Why I wrote The Essential Guide to Music Entrepreneurship

In April, I released my first mini-book, The Essential Guide to Music Entrepreneurship: 2018 Edition.

At this point, I’m no stranger to writing books. I launched my first full-length book, The New Music Industry: Adapting, Growing, and Thriving in The Information Age in 2016. I’ve been working on my second full-length book, Flashes of Elation: Navigating the World as a Sensitive, Creative Soul for a couple of years, and it isn’t far off from launching. A third full-length book is already in the works, and I have no doubt several more mini books will follow.

Writing a book is no small undertaking, and though putting together a mini-book is less effort to be sure, it can still be a long, drawn out process.

Fortunately, as I prepared this guide for publishing, most of the content had already been written, and it was simply a matter of sculpting it into a cohesive whole.

But why did I write this book? Here’s an inside look into my thought process.

I’m Obsessed with the Topic

In 2011, for the first time, I finally understood what it meant to be in business. I’d been in web and graphic design prior to that, but I never went far. I also had a home studio, but again client activity was limited.

That year, I was exposed to various books, audio programs, conferences and events that propelled my personal growth at an unprecedented momentum.

I’d built a bit of a music career for myself up to that point, but it never amounted to much. As I started learning about business, I started to see where I was missing the mark. And, I also quickly recognized that what I was learning could also help other career-minded musicians.

Ever since then, I’ve been obsessed with the topic of music entrepreneurship and continue to write and talk about it weekly, if not daily.

I Wanted to be the Authority in My Niche

There are several other experts out there talking about music entrepreneurship. Some are totally legitimate, and I have no intention of taking away from them.

But since I’m looking to turn The Music Entrepreneur HQ into more than just a side gig or hobby, I knew that I wanted to be viewed as an expert in my niche. Publishing a relevant book is generally a good way to achieve that end.

Overall, I would say I’ve succeeded in positioning myself in my industry, because I’ve managed to land some good blog and podcast features. I’ve also built some amazing industry connections I simply would not have access to otherwise.

I Thought I Could Offer a Better Solution

As the introduction in my mini-book states, many colleges and universities are beginning to launch music entrepreneurship programs. But as I began looking at the curriculums and course descriptions I found myself scratching my head.

Many of these courses were covering things like building a repertoire, making a resume, becoming a theater manager, and so on.

And, I said to myself, “wait, I thought we were talking about entrepreneurship!”

Well, it’s only natural that in an emerging field there would be some confusion and differing opinions on what music entrepreneurship is. And, I concede that one may require to keep a job or other side gigs while they’re getting their music business or career off the ground.

Moving forward, I think my goal will be to partner with colleges and universities instead of seeing myself as separate, because I think there might be a great opportunity there.

But when I first went to work on this resource, I genuinely felt I could offer a better solution than what was available.

I Wanted to Experiment

I had written a free guide on musicpreneurship and published it on my website a couple of years ago. This guide formed the foundation of what eventually became the mini-book in question.

I spent some time editing, updating and expanding on it but it was ultimately launched as a minimum viable product. I was thinking about putting a lot more work into it. So, releasing it as is felt uncomfortable to me. But that’s also why I knew I needed to do it.

So far, there has been no criticism or backlash. I’ve even been getting some great feedback from industry colleagues.

So, ultimately, I’m glad I decided to experiment. I plan to experiment more with leveraging content I’ve already written because at this point I don’t have any shortage of it.

Conclusion

I recently launched a special limited time three-tier offer on my website for this mini-book.

At the most basic level, you get a physical paperback copy of the book as well as the eBook version.

At higher levels, you gain access to a signed copy of the book, the audiobook, an action sheet and video training.

If you’re interested in learning more about The Essential Guide to Music Entrepreneurship, you can go here.

And, even if you aren’t interested, I would love it if you passed this along to your musician and musicpreneur friends for consideration.