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Welcome to the Book Business Boss Show with your host, Dr. Julia Royston, helping you get your message to the masses, turn your words into wealth, and be a book business boss.

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Well, hello, I'm Dr. Julia Royston. Welcome to another episode of the Book Business Boss Show, where I'm always seeking to help you get your message to the masses, turn your words into wealth, and be a book business boss. So we are now ready to move forward with what type of business are you going to have? Um, this season is all about book to business. This season is all about turning your book into a business, but we've got to get some framework. It's like building a house, and we've got to make sure that we have the plans in order. And no, they're not going to be perfect. And yes, we're going to um tweak some things and make some adjustments as we go along. It's not like actually putting up a physical structure, but we have to have foundation, we've got to have walls, we've got to have uh accessories, but we've got to decide what kind of business are we building, what type of house are we building? Now, it could be extend expanded. You put an extra room on the back, you go from one car garage to two. We can always say, oh no, I don't need two cars. I'm good with this one car garage. So we can always um stay the same, maintain, expand, go faster, go slower, but we still have to decide at the beginning what type of business that we're gonna have. Now, let me just take a step back for a second. So you know, at the this recording, I've been in business 18 years. Now, my first client, what that client wanted, and what my clients want now 18 years later, and what I thought I could do 18 years before, what I do now 18 years later, is totally different. And some of it is definitely the same. That's the reason why I say that you can just I do these services and stay in that box and then um that scope, or you can expand, move fast, move slow. You've got to decide what that looks like. There are some people that started with me, they had a publishing business, they were helping people create books, helping people edit their books, all those things that are no longer doing it now. They they just uh life happened and they no longer do it anymore. There are some people that started with me and they've sold their business, they're out of business. There are some people that are still doing the same thing, but they have now um decided that they're gonna scale back, they're going to um reduce the amount of services they're gonna provide. They're not gonna do those parts anymore, they're gonna do something else. Or some of them have done the reverse. All of a sudden, they had only published five to ten books, and now they rolled out 10 books in one year. So you can tell that that's in the publisher end. That may not be the business you want, but what my first thing off the top is that we need to decide where we're at least going to start and then move from there. All right. So there are two things that um that I want you to think about first, whether no matter what book you've written, no matter what genre it is, you need to decide. Are you going to teach people how to do it? Are you going to do it for them? Or are you just going to provide materials for people to learn on their own? So are you going to teach people how to do it? Whatever you want them to do, whatever you want them, the end result that you want them to acquire, how are they going to get it? Are they just going to buy the book and it's going to walk them through it? Are they going to buy courses? Are they going to log in once a month? What is going to actually happen so that they get the information they want or need beyond the book? So are you going to provide ways for people to be taught? Or are you going to just provide them with a kit? You learn on your own, and you know, you may have to pay for any supplemental help or any questions you have. We're going to meet, or are you going to do it for them? Okay. So for me, when I first started, the person said, I want you to do it for me. I do not want to learn. I do not want to know how you did it. Don't provide me no steps. I'm going to pay you money and I want a poetry book like your poetry book. I've seen yours, I like yours. I'm going to pay you to do the same thing for me. So when I first started my very first client, as far as publishing and writing is concerned, I did it for them. So therefore, for me, I had to get better at whatever I was doing. That was number one. Because if I were going to continue and she was going to keep telling people, and she did, she had two huge book signings that this is the person who did it for me. Then they were like, Well, can you do it for me? You you she paid you, you did it for her. Can't you do it for me? So that's the reason why the last episode I was really talking about. Do you like people? You got to make sure your care your um calendar is set up for what does your career look like? I was teaching school, but I still had time in the evenings. I still had some time on the weekends, but I only had one client in 2009. I didn't have, I didn't roll out 50 books like I did in 2025 or 2020 and 2021, two and three. I didn't have 60 books I rolled out in 2024. Only had one client. So therefore, my time was focused on learning as much as possible, getting better at what I would do. I was still writing for myself. So by the time 2009 rolled around, I published my first client's book. I had three books of my own. So I had experience um formatting, layout three books instead of the one. And then her book was gonna make four. Okay. So therefore, you've got to decide, oh no, I don't want to do it for people. So people don't know that up front. So even if you don't have a business and you have written a book, there's gonna be people that's gonna either ask you how you did it, who did it for you, or whether you can do it for me. How did you do it? Can you do it for me, or who did it for you? Who performed that service, who got that book for you? So that that's straight out the gate. Now, the type of business done for you, guide you, teach you through, that's what you have to decide. That's what you have to determine. So, me, I was honored and privileged, like, oh, this is so great. But I didn't start coaching nobody because I didn't feel like I had enough that I knew to coach anybody. I didn't start even speaking about that. Now I spoke about other topics, prayer, being a worship leader, etc., because I feel like I had experience with that. But starting that right off the bat, no ma'am, no ma'am, no ma'am, I didn't do it. Even marketing and promotional. I didn't feel like I was a marketing and promotional expert. I was doing parts of it that I still do today. I still had a newsletter, I still um was active on um sending out a newsletter every month to the people that were just enjoying music for me, not even books yet. And then um I was on what was I on MySpace and you know the the uh MySpace, I think is where I really was active. So I was active on a social media platform. So I did that then, 18, 19, 20 years ago. I still do it to this day. 20 years earlier, I still do it. When I got married to Brian Royston in 2006, I was doing that every day then, and I still am doing that every not on my space, of course, but I'm still doing that now. So that's the first thing, you know. On for this episode, the last episode, you had to decide whether you were gonna keep saying or ever gonna say yes at all. Do you like people like that? You haven't set up a system, you haven't done none of that. Uh if you just have a book and you don't have a business. So we're talking about book to business. If you already have a business, then you got to figure out how to incorporate the book, which we'll talk about that later. But right now, we're just we're trying to think about turning a book into a business. Like, what do you need? First off, you need to like people, you need to be able to deal with people. Even if you're a pencil and paper notebook type of person, first, you're not good on automation, you're not big on automation. Okay, you haven't got there yet. Well, start where you start. But in in today's market, in 2026, there are some things that you can do right off the bat that are really kind of inexpensive. Okay. So therefore, you need to decide, yeah, I'm gonna do it. Okay. So therefore, you've moved from, I don't know, like me, I moved from two or three years of no's to one yes. One yes. So once I made that one yes, then I had to determine and decide, okay, what's the next step? Okay. So when I'm thinking of what type of business I've already determined it's gonna be a done for you situation for me. Because that's what the client wanted. It wanted a done for you, and I could agree to that because I'd already done it three times. So I could do the done for you. But then after that, I had to determine what else is required for us to have a business. Okay. So before I move forward from there, I the done for you services. It was actual producing a production of a product. That is the beauty of one of the things that I I stand on and very proud of is when you pay me money, you have a product in your hand. You have something physically to do. That's something that I really, really like. Uh, you paid me, you have a product. You have not only an e-book product, but you actually have a physical product that you can sell and transfer that intellectual property to your children. Now, what other kind of businesses do you want to turn your book into? We'll take a pause right here and we'll be back with more. I am super thrilled to announce the full relaunch of our two publishing websites and our two online e-commerce stores. bkroyston publishing.com is your home for coaching, publishing services, author support, and book business development. RoyalMedia and Publishing.com is your destination for fiction, urban fiction, murder mystery thrillers, science fiction, all things fiction with stories that move hearts and minds. Our first and foremost e-commerce bookstore is Royston Children Bookstore, a vibrant, diverse, joyful bookstore dedicated to children's literature that reflect every hue, culture, and experience. A bookstore for children only. No adult books are at Royston Children Bookstore.com. That's for children's books from birth to 18. Then the Royston Royal Bookstore.com is a curated bookstore featuring adult only fiction, nonfiction, devotionals, business books, and more. So therefore, the Royston Royal Bookstore is for adult books only. The Royston Children Bookstore are for children's books. Be sure and visit any of these websites, bkroystonpublishing.com, royal media and publishing.com, the Royston Children Bookstore.com, or the Royston Royal Bookstore.com. Get information about publishing your book as well as purchasing books from birth to 99. And we're back. I'm Dr. Julia Royston. You're listening to the Book Business Boss show where we're helping you get your message to the masses, turn your words into well, be a book business boss, and turn your book into a business. So we're still talking about what type of business you're wanting to be. And so um the example I've given already is a done for you. I am doing it for you. I'm helping you produce a product. Now, there are some other things that um the other businesses. So you decide, oh no, I don't, I don't want to do the product creation thing. I don't want to help people do a product. I want to speak. I want to be a speaker. So that's what that turned into from um the done for you system is that I started speaking about writing your book, publishing your book, promotion of your book. So um, along with that, I was also coaching, and we'll talk about coaching in just a second. But speaking about your book, uh, speaking about the topic of your book, no matter what it's about. It could be about self-help, it could be about your memoir, it could be about children's book, it could be about a business issue. Speaking about your book is another way to help promote not only the book, but promote people to say, I want to work with you, right? And when they say, I want to work with you, some people want to be encouraged and inspired and um tell their problems, their issue, and that gets into the therapist and the counselor. But the speaking helps promote what you do, it helps promote the uh message of what you do. And so if it's something that's motivational, inspirational, people could be asking you to speak in other places, whether that's for youth and in youth groups and boys and girls clubs, schools, all of that, or whether it's adults and um back uh people that have gone back to school to be encouraged, whatever that looks like. If you have a book and then you tie it to speaking, that's a business in itself. So therefore, if you're speaking, you're not helping people write the book, you're not helping people do that part, but you're motivating people, which causes them to write their own book, maybe it causes them to be better and have results based on the things that you said and motivated them to do. Boom. There it is. Transformational life. Okay. So, and the other thing is coaching. Coaching is uh establishing that there is a problem. Someone hears you speak and they say, I have a problem, I have an issue, I want to do what you do, I want to do. So, some people, most of the people said, I won't say most of the people, not some, but most of the people wanted their own book. So they wanted me to help them produce that product. Some people, though, didn't even have an idea for a book. They wanted a book, but they didn't know what to write about. So then I get to coach them into pulling all of that out of them. Who are they? What do they do? What are their expertise? All that sort of thing. So that gets into the the coaching part. Um, there's a gift, there is uh uh a desire, there's an ability, there's something that they can do, but pulling that out of them to be able to do it better and to be able to do it correctly is something that turned into a part of my business. Not just producing the product, but now I had to go back and get it out of their head and out of their heart. Because it's one thing for you to come is send me a document, an electronic document, and um you've already written it, and I'm like, oh, okay, I just need to do the producing the product part. Uh producing the product if you don't have a document started or you don't have it on the back of a bill, or you don't have no notes or nothing. Oh, we're starting all over from scratch. We're going to the beginning. So therefore, producing a product, something done for you, actual producing something. If you're not producing something, then you could be speaking about the topic of what you produced, your own book, your own movement, your own ideas, your own perspective, your own expertise and experience in a specific industry, or you can coach others to do that same thing. I mean, I've also seen people with coaching businesses that are helping teachers, coaching business that are helping those who want to be elected officials, coaching business for all types of things, better lawyers, better doctors, better engineers, all of the parts, all the industries have them. So having a coach, you need a good coach for an NBA player, you need a good coach for NFL. And if they don't produce and the players don't do right, believe you me, watch ESPN. They will be firing them and hiring them and moving them all around all the time. So coaching is really required. If you're gonna do anything great, you're gonna need a great coach. And so, therefore, that's also a business as well. People have asked me, do you mentor people? Do you coach people? I do all the time. But the key thing is they got to put the work in, they got to be willing to do it. We'll talk about systems and things of that nature, putting that into place, but you got to decide what type of business are you gonna have. And a lot of that has to do with what your potential client is asking you. What do they say they want? We'll talk about what that looks like when they said they wanted one thing and then they end up, you start working with them, they want something else. And then um, still on the same vein when we're talking about speaking and coaching. So speaking is just being a motivational speaker or an instructor and things of that nature. Coaching is when you're coaching people to actually be and do, and hopefully something that you've already done and accomplished, and you're helping them refine their skills and um get better at it. Or a therapist counselor. There are a lot of uh licensed, certified counselors and therapists out there. So if you have a business or you've created, I'm sorry, you created a book that goes along with your therapy uh methods and you know, um life coaching and therapists for helping people with their lives. And you have a book that has 10 principles and you're certified, you're licensed, and people say, I need help with that. Can you help me with that? That's along the same line as coaching, but therapists, you're certified, you're licensed. You should be a licensed coach too, as well. But the being a therapist and and being in the mental health field, you really need to make sure you have that paper to throw down to really help change the mindset and the movements of other people. So, therefore, are you are you qualified to be a therapist? Do you even want to train to become one? Because you can do that as long as you're alive. You can you can train yourself on what that looks like and what that can be like, but you got to be willing to do that. Is that what you want? That's a yes or no. That's something you have to decide. That's something um something you have to determine. So, production, are you producing a product service? Are you a speaker about the industry, product, or service? Are you a coach helping other people, putting a team together, helping other people do it? Are you a therapist counselor, somebody who wants to help other people overcome mental health challenges, uh, childhood trauma, etc.? Or are you public relations? Now I have a good friend who's in PR and he travels the country doing public relations, helping other people get their message out there, helping other people um connect in regards to what they have to offer for a bigger audience. Now, there are some things that he can do, and then there's other things the client has to do. The client has to show up, the client has to be on time, he has to have connections for the client to be able to show up too. But the client still has to show up, be prepared, be eloquent, answer the questions, etc. So that helps push, move, and expand the brand and the business that they're that they're building. So is that what you want to do? Is that what you want to help somebody do? Think about that too as well. And then there's all types of what I call support services. I can help you do or support or even a la carte services. There are certain portions of your business or what you need that I can perform this part, but doesn't necessarily necessarily mean that I'm able to take the whole, the whole uh project on. So people come to me in my business, which is publishing, writing, publishing, and helping you promote, et cetera, and they say, what part do you do? Because some people only produce products per ebook and don't do the print, paperback or hardback. Some people have no, no, we don't do anything with audiobooks. They don't even tell you where you can go, who you can connect with, how it can be done, what you need to consider, how much it's gonna cost, roughly. No, they only do one part of it. And I'm gonna be honest with you, I admire the people that understand what their strength is, what they're good at, and the part they want to focus on. There's nothing worse than saying you do it all when you actually do not and cannot. And so I, you know, I tell people all the time, I tell my husband all the time, my no is on go on lock. It's on big game. When I realize, no, that's something I don't either want to tackle, I don't want to learn, I don't want to expand to do, it's best to be honest and say no up front than to be trying to, oh no, I do it all. And you know you don't, and you know you can't. That's the reason why I only said yes to a poetry book, because I'd already done that. Now, if somebody had come with me with a 90,000-word novel, I'd be like, not quite, not yet. But with poetry, I was in my zone. I was in my, I could, I could do it. But you've got to make sure that if you're in support services, you determine, you decide not only what type of business, but what parts of that business. Before you talk about um invoices, before you talk about accounts receivable, uh, before you talk about the expenses of business, we haven't even got that far. We got to determine what part you're gonna offer, what you're gonna offer to be able to do. What can you do well? And what have people experienced with you in the past, even if you didn't have a business yet, that said, oh yeah, I'd work with her again. Oh yeah, I liked working with her. Okay. So you got a lot to think about. Until next time, I'm Dr. Julia Royston. This has been the Book Business Boss Show, helping you get your message to the masses, turn your words into well, and be a book business boss. Until next time, be blessed. Bye-bye.

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