Whatever you may do to succeed with your book, don't borrow heavily or use up your life savings to produce it. The field of publishing is rugged and gives up profits reluctantly. Never forget that.

Pre-sold books. You can be confident of financial success if, for example, a person or organization has agreed, in writing, to buy a quantity of books at a price that will cover your costs. JG encourages every self-publishing author to be a broker or service provider for other authors to build your own publishing business. You may also have a solid marketing plan with promotional costs built in. This will boost your chances of making money with your book. People who love to interact with other people also tend to do well with their books, but there are no guarantees even for them.

Joint venture funding. With a joint venture, you share costs and revenues. You still have costs, but they're softened by dividing them among two or more people. Heavily illustrated children's books are often produced by a partnership between the author and the artist. Collections of poetry or art can be successfully published by a group of individuals who band together to form a publishing entity. Co-authored books are often joint ventures as are family histories, stories of communities, and biographies of local leaders. Just be sure to spell out the agreement in writing and obtain signatures for everyone involved.

Businesses publish books! Besides employee manuals and technical user guides, businesses produce books they can give to their employees, sales team, stockholders, clients or other groups important to them. Banks, insurance firms, real estate companies, legal firms, hospitals and other health care providers are only a few examples of the types of businesses that could be interested in your book. Your book may be a candidate for corporate sponsorship if it--

opens doors
solves problems
answers questions key people are asking

Your corporate sponsor usually "owns" the back cover and may want to insert a post card or other advertising material in the book as well. Also, since they are paying the bill, the sponsoring corporation may want you to make editorial changes in your book. Work with them as much as you can.

More on financing your book.