As a small business, there are a lot of things I have to learn. Some of them I can outsource to other people, but many things are mine by virtue of my existence as a small business owner. As a result, I’ve developed a habit of devouring books on the business side of things. I do not follow all of them to the letter, but I do incorporate what I’ve learned into my memory bank so I can look back at it later if I need to.
One of the books I’ve found useful is Helen Sedwick’s Self-Publisher’s Legal Handbook. I have the first edition on my shelf and only recently found out there was a second edition, so I may be purchasing that in the future.
As a small business where I am the contracting, the accounting, and the legal department, knowing what I’m looking at is necessary. I’ve been lucky so far in that the publishers I’ve dealt with as a part of my hybrid publishing journey have been easy to deal with and the contracts simple to understand. I have also worked with myriad cover designers and been quite grateful to understand what I can and cannot do as a person requesting a work of art. Some of this has been trial and error, but a lot of my early knowledge came from Helen’s book.
There is some kind of proverb which I am going to mangle that says: “When you stop learning, you start dying”. I intend that never be the case for me. I will keep learning until I understand this business and then I will learn a new business because every day this business changes a little.
Alledria is the author of a number of novels, most notably the Fate Circle Saga and the She Becomes Death universe. See her books here.