Even though we’re probably in the dawn of the AI revolution, machine learning has yet to reach levels of creative thinking that allow AI platforms to come up with original ideas.
In the meantime, the number of authors wanting to make it big is constantly increasing. This might also signal a good opportunity to start your own publishing business.
With your company, you can provide veteran and new authors an avenue to make a name for themselves in the growing literary market.
Here’s how you can start your journey from being a casual reader to a well-respected publishing brand.
1. Come Up With A Specific Vision For Success
Your vision will help you set clear goals and build a publishing business that thrives.
Whether it’s to help children’s book authors as an affordable means to sell their titles, or provide self-help books on romance plot ideas for younger writers in the genre, having a clear vision of what you want to accomplish will help you make the right decisions and avoid certain pitfalls.
In no time, you will have a workable blueprint that will define how you want your company to grow and prosper.
For this reason, you need to come up with a solid business plan that outlines these details. This will be your blueprint for how you want your vision to materialize.
Include how you want to finance the first few months of operating your business and how you want to build a community of advocates.
Without this, you will be hard-pressed to find the starting line that point to the overall goal you want to achieve.
2. Create An Appropriate Legal Structure
Since you will be operating a legitimate business organization, your publishing company must be formed according to the law.
The first thing you will need is to determine what legal structure best fits the size and nature of your company.
In most cases, independent publishers would start as limited liability companies for the simple fact that should the business fail, their assets are secured.
As the organization grows larger, you may have the option to transform the company into a corporation.
The best way you can approach this is to consult a business attorney who can deal with the paperwork and suggest the best legal options to consider based on your experience in the industry as well as the financial resources you can tap.
3. Build Up Your Brand
Invest in creating a unique identity for your publishing company, one that your target audience will easily remember if they haven’t had any luck with the larger publishers.
Make your brand stand out by targeting a specific niche or genre. Build a professional website and show your audience how serious you are when it comes to supporting writers, especially not-so-famous authors. You can also utilize social media to promote new titles or highlight authors.
Before you start promoting your publishing brand, however, make sure to come up with a brand kit that lays down the unique identity of your publishing company.
For starters, you will need a clever logo that aligns with your personal vision and preferences.
Your brand kit may also include a color palette and style guide that ensures that your online and offline messages remain consistent all throughout.
4. Reach Out And Engage Your Audience
As your publishing business picks up steam, you need to stay engaged with your target audience, from the authors down to the readers.
The best way to do that is to participate in industry events such as trade shows and conventions related to your field or genre.
You can also enhance brand awareness by starting a podcast where you get to invite writers whose workers you carry.
This is where you get to build your authority as a major player in the literary world. In addition to that, you can also start a newsletter that features recent updates and new titles.
Substack proves to be a popular choice if you would like to build a network of readers and authors.
Another way you can build up your community is to organize events such as workshops.
This will prove to be a great way to engage newcomers to the literary scene while you do your part in developing potentially successful talents.
You can also reach out to influencers and other brands outside the publishing industry to collaborate on new initiatives. Playing an active role in these can help position you as a key player in the sector.
Endnote
Do your part in celebrating and promoting literature as conceived by the creative human mind.
Start your own publishing company and start selling classics that will help shape the future of literature.