when to close a business

Kill Criteria

When one of my self-published
romance novel series
started selling really well,
I told myself
I’d stop writing in that series
when pre-order sales
didn’t cover production costs.

Making that decision
near the start
of the series
was emotionally
much easier
than making it
when pre-order sales
had dipped.

And it ensured
I ended the series
(the product line)
with much of its profits
intact.

Identifying
clear ending or stopping points
is called
kill criteria
and it can be the difference
between profits
and losses.

It ensures
we don’t wait too long
to end projects.

Establish kill criteria
at the beginning of a project.

Plan A Business Closing…If You Can

I plan to stop
releasing new novels
(producing new products)
for my Romance Novel writing business
two years from now
(unless the sales trajectory
changes).

I’m fortunate
because,
due to my tracking of sales
and the following of other trends,
I have some notice
before ‘closing’ my business.

(The books will remain
at booksellers
but without marketing activity
on my part,
the sales will soon dwindle
to nothing.)

I have the privilege
of planning my exit.

I plan to make it
the happiest exit
I can
for loyal readers
(customers)
and leave them
with smiles on their faces.

A friend of mine
plans to do the exact opposite.
She plans to leave them
with a cliffhanger.
Her thought is
she wants to leave readers
wanting more of her writing.

If we have
the ability to do so,
we should plan
our business’s closing.

It is part of
our legacy.
Put thought
into it.

When A Big Market Evaporates

There is talk
about banning Romance Novels
in some areas
of the U.S.

F*ck.
There’s more than talk
happening.
Some areas of the U.S.
have already banned
Romance Novels
with Male/Male, Female/Female,
and other non Male/Female
relationship constructs.

The U.S. is my biggest,
by far,
market for my Romance Novels.
It consists of
80% of that income.

I have attempted
to build the income
in the other countries
but haven’t been very successful
at that.

If I lose the U.S. market,
it won’t make financial sense
to continue publishing Romance Novels.

I’m planning for that
possibility.

If your largest market
evaporates tomorrow,
what would you do?

Is there some way
to mitigate that risk?