011: What’s Ahead For Coloring Book Creators in 2023 | 10 Ways To Protect Yourself Financially & Safeguard Your Coloring Book Creator Biz

Recently a very prolific coloring book author and creator presence on Amazon was shut down without warning it was this traumatic event that inspired today's episode.

Gone are the days when we can just set it and forget it.  One thing is certain, regardless if you’re a prolific veteran or a newbie just starting out we cannot rely on one social media platform, retail outlet, printing company, payment processor, or source of income!

10 ways to prepare yourself and your digital creator business for unexpected changes 

1. Don’t wait until you need it. Do your research and test platforms and processors from payment, hosting, and design, and have alternatives in place as backups
   
   
2. Start an email list immediately and do something to grow it every day and stay in communication with your list not just when you want to sell something
   
   
3. Don’t rely on one social platform, social media is fickle, it’s great when it works, but it’s fickle and can change on a dime.
   
   
4. Explore alternatives to social media, for example, you could start a blog, but you could also start a newsletter where you share your favorite tips, pages, products, examples, etc. I suggest picking a platform like YouTube or Pinterest post regular content, and continually direct email subscribers to that content. Other options include guesting on podcasts or starting one of your own. Whatever you decide I recommend actively pursuing getting on other people's platforms be they podcasts, blogs, or social media feed.
   
   
5. What’s old may quickly become new again. Remember the days of print advertising and regular mail that arrived on your doorstep? I’ve got a feeling that this is going to make a comeback.
   
   
6. Consider setting up and owning your own social platform you could a service like Circle to host your content, your products, and classes if you offer them, but even better is a platform like Circle allows for engagement between its members, similar to a Facebook group but you have control over everyone seeing your content not just being at the mercy of an algorithm
   
   
7. Whether you sell on Amazon or Etsy, or any online platform where you collect money, whatever you do please, please, please have more than one payment processor
   
   
8. Explore other printing options and not just explore, order samples, and test quality to make sure that they will serve as an acceptable alternative in the event something happens to the one you’re currently relying on and depending on conducting business.
   
   
9. Having more than one income stream is imperative. If you sell books, multi-purpose your designs into other products, and create one-off workshops (as I did in with my creator your own coloring calendar workshop), explore other options like launching a monthly membership or subscription box service. Whatever you decide you’ve got to be willing to test new ideas
   
   
10. Get started today!!

Resources Mentioned In This Episode:
Join the notification list for The Salable Coloring Book Idea Workshop (registration opens January 24th and the 3-day workshop starts January 31st)

Payment Processors
Stripe and Gumroad

Alternative Printer Options 
Lulu and Vervante

002: How one of my students sold 30 books at a Live Event Using Bookmarks