grimmrow | I need help

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I want to open a book publishing company that pays the writer an annual and monthly fee for their works, not just if the book makes it into print kind of deal but a career and job where they can write and afford to eat. I'm going to start doing heavy research to find someone who can help me with this. I need a lot of money to start, at least 2-3 million. I'd begin by hiring about 25 authors and contracting them for one book per year, once we'e making money and it's a lot of money, then by all means we'll branch out into 2-3-4-5 books a year, which is 25,000 per book. Then royalties as well.

Five books a year would only be for the highly creative and time consumed individual. I trust quite a few can do this. Does anyone know where I can get a decent business deal? I'm going to write out my formula and try to get help. I have ideas. I may only need about 50,000 and then an investing platform to reach millions.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

profiterole_reads

Wow, this is really cool!

Starting with 25 authors seems a lot, though, especially because you'll also need editors (unless the authors do editing for one another, which would make sense if they're actual employees of the company), artists for the cover arts (freelancers?), marketing people, etc.

You might also want to start with a theme (SF/F, romance, etc.), that could be expanded in the future.

From:

grimmrow

We're probably going to hire freelancers at first for illustrators but I'll have three on call for books like Harry Potter. I was hoping for thirty-two auths but might cut it down to 16. I want to make people's dreams a reality. 16 seems elitist lmao

So I think I'll stuck with thirty two and some of them can be editors. Thus makes lucrative sense but I'd rather stick with my strategy of specific roles having specific people.

Yes. I completely forgot the marketing team plus money for advances for book signings thanks for bringing this up

From:

ysabetwordsmith

It's easier to start small and grow, because that way you can refine as you go along and learn what works or not. If you start big, you can make very big mistakes. Starting small also lets you develop an audience who will follow you because you publish things they like. It's also much easier to fundraise for a small project, a modular project, than trying to do everything at once.

Something you might want to consider is digital vs. paper. Digital has way lower overhead and is increasingly popular. So with that, you don't necessarily have to sell individual books, articles, stories, etc. You can sell a subscription for people to read new stuff as it comes out. Imagine that you start with a handful of local authors and you schedule them so that you have a new story each week with periodic books. Readers can subscribe and get new material delivered regularly. But you could also market this to libraries, community centers, office waiting rooms, etc. in the area. Fasten an e-reader to a desk or chair, then clients can read from the whole menu of stuff. You can charge more for an institutional subscription too.

Say you want paper books. Release stuff in electronic format first, track what gets read (or at least opened) and publish the most popular ones. It's less of a gamble than guessing what people will like.

One thing I love about crowdfunding is the precision: my readers give me prompts, I write stuff based on those, I post thumbnails and prices, then they sponsor what they want.

From:

grimmrow

These are all good ideas. I may have to implement them when I finally get my money.

I have a question though, what is your format on crowdfunding? Like how do you have it set up?

From:

ysabetwordsmith

I do most of my crowdfunding through the Poetry Fishbowl on my blog and a bit more through the

crowdfunding Creative Jam.

For the fishbowl, I set a theme. People give me prompts. I write poems based on those prompts. I post one poem free as thanks for the prompts. For the others, I post a thumbnail description and a price. Prompters get a backchannel copy of their poems too. Then people sponsor whatever they want, and I post it.

There's no guessing what people would like to read or see more of. They just tell me. They don't have to wait for some editor to like something. They can ask for it and get it; they can buy it themselves. I have several series that are heavily backed by one person in terms of prompts and/or donations. Crowdfunding really lets you make a difference.