Sample Business Proposals / Joint Venture Sample Proposal

Joint Venture between InPrint Services and SocialNet4U

It was so nice to meet and brainstorm with you at the book convention in Chicago. It's amazing that we're from the same area but have never worked together. I believe that our idea to create a new full service company for authors who wish to self publish is a perfect way to grow both our businesses in this confusing time for traditional publishers. My business partner Maya Lee is in total agreement.

I've included ideas for how the company would work in the following pages. Some of the ideas we worked on together at the convention, some were my own. Maya and I are willing to discuss any and all details. Please give this matter serious consideration as soon as possible.

Then, let's schedule a time to get together and hash out a formal contract and make this happen. SocialNet4U and InPrint Services have the talent, skills, and personnel to complement each other in a joint venture to form a publishing service for authors. Following are our initial ideas for how the company would work based on our previous discussions.

As it now stands, InPrint Services and SocialNet4U each provide approximately half the services commonly requested by authors desiring to self publish. Both companies want to expand their customer base, and both have capacity to handle more work than each currently has scheduled. By working together to package our services into a coherent whole that makes the process of self publishing easy for an author, both of our organizations can profit handsomely. We both have customer lists, proven marketing strategies, and expertise in our various niches.

Now we need to sift through our separate information and strategies to focus on a new group of customers. By aligning our skills and knowledge and pooling our talents, we can form a new author service company to do the following.

Sell and distribute books in both print and electronic forms In recent years, with the introduction of many new electronic reading devices, the demand for electronic books has skyrocketed. Along with this, the opportunity for new authors to sell their publications as ebooks and print on demand POD books has also expanded. These authors include writers of specialized works such as scientific studies, technical instruction manuals, and study guides for students as well as writers of fiction and nonfiction for the general public. All predictions indicate that demand for ebooks and POD books will continue to expand exponentially for the indefinite future.

Each new electronic reader uses a slightly different format and or offers slightly different options than other ebook readers, and each type of ebook may be sold by different internet sites. This focus on multiple electronic readers has resulted in a splintered ebook market that is bewildering to most authors. Most authors do not know how to go about preparing their writing for either ebook or print format, and they have little knowledge of where to sell ebooks to reach their intended market.

We've listed below a few of the common categories of authors our new joint venture will serve. Amateur authors writing personal journals or family histories. These authors typically want a website with communication capabilities, an ebook in multiple formats available on that website, and multiple printed copies for distribution to family and friends. They have little or no interest in selling to the general public.

Subject matter experts writing scientific studies or instructional books. This category includes scientists and engineers who need to describe their research and results for funding agencies and peer review, hobbyists who want to reach a very specific group of readers such as miniature railroad enthusiasts , and instructors at all levels who want to reach students. These authors typically want a website with communication capabilities, ebooks in multiple formats available from that website and all commercial websites, and print on­demand capability everywhere.

Corporations

Many corporations desire to take advantage of new opportunities to publicize their corporate histories or the stories of products or services they offer. For example, corporations have published biographies of their CEOs and their leading inventors, and histories of how they developed their most successful products. Corporations generally have an existing website, but need advice on how to promote and sell publications, as well as assistance with ebook formatting, printing, and distribution services.

Corporations often want social promotion services as well. At SocialNet4U, we are experts in setting up and running social networking services for our corporate and individual clients. Our services include creating and hosting websites, providing email services, and establishing and promoting a presence through all the popular social networking venues.

We regularly keep our clients in the social networking news in the following ways.

Regular updates to all important sites

We work with our clients to provide news updates to all important sites regularly visited by the audience they want to reach. These updates might include product announcements, photos, interviews, coupons, or any item that might be of interest to our clients' customers.

News blasts

When a client has a new product or service to offer or has won an award, we create a 'news blast' that travels throughout the internet. Depending on the client and the 'news,' a news blast might include any or all of the following. Videos, contests, photos, and repeats of traditional newspaper or magazine articles.

SEO services

We understand search engine optimization, and we regularly consult with our clients on ways to improve their rankings among all the major search engines. Announcements and joint promotions on our own sites. With each client's permission, we regularly announce client news on our own website and social pages, helping to create a 'buzz.' When appropriate, we also connect two or more clients to set up special social media events to benefit all parties, such as a joint blog, contest, or online discussion.

Internet market research and advice

We provide research services to help clients find the best websites on which to advertise and sell their products. SocialNet4U and InPrint Services have the talent, skills, and personnel to complement each other in this joint venture to form a publishing service for authors. Although many issues remain to be worked out, we envision the division of labor to be as follows.

Artwork Page Layout

InPrint Services has talented artists on its staff, so we envision original artwork to be a contribution of InPrint to our joint venture. For both ebooks and printed books, an attractive original cover is needed. Printed page layout also falls within the expertise of InPrint Services.

Page designs and artwork for website pages should be a joint effort of SocialNet4U and InPrint, to take advantage of the skills of both companies.

Ebook Formatting

As SocialNet4U has expertise in online formatting and knowledge of the requirements for the wide variety of ebook formats, SocialNet4U teams will take on the primary responsibility for creating and uploading ebooks, using design elements created by InPrint personnel.

Book Printing Binding Distribution

InPrint has experience and expertise in printing, binding, and distribution of printed materials, so this aspect of our service would be handled solely by InPrint personnel.

Websites

SocialNet4U has expertise in building and maintaining websites. SocialNet4U may request original artwork for websites from InPrint artists. SocialNet4U has expertise in creating a presence for clients in all social media sites, so this job will fall to SocialNet4U. See the Social Networking page for more about the services we offer clients.

Advertising

If printed materials business cards, brochures, postcards, etc. are desired for advertising, InPrint personnel will handle the service. If videos, website ads, news bursts or other online advertising services are desired, SocialNet4U will fulfill those requests. These are services we must plan for.

The best structure for our new author services company remains to be decided. For your consideration, we've listed below the two basic ways in which this joint venture could be structured. New joint venture is billable client to our existing companies. In this structure, all we really need to provide is 1 the temporary 'design' team to create the list of services from which authors can choose, and 2 the structure through which orders are processed for authors.

After the list of services is determined and the order processing structure is in place, employees at both existing companies could simply bill their time to the joint venture instead of to other clients. Employees from both companies are moved to the new joint venture. This structure involves the formation of a completely new company, and would necessitate agreement on salaries and benefits and organizational structure, as well as a separate facility in which to work. However, this structure has benefits in that all personnel involved would be wholly dedicated to working together in the new venture.

To create a new joint venture to provide author services, we envision the following contributions from the parties. Each company commits $25,000 startup capital – This initial $50,000 will pay for employee time to design our list of services, a new website, brochures, postcards, business cards, and collaborating on advertising and promotion strategies to attract customers. InPrint Services contributes time, supplies, equipment, and skills to create and print flyers, business cards, and brochures for the new venture. – This includes only production of printed pieces; it does not include design services covered above.

SocialNet4U contributes time, equipment, and skills to create a website with shopping cart functionality for the new venture, plus social media pages and a news burst to announce and market the new venture. – This includes only production and placement; it does not include the design services covered in the first bullet point. Both InPrint Services and SocialNet4U contribute equally to order processing and customer service for the new venture.

– This might take the form of committing equal numbers of employee hours to these jobs, or committing additional monies to hire a third party to handle these jobs. To be determined later.