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TEN THINGS TO DO BEFORE SELLING ANY
PUBLISHING COMPANY

By Stephen J. Kerr

1. Optimize profits and clean up your balance sheet

A. One dollar of profits = Four to Six dollars of sales price
B. Stop any financial bookkeeping practices that are principally designed to lower your taxes
     but would seem questionable to a buyer.
C. Be careful of taking on any debt!
D. Remove questionable items from your balance sheet.

2. Draw up a Business Plan and make it a good one.

3. Finish up important projects and keep your marketing in high gear.

A. Finish up any major book productions in progress.
B. Organize and clean up offices.
C. Increase advertising, promotions and add reps as necessary to boost sales.
D. Focus your publishing program to narrow your focus. If you are a niche publisher, only
     publish books in your niche. Do not strike out into any new areas you do not publish in now.

4. Concentrate on building stability into your company.

5. Tighten up on accounts receivable and lower payables.

6. Don't make any large purchases that will not pay for themselves for years, unless necessary to maintain
    the business.

7. Get important agreements with reps, authors and illustrators in writing. Be careful about getting into a
    long term contract with a distributor. The buyer will probably have their own distribution and that
    agreement might be an obstacle.

8. Hire better reps, editors and officers to shore up weaknesses in the company. Accounting and sales
    are usually the weakest links in any publishing company.

9. Start sharing leadership and information with others in your company. Build a team around you so that
    you could step down without the company collapsing.

10. Bring all partners and stockholders in line. Make a corporate resolution that enables you to sell the
      company without dissention. Eliminate hidden agendas and possible misunderstandings.