The Authors Business Plan
Although proposals can be hard to write, they provide invaluable benefits to writers. Think of them as business plans, which are documents that justify every step of a prospective commercial venture and are required to get financing for business deals.
When you want to finance a new business, you can’t just say, “I have this great idea” and expect the investors to fight for a place in line. You must first prepare a convincing plan that clearly explains, step-by-step, your idea, the need for your product or service, how it would work, and how it will make money. A business plan must hold up under the fierce scrutiny of financial experts who will question and measure every expense.
Book proposals operate similarly and serve as both planning documents and selling documents.
As regards to planning, a book proposal gives you the opportunity to lay out your strategy for writing and promoting a salable book and to run it by your agent and others, who are expert at evaluating such plans. It forces you to anticipate each stage in the entire book-writing process and to decide exactly how you plan to proceed. It clarifies your approach and the resources you will need and can expose weaknesses that you should address.
And in regard to selling, proposals enable you to present representative samples of your work that will sell your book idea to an agent or publisher. It’s the marketing case that contains examples of your wares and should be stocked to convince your targets to buy.
When a publisher decides to buy your book, it is basically agreeing to finance your book’s publication by paying the costs of its printing and distribution.
Format
Although the formats of proposals can differ, a number of basic elements should be included in every proposal.
Like most of us, agents and publishers are creatures of habit, and when they receive book proposals, they will be looking for specific information. Since a major purpose of your proposal is to sell them on your book, don’t force them to hunt for the answers they need. Instead, give them what they want in a format they like and can easily follow.
In a proposal, we like to include the basic sections that are listed below. After the overview, their order can be varied to give greater prominence to a particular strength.
For example, the fact that an author is a huge celebrity should be stressed in the overview and the about-the-author section should be placed directly after the overview.
Non-Fiction
The basic proposal sections we recommend for nonfiction are:
Cover letter
Title page
Overview
Spin-offs
Markets for the book
Translations
Products
About the author
Promotion plan
Table of contents
Chapter summaries or outline
Introduction
Sample chapter(s)
Additional submissions
Endorsements
Reviews or short excerpts of your prior writing
Relevant articles, clippings, and press materials
Postage-paid, self-addressed envelope. Large enough and with enough postage. Many agents won’t return material if the envelope is not large enough and it doesn’t contain sufficient postage.
From AUTHOR 101 ™Book Proposals http://www.author101.com
Five Crucial Components of a Business Plan
The format of a Business Plan is something that has been
developed and refined over the years and is something that should
not be changed. Like a good recipe, a business plan needs to
include certain ingredients to make it work.
When you create a business plan, don’t attempt to recreate its
format. Those reviewing this type of document have expectations
you must meet. If they do not see those crucial decision-making
components, they’ll see no reason to proceed with their review of
your business plan, no matter how great your business idea.
Executive Summary Section
Every business plan must begin with an Executive Summary section.
A well-written Executive Summary is critical to the success of
the rest of the document. Here is where you need to capture the
attention of your audience so that they will be compelled to read
on. Remember, it’s a summary, so each and every word must be
carefully selected and presented.
Use the Executive Summary section of your business plan to
accurately describe the nature of your business venture including
the need that you plan to fill. Show the reasons why people need
your product or service. Show this by including a brief analysis
of the characteristics of your potential market.
Describe the organization of your business including your
management team. Also, briefly describe your sales and marketing
plan or approach. Finally include the numbers that those
reviewing your business plan want to see – the amount of capital
you seek, the carefully calculated sales projections and your
plan to repay the loan.
If you’ve captured your audience so far they’ll read on.
Otherwise, they’ll close the document and add your business plan
to the heap of other rejected ideas.
Devote the balance of your business plan to providing details of
the items outlined in the Executive Summary.
The Business Section
Be sure to include the legal name, physical address and detailed
description of the nature of your business. It’s important to
keep the description easy to read using common terminology. Never
assume that those reading your business plan have the same level
of technical knowledge that you do. Describe how you plan to
better serve your market than your competition is currently
doing.
Market Analysis Section
An analysis of the market shows that you have done your homework.
This section is basically a summary of your Marketing Plan. It
needs to show the demand for your product or service, the
proposed market, trends within the industry, a description of
your pricing plan and packaging and a description of your company
policies.
Financing Section
The Financing section must show that you are as committed to your
business venture as you expect those reading your business plan
to be. Show the amount of personal funds you are contributing and
their source. Also include the amount of capital you need and
your plan to repay this debt. Include all pertinent financial
worksheets in this section: annual income projections, a
break-even worksheet, projected cash flow statements and a
balance sheet.
Management Section
Outline your organizational structure and management team here.
Include the legal structure of your business whether it is a
partnership, corporation or limited liability corporation.
Include resumes and biographies of key players on your management
team. Show staffing projection data for the next few years.
By now you’re probably thinking that you don’t need Business Plan
just yet. Well you do, and there is business plan building
software that can help you through this immense project. These
software packages are easy to use and affordable. Use one today
and produce a professional-quality Business Plan – including all
critical components – tomorrow!
Business Card Marketing Ideas For Realtors – Business Cards on Steroids
Unless your real estate brokerage mandates that you have a certain business card template, you need to start mixing things up and get crazy with your business card marketing. Your card needs to look different from every other Realtor’s and agent’s business card out there.
When prospects see the inside of a house after you’ve shown it, their eyes need to go straight to yours out of all the business cards sitting on the table.
When you hand someone a business card in the grocery store, it needs to make them want to frame it and hang it above their bed (ok, over exaggeration but you get the point).
There’s really only so much you can think of when it comes to business card marketing ideas. It’s hard to look different sometimes but there are enough options to make it work.
Let me show you…
Let’s start with the color. Most Realtors and agents use a white background for their card, right? One option is to just switch up the color. Go orange or yellow, or purple, or neon green. Make it standout. Don’t mix those all together and look like the “hippie agent” though (unless that’s your brand), but put some color into it. Don’t be afraid to be different. Just make sure it lines up with your brand that you’re trying to convey to prospects.
Another simple business card marketing idea is that the font style can be changed too. Make sure the font color goes with your card background but play with the style. DaFont.com has some great, free ideas of all kinds of font styles. Play with some of those and see what looks best for you and your brand.
Your profile picture could use a face lift too. No, I’m not saying you’re ugly. You’re beautiful just the way you are. What I mean is you should try taking a different picture of yourself.
How about a picture of you with a client? You with your dog? You sitting on top of a roof? You leaning on a giant key that’s the size of “Andre the Giant”? Get creative and think outside the box. Put a picture on there that prospects are going to remember!
What do you have on the backside of your card right now? Is it blank? Do you have some tacky phrase about “the best compliment I can receive is a referral from a friend….”? I actually hate seeing that one. That’s NOT business card marketing in a unique way; that’s just silly.
When I’m showing a house, I always look at the backside of the agent’s cards that have shown the house before me. I see that phrase on there all the time. It’s almost worse than leaving it blank. Who’s going to refer someone to you just because you say you’d appreciate it? Unless you’ve built a relationship with that prospect, it’s meaningless. If this is you I’m talking about, I’m sorry. But please consider changing that up.
OK, enough ranting. Back to this business card marketing lesson…
Instead of a tacky phrase or a blank backside, how about offering a “FREE Report” about something if they go to your site and fill out their name and email in your opt-in box?
You could offer…
“FREE 7-Day e-Course on How to Sell Your Home in 21 Days or Less” “FREE 10-Minute Interview with Your Town’s Funniest Realtor” “9 Ways to Avoid Selling Below Your Listing Price” “3 Tips on How to Sell Your Home for $30,000 More”
Give prospects a reason to go further with your business card. That’s the whole point of this business card marketing technique. Make them want to know more about you. Don’t let them think you’re the same as the other 2 million agents out there.
Now for my favorite way to enhance your business card marketing. This is awesome and I barely see any Realtors or agents doing this. It’ll make you look like Donald Trump… plastic and metal! Let me explain more…
What is your card printed on right now? Some kind of paper, I know, but what kind? Does it feel like you took some copy paper as thin as single-ply toilet paper and slapped your name and phone number on it? Or does it feel like the typical semi-durable card stock that we always see?
Do you think your card would stand out more if it was made out of a thin sheet of metal? Or plastic? No, I’m not kidding.
What if the card had your logo on it only it was cut into the business card instead of printed on it? You can actually do this stuff with business cards now.
Yes, it’s a bit more expensive but it’s a marketing piece. It says something about your brand and image. Don’t spend $5 per card but feel free to splurge a little more than the home-made Staples business card kit you bought Thursday morning.
While this business card topic is a common one, you can see there are all kinds of variations you can implement to stand out from the crowd. And when you literally have a million other agents out there to compete with, you need to stand out!
Follow the guidelines and ideas and I gave you and put your own twist on it. Take some time to think and come up with something unique and creative. Think about all the prospects that receive and see your card. Don’t you want to maximize those marketing pieces to their fullest potential? With these ideas, you’ll be on your way.