Starting any type of venture has large amounts of risk involved. Starting a book business is no exception. In order to run your business, and progress through the numerous stumbling blocks along the way, a lot of dedication, persistence and confidence is required.
Usually, if you’re able to write books for a distinct market of readers out there who want what you write, are able to market your books well, sell them and continue the cycle, you’ve made a good start. However, if the underlying reasons for you running your book business are not quite right, your chances of truly succeed already go down. Read on to learn about 5 signs that your new book business might not succeed.
1. No real interest in publishing
Let’s face it. When you were at school and sat in a class you hated, were you motivated to work hard at it? Chances are not. It’s the same with your book business. If you’re not really interested in writing and publishing, you’re going to struggle. Having a real interest in the publishing industry will help you to remain motivated, as you run your venture over the weeks, months and years.
2. Just doing it for the money
A major part of entrepreneurship is creating money, and many entrepreneurs love it when they sell their products and services, and money generated lands in their business bank accounts. As a book entrepreneur, I’m sure you like to see sales of your books increasing and increasing!
However, when you’re in it just for the dollar signs, there is a risk involved. You can become increasingly disheartened when you don’t see success as quickly as you would like to. Also, by being focused just on making money, there is the potential to miss out on other important aspects, such as writing and publishing great books that delight your readers, providing first class services to your customers and so on. It’s important to truly enjoy working on your business, and this requires passion first and foremost.
3. Not having enough cash
If you’re just starting your book venture, at the beginning, your business will lose more money than it will make from selling your work. Therefore, you need to ensure that you’ve got enough money to help cover your costs at the start, through either your savings, support from your family, a grant or a loan, until eventually your business moves into a profit.
4. Not having patience
A lot of the time, what makes a business fail is its founder(s) not having the patience to make the breakthrough. You might not be making money. You may be unsure of your marketing and your lack of progress makes you quit. However, success was just around the corner had you continued for a little while longer.
5. Lack of self-belief
Another factor that can hold you back is a lack of belief in your own abilities. You may doubt whether you’re really cut out to run a book business. It’s important to trust yourself. You’ve dealt with challenging situations before. You can do them again with your business. Also, other people you know may also be expressing their own doubts, and projecting them onto you. In these cases, it is best to ignore them and continue on the path.
Editor’s Note: This article was first published in December 2014.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hv1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Hiten Vyas is the Founder and Managing Editor of eBooks India. He is also a prolific eBook writer with over 25 titles to his name.[/author_info] [/author]