01:00  Hopefully, you have listened to my other. Podcast episodes about being an author, publishing and printing. If not, it goes really well with this episode. So I encourage you, If you enjoy this one, listen to the others. So how do you turn your book into a business? I know there was a very There was a distinct moment that I made that decision. 

01:36 That I really knew in order to turn this into a business, I was going to have to look at things differently. So I had this quote, What’s a big shot? It’s just a little shot that kept shooting. And I turned it into a book into a series. I knew that I wanted to have some merchandise because I mean she’s a star like how cute you know I, Knew that I at least wanted that I knew that I wanted to speak in schools and I went to a local bookstore. It’s a I went to a big chain bookstore in my area. 

02:16  And wanted to see if they had any author events and were supportive of local authors. And I was waiting for the manager. To come out. And I had this moment where I’m just looking around. Stand there. And there’s this Huge, huge bookshelf. Of all these books only about diet and I know that’s such a fad thing. In our country and things like that. But still I’m like that’s one niche topic. 

02:52  And there’s a Ton of books to pick from and I’m looking at the display and thinking Well which ones look more appealing to pick up. And I’m like, Well yeah, the ones that you can see the full cover. And then you have all these that are tucked in that people are gonna have to turn their head and read what the title is. Are they going to be as likely to pick those up? Probably not. They’re gonna look at the ones, just with the covers. And then my eyes straight over to the children’s section. 

03:20  And I was like, there’s a ton of books in the children’s section and to get an end cap or it’s own display like I have my merchandise, so that’s helpful. But How do you even get into a place like this? And How do you get like a prominent display and how does this even work? Because there’s so many options. Why that thought had never occurred to me? I don’t know, I think part of its actually, because at home, you can have multiple books, right? So even though there’s competition, there really isn’t, because Books are not a product where you only buy one typically, right. You can have many books in your home. There’s many books in the library. So even though it is highly competitive, It’s not the same as a product where you buy one and it lasts you 10 years and you’re not going to buy another one, something like that. 

04:15  so, the person came out with the manager and I started asking questions They made it. Not all that easy to do an author event which was disappointing and then they I was asking them questions about getting the book in there and all of that they shared at that time which keep in mind this was a long time ago. They give the books about six months to show proof of sales. If it doesn’t show proof of sales, it gets sent back. Sometimes they’re incinerated which is a heartbreaking. Or they are sent back to whoever printed it. And then of course, the author would lose those royalties and things like that. I was really surprised that there’s only like a short window of proof of sales. 

05:07  Recently, I found out sometimes, I don’t even give six months anymore, it’s just kind of hit and miss, so some books. It’s if it’s not selling quickly they get rid of it. So that was very eye-opening to me, and I know that’s not necessarily my goal to 

05:22  be in this chain bookstore. I mean, you can buy it online, but to be inside the store, I don’t know that. That’s really ever going to be my goal. 

05:34  However, I went home and I started looking up Stats. And I just updated them because these stats are constantly changing. So in 2023, there were three hundred thousand books, traditionally, published and millions selfpublished or printed through print on demand, So that’s very competitive to be an author. It’s great, that self-publishing is an option, but I also know that. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of self-publishing that doesn’t look quite as professional. 

06:13  And I’ve also seen that, sometimes with traditionally published books, you know, maybe things are down in the gutter, which is like the center of the book that shouldn’t be there, or There’s mistakes, you know, that can happen anytime. But that really surprised me that there were that many That were done. Also. Let’s look at the book sales. So that’s how many are actually published. So we have 300,000 books, traditionally published, and millions that are selfpublished or printed through print on demand. And then the actual book sales, Hmm. Traditional publishing, you’re looking at 250 to 300 copies per book per year. That’s the average book sales. 

07:06  250 to 300 copies per book per year and the royalties are very minimal. So unless you’re getting a Big chunk of money up front. You’re not gonna have enough money to feed your family on that amount of book sales. Then traditional books. Lifetime sales. so now, if we look at like Lifetime sales which is kind of hard to, I don’t know that this stat is completely accurate but you’re looking at 3,000 to 5,000 copies in the lifetime of the book that’s print and digital Here, again, 3,000 to 5,000 copies. Sold. 

07:50  Once you look at royalties is really not going to be enough. If you only have one book, you’re gonna need to be cranking out a lot of books. If you want to make it an income based on royalties. For self-publishing. For selfpublishing, the sales are about 100 to 300 copies across all books a year. so even if you’re making $5 a book, which is a huge profit in my opinion, Based on personal experience. That’s that’s still not enough to feed your family. 

08:29  And then self-publishing, it’s 200 self-publishing, lifetime sales of the book is anywhere from 200 to a thousand copies sold. Here again, if you’re doing five dollars a book, which like I said, is a huge. I think profit margin for books. That still only about $5,000. Total. So I was glad to know those stats because then I know what I’m up against. And I had to look at my business differently. If I was going to make this work, Some of you listening might say No I really want to be a writer, I want to be an author, I love writing, That’s the thing I want to do, then do it, Don’t let these stats. Hold you back. 

09:16  Refine your craft hone in on it, get really good at writing and just keep doing it. Keep submitting proposals, keep getting it out there and don’t give up on your dream. You may need to have a full-time job or even like a part-time job or two to be able to feed your family or feed yourself and pay your bills. To pay your bills and everything. But don’t give up on it if that’s what you want. I think it’s important for you to know what you’re up against. 

09:49  so, when I looked at my business, I thought, when I looked at, Being an author. I really did think about JK Rowling so whether you like her or not, That’s another thing. I’m talking about her as a as an author and as a business woman, She is the first billionaire with a B author. That’s ever existed. And my understanding is she’s donated enough that she’s not she doesn’t maintain her billionaire status. Okay? but when I thought about, okay, so she has her, you know, the Harry Potter series Which is going to be read for many decades to come, right? It’s a classic. So, she’s published those books. I’m sure she’s made good money. Off of those. But her real money has come from movie deals in amusement park or theme park. 

10:52  From all the merchandise. All of the other things. That has, what has made her a billionaire not being a writer. Okay, now I’m not saying that that’s our goal, okay? Being a billionaire with any B is like a whole different playing field, but when 

11:12  you look at, okay, let’s look at that very big business and break it down. Okay, well, I already know I’m not as good of a writer as JK Rowling. That’s not even me. Being humble, that’s just the reality. Okay. But what can I incorporate the? She has done. Well, I’m not getting a movie deal so far, and I don’t have a theme park so far. So what can I do in my business? I need to diversify my business beyond my books. And beyond merchandise. 

11:45  So, according to the author’s, guild authors, who diversify their income report, an average income increase of 70 percent. 70, That’s significant. so there are so many ways now that you can expand your business, my podcast right now, I’m not monetizing it at some point, that would be great. But this is a way to expand my reach and platform. Public speaking is a way to diversify my business. Yes, I do. Get paid for public speaking. 

12:20  Having, you know, of course, the merchandise. I have a, My Little Shop Publishers workshop, which is a curriculum, it’s a writing curriculum. So that’s another way to diversify. So I want you to take time today and over the next 

12:37  coming weeks, even look at your book or books. And determine how can I expand my reach? And make authentic sales. And what I mean is, I didn’t want a ton of just chachki types stuff. For my business, you know, and just be selling all this. Chachkies. I knew that I didn’t want to have just a bunch of little trinkets to sell. With my book. I know the Little Shot. She’s adorable. Miranda did an amazing job, creating that image. 

13:18  I didn’t want just a bunch of random junk lying around people’s houses. Okay. So for me, making sure that any courses I create are like an authentic fit to what I’m doing is important podcasting that it’s true to who I am is important. So 

13:37  look at your business. What actually makes sense to diversify it and expand it if you’re not comfortable with public speaking, That’s okay. You could join something like Toastmasters. It’s a great place to develop your public, speaking skills and leadership skills, as well as a way to practice networking, and making connections, and getting the word out there. And I at the time that I did it, which was she’s probably 10 years ago at the time I did is I think about 12 years ago, it was $65 a year. Now, it might be $100 a year, but it’s a great way to learn those skills and practice toastmasters. So I highly recommend that Of course, there’s so many online courses. If you want to learn something, you can learn it. 

14:28  So when you decide, this is what I want to do, maybe you want to have an app for your business, maybe create a board game, maybe you want. I don’t know. Brainstorm, find a friend of Brainstorm with you could even brainstorm with chat GPT. Okay, if you don’t have a friend that loves brainstorming, that would have business ideas, Brainstorm would chat, Tell them This is what my book is about. These are ideas, I have what other ways can. I expand my business to diversify my income? Chat’s not gonna come up with all the solutions for your business but might lead you to something that could really give you a great idea. 

15:09  Another thing that you must do when turning your book into a business is building an effective team. I do talk about this at length on how to build How you know about? On my episode. The author’s guide but just briefly going over it, you need to have an effective team. So, The free things would be like finding a score mentor. You could go to your small business administration. Your local library has tons of resources. I know we have iusb has a business development department where they have free mentorship and resources. Some of these things have saved my business, tens of thousands of dollars. And that’s not even an exaggeration. 

16:03  It’s incredible. How much money these resources? Have saved my business. As well as my time. So look into those. I strongly recommend having. An attorney. Having a CPA. And putting together of course, your publishing team and that’s gonna look different. I do have a podcast about publishing and figuring out how you want to do that, but you’re publishing. Team could include a publisher, illustrator, cover designer, technical editor. There’s so many aspects to publishing printing. 

16:43  Printing, might be part of your team to get the books out there. So you want to make sure that you look into that. I do have another podcast about printing and particular. You also will want to have a marketing team publicity type team where it’s social media how to do your book launch. Maybe you need a booking agent to help, get you speaking engagements a virtual assistant, could be part of your team. So you need to have an effective team if you’re going to truly make this a business. Friend, I want you to hear me. You cannot do all of this yourself. 

17:29  You can do parts of it yourself. I’ve had to for many years do most of this by myself and it’s really hard but I also didn’t have the means to bring in other people. Maybe I would hire a consultant short term and get their help shortterm and I could afford that, but you do need to find these people who can help you build this effective team. To really expand your business. So, I want you to start looking at your book as the foundation of your business. 

18:05  It’s the foundational piece that’s going to help it grow beyond your book so you might even want to create like a graphic. I drew a picture of a tree trunk. In my books are the tree trunk and some of my personal business values, are the roots of that tree. That’s going to help the tree trunk grow and then off of the tree trunk, I have, what’s a palm tree. So I have the palm leaves coming off and I branched off. Into these other areas from those books. 

18:41  So you could even create a visual to help you kind of piece it together of. What does this look like for you? I’ve also heard where you can do like the spokes on a wheel, the center of the wheel could be your books and then you have the spokes coming off of it. So you can do something like that as well to create a visual. But I can’t encourage you enough if you want to be a writer. 

19:05  And you love writing and that’s all you want to do. And I don’t say all in a condescending mean I mean that’s like everything that you want to do, Then do it. Absolutely do it. And get better at it. Keep refining it and keep submitting. So that way you can keep getting published and getting your articles out there and get as much writing. And as you can, of course, you can even monetize a blog. You can submit to different magazines and get your writing out there. 

19:41  There are ways to be full-time writers, right? If you’re wanting to have a Business that expands and you have more, you have other interests beyond writing that you really want to develop. Then I can’t encourage you enough in this area. Please find ways to diversify your business, that makes sense for your business. At the end of the day, the cool thing is it’s your business. So you can do what you want and build the business that you dream of.