Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
Writing as a Business
If you are writing for fun or passion, you can skip this post. Today, we are talking about Writing as a Business.
Mindy Klasky, a best-selling author, wrote an amazing series about “Making it Your Business” for Magical Words back in 2011 and most of it still applies. Creating a Strategic Plan helps you focus your energies on what works.
I have a great example of why it works from when I took some business courses. Most businesses know their business – so they know the direction they want to travel. But accounting works from the tradition of keeping costs as low as possible no matter what (pulling the company a little to the right); and sales knows that they need to sell, so they promise whatever will make the sale (twisting the company hard to the left); and the custodian is totally turned around and been counterproductive because his instructions on OSHA cleanup requirements haven’t been adjusted to the industry specifics of the company (a U-turn every day, erasing about two people’s worth of effort). Everyone in the hundred-person company is mostly aimed in the right direction, but a little off here and there. Lots of swerving. Basically 100 people are producing 78% of the time what the company needs. Good, but not perfect.
A Strategic Plan gets rid of the swerves. A force multiplier, each part of the company is examined and re-aimed to shoot true, straight ahead. OSHA requirements are examined for best course. Accounting doesn’t nitpick everything because they know what the company needs to create the best product possible. Sales no longer making promises outside of the company’s core business. 100% from 100 people.
Same holds true for an individual business like writing. Writing for passion gets you words. Writing with a strategic plan in place – to direct that passion gets you income. The difference is “I feel like writing something romantic today” to “I feel like writing romance today, and I know a romance anthology is looking for fairy tale spin-offs.”
Making It Your Business isn’t ignoring the muse, but harnessing it. Muses ride the writer enough, turn about is fair play.
Ms. Klansky’s Strategic Plan implementation appears in the following Magical Word postings:
- Mission Statement (1/20/2011) –
- Setting Goals (2/17/2011) –
- Developing Strategies (3/17/2011) –
- Specifying Actions (4/21/2011) –
WRITING EXERCISE: Create your Strategic Plan for either your life or for your art (writing, editing, or other creative endeavor).
My attempt
Mission Statement: Make a difference in the world by creating more stories showing healthy relationship choices, while making half the income I need to sustain my lifestyle.
Setting Goals, Developing Strategies, Specifying Actions: Wow, this is involved, but exactly what I need to shake of the pandemic paralyzation … I will need a few days to complete. I will be posting it as a 5th week blog. Link will be provided once it is up.