Writing a One-Page Business Plan: 5 Questions to Ask a Self-Publisher

Whether you’re about to publish your first book on your own or starting a micro-niche publishing business, you must have a business plan in place. A business plan will give you a basic roadmap for your new business. A quick and easy way to do this is to create a one page business plan. This will allow you to quickly clarify your own ideas about your new business. This short one page plan can also be used as an outline for a more extensive and detailed plan. With a little research, you should be able to complete this one page plan in less than a week. Here is a list of five questions to include in your simplified one page business plan.

1. WHY do you want to self-publish?

Your answer cannot just be about money. You need more than that. It should also be short, very specific, and very personal.

Examples:

to. “I want to write a book that helps new nurses be more productive, more effective, and more marketable in today’s tight job market.”

1. “I want to write small business administration books so that I can share my knowledge and experience with others who want to start their own small business. I gained this knowledge and experience over the past 35 years while starting and running my own successful small business.”

2. “I want to write and self-publish a book to give my colleagues more credibility.”

2. WHAT will you write ABOUT?

Explain it in one sentence, with very specific details. You need to understand what your writing niche or specialty will be.

Examples:

1. “I will write and publish books on all aspects of desktop publishing for people who have not written a book before.”

2. “I will write an instruction book for experienced nurses who want to advance to be part of nursing management in a hospital.”

3. “I will write a practical guide for new parents raising a deaf child.”

3. WHO is your market?

You should narrow this down to a very specific group of people. Your answer cannot be “everyone and anyone”. Know exactly who buys your type of book. You only have a limited amount of time and money for marketing and promotion. You should target your best efforts towards those who are most likely to buy your book. Narrow your answer to a few tight sentences.

1. “The market for my book is American nursing students who are in nursing school or have just graduated as registered nurses with an AS or BS degree in nursing and are looking for their first job. They are generally female between the ages of 20 and 26. years old. Half of them like to read a printed copy of a book; the other half like to read the e-book version. They are very worried about getting a job after graduation because the nursing shortage is over. ” .

4. HOW do you define success?

You could spend the next twelve months writing your first book. And then a year later, I may only sell 8 copies a month on Amazon. Therefore, you must accept what success means to you. Does success mean seeing your name on the cover of a book? Does it mean being able to give each of your clients a copy of your book so that they have more admiration and respect for you? Does success mean receiving letters and emails from people who read your book, telling you that your book has helped them in some positive way? We all agree that making a lot of money is great, and it’s possible as a self-publisher, but it can’t be the only reason to write a book. Therefore, you should write a paragraph here on how you define the success of your book.

5. HOW HARD are you willing to work at it?

How much time and effort are you willing to invest in your desktop publishing company? This is probably the step you should think about and think about the most honestly. Are you willing to spend most of your time marketing and selling your book? It can take 6-12 months for your book to be written. But you will spend the next several years marketing and promoting it. Are you willing to get out there and market and promote yourself, your name and your book for years to come? Are you willing to keep writing and building your next book? The more time and effort you put into your desktop publishing business, the more successful it will be. It will be much easier to go far if you love your subject. And the more you love your subject, the more successful you will be in desktop publishing. It’s as simple as that.