Research shows that 81 percent of people say they have at least one book in them, according to the New York Times. As a business leader, a book is a great way to establish your authority in your industry.
It’s estimated that Amazon earns over $6 billion dollars a year from eBooks, according to George Parker in The New Yorker. For leaders, there is a profitable opportunity to add revenue to your business through books.
The problem is that there are 600,000 to one million books published every year in the U.S. alone. This has spawned an entire industry aimed at those wanting to publish a book. It’s also made it very difficult for your book to stand out.
Here’s what you need to know about publishing a book.
1. Don’t make your book free through Amazon’s KDP select program unless you have a strategy.
Amazon has a program called KDP Select. When you enroll in the program you have to make your book exclusive to Amazon. You can’t even sell it on your own website. In exchange for exclusivity, Amazon will give you a small portion of their lending program.
They will also let you offer your book for free for five days every 90 days. The free promotion was a popular strategy and it’s still widely used today. The goal is to get more reviews for your book and your book in more readers’ hands.
The biggest problem is you can’t sell your book on your own website. That costs you the opportunity to connect with your customers directly. You can’t add their name to your email list, you can’t tell them about your other products or services. Amazon gets to do that.
People don’t respect something they get for free and, since there are millions of other free books, chances are they won’t even read yours. During free promotions, you give away thousands of books and in return, you get maybe a hand full of reviews.
The former publisher of Writers Digest, Jane Friedman, has an excellent article about whom this program works best for. It’s not the average author.
Use this strategy in conjunction with other email list building strategies. Use it to build a list and sell programs.
2. You need to hire an editor.
When all the big published authors are asked what was their biggest mistake, the overwhelming answer is not getting their book edited.
Readers notice when your book isn’t edited. They will leave negative reviews about grammar. That affects your book sales because reviews are the first thing a book buyer looks at.
3. Publishing is not easy.
Publishing has opened many doors and taken away the gatekeepers but don’t think it is easy. With a major publisher, you write the book and the publisher handles the ins and outs of creating the book. With self-publishing, that all falls on you.
4. It’s tough getting your book into book stores.
As someone that owns a publishing company, I can tell you that getting a placement for your book in a bookstore is hard. Bookstores only want to give space to proven authors.
There’s a self-publishing company called Lighting Source, which has a relationship with Ingram books, the world’s largest book distributor. Ingram distributes books to all the major bookstores. Yes, Ingram can get your book in the bookstore catalog but not necessarily in the actual bookstore.
5. You have to market your book.
It doesn’t matter how good your book is, your book will sell or languish depending on the marketing. Remember the (at least) 600,000 books published every year? Many good books go unnoticed. Writing a good book is just the start. Marketing gets the book noticed and persuades people to buy it.
6. Your book is worth more than 99 cents.
With all the competition, you’re told you have to price your book for 99 cents to sell it. As an entrepreneur, your goal is not to be priced at the bottom of the market. Understand the value you provide and price your book accordingly.
Books are greatly underpriced for the value they provide. Let everyone else chase the bottom while you enjoy more profit on the top.
7. You need to launch your book.
A book lives and dies by the marketing. To get the maximum exposure for your book you should do a full-blown book launch. What does this mean? You should form a launch team of about 100 people.
These 100 people are bloggers and website owners who will help you promote the book during the launch week. Your goal is to get concentrated sales during a specific week to drive the book to best-seller status and help it in Amazon’s algorithm rankings.
These 100 people will leave reviews for your book on Amazon and anywhere else your book is sold. They’ll promote your book on their social media pages and on their website and email list.
You walk away with 100 reviews and your book exposed on a larger network than you could have reached on your own. During this launch week, you should also offer a few freebies to entice people to buy your book. The freebies are what you will give your launch team as a thank you for their help promoting your book.
The former CEO of Thomas Nelson Books, Michael Hyatt, did a great job proving this strategy.
Have a clear plan for your book.
As a business leader, a book should definitely be a part of your strategy for business growth. Establish your authority and earn some passive revenue through book sales.
Follow this advice and your book will thrive. Take full advantage of the amazing opportunity publishing can provide every entrepreneur.
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