Table of Contents

Getting Started

• Introduction

• An Authorpreneur’s Creed

• The Profitable Author Life You’ll Love (and Deserve)

• Authors and Multipreneurship

• The 7 Pillars of a Profitable Author Life You Love

Author Income and Business Model Templates

• 15 Types of Income for Refining Your Author Business Model

• Author Income Streams, 1 of 15: Royalties

• Author Income Streams, 2 of 15: Rights Sales

• Author Income Streams, 3 of 15: Ebook Sales

• Author Income Streams, 4 of 15: Events—Flat Fee

• Author Income Streams, 5 of 15: Events—Per-Person Fees

• Author Income Streams, 6 of 15: Event Book Sales

• Author Income Streams, 7 of 15: Merch Sales

• Author Income Streams, 8 of 15: Store Sales

• Author Income Streams, 9 of 15: Volume Sales

• Author Income Streams, 10 of 15: Services—Flat Fee

• Author Income Streams, 11 of 15: Services—Per Unit Fee

• Author Income Streams, 12 of 15: Services—Hourly  Fees

• Author Income Streams, 13 of 15: Partnerships

• Author Income Streams, 14 of 15: Grants and Prizes

• Author Income Streams, 15 of 15: Salary and Wages

• Refine an Author Business Model from These Templates

• Study This Author’s Email Newsletter for Entrepreneurial Success

• The Problem with Print on Demand and the Magic of 3,000 Printed Copies of Your Book

• Creative Financing for Your Book Projects: 4 Models to Cover Your Startup Costs

• A One-Hour Conversation People Pay Money For

• A Local Knowledge Business for Authors: Creating Work from, through, for, about Your Corner of the World

• How Authors Can Work with Small Businesses

Building a Business and Entrepreneurship

• Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus Thinks Even Authors Can Be Entrepreneurs

• Start Your Author Business Before You’re Ready…Today

• Make “Business” Your Next Hobby

• Authors, About Your Willingness to Learn Business

• How the Practice of Practice Is the Secret to a Sustainable Author Business

• How To Create a Cottage Industry Around Your Book, Expertise, or Related Skills or Hobby

• Grow Your Author Business with a Tour of Needs

• There’s No Business Like Slow Business

• What We Can Learn from Kids Starting Businesses

• What to Charge Small Businesses for Your Author Services

• Here’s How You Get Paid — Always and Mostly on Time

• Authors, Expect to Get Paid

• How I Rebuilt a Full-Time Creative Business Three Different Times

Sales

• Even if You Don’t Like Sales, You Can Do These Things

• 167 Non-Bookstore Places for Authors and Publishers to Sell Their Books

• A Nancy Drew Mystery Solved for Authors: Case of the Overperforming Apple Orchard

• The 30-Day Challenge That Will Kickstart Any Author Business

• What Doing 5 Things a Day Every Day to Promote Your Books Looks Like in Practice (Sales Focus) 

• Authors, Some Will, Some Won’t, So What?

Marketing

• What Kinds of Things Count for 5–10 Daily Servings of Author/Book Promotion?

• Tap into All of Your Book’s Themes

• Incorporate Vitamins, Spaghetti, and Ships in Your Author Business for A Comprehensive Approach to Book Marketing and Sales

• Book Promotion Advice Reaped from Analyzing a Decade of Reading

• Strategic Allocation for Book Marketing Swag

• Author, What Collabs Could Be Right for Your Books?

• Using All Things Local To Promote Your Books and Your Author Business

• Build Your Author Enterprise Through Service Marketing

• All of Your Author Business and Book Marketing Activities Should Do a Minimum of 3 Jobs

• Authors, I Found My Business Marketing Formula and You Can Find Yours

• Turn Your ‘How’ Into the Story

• 11 Reasons You Should Try All the Things in Your Author Business

• Authors, Do You Also Squirm at the Idea of a Being a Brand or Having a Brand for Your Books?

• The Problem with Seeking the “Right Ideas” for Book Marketing

• Author Events 101: Promotion and Profits

• Speaking Gigs 101 for Authors

• 25 Calls to Action for Your Author Events and Why Using Them Matters

Outreach, Relationships, and Communication

• Relationship Building for Authorpreneurship: 50 easy ways to build sustainable connections for your author business and general social satisfaction

• Get Used to Asking for Help in Your Author Business: 40 things you can ask for as you learn the joy of receiving, accepting, reaching out, and appreciating others’ generosity

• Join the Favors Economy: Trade in the invisible currency of paying it forward

• A Proven Outreach Formula for Those Building an Author Business

• Social Media Matters — A 31-Point Outreach Checkup for Book Marketing and Your Author Business

• Authors, You Are Wordsmiths, but Consider When to Borrow Words from the Best

• How to Use Presence in the Brave New Uncertain World of Author Business

Strategy and  Planning

• Authors, Are You Paying a “Knowledge Tax” on Your Business Development Activities?

• The Human Advantage of Meaning Making in the Future of Business

• Grow Your Work and Business Ventures with Love, Actual Love

• Authors, “If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased”

• Defensive Entrepreneurship: A Strategy for Succeeding In Business and Life

• Take These Shortcuts for Creating a Business Around Your Books, Experience, and Knowledge

• Build Your Author Business and the Work Will Come

• Move Over 80/20: Your Business Also Needs 30–40

• A Basic 3-Pronged Approach to Being a Working Author: Writing, publishing logistics, marketing

• Authors, Add a Layer of Lawyers: 9 affordable ways to protect yourself as a writer and why it matters. 

• Make These 7 Moves This Week to Start or Re-Energize Your Author Business

• A Love Letter to Authors from 1979 on How to Get What You Really Want

Productivity and Time Management

• Enduring Productivity Hacks from 30 Years in Publishing

• Cushioning Your Author Business Life Changes More Than You Can Imagine

• The Power of Leaving Things Half Done (Until Later)

• Saved by the Bell Is an Underappreciated Way to Build an Author Enterprise

• This Montessori Fundamental Didn’t Work for My Kid but It’s a Gem for Business

Mindset and Coaching Yourself

• The Difference Between Author Dreaming and Author Doing: The number one investment for authors according to Warren Buffett

• Prepare for Your Threshold Guardians: They WILL be standing in the way of reaching your goals

• The Lesson of Smurf for Your Author Impostor Syndrome

• “Not Easier, Better” — Something Wisdom This Way Comes

• Lower the Bar on Your Author Business for Better Results

• The 3/1 Ratio You Need To Boost Your Creative and Business Work

• Self-Talk Basics for Maintaining Your Author Business in Tough Times: Attitude defaults for strength, support, and forward solutions

• Authors, Could It Be That You Are Just in the Middle of It?

• Reframes for Keeping On When Your Author Life Feels Hard

Quick Summaries to an Author Business You Love

• 100 Things Better for Your Books Than a Barnes & Noble Shelf

• The Business Advice I Give Author Clients on Repeat

• 30 Things I’ve Learned About Author Success in My 30 Years in Book Publishing

• The ABCs of Growing Your Author Business

Appendices

• Appendix A: 52 Benefits of Being an Author

• Appendix B: Graduated Volume Discounts

• Appendix C: 28 Big Ideas from the World of Coaching for Growing Your Author Business

• Appendix D: Master List of Local and Regional Topics for Book Marketing

• Appendix E: Playing the Numbers Game of Publishing

• Appendix F: Books and Resources Mentioned in This Book

• Appendix G: More Resources from Sharon Woodhouse and Conspire Creative

About the Author