What do authors and entrepreneurs have in common?
May 6th, 2014 → 8:06 pm @ Carol
One of my favorite bloggers and podcasters is Joanna Penn of TheCreativePenn.com. She frequently emphasizes that writing and publishing is a business.
In this guest blog post, authors and entrepreneurs are compared and we find they have a lot in common.
What Do Authorship and Entrepreneurship have in Common?
This is a guest post from Cynthia Kocialski, from The Start Up Entrepreneur’s Blog. I am a firm believer that authors need to be entrepreneurs, running their own business and creating multiple streams of income so this post is definitely relevant. We can spend so much time dreaming that we forget the commercial reality of making a living!
Having spent 15 years working with technology start-up companies – and knowing more than just a few of the key ideas required to get fledgling businesses on the right path – something struck me. Authors are also entrepreneurs, but few of them actually realize that, or take advantage of the same skills and techniques.
What brought about this revelation was the writing, publishing and marketing of my first book. It suddenly occurred to me that authors were creating a product, just like any other start-up business. Authors aren’t founding the next corporate giant, but a much smaller start-up.
(The rest of the blog post is excellent. Here are the highlights)
Your First Idea Won’t Always be Your Best Few authors have bestsellers with their very first book; it takes time
To Self-Publish, or not to Self-publish; that is the Question? Many entrepreneurs self-fund their companies in order to get the proof of concept investors require.
Getting Over the Marketing Hurdle Marketing creates demand for the product.
Time to Build a Team You need other people to help and who know what they’re doing
Developing Your Business Model Most start-ups have multiple revenue streams.
Building Relationships It takes a while to make the right contacts
Cynthia Kocialski is the author of ‘Startup from the Ground Up: Practical insights for entrepreneurs on how to go from an idea to starting a new business’.
This is Carol Topp again. I’m really hot on this topic of authors as entrepreneurs.
I’m creating a keynote address for the North Ohio Society Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators on the topic of “Author as Entrepreneur.” Join me September 19-20, 2014 in Cleveland, OH.
Carol Topp, CPA
Tags: author, entrepreneur
