The Twelfth House+ CASE STUDY: Self-Publishing a Guidebook Project Plan

📚 Resources and Links:

• Sign up for the HOW TO BEGIN: A PROJECT PLANNING CLASS

• 📩 Connect with host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Michelle Pellizzon-Lipsitz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠team Holisticism⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Sign up for the North Node waitlist here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Inquire about 1:1 work with Michelle here

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Alright, yesterday we gave you our first project plan case study and template for submitting a Creative Writing MFA Application (also useful for those submitting to residencies, grants, etc.) Fun one, right?

Today I wanted to use tackle a project that has a very different process — a self-published ritual workbook. Our elusive submitter

Familiar Ceremony

wants to create an interactive guidebook for personal rituals as an MVP for their brand. Extremely cool project, so let’s dive in.

First, What Even IS an MVP??? (Quick Reminder)

An MVP is a Minimum Viable Product — the smallest possible version of your idea that lets you test whether anyone actually wants what you're making before you sink your life savings into producing a fully-formed product.

If I wanted to create an app that helps people avoid their exes at coffee shops (which, wait — might actually be genius?), my MVP wouldn't be a fully-coded app with geolocation. It might just be a Google form where people manually report sightings. Tragically analog? Yes. Less likely to bankrupt me? Also yes.

Most importantly, an MVP acts as an experiment. Which means if we launch an MVP, we’ve gotta know what we’re testing and what variables we’re experimenting with.

A Few Rules I Gave Myself For This Project Plan

To write the plan for this ritual workbook, I made a few assumptions:

• Budget: $500-1K (keeping it lean)

• Timeline: 6 months (I have commitment issues)

• Time: 10 hours per week, but this is an easy one to kick up or down based on how busy you are or how quickly you want to make it through the project.

You've succeeded if:

• You finish without perfectionism turning you into a human pretzel

• People don't fake their own deaths to avoid giving you feedback

• You generate enough interest to justify further brand investment

• The process actually feels fun (!) rather than torturous

After mapping all this out, I realized I've had a Matrix of Destiny workbook on my to-do list forever. Thanks, Familiar Ceremony, for inadvertently forcing me to confront my own creative avoidance (and helping me figure out my own project plan!)