Monday’s planning tip for authors

Although cash flow is what sustains authors and their families, there are far fewer books about the business side of writing than there are books about creativity, grammar, writing, book promotion, and self-publishing.

During Step 1, Planning, authors should make decisions based on the cash flow they need to support themselves before their book’s back-end profits begin to appear.

In particular, in the period before their book appears, authors should pay attention to the direction of cash flow; does money flow into the author’s pockets or does money flow out of the author’s pockets?

Cash flow implications for publishing choices

Cash flow should play a major role in the author’s decisions about the best way to publish their book:

• When does self-publishing make sense? Self-publishing makes sense when the author has the resources to invest their own money in their book. If the author can comfortably afford the up-front book production and printing costs, then it makes sense to self-publish.
• When does trade publishing makes sense? Trade publishing makes sense when authors can’t afford to invest their own money in their book. They may ultimately make less money, and have less control over their book’s content, cover, and production details, but their family’s finances may be better off.

Published & Profitable’s Preliminary Cash Flow Planner worksheet, shown above, helps authors evaluate the pros and cons of trade versus self-publishing from a cash flow perspective, to complement the pros and cons of trade and self-publishing from control and quality aspects.

Planning your way to intelligent publishing decisions

There are no “absolutes” in writing and publishing a book. No pre-determined decisions make sense. What works for some individuals won’t work for others. Sometimes its appropriate for an author to “roll the dice” on their book, in other cases, it could lead to financial hardship.

Authors must consider the source of the information about self-publishing they’re reading. Authors planning their book should be especially careful when reading articles and books written by printers and others who help authors self-publish. The information may be biased in favor of emphasing later profits, rather than immediate investments.

To help authors plan their books as carefully as they plan their their businesses, Published & Profitable’s offers authors worksheets like the Preliminary Cash Flow Planner as well as a Budget Planning Worksheet. Cash flow planning is also the topic of an upcoming Tuesday Topic free teleclass.

When you sign-up to receive my daily writing tips via e-mail, and when you sign-up for my weekly writing tips, you’ll be know when cash flow topics are scheduled as the topics for our free weekly Tuesday afternoon teleclasses.

My goal is to help authors carefully evaluate their publishing and cash flow alternatives when writing a book, so they can make the best decisions for them and their families.