I hope that when I get to the end of setting up The Story Mint and developing the Style Guide, I don’t discover I’m an entrepreneurial junkie. I know I will miss the amazing geyser-like excitement that comes from turning what at first glance appears to be a failure, into a success. The biggest buzz of all has been realising that my business is not The Story Mint but the Style Guide, of which the Story Mint is part.
Dr Kathleen Vohs from the University of Minnesota has released a study which shows that entrepreneurs are not motivated by money but that personality plays a big part in what drives them. http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml
For example, she states that entrepreneurs are motivated by what she calls extra-rational motivations. Put simply, these are motivators that deliver a social or psychological reward. These are listed as including: the joy of creation, the satisfaction of team building and the desire to achieve meaning in life.
The point the article makes is that when money is the main driver in a start-up, the willingness of the entrepreneur to accept guidance from outside parties is reduced. This failure to involve others can impede the growth of a venture. To quote the article, ‘It has become a point of general agreement that great ventures require successful teams to execute.’ This is an important insight because it suggests a group of people see the potential of a venture and they become the hub around which the inner circle gathers. One person might bring them together but any success that results is the combined effort of many individuals.
So I wonder if my dream of writing a novel that would influence lives and bring about change is any different to the motivation driving me as an entrepreneur.
The writing dream continues to flourish with a mirage-like shimmer, but is growing dimmer as I realise that people may not want to share in my dream of changing lives through literature. That’s a shame, because I have invested large sums of money and time in researching, writing and editing a novel locked away in a drawer.
The story of The Story Mint runs parallel to that story . . . a vision that was all about giving people an opportunity to realise their writing dreams. When we published our first novel, Simon Angelo’s Tokyo Curry, and the success of our other services, demonstrated to me that anything is possible when people work together to achieve a dream.
Along the way I discovered a bigger dream . . . the Style Guide.
So what of my original dream; that of having a novel published that will change people’s understanding of the world? Well, the novel is written and edited but I am not in a position to allocate any more resources to it.
We have other novels, Tokyo Curry for example, that have first claim to our slender marketing budget. With digital publishing producing so much content, anything we publish has to stand out. A strong marketing and promotional campaign is the only way to achieve that.
As an author, I am in the middle of a collision between two forces – traditional publishing and emerging digital publishing. Digital publishing has given authors choices – between self-publishing and going via a traditional publisher.
Self-publishing sets writers free to explore topics they may not ever consider if their driver was to make money. Being free to write about whatever one feels like sounds marvellously unfettered. But what if no one wants to read what the writer produces?
The commercial imperative driving traditional publishers means publishers need to sell books and to make a profit. This driver means that a large number of topics are left untouched.
And that’s the dilemma facing writers whose passion lies in social commentary. Do they write about their passion and risk never being heard or do they choose topics they know will find a market and hope that one day they will be able to sell the novel closest to their hearts when someone is interested.
In a way, I have made that call in relation to the Style Guide. Go with the product that can potentially unlock the voice of thousands and pick up on the novel another day when life is less busy and absorbing.
So I wonder . . . is an author also a kind of entrepreneur – especially if he or she self-publishes and becomes responsible for self-marketing and promotion? Perhaps.
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