If you are an entrepreneur, a coach, a thought leader, or a side hustler, publishing a book can give a lot of authority. An author is an authority after all.
The clients see you differently if you have published a book in your field. Once you have become an author, you are miles ahead of your competition.
Here are a few things a book will do for you.
Writing a book will boost your confidence and knowledge of your field.
Your book will generate quality followers and future clients.
Your book will help you get ahead of your competitors in grabbing opportunities.
Your book becomes a gateway to many products and services.
Your book will become another stream of income.
If want to write a book and don’t know how, you will find all you need in this in my book How To Write And Publish An Ebook In One Week.
Here is an excerpt from it.
Introduction
Around 20 years ago, I read an article on Barbara Cartland, the undisputed queen of romance novels. Over seven decades, she wrote more than 700 books. That’s 100 novels each decade, which means she was practically writing a novel a month for 70 years.
I still remember her image from the magazine, lying on a pink bed in a pink gown; she was dictating her next book to her assistant at the age of 92.
I remember saying to myself, “This is what I want to do in my old age. I want to write books.”
But there was only one problem. My English sucked.
At one stage in a performance review, my boss said to me, “The only thing that stands between you and a senior management role is your written English.”
Rather than getting disappointed, I decided to take his remark as a challenge. I decided to improve my writing. But rather than concentrating just on business writing, I joined a local ‘life story writing’ group and started writing stories from my life. I took many creative writing courses and joined several writing groups.
My writing started to improve. As the years passed, what was a hobby became a passion. I participated in November Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) several times and wrote short stories, a memoir, and a novel. But all of them stayed at the first draft stage. I didn’t have the skills or the confidence to take them to the next level.
Two years ago, I quit my job to devote my time and energy to writing. I started a blog and wrote frantically. A year later, I started writing for Medium, an online subscription-based blogging platform.
Still, after 20 years of writing, I had nothing to show for it. My dream of writing a book a month like Barbara Cartland remained just that – a dream.
Until recently when I started buying many ebooks during the 2020 pandemic. All of a sudden, I was exposed to the world of eBooks. I could buy any book at a price as low as ninety-nine cents and have it delivered to my iPad. As a result, I was reading the books that were on my reading list for months.
It was then that I realized that the whole book industry had changed. Not only the methods of consuming books but the writing and publishing process.
When most people think about writing a book, they think of 200 to 300 pages. They also feel that it will take them a year to write the book and another to publish it. Then they hope that they will be able to find a publisher who will pay them a handsome advance and ongoing royalties for years to come.
If that is what you are thinking, then I’m going to challenge your assumptions. That model of writing books doesn’t exist anymore, and there are many reasons for that:
First, many readers are intimidated by thick books. They don’t have much time, and they want to get to the point quickly. So if the author keeps on waffling to fill the pages, readers are more likely to put the book aside for a later read and choose another one to finish quickly.
The way people are consuming books has changed. People read on eReaders such as Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Smashwords, tablets, and mobile phones. Many are listening to books rather than reading them. EBook and audiobook sales have increased dramatically during the pandemic and continue to climb.
The traditional publishing model is dead. The internet was killing it slowly, but the pandemic of 2020 has hastened the process. As a result, many small publishing houses have closed. Unfortunately, those remaining are not taking chances with new writers.
Even if you can find a publisher for your book, the advance you get paid is minuscule (usually around $5000), and royalty is just 10–25%. Compared to self-publishing, writers can earn 35–70% on Amazon and up to 90% with other self-publishing platforms.
The way books are written changed too. Writers are expected to churn out titles much faster than ever before. As a result, many self-publishing writers are launching several books a year. They can do that because they write shorter books (both fiction and nonfiction) and release them as eBooks, substantially cutting the publishing time. eBooks are released at lower price points, making them more affordable and easily consumable.
As I learned more and more about what is going on in the writing industry, I realized that if I am to break into it, I have to do three things:
1) Write shorter books.
2) Write them in series.
3) Write them fast.
Let’s find out why.
Why Write Shorter Books?
An interesting fact about books is that around 10% of people who buy one don’t read past the first chapter.
I’m sure you can relate to that.
I have several books that I have kept aside to read later. The main reason is that they are too long. If the book is short, say 100–200 pages, I dig in straightaway and finish it – sometimes in one sitting. But if the book is long, I put it aside to read later. That ‘later’ never comes.
Shorter books sell better because they can be easily consumed. Most people don’t have time to read long books. People read all the time on their computers, tablets, and phones. They don’t want to sit with a thick book at the end of a hard day. A short, crisp book that gets the point across concisely is often what readers prefer.
Usually, you can buy shorter books at a much cheaper price point. For example, a 50- to 100-page book may not sell at the same price as a 400-page book, but it sells many more copies because the price or length does not deter people. As a result, readers don’t think twice about buying a book that costs just a few dollars.
There used to be a time when the book’s thickness was an indicator of its quality. Remember War and Peace, Moby-Dick, Gone With the Wind, Anna Karenina, Atlas Shrugged, or David Copperfield? They are all superbly written books, but many people have not read them because they are intimidated by their size.
Some books are just 20 pages long but cost hundreds of dollars because of their information.
A book called It Works – The Famous Little Red Book That Makes Your Dreams Come True by R. H. Jarrett is just 28 pages long, but it’s an incredible read and has sold 1.5 million copies. In my opinion, the information it provides is more valuable than a 400-page book.
Why Write In Series?
Having shorter, more easily consumable books at a lower price point is a better strategy to sell them. Instead of creating a 300-page volume, you can break it down into shorter volumes and create a series out of that. It will sell better than the lengthy book. When someone buys one series, they are more likely to finish it because it’s an easy read. And if they like it and find it useful, guess what they’re going to do? They will buy the next book and the next after that and maybe the entire series.
You don’t have to go far to get evidence for this buying behavior. Just watch yourself. Isn’t this what you do too? This is how I buy. I have bought the whole series of an author because I liked one of her books and found it interesting.
If you want to write a book about writing fiction, rather than cramming all of your advice into a single 300-page volume and selling it for $19.99, divide it into five volumes of 60 pages each that address one element at a time and price them at $3.99 a copy. You are likely to sell more this way. If readers like one of your titles, they are more likely to buy the others in the series.
The point I am making is to write shorter books – something between 50 and 150 pages. Rather than writing a lengthy full-fledged book with all of your tips on digital declutter, write three separate books specific to each digital device.
How to Declutter Your Computer and Keep it That Way.
How to Declutter Your Phone and Save on Cloud Storage Charges.
How to Declutter Your Tablet and Make Space for the New Apps You Really Want.
Writing 25 pages on each topic and selling it at a lower price on Amazon and other platforms is a better strategy than taking a year to write the entire book and selling it at a higher price.
Short books are not only easier to read but easy to write as well. However, a year to write a book is too long for many ideas. For example, let’s say you are writing a book on a specific technology topic. If it takes you a year to write it, most of the information will be outdated by the time the book comes to market.
Writing a short book is a great way to test the market to see if your book captures people’s imagination. Then, if there is demand for your idea, you can always elaborate on it in the next edition.
Why One Week?
I remember watching a 1990 movie, The Hunt for Red October. In the beginning, Sean Connery’s character, a Russian submarine captain, orders to take the vessel to a depth much lower than it is built for. After many nail-biting minutes, the submarine and the crew survive the drill. The crew learns that they can go through much more than they think they can during the process.
Writers also need to know their limits.
Stamina to write long hours, working towards looming deadlines, continuing despite tiredness and lack of sleep is what we have signed up for.
Writing a short book in a week is just a tiny drill.
It is not true that a book written in a week can’t sell. Seth Godin, who has published dozens of business books on sales and marketing, said, “One of my books took more than a year to write, ten hours a day. Another took three weeks. Both sell for the same price. The quicker one outsold the other 20 to 1.”
Jesse Tevelow wrote Hustle: The Life-Changing Magic Effect of Constant Motion which sold thousands of copies. He wrote the book in a week, and it became a #1 Bestseller in the ‘Happiness, Personal Success, and Knowledge Capital’ category on Amazon.
Jesse’s first book, The Connection Algorithm: Take Risks, Defy the Status Quo, and Live Your Passions, was a runaway success too, but it took him a year to write it. Hustle is different. It was written, produced, and published in just seven days. The book’s ridiculously short schedule was meant to prove a point:
Focus + Momentum = Mind-bending Productivity
I am a big subscriber to a strategy known as ‘Speed Implementation.’ It suggests that when you have an idea you think you can develop into something, act very fast to execute it, as this will help you create something of value. It is a strategy that I use often. When you have a new idea, usually there is an energy associated with it. In the beginning, this energy is very high. That is the time to act on the idea; the energy starts diminishing if you leave it for a little while.
Most of our ideas die because we don’t act on them fast enough.
“If you say yes to an idea, it’s showtime.” – Elizabeth Gilbert.
I am on vacation from 23 May to 6 July. So if I miss an issue of this newsletter or don’t respond to your comments on time, that is why.
Please keep your comments coming. They encourage me and tell me what resonates with you.
I am running a sprint Write Your Book In 30 Days from 18 July. If you are interested you can register your name here.
That’s all from me this week.