(D. D. here… 
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Happy Weekend, WG2E-Land!
Please help me Welcome Back to The WG2E, Bestselling Author Denise Grover Swank, who’s sharing Part Two of her fabulous series on creating a Business Plan for Self-Published Authors.
You can catch Part One here:
Take it away, Denise…
This is the second part of a three part series on MY business plan as a self-published author.
Just remember, what works for me or is important to me may not work for you. My hope is if you are a self-published author, this will make you think more about the business part of your career.
The first part covers the table of contents, the business description and the business ownership and location.
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3. Products
Products are my books, obviously. But they have also come to include audiobooks, a few items I have for sale through Zazzle, and a few products related to my books (t-shirts, an apron, and bracelets) which are not mentioned below.
Products Offered by Bramagioia Enterprises
Novels are offered in several eBook formats and print books. Approximately 95% of all books sold are digital. It is unclear if novellas will be offered in print format.
Currently available from Bramagioia Enterprises:
Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes (A Rose Garner Mystery) – released July 12, 2011
Chosen (The Chosen #1) released September 18, 2011
Hunted (The Chosen #2) released November 22, 2011
Here (On the Otherside #1) released November 8, 2011
Planned for 2012:
Sacrifice (The Chosen #3)—planned release March 23, 2012
Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons (A Rose Gardner Mystery #2)—planned release June 2012
There (On the Otherside #2) –October 2012
Possible for 2012:
Untitled Novella prequel to The Chosen Series—November or December 2012 release
Planned for 2013:
Untitled (The Chosen #4)—February 2013
Untitled (On the Otherside #3) June 2013 (subject to change)
Untitled (A Rose Gardener Mystery) Fall 2013 (subject to change)
Possible 2013
Novella of unknown subject
Development of one or more new series
This has changed drastically. For several reasons and in several ways.
First, I changed my production schedule.
You read that correctly. My books are on a production schedule. At this moment I have a 3×4 foot white board with the WEEKLY production schedule for four books. But more on this in Part Three. What’s important to note here is: Your business plan is not carved in stone. It’s called a plan and plans change. You should have a good reason to change a plan, but just because you have it in print (in a Word document or on a white board) obviously doesn’t mean you have to hold to it if other indicators point you in a different direction.
What changed? I switched the release of my YA book THERE (On the Otherside #2) with the release of the fourth The Chosen book, now titled REDEMPTION. The Chosen series is much more popular than my YA series and I tend to leave my books with a bit of a cliff hanger ending. So it made sense to put out REDEMPTION before THERE to make my readers happy.
Also, because my YA sells fewer books compared to my other series, I cut the series to two books instead of writing three. The story can be comfortably wrapped up in two books and it makes more sense to spend three to four months writing a book that will sell 25,000-30,000 or more copies in a year instead of a book that will sell 10,000-12,000 in a year.
It was THIS moment, when I came to this realization I knew I really made the switch to thinking like a business owner. Don’t get me wrong. If I really, really want to write something, yet I don’t think it will sell very well, I’ll still do it. But I have to look at my books as a product. Do I want to make money? I do. Then I need to write things that I think will sell well and plan accordingly.
4. Pricing Strategy
Taken directly from my plan:
Digital:
In July of 2011, Denise Grover Swank was an unknown debut author without publishing house backing. Pricing strategy was based partially on the models created by successful self-published authors Amanda Hocking and John Locke. They priced their books at $0.99 to foster high sales.
The strategy for Bramagioia Enterprises was to provide the debut novels of two series in two different genres at $0.99 to establish the author and generate positive reviews. Then, after proving to readers that Denise Grover Swank provides entertaining, well-written stories, the prices of future books would raised to $2.99. The possibility of offering future books in a series at $3.99 is still under consideration.
Turbulence in the rapidly changing eBook world should also be taken into consideration. Pricing may be subject to change based on sales, current pricing trends and need to create upward movement in Amazon rankings. Books may be discounted or offered for free if it fits with marketing strategy and promotion.
Digital prices of current products:
Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes: $0.99
Chosen: $0.99
Hunted: $2.99
Here: $2.99
Proposed pricing for 2012:
Chosen: Raise to $2.99 after a two day free promo
Sacrifice: $2.99
Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes: Raise price to $2.99 with release of new cover
Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons: $2.99
There: $2.99
Untitled novella: Undetermined. Either $0.99 or $1.99, depending on length.
Proposed pricing for 2013
Untitled (The Chosen #4): undetermined $2.99 or $3.99
Untitled (On the Other side #3) undetermined $2.99 or $3.99
Untitled (Rose Gardner Mystery) undetermined $2.99 or $3.99
Novella of Unknown subject: undetermined $0.99 or $1.99 depending on length
Print:
All print books will be created through Createspace unless it is determined another source is better. Pricing on print books is largely based on the number of pages in the book. Pricing is also dependant on making print books available for a wider distribution than just Amazon. Since a wider distribution is used, books must be priced so that the other outlets will be offered wholesale pricing. A book between 360-380 pages is $14.99. A book between 340-360 pages is $13.99.
These pages also changed. After studying the market, I raised several of my books to $3.99 this past spring but raised and kept CHOSEN and TWENTY-EIGHT to $2.99.
5. Financial Plan
From all the business plans I studied, this was where the business made a plan for the future. Expected income. Expected expenses.
This section freaked me out. I had no clue what to plan. None. Then I realized to make an accurate plan, I had to look at the pattern of my previous sales. I was at the disadvantage of only having a couple of months (or less) of sales to base projections, so taking that into account, I decided to error on the side of conservatism.
This is my longest section, consisting of seven pages. The first page and a half look at the previous year’s sales totals per book, per month, then the yearly total.
Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes: (July 12)
July: 209
August: 441
September: 947
October: 1787
November: 942
December: 1195
Total: 5521
I did this for each book. Then came up with totals for sales in digital and print format, as well as borrows from the KDP Select program.
Percentage format sales in 2011:
Digital: 96%
Print: 0.7%
Borrows: 3%
Observations of 2011 sales:
Through research, Bramagioia Enterprises learned that self-published books usually start with slow sales, then typically double each month. After a climb, the book plateaus for a time then falls. The fall may be gradual or it may tumble. Still, it usually manages to maintain some level of sales. Book reviews and book review blog tours boosted sales. Special promos tend to spike sales, but then the sales fall to pre-promo levels.
Readers of one genre rarely crossed genres unless devoted fans, thus each book in a new genre climbed at the same rate as its predecessors. The second book in a series at the top of a genre climbs into the top ranks immediately.
Print books sales more than doubled the month of December, presumably for Christmas gifts.
KDP Select created radical changes in the way Amazon promotes SP books. By agreeing to the program, the book is sold exclusively through Amazon. Books enrolled in the program are eligible to be borrowed and receive a portion of a pool of money per month dependant on percentage of borrows. Borrows counted as sales in rankings, thus creating a strong disadvantage for those not enrolled. Bramagioia Enterprises enrolled Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes, Chosen and Hunted into KDP Select for a 90 day commitment. Here was not enrolled. Borrows accounted for 3% of “Sales” but one book was enrolled for three weeks and two books were enrolled for two and a half weeks.
I also broke down each book and what I’d done for promotion and recorded its highest and lowest sales days including the dates. It was then I could make my predictions for 2012.
I wrote down my anticipated sales per month, multiplied that number by what I earn from royalties, added in expected expenses (promotion, a new cover for TWENTY-EIGHT) then came up with the expected earnings from all four ALREADY published books.
I then came up with anticipated expenses for upcoming book releases, expected sales (figured conservatively), and my expected profit for the year.
Here is TWENTY-NINE AND A HALF REASONS, which came out in June, as anticipated by the business plan.
Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons is expected to have moderate sales but nothing like The Chosen series. It will sell well its first three to four months and taper off to a steady level.
June (100) July (300) August (600): 1000 books at $2: $2000
September to December: (800 per month) 3200 at $2: $6400
Total books: 4200
Total: $8400
Expenses:
Developmental edit: $1300
Copy Edit: $700
Cover: $400
Createspace: $50
eBook format: $35
Book tours (2): $500
Total: $2985
Expected profit of Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons: $5415
First of all, the monetary sales totals were based off of an anticipated $2.99 price, which was actually $3.99 at release. Also, my sales were much higher than I had planned. TWENTY-NINE AND A HALF REASONS was released on June 27, 2012 and sold 297 copies in June. It sold 3470 copies in July and 1774 in August. I had projected 1000 in that time period, when I actually sold 5541. I’ve already sold more than I expected to sell the entire rest of 2012. Which, in my opinion, isn’t a bad thing. I’d rather shoot low and hope for more.
On the other hand, I’ve had expenses I didn’t plan for. In the past, I used readers for proof readers. I’ve since switched to professionals. I also did a giveaway in conjunction with the release. I didn’t budget for that.
After I listed every book, I then had a list of additional expenses:
Other Business expenses:
RT Booklovers Convention: $2000
RWA annual convention: $3000
Business cards, supplies, etc: $300
Misc: $500
Website upgrades and new sites for three series: $800
Total: $6600
(I didn’t go to RWA but I’ve already spent more than budgeted for websites and other promotional materials. I’m also going to NINC in October.)
After I added up the expected profit for each book, I added them all together, subtracted Other Business Expenses and came up with my expected profit for 2012. Which was more than I realized I could make.
But to make money, and keep releasing products, I needed a schedule.
Tomorrow I’ll discuss the rest of my business plan, including a production schedule, a marketing plan, long term goals and a summary.
It’s Your Turn, WG2E-Land: What questions do have for me about my Business Plan?
The Best of Business Plan Wishes — Denise Grover Swank
Denise Grover Swank lives in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. She writes urban fantasies without vampires and werewolves. She also writes romantic comedy mysteries set in the south. She has six children, three dogs, and an overactive imagination. She can be found dancing in her kitchen with her children, reading or writing her next book. You will rarely find her cleaning.
You can find out more about Denise and her other books at www.denisegroverswank.com or email her at denisegroverswank@gmail.com
Very impressive, Denise. By studying your previous sales and making predictions based on them, you will end up with a fairly realistic estimation. It’s really important to list the expenses or you’ll spend more than you earn. For other indie authors editing services and book covers might also be in the budget.
It’s so easy to just spend money and not hold myself accountable. Putting together the financial plan helped me budget for that.
Wow Denise, you do all this with 6 children! Way to go. Your sales are impressive, and I agree that professional editing and cover, etc are very important and use them too. I only pay $50 for a cover, and thought yours was high. Did that number come from Create Space? I’m thinking of using them for two books that I’d like to see in print, but I didn’t see the actual cost of creating a print book. One more thing, I have decided to skip the conferences as other than networking with friends, I no longer see the value, unless my sales increase dramatically.
Thanks for sharing – great information, and I wish you tons of luck.
I have used different cover designers for each of my three series. To me, the cover is art and designers are artists. Each artist has their own style and tone. TWENTY-NINE AND A HALF WISHES is a romantic comedy mystery and I had a hard time finding a cover artist to capture the tone. The designer I used for my THE CHOSEN series (Laura Morrigan) has a different tone and even though she is cheaper, I looked around for an artist I thought could capture what I was looking for. I ended up with Janet Holmes who also designs covers for Big 6 publishers. My Rose Gardner Mysteries covers are my most expensive.
I don’t use any Createspace services other than expanded distribution. I hire my own editors and have found them through word of mouth and references. (Alison Dasho is my developmental editor and Jim Thomsen is my copy editor– they are both AMAZING!)
And I agree about the conferences that focus on craft, one of the reasons I didn’t go to RWA. But RT Booklovers conference has some great panels and workshops focusing on marketing and other topics beneficial to an indie author. Novelist, Inc will present panels and workshops for career novelists to help build their career.
Very informative! My 2012 plan/budget/projection has come no where near where I had anticipated. In fact it has fallen far short. In looking for 2013 I may plan like I’m best selling, but in reality have to cut way back and revamp – it’s just a plan though, isn’t it. Spend more than I earn – can’t be helped at the moment. It’s either that or perish. Conferences and conventions are out of my range at the moment, but are in the future column. My plan for 2012 was to attract more readers, which I have been sorely disappointed with the outcome, so we forge on in 2013 and keep trying. Somewhere, I am doing something horribly wrong and I’ve yet been able to put my finger on what it is.
Very helpful article and look forward to part three!
Yes! It’s just a plan and plans DO and SHOULD change. I think it’s important to remember that if a plan doesn’t work and we have to scale back, it doesn’t mean our plan was a failure. I think a plan for a new author will take a lot of tweaking until you can get it right. And even after you find success–however YOU define it– it will still need to be altered.
And let me add a thought on success: it’s so stinking easy to compare our numbers with other authors and think we’ve fallen short. I do this myself. I think I’ve done pretty well until I compare my sales with Theresa Regan or Gemma Halliday. But that’s why a plan is SO IMPORTANT. You are no longer comparing yourself to others–always a dangerous pastime– and you are holding yourself accountable to YOU. When I created my plan, part of the reason I did so was because I wanted a predetermined monthly income and I wanted to see how many books I had to sell to make that happen. The business plan grew from that idea.
Thanks Denise, very well thought out!
Putting it all down on paper makes it as real as the when the story leaves your head to become the finished manuscript. I love that you explained the pattern…highs and lows, bumps up in sales, etc. Even a newbie author with no prior sales to use as a measure can devise a plan using your formula. And plans can be tweaked along the way (in business we always revisited and revised plans quarterly). Just like editing your book, they need polish. The initial plan is a great focusing tool.
What is that saying….”If you fail to plan…plan to fail?
Yes, exactly right, Monica. Some of what I came up with in my business plan were eye opening “aha” moments. But a lot of it I already knew. Putting it on paper made it more real.
Yes, as you can see, my plan is an organic entity and changes to fit what I need. It’s just like self-publishing. You need to be flexible and adaptable or you’ll never survive.
Great way to plan out future releases, estimate profits and make your writing a viable income.
Thanks, LM!
Jamie, it takes businesses several tries sometimes to find their niche or what works for them. Maybe we could have a business plan critique session
Thank you Denise! Your plan is laid out so nicely that I’ve been able to create my own using yours as inspiration. Thank you so much, I now feel like I’m making progress toward my goals!!
That’s GREAT, Ansha! That was my hope–that I’d make creating business plan less intimidating for right brained, creative people.
This has to be one of the most useful blog I receive by email. Alway open and informative. Thank you! One question: have you incorporated Bramagioia Enterprises? If so, at what point do you recommend doing that?
Thanks!
No, at this point Bramagioia Enterprises is a sole proprietorship based on my accountants opinion, based on the laws of Missouri, the state I live in. When I meet with my accountant at the end of the year, I plan to ask him if he wants to re-evaluate this.
This is really helpful, Denise. Thank you! And congrats on your success.
Thank you, Alicia!
It’s not quite a year yet that I’ve been self-epubbed, so once that year is up (November) then I might look at my sales (not much) and work out what to expect for next year. Was interested to see that you have priced your ebooks at the low end of the .99 range, like DD. I am doing that with all mine as they are either short stories or novellas. Was just wondering. When you say supplies, do you inc postcards and posters?
I started with $0.99 for two of my books– CHOSEN and TWENTY-EIGHT AND A HALF WISHES–but raised them to $2.99 in February and March. However, REDEMPTION, the last book of THE CHOSEN series is coming out this Wednesday, so I pulled CHOSEN from Select when its time expired and I uploaded it to Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Apple. I made it free on Kobo and Apple and waited for Amazon to price match it. It is now “perma free” and $0.99 on B&N. We’ll see if that boosts sales of HUNTED and SACRIFICE as well as bring new readers to the final book.
I’m giving away ARCs of REDEMPTION and asking readers to answer a question when they comment. One question was how they discovered THE CHOSEN series. Well over half picked it up during one of CHOSEN’s multiple free runs. A quarter of them told me they found out through Amazon recommendation. This not only tells me that free works (as evidenced by my sales spikes after a free run) but that it works much better than I realized. I end each book with a hook at the end and it’s not uncommon for readers to read the three books available one right after the other. Readers that comment on my blog or Facebook page are LOYAL readers. Many of them have also read the three books in my other two series. All because they got CHOSEN for free.
I also have three short stories for sale which are part of THE CHOSEN series. They are all $0.99.
Supplies include paper for my printer, pens, office supplies, etc. I did not include the bookmarks and cards I printed to hand out as promotion. I will give the “other expenses” more careful examination after I review what I spent this past year. (I’ve gone over my budget.) But I have all of my expenses loaded into QuickBooks so it should be easy to revamp my plan based on real numbers.
Thanks so much. You did half the work for us. I just copied and pasted into a word document and then will follow along adding my information and deleting yours.
I have since the beginning treated this as a business. When I originally took money out of my savings I said this is an investment – happy that iy paid off!
Perfect!!! I’m glad I could help!
LOVE this series. You are putting my business planning to shame!
I’m glad you like it, Susan!
I went over and bought a book based on this post.
Yay!
This is really informative! A lot to digest for me, but that’s okay. Thank you again for sharing with us – I’m learning a lot from your posts. My first book releases in November, but it’s from a small press (although I’m distributing a print version). I’m trying to decide how to handle the ARCs and how many to give away. I’m not sure where to go to find that out.
I think sending out ARCs is a personal preference. I’ve done it with some books and not at all with others. One reason to give them out is to build reader excitement. It works well with books later in a series because readers are often eager to read the new book.
Terrific stuff here, Denise! What you said right here is exactly it for me too:
“It was THIS moment, when I came to this realization I knew I really made the switch to thinking like a business owner. Don’t get me wrong. If I really, really want to write something, yet I don’t think it will sell very well, I’ll still do it. But I have to look at my books as a product. Do I want to make money? I do. Then I need to write things that I think will sell well and plan accordingly.”
I work according to a production schedule too, and in fact, am preparing my 2013 schedule now. Not only will I write more books featuring The Mom Squad (my readers’ fave characters), but I’ll also continue to keep my books at the shorter novel length (of 100-150 pages) that my readers tell me they’re loving! (***I’ll blog about this in detail tomorrow right here at The WG2E.)
I let my readers be my guide when it comes to mixing up and changing up my production plan.
Yes, reader reaction and appeal is so important! I’m curious about your short length books. My readers are always begging for my next book, so I polled them to find out if they preferred short books–novellas– published more often or longer books, every 3-4 months. Every single one said longer. However, I’d just released some 40-60 page short stories over the summer and wondered if they confused short lengths with those. I’m eagerly looking forward to your post tomorrow!
A few months ago I created a production schedule. Before then I was just writing, not thinking about how much I was accomplishing in any given time. Now, I have a clear picture of what I want to (and what I can) accomplish in twelve months.
I admit I’ve been slow at creating a business plan. I knew I needed to, but…Now I will set to work on getting it done. Thanks for the information in this post and the previous one. I’m off to read part III.
I’ll be working on a business plan this week, this is such great information. I do have a production schedule that I’m changing as well. It’s important to keep up with what’s selling and what’s not and be able to change writing schedules based on that.
On the financial end, I’m still operating at a loss, taking money from the day job to pay for covers, edits, etc. Money from sales goes back into the next book, so right now I don’t have a way to pay myself. How do you – or anyone else – work that into the business plan? I would like to have a goal for a profit by this time next year, for example, but since I can’t control sales I really have no idea if that’s realistic.
Christina, sorry I missed your question! If I were in your position, I would continue to assign all profits to pay for future expenses in your business plan. BUT you could include a provision that if your income reaches a predetermined level, you could then allocate a certain amount to be paid to yourself. Sales are so hard to predict, even when you examine past history. I try to shoot for lower expected sales, then hope for higher numbers.
Absolutely essential information! Am printing it all out and keeping it!!! Can’t wait for #3!
xx, Lauren