Self Publishing: What to Consider Year End Evaluations
Wow, this year was a hard year for business of any kind, small business’ where not spared. This year’s evaluation criteria going to be different than any other year. Here’s why:
- Normal Business Practices where shut down for almost all business’.
- Income’s where down almost across the board.
- Figuring out new ways to sell has a learning curve, that usually costs money.
How do I evaluate such an strange year?
Good question! Here is what I am looking at this year…
- Did I have income?
- Did I try new things
- If I tried new things, how did they pan out?
- What will I do the same or different for 2021?
- Can I identify the reasons that I either made a profit or didn’t?
- Am I blaming it all on Covid?
Let’s dive right in. I’ve made you a free Printable Worksheet to help you evaluate your own year. Just scroll down to the bottom to see how you can get it.
Did I have an income?
Thankfully, yes. I haven’t compiled the final numbers yet, and they are pretty small compared to 2019, but they do exist, and for that I am grateful. In 2019 I had over $10,000 in sales. This year the number is under $1,500. (Note: this is not profit, it is sales)
Why am I grateful when the numbers are so far apart, and my sales so low? Because I had sales! I had 2 local events for the entire year of 2020. For comparison I had over 50 events in 2019. I’d say that in itself is quiet telling.
When my events dried up I had $250 in sales, all the rest came from a change in strategy.
Did I try new things?
YES! Several things in fact. The easiest to see is improving my blog. Your here, take a look around, I’m quite happy with what I accomplished. I also set up my main business website, and intertwined the two.
On that note, I didn’t get it done until the end of the year, but I have set up a store on my main website. So it didn’t contribute, but I am hopefully it will in 2021.
I also paid for a newsletter promotions and offered my books in free promotions through Kindle Select. My books are in Kindle Select, so I earn a few cents every time someone reads my books in Kindle Unlimited. I also get 5 free days every 3 months to promote those Kindle books.
How did the new efforts pan out?
Paying for the Newsletter promo increased my downloads, and increased my page reads dramatically. While I can’t tell for certain how or if it increased my physical book sales, I can say that all my sales did go up, and I had KU reads every month since I started promoted.
What will I do the same or different for 2021?
I will continue to search out new things to try. For now I am already planning promotions, blog posts, and keeping an eye on restarting in person events. So ‘no’ I don’t plan to do things the same, one thing I learned from 2020 is to be flexible. I am planning to use the tools I found in 2020 and repeat them, I also hope to find some new and better things, I can’t plan those yet, as I don’t yet know what they will be.
Can I identify the reasons that I either made a profit or didn’t?
I don’t know for sure until I do my taxes, but if I had to guess I would say no, I likely didn’t make a profit, but I do think it will be close.
Why, can I identify the reason? I think its because I bought some inventory at the beginning of the year, and didn’t have the events to sell it. So I am a bit inventory heavy. I don’t think reinvesting in my business is a bad call though. I will have opportunities to sell my inventory eventually, I am hoping my website store will help with that.
In the meantime I am being a little more conservative in my purchases. I also published five new books this year, each book has some cost. My decrease in income will affect how many new books I am able to publish in 2021, in hind site I should have held off on at least two of them.
Am I blaming it all on Covid-19?
No. I made the choices I made. I was slow in adjusted, but still happy that I managed to find ways to turn things around. Did Covid play a role. Of course! But as a small business owner I need to be more flexible and not but all my eggs in one basket so to speak. I learned that lesson the hard way.
Break it down, win or lose, good or bad?
Not a great year, but it could have been worse! So not a totally bad year either. I’m optimistic about 2021. I may not have made a profit, but my business covered all its own expenses. So I didn’t put any family money into it. After a year like this I call that a WIN.
You may wonder how I can call it win? Well, I wrote about how I evaluate my business in a normal year here. Clearly, if you need your business to support your family, then a loss like mine would not be a win. It really depends on what the end game is for you and your business.
Getting Ready to do your own Evaluation?
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