Ink Blot Incorporated, looking for partners.

[Seth M. Drebitko]

All right first the people I am looking for.
Someone to handle the business end of the...business will make 35% of net profit.
Primary web site creator/manager will get 25% of total net profit.
A person to handle the forums as well as and business questions will take in 20% of total net profit.
I will be handling submissions for use of the open writers licensee (explained later).
Now if any of these percentages look of well that's because I need someone to handle the business end of things lol.
OK now here is a brief business plan I will have a larger better one when the time comes.

In the next few posts I will explain different aspects of the company and its functions.

[Seth M. Drebitko]

OK right now I will explain the open writing licensee (OWL), the basics of it, and why it should appeal to people.

First the OWL will allow people to self publish and use the company logo on their books. This should appeal to people because they will have a symbol that people can relate to other good books that they have read just like big publishers.

Now there yes is the whole thing about bad books getting in and this just being an easy way out of writing a good book. That problem can be solved by requiring that the person send their book in with an editors list of things that needed to be improved with the first copy. During a look over of the book we will make sure that those things were changed and that the book is in fact publishable material.

Now another problem comes up how do we know that the person is serious about publishing, well a small pamphlet about the basics of book marketing raising capital, and so on and so forth will be provided with the OWL contract this will show the person how to do what they want done. The pamphlet will also have a small compiled list of e-book programs, POD presses, as well as traditional presses.

What does the company get for renting out its logo thus putting its good name on the line, as well as researching this info and providing it to these people thus taking some of our time that could be spent writing away? Well, we will contract 20% from the persons net profits (after they take out the cost for the book), as well as any book sold from the primary website, having 5% more profit taken. Still this person is getting 80-75% profit on their book and may yet catch a big time publishers eye.

That in a nut shell is the OWL and the primary foundation for the company, aside from being able to write our own books while making some cash on the side. This is about all Ican think of at the moment, Iwill get back on and post more. If any one is intrested or has questions put them up.

[TonyLB]

So... you provide people with a logo.  The strength of that logo will be entirely based on the strength of their products, to which you contribute only mild proof-reading, and editorial oversight.  And for this you charge 20% of net.

I totally see why this is a tremendously beneficial business model for you.  But why is it better than (say) a dozen publishers getting together, making up a logo for their works, and pocketing 100% of the profit?

[Seth M. Drebitko]

20% is not a set number like I said I don't know anything about business so I don't know what's a fair percentage or what's not. I don't want to screw people, by giving unfair deals, I am just looking for a little compensation for the four people that would be maintaining the company. I really don't want to come across as someone trying to steal the profits of hard working writers, its just an idea I had. I mean the OWL is not all that we have to supply we could run con's and stuff with the money we bring in not just keep all the profits. I figured a lot of the money coming in would be to help the growth of the writers, and business.

[guildofblades]

Well, let me first say, to truly run a small business, the "business" side of things will consume about 80-90% of your total efforts once your endevour is up and running, so someone doing that job merely to get 35% of net profits from an organization that has no product lines of its own and seems to only generate "net profits" from other small press publishers publishing under the corporations license...well, seems foolhardy. Especially considering in the decade or so I have been publishing in the gaming biz, my estimate is that 90-95% of the small press companies fail to generate any net profits.

Not really sure what benefits the business you have proposed should serve. Why would these other publishers not be better served by merely publishing under one of the various open game licenses already out there?

Ryan S. Johnson
Guild of Blades Publishing Group
http://www.guildofblades.com

[LloydBrown]

All right first the people I am looking for.
...In the next few posts I will explain different aspects of the company and its functions.

Yeah, that doesn't work for a ton of reasons.

First, if you're talking about net profit, that guy in charge of "the business end" can manipulate that number extensively.  Gross profit is much harder to fiddle with.

Secondly, you're not offering anything for the service.  It's a catch-22--your brand will have some meaning only *after* piles of other people are already on board.  So you offer nothing to the first few companies that use your services--which will turn off any others.

I predict first year revenues of zero.

If your information has value, then just sell that:  offer a PDF/POD version of the pamplet for sale.  

I mean the OWL is not all that we have to supply we could run con's and stuff with the money we bring in not just keep all the profits

Um, so you're recommending that the partners make no money for all of this work?

There's nothing wrong with profit.  You say it like it's a dirty word or something to avoid.  Profit is good.

Tell you what.  Decide what you want to do, write it down, and include appropriate salaries.  If you are in fact looking for partners, include a buy-in with your proposal and show documentation for rate of return and expected revenues.

I write business plans for fun and profit.  I'll be happy to offer suggestions.