For about one year now, I have been wondering how to go about forming a publishing house because I want to be able to make a living off my writing, yet the market for authors and publishers is too hypercompetitive. I would have to figure out a publishing house business model that is flexible and easy to manage.
Who Am I As A Writer?
I have been writing for as long as I can remember. I actually started tinkering and experimenting with my writing when I was 13. The best way to encapsulate my writing into a set of slogans is:
Is Yet Isn\’t; Isn\’t Yet Is
Past, Present, And Future From The Same Randomly Assorted Toy Box
Identity As A Scrimshaw In Dorean Detail
If I were to choose a tagline for this site, it would have to be the 3rd one, since it is more all-encompassing than the other slogans.
What Is Typical Of A Publishing House Business Model?
Basically, from what I understood, I simply need to establish myself as a business through the Secretary of State of any state, though I was also told that I could use a business registration service like Biz. I want to be able to ask more questions before I am able to feel secure enough to make this decision.
As for the people within the business, it\’s easy to think of a publishing house specifically as having a round-the-clock team of editors, cover illustrators, marketers, and formatters always showing up at the business site itself. It might be the case with larger publishing houses like Penguin and Tor, but my publishing house would have be small. Obviously, I would not have a slush pile of submission to require a full-time time.
From what I understood, the publishing house can have a digital office and my team can always be freelance or cooperatives. I would have to take this route in order to save costs and give myself room for flexibility.
When Did I First Formulate This Plan?
I always wanted to write, but I could not find any publisher who wanted to accept my unique writing–especially when they already have a slush pile to deal with anyway. Because there is no guarantee of becoming an established writer, I decided to establish myself as a writer through my status as an established publisher.
Where Is The Direction I Want To Take The Publishing House Business Model?
I would want to start with a narrow genre focus before I can expand upon the various other genres I would want to write in.
I would want to start in the following markets:
- science-fantasy
- bildungsroman
The future, additional genres would have to be:
- historical fiction
- literary fiction
How Would I Engage With The Market?
This new publishing house would have to do a lot of market research into what sells and what does not. Since science-fantasy is bit of a niche genre, I would want to focus on the fantasy genre itself.
I already devised a way to change my drafts at the last minute in case the market trends change at the 11th hour.
Why Would I Go Down This Route?
I don\’t see any other pathways to take and this is the only one that is worthy of my fixation. It\’s either this path or I work as a janitor.
An Example Of A Publishing House Business Model?
There are examples of publishing house business models.
- The Paid Content Publisher: This is for news websites, but I might employ this on the side. I thought about writing a story that can only be accessed through subscription.
- Publisher As Retailer: this is for the traditional book publishing route, so I will accept this route as the main one.
Which Publishing Route Should I Take?
I would have to choose an S-Corp. It is small enough to not have a tax burden, and also easy enough to set up compared to a standard LLC. The Publisher-As-Retailer would have to be the main path I would have to take, especially since I already have my own process of creating new stories. As such, I intend to publish my own stories–at least in the short-term plan.
Would I Agree To All Of This?
At this point, I would agree to undergo all of the above, just to be able to express myself without limitations. At this point, I would value achieving my vision even if it covers the bare minimum, even if it covers a shoe-box apartment with minimalist decor.
Are There Conditions I Will Not Accept?
I already set up for myself a path for being able to write as many novel as I could. Throughout my experiments, I devised for myself methods to be able to generate a myriad story ideas, plots, and characters. I will not accept any deviation from this path.
What Is My Path To Write A Myriad Stories?
I mentioned in a previous post about the juxtaposition of the Pareto Principle and worldbuilding. There are plenty of methods I could conjure up to never run out of ideas. Would it be formulaic? Think it about this way: How many fantasy novels fit within the same Eurocentric aesthetic based off the same medieval history? Commercially available fiction is itself formulaic, regardless of how unique individual titles are, since they are part of the overall trend.
Which Method Would Be Most Appropriate?
For the purposes of staying on focus, it would have to be a method that pertains to the publishing house business model. While the methods I described were to be used in the story-writing itself, the story-selling would have to be a completely different topic.
Perhaps AI marketing would serve the purpose of employing the Pareto Principle to the story-selling aspect of publishing. I want to be able to not get addicted to social media, while at the same time take full advantage of it to sell my products. I don\’t have a lot of social media accounts, though I did sign up for Bluesky as soon as it was available.
Overall, I would need to find 20% vital input for 80% useful output. Marketing would be no different, for I would need to find the loyal, dedicated 20% who generate 80% of the sales. How I would find a method for this is unknown, since it requires a lot of flexibility in an uncertain realm.
Why Would I Need These Methods?
I need to think about the story-selling methods before I can start the application. This is to ensure that I get a clear understanding of what I am up against. At the same time, I acknowledge that the market trends tend to be unpredictable, so I would need to be mindful of that.
When Would I Need To Start Changing The Methods?
If the algorithm starts catching on to AI marketing and black-hats sites that employ it, I will have to consider another marketing strategy. It will still have to employ the Pareto Principle. So, the most important consumers would be the major focus of my marketing strategy regardless.
Sources
- \”11 Business Models For Publishers.\” Innovation Media Consulting. 2018.