Last week felt like wins were coming in faster than I could document them. As last week’s blog posted I was in the midst of checking items off my business to do list I’d set up for myself.
Last week’s To Dos:
- Research how to sell e-books
- Sign up to sell audiobooks through Libro.fm or another outlet if I find one…but currently I only know about Libro.fm
- Open a business bank account
- Finish the business plan ALREADY!!!
Before the day was done, I had a new bank account, had applied to sell e-books and audiobooks; and had re-organized my project management system (had to find some way to keep all these advance review copies in order, and not get overwhelmed)!
Decided to open a Money Market account for the business, for now, might as well earn some interest (4.4%) on my investment until I make my first sale. Libro.fm and Kobo both approved my applications to sell audiobooks and e-books, respectively. I set up my Libro.fm store yesterday with a couple of playlists to get started (check them out: here). I’m waiting on Kobo US to approve me as an affiliate, and then I can set up that shop. Kobo Brazil and UK approved me sight unseen, Kobo Canada approved me yesterday…so I’m hoping since the territories are getting closer to the US, I’ll get approved soon.
Registration for Basic Bookselling at Professional Booksellers School opened yesterday. I applied ASAP. Can’t wait to start learning…I have to wait until March. I’m ready now!
The Business Plan is still the thing I’m least interested in doing…so I decided to break it down into tasks. Because just saying an overarching “work on Business Plan” is not cutting it. Used Notion to break up each chapter into a task for a specific day. I’m just a little obsessed with Notion (not an affiliate partner, yet 😝)…already offered to do a demo for one friend ’cause I love it so much and want her to use it too.
So by February the business plan should be a working draft. I don’t count on it being final until after I’ve completed the bookselling course (in May!) when I’ll know more about what I’m in for.
Next up, I’ll be continuing to work on an editorial calendar for my blog and social media posts. Tentative re-worked schedule is as follows (reason why I’m blogging on Tuesday instead of Thursday):
- Blog: changed from Thursdays to Tuesdays, to align with book release schedule – so I can post reviews for these advance reviews on the day of publication…instead of the Thursday before or the Thursday after
- Social: changed from Tuesdays to Thursdays, swapped because of Blog
Tentative pillars for the Blog are Book Reviews and Shop Diary; they feel a little more final than the Social pillars – maybe ’cause I feel more comfortable blogging. Very very tentative pillars for Social are Short form book reviews (tinkering with how to make these different than the blog reviews and authentic to my introverted self…these faceless accounts are really speaking to me), community (TBR lists/trending books to start discussions and build community), education (seasonal/monthly themed book roundups), customer feedback (polls and Q&As) and Product Info (new books and merch).
Now do these fit the bill of what “pillars” are? I’m not sure, the word is floating around online and has been part of my past corporate life. I thought I got it in corporate, but feels a little more squishy now that I’m creating the pillars myself. I’ll probably continue to retool them every now and then until they feel perfect. Looking forward to it!
What items have you checked off of your business to do list? Let me know in the comments.
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