"One Person Company" Reading Notes 2: Practical Version of Word Work

When I was writing the book summary of "One Person Company" , I wanted to share my actual combat experience together, but it was too long, so I split it into two. The "practice version" has been delayed until now. It is recommended to read the two articles together. The context of this article follows the five key points of the previous article. Based on the convenience of discussion, the first and fourth points are discussed together:

1. The concept of "one-person company": questioning the necessity of a company's pursuit of growth,

2. In order to gain autonomy, a core set of skills must be learned,

3. Focus on serving each customer

4. Generate profits as quickly as possible

5. Don't do it because of passion, but after specialization, passion naturally arises

When I moved back to my hometown in the countryside, my original ideal was to open the only publishing house in the county. I thought that the locality needed its own cultural publishing industry, so I started to build a place to spread the knowledge, experience and ideas of local culture and culture. vector. Looking back now, this idea was naive and unrealistic. I mistook ignorance for my inner voice. In fact, at the time, I had no experience in writing or publishing, and was just a blank slate.

But soon, even without relevant industry experience, I found that under the conditions of software and hardware such as population base, economic scale, price, human resources, and creative freedom, it is difficult and difficult to open a publishing house. Until now, after accumulating several years of writing work experience, I still maintain the one-person working mode, thinking that this is the most economical and most effective way in such environmental conditions. If the environment changes in the future (for example, the popularity of self-media was unpredictable in the past), maybe the idea will be changed.

1. The concept of "one-person company": questioning the necessity of a company's pursuit of growth

4. Generate profits as quickly as possible

At the beginning, I took on a large-scale local story writing case, and I worked almost alone from beginning to end, and only outsourced the necessary work (cover design, let the self-funded publisher be responsible for editing the second paragraph, printing and online distribution). This model is exactly what the book recommends: reduce costs, work with one person (without expanding the organization), and generate profits as soon as possible . From the point of view of profit sharing, when people take on large-scale writing cases, they usually find partners to cooperate because of the heavy workload. However, organizational operations require costs, and team profit sharing will reduce personal income, and more time will be spent on meetings, coordination and revisions, which will increase a lot of communication costs and even emotional costs. Because there is not much profit or disagreement, it is also possible for members to leave in the middle, and the production time may not be much faster. Therefore, try to work on the principle of one person instead of expanding the team to reduce the risk of organizational changes and additional expenses.

If you convert the hourly wages that one person spent on writing and publishing independently in that year, it is better to go to work at 7-11, but the one-time income is higher, and it is better to do financial planning. For example, a budget of 250,000 deducted the cost, plus the subsequent sales profits, so that the five members will share profits. If the hourly salary is calculated, it will lose money. If the number of words is used as the reward, it will be too bad for the members. Work is distributed according to the proportion of work, and each person gets between 20,000 and 60,000 yuan. The small amount can be offset by the daily expenses. It is not very helpful for personal savings and financial management, and it is difficult to accumulate future working capital. If the case is handled by one person, it is necessary to pay for it to be outsourced to a professional. In addition to simplifying the process, there is also a higher balance and profit included in the financial planning account, allowing it to generate compound interest and laying a financial foundation for one person’s working life in the future.

Regardless of whether it is a one-person company or a freelancer, it is usually more difficult at the beginning than going to work in a company. The principle is to build a system that automatically generates passive income as soon as possible. Now I no longer have to take on all-inclusive cases, and the environment for the production and sales of publications has changed a bit in recent years (detailed at the end of the article). I no longer produce independent publications by myself, and gradually become more flexible and more flexible. Flexible, unpacking or small case work.

Although many people think that self-funded, independent publishing is "low" than mainstream publishing, it is more important to generate immediate income to maintain a living, first to make money, and then to improve. Compared with waiting for the opportunity of a publisher willing to help me publish a book (not necessarily waiting) before I can make money, self-production and self-selling can have faster physical output and higher profits ( the principle of "profit as soon as possible"). ). So at the beginning, I put aside the consideration of "making yourself recognized by the public through mainstream publishing".

However, this independent publication was unexpectedly recommended by the Ministry of Culture as an excellent reading material. The purchase orders of government agencies and schools increased, and it sold out after the second review. The publishing house that contracted the online sales channel suggested that I review it again. It may start to erode profits (the advantage of self-produced and self-sold is that the author can clearly grasp who to sell to and how much), decide to make it out of print, and take it as soon as it is good. But if you exclude the sales assistance of accidental awards, the profit per book sold is greater than that of mainstream publications. I only need to reach about one-fifth of the sales volume of books from ordinary publishers to make the same profit. . Of course, I can understand the author's first-time cry, and he really wants to write a second edition and produce exquisite and good dishes in front of the readers. Of course, it is best to be published by a well-known publishing house, but how many newbies have been favored by this kind of care? If this road can go a long way, there will still be opportunities to produce good works in the future, so let yourself make money first and survive.

After the book is published, it only uses free resources to promote it, and does not hold a new book launch conference or run around to promote it. Generally speaking, this author is really not positive. My consideration is that the gross profit rate of books is very low. In order to promote the cost of running around, even if the sales volume is increased, the profit will decrease (note that operating income is not equal to operating net profit, it is spent on promotion and marketing) The cost of the book easily exceeds the gross profit of the book). So what I do is to use free Internet channels and word-of-mouth publicity, and publish new works on Internet platforms to drive book sales one after another. Two principles are implemented simultaneously: on the one hand, expenses are reduced, and on the other hand, income is increased. After the book is published, because there is no performance pressure from general publishing houses, I don’t mind the fact that the sales volume is not large, and the number of sales is how much (after all, the cost has been leveled and it has begun to make a profit), and I will focus more on the idea of new works, Finding new materials and producing new works is more important than maintaining success.

2. In order to gain autonomy, a core set of skills must be learned

Writing a book alone is very hard. When I first wrote, I didn’t know how to edit, so I went to many edited books to learn by myself. It was the first time I negotiated publishing with a self-funded publishing house, and when I heard any terminology, I went to check it. Because of independent publishing, I took care of everything myself and contacted myself. I also learned basic editing skills, which will be of great help to my future writing. When communicating with editors, in addition to retaining writers Thinking, I learned to empathize from the editor's point of view. The second is to cultivate the recognition degree, and gradually know how to judge the editor's professionalism, negotiation, and publication style suitable or not, to decide whether to take up this case, you can take less wrong roads.

Self-produced and self-sold paper books also include personal participation in publicity and sales. Although each link is not professional, at least have a basic understanding and preliminary experience, learn the relevant knowledge of writing and publishing as much as possible, and refer to various publications and sales. This experience will be of great help to my personal career management in the future, and it is also the reason why I have maintained a one-person job and a high degree of flexibility. Because I personally experienced the market and received feedback directly, I knew very well that the main audience was not in the geographic area around me, but in various places that had to be connected through the Internet. In the past few years, the paper publications of local materials have gradually been detrimental to the career of a writer like me, so I know that I have to turn. This is a valuable experience obtained by personally participating in the sales.

If you run a text worker as a company, in addition to the skills required for publishing such as writing, interviewing, editing, etc., the "core portfolio skills", the most important thing for a "one-person company" is financial management - the control, allocation and growth of funds. After making a profit as soon as possible, it is not to expand the scale or spend it, but to let the profit continue to accumulate profit, so that you have higher autonomy and make your career go longer. This part is further described in the second half of the article about financial management for writers , so I won't say more.

3. Focus on serving each customer

You must have heard something like this elsewhere, "The requirements for a writer are: good quality, punctual delivery, easy to get along with, at least two of the above three requirements must be met." In addition to these three basic requirements, I also think The supplement is: go in the right direction and find the right person.

The market is very realistic, but there are also nobles. It is inevitable to meet unlucky people who look down on your background and works, but there are also noble people who appreciate you and are willing to give you a chance to hone your skills. There are multiple lines of writing. If you feel that walking on this road only feels cruel and out of place, maybe you are going in the wrong direction. No matter what industry, you should find a place that can inspire you to want to improve, rather than just messing with you. When you are very depressed, find someone who is willing to teach you and share, and the opportunity is there.

But where is the right direction for you? The premise is to first understand yourself, but also understand the market, to find out their positioning. This is simple to say, at least one or two years of on-the-spot operation and personal experience with the reactions of industry insiders and readers can be gradually confirmed. Inexperienced writers are prone to encounter unsuitable owners without knowing it, and cannot identify subtle but crucial eyebrows. If the owner is also inexperienced, cooperation is often a disaster, because they do not know their own style and boundaries, and are not suitable. When the owners cooperate, they torture each other. If you like to write a hard-core reporting line, and insist that you write a professional match and a beautiful literary style, it will be mentally and physically delayed for both parties, and even you don’t agree with the works you produce, it will be very uncomfortable.

The works will exude a kind of "qi", attracting people who resonate with them, so do each work carefully, even if it is not perfect, at least it is sincere from the inside, worthy of the heart, and also allows the outside world to have the opportunity to understand you, and people who understand you may will come to you.

At first, you can consider trying any kind of case. The purpose is to accumulate practical experience, improve your acuity and judgment, confirm your own style, and try to accumulate a safe deposit in your account. When the time is right, gradually turn to the direction of "less, but better" case acceptance, so that you have enough time to complete each case, and at the same time have the spare time to develop new skills and increase additional income.

You hope to have a good case, and the owner is also looking for good candidates. Professional editors have a keen sense of smell, and they are just as afraid of stepping on thunder as we are. If you can participate in the production of publications that you agree with and are interested in, and cooperate with editors who trust and understand each other, it is fate to be able to match. Cherish every cooperation, slowly, the road will open.

5. Don't do it because of passion, but after specialization, passion naturally arises

Becoming a writer is completely out of my life plan. When I returned to the countryside, I had no suitable job opportunities, so I had to create it myself. The beginning of the road to writing was a last resort, and then I gradually became interested. I originally planned to go to another place to find him after writing a book, but I didn't expect it to happen now. Lucky or unfortunate, it's hard to tell (maybe I will develop better elsewhere, maybe not, but this idea has often surfaced). To paraphrase the words of American novelist Paul Auster: "Being a writer is not a career choice, unlike choosing to be a doctor or a police officer. It chooses you not so much the profession. Fate, admit that no job is right for you other than writing, and you become ready to go a long way."

Enthusiasm without professional experience makes people ignore risks. Although there is no need to do anything if you think too much, but if the result fails, how to clean up and recover? Irresponsible chicken soup articles only inspire people to be brave, but do not explain how to deal with failure. If you regard your writing career as a business operation, prudent courage is always better than blind optimism. You can only tolerate small mistakes, and absolutely cannot make major structural mistakes. Small mistakes can be learned from experience, and mistakes in general directions are difficult to make. save. This sharing is to hope readers avoid the latter situation.

The last thing to add is that this article shares the mental methods accumulated over the years, but personal past experience cannot be directly copied. Looking back now, even myself, faced with the current local writing and publishing environment, it is impossible to replicate the model of the past, because the environmental conditions have changed a lot. I have just returned to my hometown for the first few years. Local identity is booming, tourism is booming, the local reputation is prosperous, and there are more resources stationed in other towns. There are also many readers who are curious about the local area and want to know more about the local area. Much better than now. In my opinion, the most prosperous time has passed, and if the same model is adopted again today, the profit may be far less than that of the year. This is like an investment expert sharing their thoughts and investment targets. Because of different entry times and buying points, the actual performance of individuals varies greatly. Obviously, some people make money, why do some people lose money? Because the "timing" is always changing, the way of operation must also change. When the news reaches retail investors several times, the best time has passed. Nonetheless, the basic principles and mentality of operating a creative career as a one-person company remain unchanged.

I hope everyone can walk calmly and not lonely on the road of writing.