At this year’s digital con, one of the most common comments I got on the “Phases of the Author Business” discussion surrounded the actual running of a business. And the organizational growth curve.
So I wanted to spend a second talking about the difference between “investing” and “speculating” when it comes to author businesses.
When I hear someone else talk about how X worked in their platform, and they are encouraging me to invest in X…
That is not really what they’re encouraging.
Investment is a (mostly) guaranteed return (even if it’s not an absolute 100% guarantee… there’s a reasonable expectation the investment will pay off… that’s why investors invest).
Speculation is not.
If you “invest” in translations, are you going to get a guaranteed return? No. Audio? No. Kickstarter? No. FB Ads? No.
Nothing about the author career is an “investment” unless you already have a mature platform that’s performing well. (Unless you are out of phase one of organizational growth.)
When you are building your platform (you are in Phase One of the Organizational Growth Curve, btw), you are speculating on everything.
You might “invest” in learning (because you will come away with the knowledge you paid for, presumably), but will that knowledge yield money for your platform? It’s not a given. I’m still not sure I would call knowledge acquisition an investment. It’s closer. But still. It’s not a given.
I think this is why I’m getting so much louder about the phases of the author business lately. I want authors to have a career for life. And that might mean being more cautious about speculation while you’re still in R&D phase.
But there are infrastructure decisions you should not be making until you are more secure that there will likely be a return. Yes, nothing in this career is ever 100% guaranteed. But in the later phases of the business growth, you’re more likely to have a return on infrastructure investment.
In R&D? No.
Some of you are going to do the “yeah, duh” response, which is fine. But the number of people in this industry who don’t understand that business growth has predictable phases and which phase you’re in determines how you should use your assets is significant. So if this post isn’t for you, I wish you well on your way. You don’t need this.
It sucks, because many of us (even with 20+ books out) are still in the R&D phase, and we don’t like it. But also, I’m such a fan of the hard bad news, and then the good news. The good news is, there’s still a chance to get out of R&D. No amount of “lasting” R&D is an indicator that you’ll never get out of it. If you’re doing R&D correctly.
Clearly, I need to do more content about this, but… this is just my initial thought after the digital con is over. I want us to have more decision-making power.
Ok, back to my hole. But. I love you guys.
– Becca