I’ve been putting more and more effort into being a full-time author. On the one hand, this means more writing. That’s amazing. I love being able to write more, and that’s where my joy lies. On the other hand, however, other business-related elements can’t be ignored.
This is more true for indie authors than those traditionally published, but similarities remain. After the writing is complete, you need to edit your work. This can’t be done a little or a lot, but it’s good to take a critical eye to your work and read as though you’re not the author, but a reviewer, reader, or anyone who would pay money for your book.
Once that’s done, you send it off to a professional editor. This can take different forms. One of the main forms is developmental editing, which is all about a focus on the big picture parts like story, character, scene, pace, and coherence. Another form is line editing, which is all about an emphasis on style, sentence structure, word choice, and checking the spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax. Both are great and extremely useful. I often seek mostly the latter with a nod to the former.
After editing, you must review what’s returned to you. After that, you finish up the formatting. As an indie author, you put the book out to the world via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and numerous other options for ebooks and paperbacks.
This leads to marketing. Great, my book is out in the world. How do I get people to see it and buy it? This part I’m still exploring and working to do better with.
Any way you slice it, I’m not just an author. I’m a business.
What’s being a business got to do with anything?
If you’re an artist for the sake of being an artist, you’re likely a hobbyist. No disrespect if that’s you, it’s a perfectly valid choice. As a hobbyist, you can certainly make money doing what you’re doing. Usually, as a hobbyist, though, your art isn’t your main vocation.
When your art is your vocation, you become a business. Like it or not, doing your art for money, as a professional, makes you an entrepreneur.
When you start to spend money to make money – like hiring cover artists and editors – congrats, you meet the dictionary definition of an entrepreneur.
What’s that got to do with anything? It’s a question of mindset. Writing for the sake of writing – like painting for the sake of painting, sculpting for the sake of sculpting, and so on – is all about the art. I love to be an artist for art’s sake. However, the moment I decided to work on earning my living from publishing books and putting them out into the world, I accepted the role of being a business.
There’s a stigma or three attached to the idea of business and the arts. Ruthlessness, selling out, greed, stinginess, and other negatives often take the fore. Yet society is hyper-focused on commerce, capitalism, and how you earn your living. Sure, you can take a standard job of any sort, and if that works for you, more power to you.
It doesn’t, however, work for everyone. That’s where, as an artist, I also am a business.
The similarities and differences between an entrepreneur, solopreneur, authorpreneur
Everyone is probably familiar with entrepreneurs. Lots of them have become hugely successful. They’re iconic, and/or notorious, like Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Ariana Huffington, Oprah Winfrey, and so on. All of them, at least on this list, have businesses they’ve created featuring lots of employees, affiliates, contractors, and the like.
A solopreneur is also an entrepreneur. However, they tend to not have a business entity with tons of employees like Apple, Samsung, BMW, and the like. They are, as the name implies, a solo act.
That doesn’t mean they do it all or work wholly alone. It just means the buck starts and stops entirely with them. For example, if a solopreneur knows they’re weak at bookkeeping, or they need an assistant, they hire a contractor/gig worker. Once in a while, they create an actual business that pays for employees, but most of the time solopreneurs rely on contractors to fill niche jobs and/or do things they’re not as skilled at.
Have you guessed what an authorpreneur is? Yup, a solopreneur/entrepreneur who writes, publishes, and sells books. An authorpreneur works on their craft and art largely solo. That doesn’t mean you don’t hire others via contract – cover artists, editors, proofreaders, marketing experts, publicists, and so on.
As an entrepreneur of any stripe, when starting out you will bleed a little (cash, sweat, stress, sometimes bits of your soul) and need to be wary. Lots of people are out there for hire who will scam you if they can (and make the work of legit and honest contractors that much harder to sell).
This is why there are networks, groups, and other options for the entrepreneur of any sort working to get their business off the ground and take flight.
Welcome to the business side of the arts
Any path as an entrepreneur, solopreneur, or authorpreneur is fraught with challenges. The choice to chart your own life course, whatever form it takes, makes you stand out.
It takes guts to choose to be someone who doesn’t follow along with the norm or the status quo. To be your own business, your own boss, and pursue anything that’s not the expected or the usual can be quite the challenge. Lots of people will tell you how it won’t work, why you are being a bit crazy and/or ridiculous, and how many people fail to succeed on a similar path.
When you know yourself, and what lights you up and brings you joy, it’s always in your best interest to go there. Why? Because life is meant to be lived, experienced, and grown. Doing the expected or the bidding of others might work for some. If it doesn’t work for you, maybe you should try your hand at being an entrepreneur, solopreneur, authorpreneur, or whatever inspires, excites, and empowers you.
Thanks for reading. As I share my creative journey with you, I conclude with this: How are you inspired to be your own creator – whatever form that takes?
Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
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