What advice do business gurus give to startups? And what advice do publishing experts give to aspiring writers?
Very much the same sort of thing, it turns out. Yesterday I attended a talk organized by the Singapore Management University’s Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, part of their Affiliates’ Corner series (pardon the plug; as SMU alumni I am bound to exhort the star points of my alma mater everywhere I can. But I do enjoy their events anyway.)
The talk was given by Dr Miles Gilman, one of SMU IIE’s mentors-in-residence – he assists and advises startups being incubated in IIE – and the subject was “Minimizing Startup Risk Through IRR Techniques”. Sounds absolutely esoteric, right? Well, as I listened to him speak, a sense of familiarity came over me. What he was saying, couched in business and finance language, was almost exactly what I have been reading on publishing blogs and websites for years.
These are some of the points he made that particularly struck me.
Find an investor who (a) can be a customer or (b) is already a customer.
The rationale is simple: if they see something in it for them, they’re more likely to give you the money to develop it. Now let’s think about the advice given to writers looking for a literary agent. Just about every creditable blog will say: find an agent who’s as passionate about your work as you are. Someone who reads and enjoys what you write, or works similar to what you write. See the parallel?
Diversify your clients.
Don’t bank on only one market, however large, to provide your revenue, because that limits the growth of your business. It’s why venture capitalists will only invest in companies with overseas potential. Compare this to what writers are told: don’t query only one agent at a time, don’t offer to only one publisher at a time. See the parallel?
Limit outside consultants.
Dr Gilman’s exact words: “They’re expensive and they don’t create revenue for you.” And what warning are writers given about courses and workshops on how to write, right up to the much-lauded MFA in creative writing? Well, to be fair they aren’t often warned – more often they’re encouraged to take these courses. (NBDCS, I believe you are guilty here.) But some parties will tell you very honestly that the use of these courses is minimal. And even this majority of positive opinions is similar to the attitude held towards consultants. See the parallel?
Don’t reinvent the wheel.
If you can get the technology quickly and cheaply by outsourcing or licensing, don’t spend a fortune trying to recreate it yourself. Common sense. Now what are writers told? A few things, as it happens. Such as: Don’t slavishly copy a bestselling writer’s style, because it won’t make you into Dan Brown. It will only make you into Somebody Trying To Sound Like Dan Brown. Such as: Don’t invent a new way of querying agents. The submissions guidelines are there for a reason. See the parallel?
Bring in investors at the last minute.
If you want to convince someone to put money into your better mousetrap, you don’t show them a pile of sticks and wire. You show them a completed working model. And that’s exactly what writers are advised to do, unless they happen to be so established that publishers will take them on proposal (at which point they cease to be considered startups.) Finish your manuscript before you start trying to get it published! See the parallel?
I think it is in no way coincidence that a serial entrepreneur’s advice to startups is a near-exact mirror of serial publishers’ advice to new writers. Writing with the intention of getting published is a business – something which everyone in the industry knows already. The problem is that this particular business’s equivalent of startups very often do not, can not, or just will not recognize that.
This is not a criticism of aspiring writers. It is, however, an unfortunate reality that if someone does not recognize a business as a business and instead takes it as a privilege or worse, a god-given right, their chances of attaining success shrink by a very large percent.
But it’s not all bad. It’s never too late to take a close look at what you’re doing and improve on it. After all, as Mr Eduardo Saverin said in his “Democratizing Innovation” talk, you’re never failing with a startup. Every mistake you make is something you can learn from and use to go forward on.
The parallels between writing to be published and starting a business are so enormous once you look closely at them, right down to the various motivations and results, that I could go on about them for a long time. But I prefer to wrap this particular part of the discussion up with a suggestion to the National Arts Council:
Hey, Mr Puah. What about a few less arty-farty cultural programmes, and a few more business classes for the arts community here?
