It’s exciting to start a new publishing house! Maybe you’ve had great success with your own book or have a background working with another publisher and decided to branch out. While there is no comprehensive statistical data explicitly outlining the demographics of individuals starting new publishing houses, there is a noticeable trend of self-published authors transitioning into the role of publishers. While this shift is contributing to a more diverse and dynamic publishing landscape, it also means there are many new publishing houses run by individuals who might have no formal training in running a business and may not be as prepared to launch a business.
There’s very little specific data on how long it takes for new publishers to turn a profit, as this can vary widely based on numerous factors such as market trends, the type of publications, and the strategies employed by the publisher. However, the overall book publishing market is showing steady growth. For example, the US book publishers market is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 2% from 2023 to 2033 (futuremarketinsights.com/reports/book-publishers-market).
The CAGR examines the mean annual growth rate of an investment over a specified time period longer than one year and is used to evaluate the performance and compare the historical or future performance of various businesses. Without getting bogged down in the details of this term, the key takeaway is: Growth is expected in our industry and indicates a generally positive outlook for publishers, including new entrants to the market.
Establishing a brand and achieving financial stability can be daunting tasks for a new publishing company. While book sales are central to publishing businesses, the timeline for profiting is not short.
You might consider introducing other outlets for bringing in cash to supplement your business while growing your catalog and backlist. What follows are 10 strategies for publishers to generate additional revenue streams.
1. A la Carte Services
You might consider offering the services that you would provide to an author publishing with you as stand-alone services. For example, there may be books you can edit that you wouldn’t necessarily offer a publishing contract to. Or maybe you’re able to create covers, format books, or assist with marketing. The key is ensuring you don’t take on so many a la carte services that you no longer have the time to focus on growing your actual publishing house.
Getting Started: Determine which services you can offer widely. Create arrangements with anyone you might subcontract for these projects. Determine your pricing for these a la carte services, what tool you’ll use to book them and invoice for them, and add a page to your website detailing your services and how to book them. Make sure you’ve considered all associated costs with these services. A tool like 17hats is wonderful for setting up lead pages, contracts, invoices, and workflows.
2. Consulting Services: Leveraging Your Industry Knowledge
Publishers can monetize their expertise in various aspects of publishing by offering consulting services. This can include manuscript assessment, marketing strategies, or self-publishing guidance. During the process of meeting with and educating your consulting clients, they may also build a rapport with you and want to pursue publishing with you.
Getting Started: Set up a service page on your website detailing your offerings. Use scheduling tools like Acuity Scheduling or Calendly for appointment management. Platforms like Zoom or Skype can facilitate virtual consultations.
3. Educational Offerings: Creating Value Through Learning
Developing courses, workshops, or hosting conferences can transform your knowledge into a profitable venture. These can be both live or pre-recorded, allowing flexibility and scalability.
Getting Started: Use platforms like Teachable or Udemy to host courses. For conferences, tools like Eventbrite for ticketing and Zoom for hosting can be useful. Promote these offerings through your existing channels and industry networks.
4. Strategic Partnerships with Fellow Publishers
Forming partnerships with other publishers can lead to referral exchanges and collaborative projects. This strategy is about building a supportive network within the publishing community. Most new publishers are fairly niche in their genres and are looking for a place to send authors that do not fit their house. Publishers can create informal and formal referral partnerships to the benefit of all parties.
Getting Started: Join publishing associations like the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) or local publishing groups to network. Intentionally build relationships with other publishers and brainstorm how you might work together. Establish clear agreements or contracts to formalize partnerships.
5. Direct-to-Consumer Sales
Skip the traditional book marketplaces and sell books directly through your own e-commerce. As a newer publisher, you’re already doing all of the work of growing the audience and directing traffic to your sales links, so why not send those people to your sales page rather than a third-party seller?
Getting Started: Look into shopping cart tools like Shopify or Thrivecart or numerous other sites. Utilize website solutions that have e-commerce already built into them, like Pub Site, WordPress, Shopify, and many other options. Your plan needs to consider shipping, distribution, fulfillment, and all other elements of selling, to include tax considerations and business licensing.
6. Webinar Collaborations
Collaborating on webinars with complementary businesses can be profitable in two ways. The first is by bringing another company or service in front of your audience to talk about their product or service. This method often involves sharing revenue generated from products or services sold through the webinar. With so many tools and programs on the marketplace to assist authors, many of these companies would love to come in front of your audience to share about their program, with some sort of financial incentive to you for bringing them to the webinar.
The second is for you to volunteer your expertise for someone else’s audience. They may have a program or organization and are looking for a guest speaker to talk about publishing. Speaking to their audience can expand your network. Make sure you’ve set up your website and email service before these events so that you’re ready to welcome attendees who may be interested in learning more about publishing with you onto your mailing list.
Getting Started: Identify potential partners through networking events, conferences, personnel recommendations, and online platforms like LinkedIn. Reach out and see if they offer these types of opportunities and how you might work together.
7. Annual Writing Contests: Unearthing New Talents
Hosting writing contests can attract aspiring authors and generate revenue through submission fees. This method requires careful planning but can be rewarding to discover new talent and engaging with the writing community.
Getting Started: Use platforms like Submittable for managing submissions. Promote your contest through social media, writing groups, and literary publications. Consider partnering with literary organizations for wider reach.
8. Affiliate Marketing: Harnessing the Power of Networking
Affiliate marketing is an effective way for publishers to earn by promoting products or services related to their niche. By joining affiliate programs, such as Amazon Associates, or affiliate programs through the tools and services that would be applicable to your audience of authors, publishers can incorporate product links into their content, earning a commission for each sale.
Getting Started: To begin, visit the Amazon Associates page and sign up. Also, consider platforms like ShareASale or Commission Junction for a wider range of products. There are numerous tools, conferences, and courses that would be beneficial for your audience of authors to know and learn about, and many of them offer affiliate programs. Sign up, share about the resources with your community, and make some cash on the back end.
9. Merchandising: Building Your Brand Beyond Books
Creating branded merchandise can be an additional revenue stream once you have an established audience.
Getting Started: Platforms like Teespring or Redbubble allow you to design and sell merchandise without upfront costs. Promote these products on your website and social media channels.
10. Crowdfunding: Engaging Community in Funding Projects
Crowdfunding can fund specific projects while gauging market interest. This method creates community involvement and anticipation for new titles. This route requires a heavy investment of time and energy from the author as well, and marketing a Kickstarter can be a nearly full-time job. But when done well, it can be incredibly lucrative.
Getting Started: Platforms like Kickstarter or Indiegogo are ideal for launching crowdfunding campaigns. Create compelling pitches and offer attractive rewards to backers.
It Takes Time
Additional revenue streams beyond book sales can help new and growing publishers create a robust, sustainable business model. However, none of these strategies are overnight revenue generators. They each have their own special requirements to make them successful. Almost all of them require growing an email list and your own audience, except the referral partnerships and leveraging other people’s communities as an expert.
The success rate of each publishing company will depend on many factors, including how well it adapts to market demands and leverages emerging trends and technologies, and how well each company can overcome the challenges of launching a new business. Learn about good business practices, invest time and energy into creating a business plan and strategic plan, and map out goals and objectives to get there. The Small Business Administration provides some great resources on these topics.
The bottom line is: it takes time, personal investment, and strategy to bring in different pipelines of revenue. Do these action steps in conjunction with a growth strategy for building your catalog and backlist, and it’s advisable to only explore one or two of these options at a time and keep your focus on attracting new authors to your imprint. In the best case scenario, you’ll employ the strategies that will grow your brand and email list while bringing in some additional revenue.