Self-Published Book Launch Plans vs. Realities

We all know the idea of launching something is more glamorous than the actual work of it, right?  Well, the people who have actually launched things know this, while the people who have never launched something think it all happens effortlessly with a magic wand.  With that said, allow me to vent/share all the book launch things I thought I might do, the things that didn't happen, and what I ended up doing in reality to get the Pricing Workbook for Creatives out into the hands of other people in the first week of publication.

WHAT SEEMED LIKE A GREAT PLAN FOR A BOOK LAUNCH:

• A Kickstarter Book Launch

• A Book Launch Party with Clients, Friends, and Family
• A Book Launch Countdown Website

• A Book Signing in a Bookstore or Library
• A Reduced Online Price to Drive Sales

WHAT I DIDN'T DO FOR MY FIRST BOOK LAUNCH:

Didn't Do A Kickstarter Book Launch
Initially, this was going to be a way for me to launch the book with an eco-friendly printer, which would be much more costly than a traditional printer.  However, I ran into two problems when I walked this idea forward deeper into the future.  The first issue was that the $35 price I wanted for the book was still going to be too low to support an eco-friendly printing that would need to be shipped elsewhere or distributed on Amazon.  The second issue was that I would likely need to store hundreds of copies of the book because I wouldn't have time to arrange a major promotion and event for the book in the time that remained between the launch date of May 5, and the date I'd be leaving for a year of travels, June 15th.

Didn't Do A Book Launch Party with Clients, Friends, and Family
When I started to look at who I might invite for a book launch party, and what I already knew about the rate of people showing up in NYC for personal smaller scale parties and celebrations that didn't include MET Gala tickets, Beyonce Concert Tickets, Broadway Tickets, or Fine Dining on someone else's pocket, I realized the rate of people showing up might be more disappointing than congratulatory.  This potential outcome was reinforced when my hubby extended a birthday invitation in April for close local friends to join for a birthday dinner at TAO- and it resulted in zero friends coming out for the evening.  Granted, that invitation was sent last minute by my spontaneous husband, but I also recommended he reach out and ask people to send wishes rather than RSVPs because I already knew what the outcome might be based on everyone's locations and the invitation.  In other cities, turning down a birthday dinner invite might be considered a personal offense.  However, in NYC, this is a standard party-hosting risk because there are so many competitions for better and bigger party options- or the exhaustion of the city sets in and people just decline all the invitations to get some necessary self-care time away from the craziness of everything in the city.  Look, I get it.  In NYC, either host a big decadent party that's hard to compete with, or schedule an intimate dinner party around the 3 people who might actually show up for you personally even if they got last-minute tickets.  That's just the name of the game when it comes to parties in NYC.  If we all got offended about this, we'd never have friendships due to the frequency in which it happens.

Didn't Do A Book Signing in a Bookstore or a Library
This was something that I had planned to do if I was going to have a bunch of printed books available to work with and sell wholesale to the bookstores I'd do signings in.  However, then came the thought of who would I invite, and who would actually show up?  Would I just be sitting there at a table with random people stopping by?  Highly likely.  Would anyone I actually know come by?  Probably just my husband, and maybe not even him if it needed to be scheduled on a day he was out of town.  How far in advance would I need to schedule if I was going to do a book signing?  I had no idea, so doing this as a Book Launch strategy didn't seem as wise as potentially just scheduling a book signing to happen after the book already launched and could gain some more legs and traction in the market.  I still may do a book signing in the future, but not until I've had time to talk with some independent book sellers to find out how we can make it a mutually successful event.

Didn't Do A Book Launch Countdown Website
When it came down to what made the most sense in the time I had available and all the things I wanted to accomplish, creating a special website for just the book just didn't end up rising to the top of my list.  I hired a designer to help me not freak out about the transition of the book from its final draft form to a printed format, and that alone took a lot of back and forth getting it just right for Amazon's print guidelines.  If I had expected a website to be done in that time frame as well, it wouldn't' have been that great.  Read the realities below to find out what I did instead of a website.

Didn't Do A Reduced Online Price to Drive Sales
This was a tough decision, and in the end, I'm glad I didn't choose to do this.  The initial thought was to use a starting discount to drive up sales numbers to rank at the top of Amazon and get even more traffic right away.  That is, after all, why Amazon offers a Kindle Exclusive 90 period, in order to encourage people to buy copies of the Kindle through Amazon first.  However, this book is so niche focused, that I knew the sales would be a drop in the bucket.  What I did instead, was offer a discount only to my list, and only through me directly, which meant my purchases of the book didn't even count toward general sales.  Here's why this ended up being a good idea- I quickly learned that offering your book on Kindle opens you up to more copyright infringement.  Keeping the Kindle price just as high as the full printed price on release day means less copyright infringement.  You are also most likely to make more sales on launch day even without a special offer, so why short yourself when you've invested so much time in developing and planning for a launch?!

WHAT I ACTUALLY DID FOR THE BOOK LAUNCH:

• Bought Custom Book Domain Names for the Book Title

• Directed Domains to A Simple Mail Chimp Sign-Up Page

• Collected Email Addresses for Early Bird Specials

• Shared Stories & Posts about the Book Process & Contents on Social Media

• Set Up a Facebook Event for the Book Launch Date to Invite Friends Online

• Set Up a Facebook Group to Share with Beta-Testers & Early Birds

• Shared Book Preview Videos Online with Followers

• Sent Emails with Discounts & Freebies to Early Bird Email List

• Opened A Nice Bottle of Wine I had been saving with Friends Outside the City

• Collected Author Direct Special Orders from Email List

• Ordered & Mailed Author Direct Special Books with Personalized Notes

• Gifted A Dozen Books in Person & by Mail

Total Book Launch Costs: -$750 

(Includes cost for book designer, ordered books, gifted books, domains- but does NOT include the cost of my unpaid working time.  If the book sells an average of 300 copies a year, it will take about 20 years to pay me back for all the time I invested in creating the book.)

Total Book Launch Income: +$250

(Sales came from Author Direct Special Orders placed in first week.  Amazon doesn't distribute profits from online sales until 60 days after the purchase.)
Book Launch First Week Balance: -$500

Profits vs. Progress:
If my goal right out of the gate was some kind of profit goal, I would have delayed the launch even further and done exponentially more build-up promotional activity and audience gathering.  However, I have a 100 year goal for this book, which can't be accomplished in one week.  A goal of culturally shifting the ways people value themselves, their time, their energy, and their creativity.  A goal of making sure career counselors are providing entrepreneurship as an option for their students.  A goal of people knowing they really can turn whatever their passion is into a living, by giving them a method of planning how they will make it happen.  These goals can't be accomplished in a week, and they are far greater than any profit alone can accomplish.

More Realities of Self-Published Book Launching:

There are a lot of things to take care of in the final stages before a book is self-published, so this is really reflective of what I actually had time to do in reality.  Keep in mind, this book launch is happening while I'm still serving consulting clients, image licensing clients, teaching reiki classes, and doing private reiki sessions for clients.  As much as I would love to live in an imaginary world where I didn't need to work on other projects while focusing on a book launch, that is not my reality.  I still need to serve clients and do work that pays bills associated with daily life and normal business activities as well as factoring in the advance costs associated with launching a book before the book ever supports itself.

Timing from Published to Printed Editions in Hand:

Now, I could have chosen to delay the book launch in order to make all the promotional build-up more exciting and more special, but instead I chose to launch the book publicly on the deadline I'd set for May 4 and May 5.  That meant all of my book time was focused on finishing design and production considerations.  I knew I needed time to order, personalize, and mail copies of the book before I started traveling overseas in June, so I thought at least 30 days in advance would be enough time.  In retrospect, I'm really glad I gave myself an entire month because when Amazon's order projection on May 4th said books wouldn't be delivered until May 20th, I was a tad shocked at how long it might take, considering some of the Amazon materials said it would only take about 7 days.  In reality, it did only take about 7 days from ordering to receiving the books, but planning for the potential delay is better than not planning and missing it completely.

What I Would Do Differently on a Longer Timeline:

If I had known that I wouldn't be able to get Author Copies from Amazon until I hit the publish button (only Proof Copies printed with a not-for-resale band across them), I might have done a sneaky early release to order my own set of Author Copies, then taken the book offline until a more planned and formed release date.  This would allow me to promote with finished printed books rather than the proof copies - but I worked with what I had access to- and no one really seemed bothered by it or even mentioned it at all.  I also would likely have done the kickstarter process and pitched to more bookstores and schools for signing and speaking events.

Social Media Followers vs. Email Subscribers:

In total, before this book launch, I already had over 10,000+ total followers between Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIN.  They weren't highly qualified for the book launch, more like people who just followed me in general from other things I'd done.  These are the people who have seen my journey the most, and who are likely the most curious about anything I would be offering anyway.  From my social media promotions, which I tried to keep light and infrequent until launch week so my feed would stay interesting rather than one huge sales pitch, I gathered an email mailing list of 55 people over the course of a few months from sharing posts and hints on social media.  Now, I think we all know the people who actually see our social media feed is much smaller than the amount of people who potentially follow us, so it was interesting to see how many followers actually converted to mailing list interest in my promotional offers for the book.

Email Subscribers vs. Book Buyers:

Now that I've mentioned the email mailing list numbers, you're probably wondering how many actually converted into book buyers, right?  10 people from the 55 person list became book buyers in the promotional pricing period in which I offered a special price for people if they purchased the book directly from me, which also required having them share their delivery address and sending payment via PayPal.  Luckily, these people were already highly qualified as followers and subscribers, so the trust factor was higher than a bunch of strangers.  The other 45 email subscribers received the chance for a discount and didn't take it, but still received the first important section and worksheet in the book for free to help them get started with doing the work.  There were 3 book buyers who bought the book in the promotional period without having the discounted rate, but Amazon doesn't tell me exactly who those buyers are.  So - a total of 13 books were sold in the initial book launch.  I'm not going to judge myself on whether this number is any good or not, because it's my first book launch and at this point, I'm just deeply grateful for each person who supported this book right out of the gate.  I had zero expectations about how many people would buy the book, and that really helped keep my excitement in check.

Are We Done Launching Yet?

Nope.  Instead of considering this book launch a one day or one week launch period, I take a much longer-view and consider the entire first year of the book as a period of extended perpetual promotional launching.  My goal is to get this book into the hands of 500 people in the first year.  I have no idea how it's going to happen when you consider the numbers so far, but I do know that the intention to make it happen will help me identify opportunities I wouldn't have recognized otherwise. My goals for this book are not about me, but about the people it will help, and because of that, I'm willing to take a much longer view on how this all unfolds from here.

Example of Book Launch Social Media Posts Before Publication: 

Here's a look at some of the posts and insights I shared before the book was released to the public.  My goal during the pre-launch period was to let people know what I was working on so that it could slowly come into their awareness before the launch week.  I felt awful doing much more than this, but I also occasionally felt like I didn't do enough.  So this probably represents a bit of a balance between too much and not enough.  You can see that I only did an every-day promotion piece in the final week before launch:

• May 5, 2019 - Instagram Post with Cheeky Mark Twain References
• May 5, 2019 - Author Direct Special Announcement on Facebook for Email List
• May 4, 2019 - Instagram Post about Celebrating Special Occasion of Book Launch
• May 4, 2019 - Make Profit Meaningful Video Promo for Workbook
• May 3, 2019 - Instagram Post about Starting Point for Workbook
• May 3, 2019 - Plan for Problems Video Promo for Workbook
• May 2, 2019 - Time Tracking Video Promo for Workbook
• May 1, 2019 - Know Your Numbers Video Promo for Workbook
• April 29, 2019 - Instagram Post about Receiving Printed Proof of Workbook
• April 25, 2019 - Instagram Post about Working on Book Design with Designer
• April 24, 2019 - Instagram Post included Workbook in Ways I Work Through Anxiety
• April 23, 2019 - Instagram Post on Dealing with Deadlines
• March 15, 2019 - Instagram Post for Pricing Workshop
• March 13, 2019 - Instagram Post about Pricing Hand Carved Jade
• February 23, 2019 - Instagram Post about Support for a Kickstarter Campaign
• February 10, 2019 - Instagram Post about Eco-Friendly Print Samples and Book Release
• February 5, 2019 - Instagram Post about Eco-Friendly Print Sample Decisions 
• February 4, 2019 - Instagram Post about Testing Group Finishing Workbook
• February 1, 2019 - Instagram Post on Making Things Work While Writing the Book
• January 31, 2019 - Instagram Post sharing my Fears and Anxieties about Workbook
• January 30, 2019 - Instagram Post on Book Printing Decisions
• January 25, 2019 - Instagram Post on Decision Making & Editing Process
• January 23, 2019 - Instagram Post on Vision Boarding for Workbook
• January 19, 2019 - Instagram Post on Killing My Own Publishing Dreams
• December 31, 2018 - Instagram Post on 2018 Accomplishments & Joys
• December 27, 2018 - Instagram Post on Short Term Goals for Pricing Workbook
• December 12, 2018 - Instagram Post for Cover Options
• December 11, 2018 - Instagram Post to Share Video Interview in Designer Diaries
• December 10, 2018 - Video Interview for Designer Diaries

Have any more questions about what I did to prepare for a self-published book launch?  
Do you have a book launch story that you've published online and want to share?  
Click on comments and let me know!
(Please note comments are moderated over 48 hours to eliminate the spammy stuff.)

Timeline to Write & Self-Publish the Pricing Workbook for Creatives

When I began my book writing research, I was curious how long different parts of the process might take.  I really didn't find many people who provided comprehensive timelines of book writing, editing, or design processes, so I'm making this blog post for anyone else who wonders about what it might take when self-publishing.  I had no idea what to expect, how much time it would take, or what issues I might run into.  Thankfully, I have learned to expect problems, so I planned for problems, and because of that, was still able to make the deadline.

The short answer for this book: 20 Years from beginning self-employment experiences to print.

Let's break that down into more real life details.... 

The biggest thing I learned during the book writing, editing, designing, and publishing process was to make progress wherever I could, rather than waiting for one process to finalize before beginning another.  You'll notice that several of my timelines below overlap dates with other timelines, because I didn't wait for one process to end completely before beginning the next.  This made it easier to move forward on the next step even when the last was taking a while.

Book Design & Print Proofing Process (3 months):

• May 5, 2019 - First Edition Kindle & Paperback Publicly Available on Amazon.com!
• Paperback USA: https://amzn.to/2LiezQm
• Kindle: https://amzn.to/2vADxzZ
• May 3, 2019 - Get 3rd email about spine text not being within margins.  Resist the temptation to put my fist through a wall.  Decide to scrap the spine text completely with only two days left to going live with publication.  Designer makes 4th cover without spine text.  Upload new cover.  Praying I don't get another email about spine text when it's not even there.
• May 2, 2019 - Get 2nd error about the cover text overlapping the safe zones.  Designer tries another fix, this time with smaller font in all caps for readability.  Upload 3rd Cover with Corrections for Paperback Edition.
• May 1, 2019 - Get 1st error message about text overlapping safe zones.  Designer tries different approach and sizing of text.  Upload 2nd Cover with Corrections for Paperback Edition.
• April 30, 2019 - Upload Paperback Cover and wait 24 hours for approval.  See more things I want to fix in the manuscript, but discover the Kindle manuscript is now on lock-down with no ability to edit or update while Amazon prepares for pre-orders.  Let go of desire for perfection.  Make notes for future book changes.
• April 29, 2019 - I see the Paperback Printed Proofs for the first time in person in NYC, and it definitely looks like we need to redo the cover design so the spine text all fits more narrowly.  Email designer about the issue, and designer offers a new cover to upload.
• April 28, 2019 - Printed Paperback Proofs arrive in the mail, Alex sends me photos of proofs while I'm traveling and I can see that we may need to redo the cover closer to guidelines.
• April 26, 2019 - Place Amazon orders for Paperback Printed Proof copy of workbook to be delivered to my home and designer's home.
• April 25, 2019 - Submit request for Paperback Printed Proof copy of workbook.  First message regarding Paperback Cover printing guideline errors, but I wait until I see the proofs to take action on the changes.
• April 24, 2019 - Make final tweaks to book manuscript.  Power editing session in person in Michigan with designer on Kindle Cover, Kindle Manuscript, Paperback Cover, and Paperback Manuscript.  We make decisions about whether or not to number the blank pages in the print edition, taking blank pages out of the kindle edition, spacing of headings and margins, and addition of extra pages.  We run into errors, fix them on the spot, keep testing, keep finding issues, and keep uploading new versions until everything seems to come back OK.
• March - April - Bring the printed workbook manuscript with me everywhere to keep looking it over for design tweaks while celebrating my 40th birthday with 5 weeks of travels. 
• February 28, 2019 - Contract designer for branding, website, and book design.
• February 4, 2019 - Do first test print of entire workbook on paper to determine layout issues.
• January 28, 2019 - Reach out to designers to get quotes to help me with book design and get my messy online branding situation cleaned up.

Legal Consideration Interviews with Lawyers (3 days):

• February 14, 2019 - Talk to third lawyer about copyright and trademark protection.  Suggests declaring copyright on every page of the book.  Recommends branding for Anne Ruthmann.
• February 13, 2019 - Talk to second lawyer about copyright and trademark protection.  Suggests declaring copyright on every page of the book.  Recommends making Anne Ruthmann the larger trademark brand more than the book itself.
• February 12, 2019 - Talk to first lawyer about copyright and trademark protection.  Suggests declaring copyright on every page of the book.

Book Release Date and Amazon Pages Set-Up (2 weeks):

• February 20, 2019 - Set up Amazon Author Bio page and KDP select service
• February 14, 2019 - Set up pricingworkbook.com and pricingworkbookforcreatives.com to direct to a quick email capture form to announce book release and email only specials
• February 12, 2019 - Receive first online pre-order of kindle from someone in India, decide not to direct people to Kindle pre-orders, but to capture emails in order to offer direct specials
• February 9, 2019 - Set Book Release Date on Amazon Kindle, upload first draft of manuscript, freak-out about deadlines, create timeline of work to be done before deadline

Eco-Friendly Book Printing Research (1 month):

• February 27, 2019 - Blog about my research on Self-Publishing an Eco-Friendly Printing
• February 21, 2019 - Having done the math on eco-friendly printing and amazon distribution, I realize that it's not going to be feasible to do both, and that Amazon is going to end up getting all of the printing business for the first print run, but that I could do an eco-friendly print run for a series of in-person workshops with alternative schools or after-school programs that may happen in the future and would be great for rallying a kick-starter campaign for as well
• February 20, 2019 - After receiving only 3 quotes and samples for eco-friendly printing from 15 different printers, I decide it's time to stop focusing on research and make a decision about a printer and how I'll be funding the first print run
• January 31, 2019 - Consider the pros and cons of doing a kickstarter for an eco-friendly print edition of the workbook, friends are encouraging of going for it, but the numbers and shipping timeline may not work out with my travels to kickstart the first edition of the workbook
• January 30, 2019 - Get first eco-friendly printing quote, start to strategize about what it might take to support the cost of eco-friendly printing
• January 28, 2019 - Decide on binding style, cover and paper expectations
• January 25, 2019 - Start reaching out to various eco-friendly green printers

Book Editing Process (5 months):

• March 17, 2019 - Blog about my Workbook Editing, Testing, & Revision Process 
• February 9, 2019 - Share book with second editor for additional fine-comb editing on grammar and details
• December 12, 2019 - Continue recruiting more creatives and business owners to try out the Pricing Workbook on their businesses and needs for feedback and clarity
• November 15, 2019 - Started sharing book-in-progress with first editor to check clarity and understanding of material as I continued to finish writing material
• September 14, 2019 - Start recruiting creatives and creative business owners to try out the book, provide feedback, and use the material to DIY their business numbers

Book Writing Process (3 months to write book after 10 years of writing creative business blogs):

• January 31, 2019 - Create table of contents and decide on checklist format for book 
• December 11, 2018 - Finished writing Part 3 and completed entire first draft of Pricing Workbook for Creatives
• November 20, 2018 - Finished writing Part 2, started outlining and writing Part 3
• September 14, 2018 - Finished writing and formatting Part 1
• September 13, 2018 - Started outlining and writing Part 2
• September 11, 2018 - Started outline and first draft of Pricing Workbook for Creatives
• 2008 - 2019 - Wrote many blog posts, worked with hundreds of creative clients as a photographer/musician/writer/performer/marketer/educator, presented at several different conferences, and worked with many different types of creative consulting clients on pricing and business concerns
• February 9, 2008 - Wrote my first blog post specifically dedicated to Formulas for Pricing Products & Services after feeling like there were too many people in our creative industry that weren't doing numbers around what they needed to support their work

Real Life Experiences with Pricing Strategies in Creative Businesses (20 years of experiences):
The most important thing about my prior experiences is that I regularly reflected on what I was doing and how I could do it better.  I didn't just keep plodding on and doing the same thing and expecting to get the same results.  I constantly checked in on what was and wasn't working, and found ways to make it better.  Some of this was forced with each move and change in my business, but even in the years where the economy dropped, I found new ways of working and identifying ways to do it better.

• 2018 Annual Review - Wrapped up retirement from photography business to shift focus onto book writing, traveling, consulting, and reiki teaching
• 2017 Annual Review - Spent more time consulting other creatives and developing a reiki teaching practice alongside a thriving commercial architecture & interior photography business
• 2016 Annual Review - Moved exclusively into architecture & interior photography, continued consulting other creative businesses, began developing reiki practice
• 2015 Annual Review - Developed better pricing models for architecture, renovation, and design clients
• 2014 Annual Review - After better understanding the local market and opportunities with my personal goals to have more weekends to enjoy, changed my photography business model from portraits and events to focus on architecture & interior design market and started licensing work on usage
• 2013 Annual Review - Moved photography business to New York City, redid pricing and packaging for market
• 2012 Annual Review - Took 8 months off to travel the world, and picked up clients in Brisbane, Australia
• 2011 Annual Review - Did country-wide Smarter Business Workshop tour on pricing for creative businesses, launched local publication project, prepared to travel in 2012
• 2010 Annual Review- Started working with clients who purchased five-figure photography packages
• 2009 - Moved photography business into Western Ave Studios, where I did more studio portrait and commercial work and picked up a recurring contract for UML marketing photography
• 2008 - Moved to Lowell, MA, needed to completely redo pricing and packaging for East Coast market expenses and client preferences
• 2007 Annual Review - First year my photography income exceeded what I would have earned as a teacher, launched PhotoLovecat Blog to start helping other creatives figure out the business
• 2006 Annual Review - Moved to Terre Haute, IN - My first year of full-time self-employment as a photographer, traveled a lot to other cities to work for clients who valued photography
• 2004 - Detroit, MI - My first year of working for myself as a professional photographer.  This is one of the Recital Posters I mentioned in my TEDx Talk, created the first year I started offering to photograph for my music college friends.
• 2002 - Detroit, MI - My first year of freelancing as a professional musician
• 1998 - Lansing, MI - First time I freelanced as acting/model talent, paid as an independent contractor

BIG SCARY GOALS - Pricing Workbook for Creatives

I have quite a few BIG SCARY GOALS for the Pricing Workbook for Creatives.  However, I also know that in order for them to come to life, I will need quite a bit of help along the way.  Some of these feel impossible to me right now with the average projections I've seen of other similar projects, but that's never stopped me from setting big goals and attempting to go after them.  Trying for something big and learning along the way is better than not trying at all- this is just the story of my life.  This blog post is my way of writing these goals into the universe so that (just in case I die tomorrow) the book can continue its journey no matter what happens to me and my personal journey.



BIG SCARY GOAL: TRANSLATE INTO 10 LANGUAGES BY 2029
How amazing would it be if everyone could feel fully supported for the work they create and sell?  How much would it change the world if no one felt like they were undervalued in their efforts?  I believe the Pricing Workbook for Creatives can establish a sense of self-worth and creative-value that has often been squashed by industrialized societies and corporate colonial structures that haven't created many pathways for independent creatives.  It makes sense to focus on translating into the top languages currently being spoken in the world... Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindu, Arabic, Portuguese, Malay, Russian, Bengali, French, Hausa... however, if the workbook makes it into 10 languages of any kind, it will still be meeting its goal.

BIG SCARY GOAL: ESTABLISH LOCAL WORKSHOP LEADERS
Rather than trying to be a singular point person for everyone interested in this work, I'd rather support local leaders who can provide local help, localized community, and local resources.  These people will also need to build their own set of locally trusted referrals for CPAs, independent financial advisors, and lawyers to offer additional professional resources to people who need business and financial help that goes beyond the basics.  The workbook is already laid out easily for a curriculum format, but pacing can be tricky depending on how much time people have to work on it, and a lot of people may need extra hand-holding in order to make it happen.  I can't hold everyone's hand, but I can develop resources to help people find a local person who can help hold their hand.

BIG SCARY GOAL: BUILD A CREATIVE BUSINESS INCUBATOR
Creative work makes the world a more interesting, beautiful, and joyful place to live.  Creative businesses and independent creatives have unique needs and are often driven by motivations other than profit, which is why they need a supportive place that doesn't try to force them to seek investors who may be looking to capitalize on their work and then divest from it (if a creative wants to go that route- there are already plenty of options).  Likewise, many incredibly creative people never make it past the starting line because they don't come from a hefty savings account or a good supportive network for creatives and don't have the ability to get a loan to launch their creative projects.  I would like to figure out how we can best support creative businesses in their unique needs by creating a supportive program for the early years, without obligating creatives to turn over their profits later on. This is going to be a big challenge- but I have to believe it's possible to figure it out.

STARTING RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW
I have even more goals, but I find that it's better to focus more narrowly on three big scary goals, and see what happens along the path of pursuing those goals in order to determine what else may need to be done.  The path to making all of those goals happen is still wide open and and unpredictable, and I have no expectations of how it will unfold, only that these are my intentions behind creating the work and how I'd like to see it grow as it travels through the world and helps other creative businesses.  So, how am I starting right here, right now, with the resources I have in this moment?

FIRST YEAR GOAL:
For the first year of the Pricing Workbook for Creatives, I'll mainly be focusing on promotion and distribution while I'm traveling.  I need more people to meet the material where they are, with what they know, and see what kind of struggles or issues come up that can be clarified in writing.  After one year of other people using the workbook on their own and giving feedback, I should be able to revise the material as needed to make anything confusing even easier to understand in writing.  The first year will also help me create additional helpful content like more robust electronic spreadsheets, videos, software, or workbook samples that can help people out above and beyond examples that are already available in the workbook.

SECOND YEAR GOAL:
Should I end up in New York City when I get back from traveling the world (which is the plan as of today- but who knows what will happen), one of my goals is to develop a Creative Business Workshop Curriculum for Alternative Urban High School and Vocational programs.  I came from an inner-city upbringing and never would have attended High School myself if it weren't for the opportunity to be creative in Choir, Band, and Theatre.  All I cared about was performing and creating, but no one treated creative careers as options to make a living from or offered me a program that helped me turn my creativity into a business.  I started working to earn money as early as I could- and if someone had given me a roadmap that allowed me to start using my creative talents to make money at that age- I would have a huge head start on developing myself as a creative entrepreneur rather than spending more time in school systems that were training me to work for other people rather than helping me learn how to work for myself.  I had a lot of inner city friends who felt the same way I did and didn't fit into corporate structures or environments, but definitely had the inner creative drive to make their own business happen.  I'd like to make sure we are offering paths and openings for teens to create healthy lives by giving ways for them to understand how they can package their gifts and offer them to others.

Think you can help with any of these BIG SCARY GOALS for the Pricing Workbook for Creatives?!  Reach out and let me know how you'd like to be involved!!

A Hacked Launch is Greater Than No Launch

... unless you're a rocket scientist. However, when it comes to business, launching something new in a hacked, unorganized, messy, or imperfect way is still far better than not launching at all.   Indefinitely delaying a launch out of the desire for a fully formed and perfected presentation is a great way to never launch something.

Consider how much you learn and can earn from starting early and messy, no website, no pretty packaging, just trying different things, learning what resonates and what doesn't, building your resources as you go, discovering what people are and aren't willing to pay for just by offer to do work, honing and perfecting your presentation and process with each trial, gradually creating something that really works and is built on a foundation of real meaningful experiences.

Now consider what happens when trying to perfect everything first in the mind, without ever testing it in the real world with different people, without getting any feedback or response before sharing it with the world.  It's a lot of time invested on the perfection of a vision, but little to no time invested in understanding how others perceive that vision, what they are willing to pay for, or what questions they have and need answered to help them understand the value.  Understanding how other people value our work can only be understood by sharing that work with other people.  Understanding what and why people buy can only be understood by attempting to sell something.

Launching the Pricing Workbook for Creatives required me to launch messy and imperfectly.  What do I mean by messy?  At the moment, there seem to be two different versions of anneruthmann.com currently online depending on what device you use or how the domain connects based on any cookies you may have stored on your browser.  You might see my architecture & interior commercial photography portfolio hosted with photoshelter.com that looks like this:

Or you could see an about.me page that looks like this:

Neither of these are what I was hoping to have in place while launching the Pricing Workbook for Creatives.  Even though I already hired a designer to craft a new website that will be a better showcase of my experience and the resources I can provide, I already knew that the new website would take more time and not be ready for the book launch.  Rather than delay the book launch for the perfection of a website, or put the pressure of having the website first, I decided to focus on finding another way to launch messy and prioritize capturing public interest in the workbook so I could build and share resources along the way.

Instead of having the domains PricingWorkbookforCreatives.com or PricingWorkbook.com point to a website page full of amazing copy and testimonials, I decided to point the domains to a simple MailChimp.com email capture landing page (shown below) so that I could capture the interest around sending special deals to the early readers who wanted in on deals and freebies:

I really held to the promise in this form and ONLY offered special deals to this email list.  Everyone else who was just watching on social media never got the deal I offered over email.  I knew it was highly likely that the people on this email list would still be watching me elsewhere online in social media, and I needed them to know how much I valued their early support, interest, and trust in me to deliver on my promise.  This made a tiny little email form far more valuable than a website would be, because it unlocked something no one else could get otherwise.  Any mention I made leading up to the launch on social media simply directed people to this form, rather than some long and rambling sales page, complicated website, webinar registration, free download, or anything else.  I wanted the process to be simple and straightforward, no complications.

In some ways, I find the interest of those early registrations to be far more meaningful and valuable than anything that comes from a more a perfected website or sales pitch.  The early registrations were all-in right away.  They didn't need to see more.  They knew what they wanted and were willing to get first dibs.  Regardless of their follow-through rate on sales, the emotional support to keep going when it was frustrating before launch came from just seeing those early registrations waiting in line.  Thanks to launching early and messy, the Pricing Workbook for Creatives got to have its moment of fame at the top of the New Release list for Kindle Books in the Business of Art category!

When building something important, I've realized the group belief in what you are offering is a key factor in getting to the finish line.  Group support for a product creates an encouraging fire to keep moving forward even when you might want to give up, much like being in a relay knowing an entire team needs you to be your best and reach your finish point.  It truly is special to know when people value what you're putting out into the world.  I don't think I would have learned how important that step really was if I had waited to launch with a more developed website or structure.

Having a hacked together launch can also help you mitigate risk.  If you anticipate a launch with a simple sign up page and get no sign ups at all no matter how much you promote something- it's a pretty good sign that something doesn't seem valuable enough to want!  Either that or you need to talk to more people and revise your offer until people do sign up for it.  Eliminating what people don't value and don't want helps prevent you from risking the time and energy to build something that won't be able to get off the ground when it's ready.

So if you're working on something new, or planning to launch something no one has ever seen yet... how about taking it for a test drive while it's still in concept form before going big?  Talking with people about what you're working on helps you refine what other people are most interested in and excited to see.  Whether you talk about it online or in person to build buzz and interest, try it while things are still messy and see what you can learn and revise to make it better for those who want it!