A Business Plan for Me!

Posted by Kate

Lately, I’ve read a number of articles written by people I admire, telling me how and why I should create a business plan for my writing career.

So I did it. I wrote a business plan.

I started with a mission statement. You do this by asking yourself questions, like, Why are you a writer? What kind of books do you write? Who’s your intended audience? Why should they read your book when they could be reading someone else’s?

So here’s my mission statement. I write smart, funny books that make people laugh and cry and when they get to the end they smile through their tears and say “Damn, I wish she’d write faster.”

Then I worried that my mission statement wasn’t business-like enough. Maybe I should try to be more profound. Like, maybe I should write books that are thought-provoking and emotionally rich. Maybe my books should stimulate intellectual discourse between the reader and the community.

Or maybe not.

I mean, if somebody reads my book and tells me they laughed and cried all the way through, I'd probably be the happiest writer in the world.

I know it’s important to have goals and the determination to meet them, but I’m not sure if a business plan will help me accomplish them any more than a vivid imagination and a good calendar with clearly marked deadlines can. To each her own business plan, I guess.

Just to be sure, I solicited another opinion and asked a published author friend about her business plan and mission statement. After she finished mocking me, she had to hang up because she had to finish writing her book.

So after much deliberation, I have determined that my Business Plan for 2007 will consist of the following:

* A good calendar (for marking deadlines and fun stuff)

* Daily affirmations repeated over and over until I believe them (I am an award-winning writer with dozens of fabulous story ideas)

* Visualizations (Hefty checks arrive weekly in my mailbox and Rabid fans are clamoring for my next book)

* I will chant skyclad once a month under the full moon

Seriously, if you want to learn the right way to create a business plan, see Mary Castillo’s article in this month’s Orange Blossom newsletter, or you can visit Stephanie Bond’s website, which has lots of good articles dealing with the business of writing.

So what’s your plan for 2007? Do you believe in affirmations? And when was the last time you danced skyclad under the full moon?