Write The Right Book!

When I was young, I dreamed about what I would be when I grew up. I was sure I was going to be an astronaut (even though I am deathly afraid of heights). I was going to be a rock star (I have often been told I have a face for radio). I was going to be a politician (I could always talk my way out of eating brussels sprouts).

The last thing I expected to be was a professional student and an author. I sucked at school. I could squeeze a C out of any class, but reading was not my forte. Music was my specialty. I did not learn until later in life, that I am an auditory learner. Now, I spend time learning through audio books and podcasts. Some of the books I have listened to lately were authored by my recent podcast guest and New York Times Bestseller, Joel Comm.

When I met him last year at a conference, I never put two and two together (see I told you I was bad at math). I listened to Twitter Power 2.0 and KaChing, two of his books and loved both of them. However, I never really paid attention to who the author was, just that I loved the books and learned from the content. I can say, now that I have met him, I have a completely different respect for the man and his messages.

Why Write A Book?

The late, great Jay Conrad Levinson (Guerrilla Marketing) once said (rough translation) “I made $10,000,000 off of writing books … but only about $30,000 off of royalties!” According to Joel Comm, “The average self-published book sells 10 copies online and the average traditionally published book sells 1,000 copies.” With a self-published book, you can make between $5-$10 per sale on average. With a traditionally published book, most authors make around $1 per copy sold. I may be bad at math, but I can tell you that you don’t write a book to get rich (unless you are J.K. Rowling or Tom Clancy).

You write a book to create credibility in your industry. You write a book to leave a legacy. You write a book to help you promote your brand, your business or to start a speaking career. You write a book, because it’s a very powerful 100-300 page business card (when done correctly).

Types of Publishing

Books come in one of four flavors: hard cover, soft cover, Kindle and PDF (both considered Ebooks). The publishing industry has gone through a recent renaissance not too different from the one the music industry went through. Similar to the way the iPod changed how we listen to music, the Kindle, Nook, and Amazon (and Apple) have changed the way we consume books. In fact, today, more books are consumed electronically (Kindle and audio books) than in print. Publishing a book also comes in four flavors: Ebooks (generally self published Kindle books on Amazon.com or free downloadable PDFs), self-published, traditionally published, or a newer model I will refer to as hybrid publishing.

• Ebooks – Although, this is the least complicated and simplest of all books, it does not mean these are easy if done right. The biggest benefit of this type is the ability to have hot links to promote websites, programs and more. All three of the other types of books can have an Ebook or Kindle version. However, don’t think any traditional or print book just translates easily to an Ebook; they have different formatting and technical needs from any print book. To publish a Kindle book, you have to create an Amazon.com account and use KDP Select to complete!
• Self Published – This is how I published all three of my current books. The entire burden is on you. I spent $5000 to publish my first book and to hire the people I needed to do it right (I did not pay a broker … I hired people I personally know, like and trust with experience – see the list below)! The best part of a self-published book is you have total control. If you use a service like CreateSpace (Amazon), you can print just 1 book and have it shipped to you. It will still be listed on Amazon for sale. You can also upload revisions at any time to correct errors and to keep your book fresh!
• Traditionally Published – This is what most authors (I am guessing at this point) try to do. You create a book proposal and shop it to various publishers. If you are lucky enough to have it picked up, then that’s when the fun begins. You are at the mercy of the publisher for all of the final decisions, because they have the (perceived) majority skin in the game, and most books are just a wish and a prayer. I am not anti-publisher, but coming from the music industry, you lose a bunch of creative control in the hopes of larger distribution and sales.
• Hybrid Published – Companies like Morgan James and others have conceived and used a hybrid type of publishing. With this, you reap the benefits of the extended distribution and you are allowed more creative freedom. However, these benefits come with the added burden of footing some additional costs. You can maybe bring in your own designers or editors, but you have to pay for them. It’s a total win-win, if you are not financially set or comfortable with doing everything yourself!

Writing A Book

Just writing a book is a challenge. Not only do you have to have great content that people want to learn from, but you have a complicated process ahead of you. As stated before, you don’t write a book to get rich. In fact, it can become a very expensive 100-300 page business card. If you are not going to hire one of the following people, then chances are your book may not stack up to its professionally published brothers and sisters.

• Project Manager – Just look at the list below. All of those tasks and people (even if they are only you) have to be managed and held accountable for their respective jobs and outcomes.
• Editor – Don’t mistake an editor with a proofreader. A good editor does so much more. They check facts, build a cohesiveness throughout the book, give it a unique flavor and make sure that all the components (Forward, Introduction, Table Of Contents, Chapters, References, Index, and more) are meeting the needs of the ultimate customer – your readers.
• Proofreader – Captain Typo here! I made the mistake of releasing a book with too many errors, and I paid the price. It affected me so much, that I now have a virtual assistant to proofread my blogs. People are justifiably sensitive to grammar and spelling errors (they are affectionately called Grammar Nazis). I can read a book 20 times and not see the errors. That’s why you want to hire the biggest, baddest and meanest Grammar Nazi you can find!
• Cover Designer – You can’t judge a book by its cover … unless it’s sitting next to professionally designed covers on Amazon.com. People are fickle and will make buying decisions based on the colors, fonts and graphics of your cover. If you choose to pick only one person to help you with your book, this may be the most important (unless your are writing a book for Grammar Nazis).
• Interior Book Designer – How the book looks after people pull the cover back is almost as important as the cover. When a book is professionally laid out, it has certain characteristics that make it stand out from the crowd. Is it different and creative? Are the margins set right to see all the text from cover to cover (Page 1 is as perfect as page 100 as well as page 200). One of the biggest compliments I had on my books were they are easy to read, because of the fonts we chose and the way they were laid out. On of the biggest complaints I had about them was there was too much good stuff and not enough space to write notes.
• Indexer – I did not know about this prior to writing a book. There is not one piece of software in the world that can create an index for a book. Software cannot choose between using Google (action you want to index), mentioning Google (searching), Google Adwords, Google Places, Google Business or Google Analytics. All the software can see is the word “Google”. You have to hire a professional indexer, who will read the entire book and choose which words are important to your reader and then cross references them to the page numbers. They can’t even begin to do this until the final stages of the book have been completed (editing, proofreading and interior design changes will affect page numbers).
• Publicist – You want to share your success with the world (just writing and having a book published is a success in my book). You want to have a professionally written press release ready for various outlets: Local newspapers, radio and TV stations, magazines, blogs, vertical markets, websites, blog aggregators and so much more. You hire a professional for two reasons … their expertise in crafting a well-written press release, and most importantly, their connections with people in specific media outlets. You can’t easily buy good press, but you can buy the services of someone with GREAT connections.
• Web Developer – Every book or series of books needs its own website. You want to have links to purchase, reviews, testimonials, sample chapters, videos, press kits and press releases. You also want to use this to help collect names for email lists and potential speaking engagements. It does not hurt to have a blog to keep your book and its content fresh in the minds of readers and to promote future sales.
• Book Launch Event Organizer – I just watched my friend and Poodle Wrangler, Brian G. Johnson, launch his book “The Trust Funnel“. He spent months planning, promoting and marketing for his launch day. He sent over 150 copies to influencers who put pictures up on social media. Was it worth it? He made it into the top 400 books on Amazon and #1 in three categories. I think Brian would call that a success. Next up … The New York Times Best Seller List!
• Event Coordinator – Having a book means book signings, speaking events and so much more. You have to be ready, willing and able for what comes next!

Selling Books

I said earlier that you are not going to get rich selling books. That does NOT MEAN that you don’t want to SELL BOOKS! The one fact that you have to know up front is that … no matter what book publishing method you choose, or who you have helping you publish that book, it’s all on your shoulders.

No matter what people tell or sell you … YOU are the product and YOU are the Marketing Department! A book is your knowledge on paper (albeit digital), and it’s your job to promote it whichever way you publish. This does not change whether you use a traditional publisher, hybrid publisher or self-publish. After all, it’s your brand!

I would love to hear your thoughts, comments and feedback!

To learn more on this and other topics about Internet Marketing – visit our podcast website at http://www.mymarketingmagnet.com/podcasts/