Updated February 8, 2023

Subtitle
Without a plan, you and your book will flounder, and success will elude you

Synopsis
Whether you are about to self-publish your first book or start a micro-niche publishing company, you must have a business plan. A business plan will give you an essential roadmap for your new business. Creating a one-page business plan is an easy and quick way to do this. So, here is a list of five questions you must ask yourself before writing your one-page business plan.

What You Will Learn
1. You will learn the basic questions you must ask yourself before writing your plan.
2. You will learn to determine what micro-niche you should pursue and why.
3. You will learn how and why these questions help you create a successful book.

Introduction
Whether you are about to self-publish your first book or start a micro-niche publishing company, you must have a business plan. A business plan will give you an essential roadmap for your new business. Creating a one-page business plan is an easy and quick way to do this.

This plan will help you clarify your thinking about your new business. This short, one-page plan is also helpful as an outline for a more extended, in-depth plan. With some research, you should be able to complete this one-page plan in under one week.

So, here is a list of five questions that you must ask yourself before writing your one-page business plan:

Question # 1. WHY Do You Want to Self-Publish?
Your answer cannot be only about money. It needs something more than that. It also needs to be short, very specific, and very personal.
Examples:
a. “I want to write a book to help new nurses be more productive, effective, and marketable in today’s competitive job market.”
b. “I want to write small-business management books to share my knowledge and expertise with others who want to start their small business. I gained this knowledge and experience over the last 35 years while starting and managing my successful small business.”
c. “I want to write and self-publish a book to give myself more credibility in the eyes of my peers.”

Question # 2. WHAT Will You Write?
Explain it in one sentence, in precise detail. You must understand what your writing niche, or specialty, will be.

Examples:
a. “I will write and publish books about all aspects of self-publishing for people who have not written a book before.”
b. “I will write a how-to book for experienced nurses who want to advance to become part of nursing management in a hospital.”
c. “I will write a how-to guide for new parents raising a deaf child.”

Question # 3. WHO Is Your Market?
Keep your answer down to a few tight sentences. You must narrow this down to a particular group of people. Your answer cannot be “everybody and anybody.” You must know who buys your type of book. You only have limited time and money for marketing and promotion. Therefore, you must target your best efforts at those most likely to buy your book.

Example:
a. “The market for my book is U.S.-based students in nursing school. Or RNs who have recently graduated and searching for their first job. They are almost exclusively females between 20 and 26 years of age. Half of them like to read a paperback copy of a book, and the other half like the ebook version. They are worried about getting a job after graduation because the nursing shortage has ended.”

Question # 4. HOW Do You Define Success?
You might spend the next twelve months writing your first book. And then a year later you might only be selling 8 copies a month on Amazon. Therefore, you must come to terms with what success means to you.

Does success mean seeing your name on the cover of a book? Does it mean being able to give each of your clients a copy of your book so they will develop admiration and respect for you?

Or does success mean getting letters and emails from people who read your book - telling you it has helped them positively?