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How To Start A Publishing Company In The Philippines: Is starting a publishing business in the Philippines a good idea? Starting a publishing business can be a great idea in any country if the demand/supply ratio is in the entrepreneur’s favor. Also, if there is a requirement for a product, it can be turned into a profitable business.
There is much more to this question than meets the eye. When looking at how to start a publishing company, writers and entrepreneurs need to factor in the costs, prices, market, royalty payments, and overall business growth.
Table of Contents
How To Start A Publishing Company In The Philippines
1. Be Specific With Your Publishing Business Goals
One of the first things to do when looking at how to start a publishing business in the Philippines is to be specific with your goals.
This is an important step (not just when starting a publishing business but in general) because when you can set your publishing business goal, you can start to work backward and plan your journey to reach that goal.
If you are looking for a template, you can download our FREE business plan here at Filipino wealth. once you have built your overall publishing goals, move to Step 2.
2. Decide On What Kind Of Books You Want To Sell
Are you going to publish fiction or non-fiction? Will you target a specific type of audience that requires a specific type of book? Is your business going to be a niche business? If So, what niche and how will you reach your potential customers?
When looking at starting a publishing company, some entrepreneurs decide to sell every kind of book and be a general business. This is not necessarily a bad thing. However, it may be challenging to find your perfect customer.
Suppose you specialized in education books or perhaps business books. In that case, you already have a semi-clear projection of your perfect customer, which will allow you to market more accurately and more cost-effectively.
3. Find The Cost, Fees, And Overall Profit Of Your Idea
The most important thing when starting a business is that the business can make profits. This profit is then used to help grow the business by buying new stock or building awareness.
Therefore it is always necessary to determine if your business will be financially successful before taking any financial risks.
Business is very exciting, especially in the early days, but sadly, boring tasks such as the business’s finances are often the most important and the most beneficial. Once you have found the costs, fees, and overall profit you expect from your business, you can move on to Step 4.
4. Plan For The Future And Business Plan
Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to get the process started
- Who Are My Ideal Customers?
- How Will I Find Them?
- Why Will They Buy From My Business And Not Another Businesses?
- What Are My Goals In The First..1…3…6 Months?
- What Level Of Growth Do I Expect Over The Next 12 Months?
- What Are The Potential Threats And Risks Associated With This Business?
- How Can My Publishing Company Grow?
You most likely have a lot of answers already, which is excellent! However, the planning stage is often missed or not covered when starting a new business, so it’s recommended to carefully plan as the next step is where you take action.
5. Make Your Publishing Company Official
Registering a business in the Philippines is not the easiest of tasks. There are many stages for registering a business legally in the Philippines. Still, if you are looking at this business as a long-term business, then registration is an unavoidable task.
As mentioned starting a business in the Philippines can be time-consuming and costly; therefore, this is one reason why we heavily recommend planning to make sure that this business is for you.
6. Start Your Pre-Launch Marketing
At this stage of starting a publishing company in the Philippines, you already have registered your business. Therefore, I will assume that you already have your products ready to sell for this article’s purpose.
What is a pre-launch marketing campaign? Essentially it is a marketing campaign for a business that has not opened yet. You may have seen these before, as they are widespread in real estate across the Philippines.
Starting a pre-launch marketing campaign is a great way to get your potential customers excited about your business. However, it can take customers many times to see your marketing before they decide to buy your products; therefore, awareness marketing is often the appropriate marketing strategy at this point.
7. Soft Launch Your Business
When an entrepreneur or a writer soft launches a publishing company, they will often take a lot of extra pressure off their shoulders because a soft launch is a way you can open up your doors for new customers but in stages.
This is not always necessary if you have a tiny business. Still, if you are looking to start a large publishing company in the Philippines and have many products, including non-book products, it may be wise to launch softly before fully opening your service. This will allow you to test the market and any business operations.
8. Continue, Monitor, And Grow
The last stage is to continue to monitor and grow. In other words, it is a stop start and continues strategy. There are many things that a business needs to stop doing, start doing, and continue to be successful.
When looking at starting a bookstore in the Philippines, it’s always wise to continue monitoring and growing your business.
What Are The Benefits Of Starting A Publishing Company In The Philippines?
Due to the nature of books, they are continuously in demand. Even though the book industry has evolved over the last ten years, it is still a top-rated and desired product that people are willing to pay a large amount of money to possess.
Besides the Philippine market demand, starting a publishing company in the Philippines also allows entrepreneurs to profit from other people’s work. If you have ever contacted the national bookstore or another publishing company in the Philippines, you will know their fee is often very high.
In other words, the writer sometimes receives royalties as low as 50 or 60% (sometimes lower). This typically depends on the location and the company in question. This, of course, makes sense from their perspective as they need to pay for their physical business upkeep.
In our most recent guide, we spoke about setting up an ebook publishing business in the Philippines, and we looked through local research and interviewed ebook writers. It appeared that many of the online publishing companies have a higher than average royalty payment. In other words, the writer receives a higher profit if they sell online.
Another benefit of starting a publishing company in the Philippines is that the Philippines is the perfect location to distribute books / other products to nearby countries. Asian bookstores have done a fantastic job dominating certain parts of the market, but many areas are open to new publishing companies.
Why Start A Publishing Company In The Philippines?
There are many reasons why an entrepreneur or writer would start a publishing company in the Philippines. However, if you are a registered business instead of an independent self-published writer, you fall under the bracket of a business, and there are certain benefits as a business.
Being a business also gives you that professional look and feel. The question is, would you spend 1000 pesos buying a book from somebody on Facebook? Possibly not. But would you buy a book for 1000 pesos from the national bookstore? Most people would answer yes (if the book was important) because a business like the national bookstore has a reputation and trust.
Additionally, some individuals start publishing companies in the Philippines to sell other people’s work. There are also many other situations why a person would start a publishing company in the Philippines.
How To Start A Bookstore Business In The Philippines: Takeaway
- Like with every business, finances are one of the most critical areas to focus on as soon as you have your initial publishing business idea.
- There are many areas where a publishing business can go. This can include selling additional stock such as stationery or taking products online, and selling ebooks
- it’s best to be specific about your business goal as your goal will allow you to build a step by step guide.
