Navigating the Changing Tides of Publishing: From Passion Project to Profitability
Anna Jaworski standing outside Temple College, where the Small Business Association Development Center is located
Yesterday, I had the good fortune to meet with Jason Ehler, a counselor for the Small Business Association Development Center. I had heard of the Small Business Association (SBA), of course, but I honestly didn’t know if the SBA would be interested in helping me with my publishing company. Delving back into publishing whole hog (as my Texan friends like to say), after years of the company being on automatic pilot, has been tumultuous. The entire publishing industry has changed. I only thought it had changed when I published my last book, The Heart of a Father. Because of the changes in the industry way back in 2009, that book was the first book I published as a print-on-demand book. Fast-forward 14 years, and publishing looks completely different.
When you have a passion project, and when you’re a teacher (or any kind of service-oriented person), I believe it’s difficult to think of your product as something to make money. I even had a person once accuse me, “What!?! You’re making money telling our child’s story?!” It was hurtful because it sounded like I was trying to profit off my child’s birth defect. That was not the case whatsoever. I was trying to help others whose children were born with the same birth defect, especially at a time when resources were few, the Internet was young and most of the websites I found dealing with babies with CHDs were memorial pages of babies who had died of their heart conditions, and people’s understanding about what CHDs were often resulted in questions asking what the mothers had done wrong while pregnant. It was a time of ignorance in the CHD community and beyond about the world’s #1 birth defect. I wanted my books to provide hope, encouragement, and understanding.
And I really hoped I wouldn’t bankrupt my family in the reckoning.
When I first got into writing and publishing, I didn’t know many other people doing likewise. However, a few years into my endeavor, I “met” a fellow indie author/publisher online. She was like me—on a mission to help the CHD community. She felt her story would help others. She poured her heart and soul into her book. This was in the early days of publishing for me—in the last 1990s. At this time, Print-on-Demand books didn’t exist, nor did eBooks. If you wanted a book published, you had to find a traditional publisher who wanted to take a chance on your book, or you did it yourself and that meant finding a printer, picking paper, hiring an illustrator or cover designer. It looked a lot like what the publishing industry does today except you had to pay to print books and the fact was (and still is) that you had to print in quantity to get the price per unit down to a manageable sum so that you could turn around and sell it, understanding the you’d have other people who would take a cut of the cost of the book. There would be distributors, booksellers, postage, and storage fees that you’d have to account for. If you live in a state with extreme temperatures (like I do), then you also have to take into consideration that your storage facility must have temperature and humidity controls, otherwise, your books can be ruined while they wait to be put into the hands of the people who need them.
Is it any wonder the author friend I made went bankrupt?
When I found out that my friend, a single grandmother, had to move back into her mother’s home because she couldn’t afford her home any longer. She had thousands of copies of her book which she had loaded in the trunk of her car and taken on a road trip every weekend, traveling the coast and stopping at bookstores along the way to sell the books out of the back of her car. She’d contacted children’s hospitals and everyone she could think of. A nurse, one might have thought she’d have an advantage, but she didn’t. Not big enough to be with any of the major distributors, she couldn’t get her book into hospital gift shops.
Had she consulted the Small Business Association before she started her enterprise, perhaps we wouldn’t have her book today, which would be a pity., but it might have saved her from having to file for bankruptcy.
I believe most authors don’t want to write a book. They have to write their books! I believe most authors don’t expect to get rich quick, but I also believe they don’t expect to go bankrupt. I believe few authors have a business plan in mind when they decide to write their book. I believe they what to gift the world with their stories and they hope to help even just one person.
Today, I decided to see if what I’ve done with the business model I’ve established for my publishing company could be improved upon. I made an appointment to visit with a Development Counselor. Prior to the meeting, I sent a message to the SBA explaining my situation so when I showed up, Mr. Ehler was somewhat prepared. I was his first indie publisher and he and I talked for two hours! During that time, Mr. Ehler brainstormed with me about different ways to get my books out to the people who needed them. I was gratified to see that the suggestions he made were ones I’d already considered over the two-plus decades I’ve been selling books. Even though Mr. Erler didn’t really have any concrete suggestions for how I should run my business, he validated the processes I already have in place, and he agreed with some of the changes I felt I needed to make. He was also kind enough to create a business plan for my company that I could edit and make my own, complete with the current industry information he found when researching publishing for our meeting.
Overall, I think it would behoove new indie publishers or authors to meet with someone from the Small Business Association Development Center. Although most people only create a business plan in order to apply for a loan, I feel having a business plan, especially if you work your plan, will help you to be more intentional with your actions. I also believe it helps to understand how your business plays a role in the overall landscape of publishing.