Self Publishing

Consolidation is a term more used in high end financial business strategy than in the creative process but if you are concerned with the over all profitability of your career as an author, artist or musician, it is one of the most important factors you must consider.

Now if you are doing it for pleasure or as an expression of self creativity there is nothing wrong with that in my book, more power to you. On the other hand if you are concerned with making money, consolidation is a critical factor.

Basically, in the case of an author for instance, you must resist the temptation to jump around writing about everything under the sun in your career. To maximise your earning potential you must specialise in one field or something related to it. The first and most important reason to do this concerns your fan base. If you write a series of books on a particular subject, you will eventually attract a hard core of readers. If you jump around writing books about new subjects, the person you attracted with your previous book will be lost to you as a customer. If you write a book on the same subject or something connected, that reader of your previous book is more likely to buy it, and the next one and the next one. It is always easier to sell your work to an existing customer who has already bought from you.

The second good reason is that as you gain experience in your subject, you will find the books easier to write. Your second book will take less time to complete than your first, and your third will take less time than the second. The more books you write, the more media attention and publicity you will receive as you become a recognised "author & expert" in your field. As your list of readers grows so will your profits and you will start to experience the accumulative effect that consolidation can bring. The chances are you will go on to develop a fan base of core customers that will will buy your new books as soon as they come out.

Having a series of books also gives you greater flexibility in their pricing and marketing. It will allow you to offer package deals. That is, selling your books at a cheaper price but in greater quantities. Instead of selling one book, imagine selling a pack of six.

So here is a golden rule if you want to maximise your profit and reduce your effort. Consolidate, stick to one subject or genre or niche that you can aim to master and become a recognised expert in and never diversify or stray away from your customer base.