publish and how are you going to sell them? Do you want to sell them through the High Street bookshops - in which case what impact will this have on the income from your book? How will this affect your breakeven point?

Making a profit may not be the main motivation for selling your book - getting your message out to as wide an audience as possible is often the main motivation for many authors. Nevertheless, good planning is just as important to achieve these goals.

If you are struggling with all of this, don't worry help is at hand. Word4Word is the expert in business planning for books. We can work with you to ensure that your plan will ensure a successful outcome for your book.

If you would like any further information or have any questions regarding planning, please contact karen@w4wdp.com.