The Wealthy Author
The Fast Profit Method For Writing, Publishing & Selling Your Non-Fiction Book
Joe Gregory
Debbie Jenkins
First Published In Great Britain 2009 by Publishing Academy www.publishingacademy.com
© Copyright Joe Gregory and Debbie Jenkins
Smashwords Edition
This book is available in print at Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
To experts with muddy boots.
You write the best books.
Praise
“This is a book every author, at whatever stage of their career, needs to read. It has a wealth of information for every step of the process from coming up with ideas and market research through how to write and finally to the all important how to sell, get paid and become wealthy. One element that completely blew me away was the matrix on page 44, demonstrating demographic niches for a book topic. Within a minute of seeing this page I had 55 new ideas for selling my existing book and more new book ideas than I can count. That page alone was worth more than the price of book but there is so much more usable information than this. The best thing for me about this book is not just the information but how it is presented. It is witty, conversational and easy to read with lots of checklists, charts and graphs. It is a very powerful book that I can see me coming back to time and time again as I climb the publishing ladder to become a wealthy author.”
Rintu Basu, author, Persuasion Skills Black Book, www.thenlpcompany.com
“The Wealthy Author is a must read for people who want to not only get published, but sell their existing books too! It is jam packed with actual insider secrets for achieving success in this industry and the information inside is worth much more in both financial and time saving terms than the cover price. I like how the book is written in a very friendly and accessible style with no ‘pomp’. It is down to earth and gives you the principles of creating and selling information products online which is a skill-set that you can use time and again. Traditional mainstream publishers will be quaking in their boots when their industry secrets are revealed for just £15. Avoid the common beginners mistakes and fast forward your success as a wealthy author with this un-missable book!”
Nadine Hill, author, The Virtual Assistant Handbook, proprietor, The Dream PA, www.thedreampa.co.uk
“The Wealthy Author is essential reading for authors who want to enjoy real success with their books. It provides a comprehensive start-to-finish guide that every author or aspiring author should read. This book tells the truth, cuts through the crap and will prevent you from making some big mistakes. If you want to be a successful author then you need to read this book.”
Simon Hazeldine, speaker and author of Bare Knuckle Selling, Bare Knuckle Negotiating, Bare Knuckle Customer Service and The Inner Winner, www.simonhazeldine.com
“The first secret to being a wealthy author must be to have a great title - and once again Joe and Debs show from the outset that they know and do what they teach! The Wealthy Author is an exciting and invaluable resource for anyone wanting to turn their insights, knowledge and experience into a substantial stream of income.”
Dr Andrew Bass, Director, Bass Clusker, www.bassclusker.com
“Joe’s one of the nicest guys I know, but that’s nothing without talent and he has plenty of that… he’s a great marketer and an ace copywriter… If you’re into self-publishing, Joe’s your guy – he’ll put you out there and really work to sell your product.”
Peta Heskell, author, Flirt Coach, attractionacademy.com
“Debs and her team are always reliable and certainly know their stuff. She has been a pleasure to work and communicate with and I would recommend her to anyone… she also is expert, creative and has high integrity.”
Jo Parfitt, prolific author, writer’s coach, www.joparfitt.com
“When I was a manager in the music industry, a book came along called ‘This Business of Artist Management’ which turned my working world upside down. In my opinion, ‘The Wealthy Author’ is set to do just that for the publishing industry while shaking many people’s long held beliefs about what being an author means. I’m absolutely amazed at the wealth of information in this book, the way it’s laid out so logically, and I’m sure it will become an industry bible immediately. I will be keeping my copy to refer to again and again.”
Nicola Cairncross, wealth coach, speaker and author of The Money Gym, www.themoneygym.com
Acknowledgements
Once you get ‘good’ at a thing it’s easy to forget who helped you on your way. With that in mind we’d like to bring your attention to the following publishing heroes (all wealthy authors in their own right) for being a page ahead of the rest and generously sharing what they know. Thanks to: Aaron Shepard, Felix Denis, John Kremer, Vernon Coleman, Dan Poynter, Peter Bowerman, Seth Godin, Dan Kennedy, Tim Ferris, Larry Winget, Suzan St Maur, Geoff Burch, Robert Craven, Jo Parfitt and Stuart Goldsmith. We owe you far more than the cover price of your books!
We’d also like to thank all of our authors who took a chance on a small independent publisher and who take our ongoing harassment (we like to think of it as encouragement) with good humour. There are way too many of you to mention by name but you’re the reason we still jump out of bed each morning!
Particular thanks go to Nadine Hill - for your eagle eyes and action mindset, Rintu Basu – for your resourcefulness and creativity, Nicola Cairncross – for your unyielding support and loyalty and Simon Hazeldine – for your fearless spirit and walking the talk.
Finally, I’d like to thank all of the con-artists and blaggers trying to take advantage of authors for making us angry enough to set up The Publishing Academy and write this book! We wouldn’t have done it without you.
Why Should You Even Listen To Us?
“The more you think you already know – the less you can learn.”
www.leanmarketing.co.uk
As I sat down to write this introduction I asked myself the following question.
Why should you even listen to us?
We’ve only been in the publishing game for six years and, when you consider how long the printing press has been around, that’s not too long.
We don’t have any official publishing-related qualifications and we’ve never worked for a big publisher – not even as tea-makers. In fact, neither of us has even been published by a big publisher (this was through choice rather than necessity – but we’ll get to that later). Plus, if you were to compare our income with someone like JK Rowling’s – well it’s not quite as much!
Yet, despite all this, we’re making a great living from books. We live pretty much where we want to live (which, so far, has included the Norfolk coast and Spain). We do pretty much whatever we want with our time. We know that if we took a year off (as I did when I was ill last year) that the money would still keep coming in. Oh, and we love everything about our jobs – including the people we work with!
And that, for me, is the definition of being a wealthy author.
It’s not necessarily about the value of your bank balance (though we’ll share plenty of tips for increasing that) but about the value you get for your time!
If you’re not quite following me yet then how does this sound?
As a wealthy author you’ll be able to quit your day job and do whatever you like with your time – which could include writing, travelling, reading, scuba diving, sailing or simply goofing off for a while.
Once you’ve put the effort in up front (this isn’t a get rich quick approach) you’ll be able to sit back and coast for many years to come as your book continues to generate all the money you need to enjoy an enviable lifestyle.
As a wealthy author you’ll be able to live and work pretty much anywhere with an internet connection and you won’t even have to lump any books around if you don’t want to.
You’ll have other people, we’re talking huge organisations here, working around the clock to sell, promote and deliver your books while you do whatever you like.
Your time will truly be your own, to spend as you wish! And that – in my book – is priceless! After all, you can always get more money but time runs out for all of us eventually!
Our goal for this book is simple:
To share all the things we’ve learned over the years (from our successes and failures) about making money from non-fiction books. Our goal is to enable you to free up your time and benefit from a virtually hands-free income from your book or books. All the checklists and tools we share have been created based on hard-won experience (both our own and the many prolific authors we’ve worked with).
So, follow our advice and I guarantee you’ll be able to get where we are now with far less effort and in a far shorter time-frame!
Sound good? Great! Let’s get started… But first let me answer my first question. Here’s why you should listen to us:
We devised and delivered a simple launch plan (which has been much copied since) for one of our authors that sold over £30,000 of books within 24 hours.
We have written, published and actively marketed over 70 non-fiction books. Not all of them have been totally successful – but what we’ve learned from the failures will help you just as much as what we learned from our successes.
We’re the creators of the acclaimed Lean Marketing™ system which focuses on high-impact-low-cost marketing tactics that work. Ensuring you get a lot more ‘coming in’ from your marketing than you have ‘going out’ is key if you want to be a wealthy author!
We’re authors too (we’ve co-written more than 11 books on low-cost-high-impact marketing) and sold 6,000 copies of our first self-published book within two and a half years. This was before Print On Demand (POD) and without any major distribution, a proper Amazon listing or a single book in a bricks and mortar bookshop. The full case study is included later.
In the last 6 years we’ve published more than 70 books, created 9 best-sellers and made a very nice living working far fewer hours than we did when we were full-time marketing consultants. And we’re willing to share how you can do it too!
So, for my part I plan to provide you with all the direction and motivation you need to make a full-time (and life-time) income as a non-fiction author while doing and spending as little as possible. For simplicity, I’ll be your official guide throughout this book, but many of the tools and concepts I share were created by the two of us, so if I wasn’t telling you this stuff Debs certainly would be!
Here’s to your success as an author! May your future be full of free time, plenty of cash and the fame and happiness you deserve!
Joe Gregory Moratalla, Spain, August 2009
Is This Book For You?
“Success Secret: Strive to create more value than you consume.”
Debbie Jenkins, www.leanmarketing.co.uk
This is a ‘How To’ book for the authors of useful non-fiction books.
Why do I make the distinction ‘useful’? Why not all non-fiction? Well, because I want to differentiate between books where the reader learns something that they can use, gets answers to a previously unsolvable problem, experiences a life-changing new world view or is able to learn a new skill that will help in life, from books where the reader gets entertainment only.
Biographies, even inspirational ones, don’t fall into the ‘useful’ category because they’re designed to get an emotional response rather than to inform. They’re entertainment at best and, at worst, they’re ego-tainment designed to cash-in on some celebrity’s short-lived fame.
Although I’m sure much of this book will be useful to fiction writers and entertainment focused non-fiction authors too, it wasn’t written for you. So, if you are planning on using the stuff in this book to peddle your life story, get your poetry read by the masses (which may only happen after you’ve died of starvation) or write the next Harry Potter then you’ve been warned!
Who Should Read This Book?
If you are seriously ready to start writing your first non-fiction book but have little or no idea how to start then this book, in particular Step 1 and 2, is for you.
If you have a book in print right now and it’s not selling as well as you’d like then this book, in particular Step 5, is for you.
Whether you’ve already self-published your book or landed a contract with a ‘proper’ publisher this book is for you.
If you firmly believe that the success of your book is in your own hands and down to the actions you take rather than the wishes you make, then this book is for you.
If your book has been in print for a while but just isn’t selling, then this book is for you.
If you’re a successful (or prolific) author but are frustrated that you still need a day job to make ends meet then this book is for you.
If you’re in the early stages of devising your book or need help writing a book that’s likely to sell well, then this book is for you.
Who Shouldn’t Read This Book?
If you think a book should just do well because it’s ‘good’ and marketing is no task for a ‘proper’ author, then I’m not interested in trying to change your mind. This book could certainly help you but I’m not going to twist your arm!
If you’re hoping for somebody else (publisher, publicist, bookshops) to do all the work to promote your book for you, then this book will just get on your nerves because I will keep reminding you that it’s your job to sell your book!
If you just saw the ‘wealthy’ bit of the title and think making money as an author is going to be easy then think again! This book will definitely help you, but you might not like the amount of work you’re going to have to put in up front.
If you want yet more theory but are not willing to follow this up with action, then this book will give you lots of cool tools, approaches and tips, but it will not help you become a wealthy author. You need to take consistent and considered action for that to happen!
How To Use This Book
You can dip into the book using the contents page to find tips and tools to help with your current challenges or you can choose the step you’re at now (based on the Publishing Ladder of Success – introduced shortly) and go straight to that Step in the book.
However, for the full effect I recommend that you work through the entire book. Even if you have a book in print and are only really interested in getting some tips and selling more copies, I’d suggest you review that book using the lists and tools we share before going any further.
A warning though: finding that your book has a major flaw (say with the title or the idea itself) can be a painful experience. It’s how you respond to this experience that will set your future direction. Here are your choices:
You can deny the obvious fact that you didn’t have this useful book when you first started and have made a fundamental error. And then compound that original error by continuing to work hard at the promotion (attempting to force your book to be a success).
You can learn from this realisation, put the wasted time and effort behind you and go back to the drawing board (or Word Processor) to make your next book into a winner.
The second option is often quicker and easier but I know it’s painful to think back on all the hard work you put in to get where you are now! So here’s a bit of wisdom…
“No matter how far you’ve walked down the wrong road – turn back!”
My top tip is that you skim read the whole book first - it’s been kept intentionally short and snappy because it’s an action book so it won’t take that long – and then either read it in full or find the bits that stand out!
What You’re Going To Get From Reading This Book
How To Come Up With Great Book Ideas
Without question a great book idea is the starting point for all wealthy authors. But a good idea alone won’t get you very far. By the time you’ve finished Step 1 of this book you should be able to answer ‘yes’ to the following …
Do you know if your book idea is really that good?
Are you able to easily come up with great ideas whenever you like?
Can you sum your book up well with a single sentence?
Does your book have a killer title?
Do you know how your book is positioned?
How To Find A Market Hungry for Your Book
It only takes one person to believe an idea is great. But, if you only sell one book to that one person then you’re unlikely to become very wealthy! Once you’re finished with Step 2 of this book you’ll be able to say ‘yes’ to the following …
Are you confident your great idea has any kind of a commercial future?
Do you know how to rapidly test the market and build a list of prospects before writing your book?
Can you easily give great reasons why prospective readers should buy your book instead of taking any other action?
Will your book appeal to ‘hungry fanatics’ and do you even know how to find them?
Can you really say who your book is for without resorting to ‘anyone and everyone’?
How To Write Your Book Quickly & Easily
Once you’ve got a great idea and you know there’s a market then it’s time to get writing. Once you’ve sailed through Step 3 you’ll be able to shout ‘yes’ to the following questions…
Have you immunised yourself against writer’s block?
Can you rapidly and easily map out your book before writing a single word?
Have you got a useful chapter-by-chapter framework to help your book write itself?
Do you know the essential elements you need in your non-fiction book?
Would you be able to write a book in a week if you had to?
How To Get Your Book Published
Making the right decision here is crucial. Even if you think your goal is to get a contract from a mainstream publisher or that self-publishing is a last resort for frustrated authors tired of rejection, you need to know your options. Once you’ve compared the different ways to get your book in print by reading Step 4 you’ll be able to say ‘yes’ to the following…
Do you know how to pitch your book idea so that it beats off 99% of the other books?
Can you easily spot and avoid the scams, tricks and lies employed by unscrupulous vanity publishers and agents out to steal your money and dreams?
If you decide to self-publish do you know how to get your ISBN, barcode and other essential elements of a properly published book?
Do you understand the different publishing models well enough to work out which one is the right choice for you?
Are you able to maximise profit from your intellectual property by choosing the right publishing approach?
How To Sell Loads of Books & Raise Your Profile
Here’s the really important bit. Everything up to this point is academic if you don’t actually sell books. The good news is that once you’ve read Step 5 you’ll be able to nod a confident ‘yes’ to the following…
Do you know why 80% of the ‘book publicity activity’ authors and publishers spend time and money on is futile?
Are you convinced that marketing is absolutely your responsibility and that you shouldn’t leave this most important job to your publisher or publicist?
Do you know hundreds of different things you could do to sell more copies of your book but why you only need to focus on doing a few of them to succeed?
Can you spot the difference between ‘vanity’ and ‘sanity’ marketing activities and use the latter to increase sales while winning back free time by eradicating the former?
Are you confident that you’ll be able to promote your book better than anyone else – even if you previously knew absolutely nothing about marketing?
How To Turn One Book Into A Lifetime Income
Selling loads of books is a great start but if you leave it there then you’ll always be looking for the next big pay day. In Step 6 you’ll learn how to set things up so that you can easily and smugly answer ‘yes’ to the following…
Do your book sales turn into higher and higher revenues as your readers gladly and eagerly pay more money to get more of your knowledge?
Are you able to command much higher fees as a consultant, speaker, coach or expert than your non-published rivals?
Do you have the mechanisms in place to turn a single book into an impressive full-time income that works pretty-much on autopilot?
Will the money from your book-based business continue to pour in – even if you decide not to work another day in your life?
Can you see how to experience time freedom (do what you like), physical freedom (from wherever you like) and financial freedom (without worrying about money) by setting things up right from the start?
Essential Principles All Wealthy Authors Understand & Apply
“If you’re tired of coming up against a brick wall then build a ladder.”
Joe Gregory, www.leanmarketing.co.uk
Where Are You On The Publishing Ladder of Success?
The business of writing and selling books is a lot like a ladder. If you’re currently on the ground and you want to get higher then you need to take certain steps along the way. Attempting to skip a step on the way up can be dangerous and, as you get higher, the consequences of failure are greater too. So if you intend to succeed as an author then you need to pay attention and take things carefully.
The 6 Steps To Becoming A Wealthy Author
Creativity: Coming up with good book ideas.
Viability: Identifying and finding a market for your book.
Productivity: Writing the book quickly and easily.
Tangibility: Getting your book in print – whether you plan to land a publisher or self-publish.
Publicity: Selling loads of books – including everything from raising your profile, getting reviews and getting good distribution.
Longevity: Cashing in on your position as an author – using your newfound authority to get paid bigger fees and turning one book (or more) into a full time income that can pay you for the rest of your life.
Steps 1, 2 and 3 are essentially all part of the creative phase. Although you’re not likely to stay here too long getting these steps wrong will make the rest of the game of becoming a wealthy author much more difficult.
Step 4 – getting your book in print – is often the first stumbling block for many would-be authors. But, as you’ll soon discover, there is no longer any real barrier to getting your book in print.
Step 5 – selling loads of books – is the second stumbling block. The good news is that failure at this point is almost always down to one of two things: either the author doesn’t have a clue how to sell their book (which will be fixed when you finish Step 5) or the author didn’t take responsibility for selling their book (which, by the fact you’re reading this now, doesn’t include you). However, selling loads of books isn’t going to make you rich by itself. Step 6 – cashing in – is the often-missing and unknown step where the real wealth lies.
The bottom of this ladder (at least the first 3 steps and often the 4th) costs you money so you really don’t want to linger on the creation phase. You may think you’re only spending time during the writing phase but the fact is this. If you weren’t writing a book you could be spending that same time earning money doing a ‘proper’ job, being paid by clients or selling your existing book. This is an ‘opportunity cost’ because when you’re spending time creating your next masterpiece you’ll be forfeiting the opportunity to earn money now.
As I’ve already said, the top of the ladder is where the real wealth is, which is why our aim is to get you there as quickly as possible.
This book has been devised to help you move easily and quickly from the first step to the last… but where are you now?
Stuck With Your Head In Your Ass-ets: Steps 1 to 3
If you’re hanging around at the bottom of the ladder (steps 1 to 3) then your book project will be costing you time, energy and money but will not bring in a single penny of income.
Too many people stay here for far too long, but the reality is that if you want to be a wealthy author you can’t afford to. Doing loads of competitor and market research, or obsessing over your pitch, or taking too long to get the book written will all lead to more up-front cost for you and a bigger up-front investment which eats into your eventual profit!
Stuck With A Book But No Publisher: Step 4
If your book project stalls here then you could have real trouble. Not only have you invested time, energy and possibly money up front, but if you fail to get your big idea into the hands of prospective buyers then there is zero chance that your hard work is ever going to pay off! At this stage your options are…
Land a deal with a mainstream publisher. If you’re after kudos over profits or the thought of sorting out ISBNs, book cover designs, editing, typesetting and distribution yourself scares you (though you’ll find most of this stuff is easy once you know how) – then this is the way to go. While you don’t get to keep 100% of the profit (most mainstream publishers are seen as generous if they give you 7%) you aren’t taking a whole lot of the up-front risk either. If you have dreams of a nice fat advance then dream on; many publishers are doing away with this model and unless you’re already a celebrity (or big name author) you’re not very likely to get one.
Self-publish. This is my preferred approach, especially for non-fiction as you get to keep control and keep 100% of the profit. Of course you also take 100% of the risk too and there’s a lot of work to do in the early stages before you’ll see a penny back. With more and more Print on Demand (POD) companies (I’m talking printers and not vanity publishers) entering the market, self-publishing is getting easier! As you’ll see, the work really begins when the book is in print. You’ll need to be ready for some hard work and a steep learning curve – but that’s why you’re reading this book – right?
Pay to publish. Whether they call themselves collaborative publishers, subsidy publishers or co-operative publishers the simple fact is that they’re really just vanity publishers. As if the cost of getting this far isn’t great enough, many of these companies charge more than they’re worth up-front and then make an obscene profit by selling your own books to you. No matter what they say you’ll still have to market the hell out of your book and you’ll have a bigger hill to climb to break even. This really isn’t an option for a wealthy author and I’ll show you precisely why later in this book.
Stuck With A Book That’s Not Selling: Step 5
Sadly, this is where most authors end up stuck. You have a great book, you’ve invested loads of time, energy and possibly money (if not yours then your publishers) and it’s out there but it’s just not selling.
To be honest some books are doomed to stay here (though you won’t have this problem once you’ve read this book) because the author (or publisher) didn’t bother to check there was a market! It doesn’t matter how good a book is, if a market doesn’t exist for it then you ain’t gonna sell it!
But what if there is a huge market? What if the content in your book really answers that market’s need? What if it’s not selling then? This will usually be a result of one (or all) of the following…
The author is not doing enough active promotion. As someone who’s been on both sides of the fence I’m sincere when I say that promoting your book is 100% the author’s responsibility. Blaming your publisher for not promoting your book or complaining about your position on the book shelf or hoping your book will sell because it’s so much better than the others is stupid! It’s your book. It’s your profile. It’s your responsibility to get it selling. If you don’t know how then you will when you’ve finished reading this book! But never forget, make no excuses, all successful authors with few exceptions got there by taking responsibility for their promotion and taking consistent action to get their book selling. If they say they didn’t then they were either very lucky or they’re lying!
The book’s packaging is awful. Problems include a poor book cover (the cover is the most important selling device you have so don’t leave it to amateurs), a poor book blurb (if your book doesn’t tell readers what’s in it for them but instead bores them to tears then your book will struggle), incorrect pricing (it doesn’t have to be cheap but it does need to fit your market’s expectations and budget) and rubbish or non-existent endorsements (social proof sells, so get some!) Unfortunately most self-publishers cut corners on packaging when it’s a major key to success. We’ll share plenty of tips for reviewing your book’s packaging and principles for getting it right but, for the implementation, we suggest you use experts (either by going with a proper publisher or paying).
The distribution is wrong. If your book is not featured where people go to buy books then it’s going to be hard to sell them. Directly selling your own book, unless you’ve got a very high-value product and you are an expert direct marketer, is stupid! We closed down our own online bookshop because we quickly realised that it wasn’t worth competing with Amazon and Barnes & Noble for sales when we could instead focus on driving all our sales through to them. People trust them. They’re a better book retailer than us. They employ loads of people to pack orders, send books and handle returns. They have their own merchant accounts. Sure, we could keep extra profit by selling direct, but we’d also need to employ full time staff to check orders and dispatch books if we wanted to provide a good service. It’s simply not worth it. I’d personally focus on the ‘killer apps’ for book sales – Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble – first and then look at offline bookshops second.
Stuck With Sales But No (or Low) Income: Step 6
Most authors never get past this point. Selling loads of books is one thing but it’s not the real secret of getting rich. If you’ve controlled costs, negotiated a decent royalty (anything less than 10% is going to be small change unless you’re really lucky) and done the promotion right you’ll be making an income from your book but it’s probably not quite as much as you’d like.
So what do you do?
You could write and publish another ten or more books until the combined income from all of them is enough to make you wealthy and happy. That’s one strategy (and it’s a fine strategy) employed by many rich and successful publishers. But I won’t lie. Each time you step on ‘the ladder’ you’re taking a risk with your time, energy and money, and at some level, you’ll be playing a numbers game; some books will do well, others will be fantastic flops! In most cases your successes will end up funding your failures, so you’ll have worked much harder for only a little more income.
We have another approach however. If you actually start your book project with this sixth step – long term wealth – in mind then you can construct every aspect of your book (and it’s marketing) to lead to big rewards for you as it becomes more popular. When you know this secret you’ll realise that the real money in books isn’t in books at all… but you’ll have to wait until the end of the book to find out more!
The Hard Truths About Making Money As An Author
Writing The Book is The Easy Part
That’s right! It’s just one of six essential steps to becoming a wealthy author and it’s given far too much attention. I don’t say this to take anything away from the skill of a good writer but think about it…
Plenty of badly written books, by snake oil merchants peddling happy-clappy, feel-good, ‘the-universe-will-provide’ nonsense have made the bestseller lists. I’ve read books that were absolutely awful that sell by the truck-full. I’ve also read brilliantly written books that most people have never heard of.
So what does this prove? It proves that, at least for the purpose of making money from books, the writing doesn’t really matter very much at all. I’m not telling you this because I think it’s a good thing but it is a true thing.
Don’t join the hordes of idealistic, but often starving, authors who believe:
“If I write something that’s good enough then they will come [and buy it]!”
In an ideal world maybe! But, I’m here to tell you that the real world plays by different rules. I don’t want you to starve for your art. I want you to get paid, and get paid well, for your effort. That means realising that the writing part is really just a small portion of the success equation and you should get it done as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.
If You Don’t Know The Subject Then Don’t Write A Book On It
I hope you wouldn’t even be thinking of writing a non-fiction book unless you knew something other people needed to know. Unless you were an expert with great information to pass on. Unless you had an important message that needed spreading.
Too often you get ‘professional’ writers who base their book idea on what might sell well or what their publisher wants. They figure that they can research the important stuff and their amazing writing ability will ensure the book is a great success.
But here’s the problem. If you do the promotion right then you’re going to be ‘fronting’ your book the whole way. It’s really just an extension of what you know. So you’re going to need credibility, passion, knowledge or a good story to pull it off. There’s plenty of poor non-fiction out there so don’t add to it!
In essence, and I’m about to rant here, if you’re reading this book because you think writing a book is an easy way to make loads of money and you think you can just bodge some research together, put a nice cover on it and make a fortune then you need to think again! And then, after you’ve thought again, if you’re still thinking that you don’t need to be an expert on, or have a genuine passion for your subject in order to write a book may I suggest… [Deb’s note: I removed Joe’s suggestion because it wasn’t nice!]
There Are Easier & Safer Ways To Make Lots of Money
Beware anyone who tells you that writing a book is an easy way to get rich. It’s not! Writing and publishing a book is massively front- loaded with risk. You have to invest lots of time and resources up front before you can make it pay. The book isn’t going to sell itself. There are many barriers to success. Many authors never even get beyond their advance in sales revenue. Being an author really is not for everyone, which is a good thing!
Because, once you’ve overcome the obstacles and made it work, you’ll find you’re in a great position. You’ll be earning royalties whether you work or not. You’ll have other people doing all the donkey-work. You’ll have invested one chunk of time just one time for multiple rewards. You’ll be leaving a legacy and impacting far more lives than you could in any other way.
An easy (or fool-proof) way to make money? No way. This book will help you to succeed quickly but if you’re risk averse then get a regular job! It’s safer.
First-Time Authors Are Seen As An Easy Target By Scammers
From vanity presses (selling you over-priced publishing services and taking the lion’s share of the profit) to unscrupulous publishers expecting you to enter their competition (and pay an entrance fee) in order to win a publishing contract, you’ll find plenty of people looking to take your money off you and provide nothing but broken dreams in return.
Here are some basic rules to keep you safe:
If they (agent/publisher) ask you to pay them a fee in order to review your synopsis or proposal then they’re not to be trusted.
If they ask you to pay to enter a competition to potentially win a publishing contract then they’re not to be trusted.
If they want to feature you in a compilation but expect you to commit to buying a quantity of books in order to be featured then they’re not to be trusted.
If they ask you for any money in order to get your book (or writing) published (unless they are a printer) then they’re not to be trusted.
A flashy logo, professional looking website, testimonials from other ‘authors’ or even big name endorsements are no guarantee of their trustworthiness. So don’t get carried away with their hype.
Why Wealthy Authors Are Also Lazy Authors
“Laziness is a virtue. Make it your daily mission to stop doing anything that doesn’t bring a reward.”
Joe Gregory, www.leanmarketing.co.uk
The working title for this book was ‘The Lazy Author’ I actually think it’s more accurate than the title we went with (as our goal for you is that you can get paid again and again while sitting on your backside) but there’s too much stigma attached to the word ‘lazy’ and so it didn’t make for the most unambiguous or aspirational title.
But to be a ‘Lazy Author’ is both a means and an end…
It’s a means because, by getting into the lazy mindset, you’ll always be striving to find the easiest, quickest and least time-consuming ways to come up with, write and sell as many books as possible.
If you’re usually mega-busy and believe that nothing gets done without hard work then I want you to try the lazy mindset on for the duration of this book. You’ll be surprised at the results that can be achieved when you do only the right things instead of every thing.
‘Lazy’ is also an end because I’m sure you’d like to spend your time doing anything but work. And when your book (or books) are bringing in all the money you need then you can then spend your time exactly how you wish. This could be lazing half the year sipping cocktails while lying in a hammock on an exotic island, travelling the world, learning something new or fulfilling whatever personal dreams you have right now.
Once you get your books selling using the systems outlined in The Wealthy Author they’ll continue to sell even if you never lift a finger to promote them ever again. Allowing you true laziness because you did the right things up front!
Sure, laziness has had a pretty bad press over the years but I want you to embrace it. If you’re lazy and unsuccessful then you may have a problem but if you’re lazy and very successful then the only people criticising you will be doing it out of envy.
Being lazy is a useful, honourable and admirable trait. I want you to be clear on this fact because you will have been conditioned your whole life to believe the exact opposite. So the only way to find the proof is to try it out.
Wanting to do as little as possible, for the biggest reward, is to be admired. The natural human drive to do less and get more has been responsible for much of humankind’s progress from knuckle-dragging apes to the mobile, connected and (mostly) civilised people we are today.
We’ve been conditioned by successive ‘authorities’ to think that hard work is the means to success, or even our duty, but it’s not. It’s a trick to ensure our ‘leaders’ have an obedient and productive workforce so they can get fat off our labour! This is known as the ‘Pharaoh Principle’ and I’m going to show you how to turn the tables and make it work for you instead of against you later in the book.
Think about it. If hard work really translated to more success then bricklayers, cleaners and nurses would be being paid a hell of a lot more. And professional sports stars wouldn’t be earning the equivalent of a surgeon’s yearly salary every week. Most of the people who do the hardest work – the work that requires the most physical exertion, has the poorest working conditions and provides the least kudos – are paid the least in our society. It’s not necessarily fair but it is true.
Modern economics doesn’t care about inputs (effort), it pays based on outputs (results) and the amount people are willing to pay for those outputs. So, if you don’t like the term lazy at least think in terms of ‘maximising output while minimising input’. You can see it as being ‘productively lazy’, which means always:
Looking for the easiest way to achieve a favourable result.
Seeking ways to reduce the number of steps needed to get a desired outcome.
Systemising everything you do, from writing your book, to writing your proposals, to writing your press releases.
Finding things/activities that work and repeating them.
Finding things that don’t work and eliminating them.
Occam’s Razor
William Occam was a mediaeval philosopher credited with imparting the following wisdom…
“Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitas.”
(Plurality
should not be posited without necessity.)
Now this sounds a little bit too pompous and academic for my liking so here’s my simplification…
“If you have to choose between two actions
that are both
likely to create the same
outcome then choose the simpler one.”
Occam, probably the first truly lazy author of modern times also said…
“It is vain to do with more what can be done with less.”
Now, if you had a problem with being lazy then how does being vain grab you?
The Vital Few and Trivial Many (80/20 Principle)
We’ll be revisiting this rule often, especially when it comes to your marketing, but here are the basics…
In 1906 Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth.
Later, after Pareto had created his formula, many others observed similar phenomena in their fields of expertise.
Quality Management pioneer, Dr. Joseph Juran recognised that there was, in fact, a universal principle which he called the ‘vital few and trivial many’.
As a result of similarities between the original observation by Pareto 30 odd years earlier, Dr. Juran’s observation of the ‘vital few and trivial many’ became known as Pareto’s Principle or the 80/20 Rule.
Juran’s (or Pareto’s) Principle can be simply stated as...
“20 percent of your effort is typically responsible for 80 percent of your results”
This rule is good news because it means you can do less work and get a good way (if not all the way) to achieving your goals. I told you you’d get more success by doing less didn’t I?
So, if you have a list of 100 things you were planning on doing I’m here to tell you that just doing 20 of those things will be responsible for 80% of your wealth from books.
To put it another way you should easily be able to work just one day (8 hours) a week to get 80% of the results you’d have gotten from working 5 days (40 hours) a week.
Of course, it’s not quite that simple but it’s worth bearing in mind at all times that you’re almost certainly doing a hell of a lot of trivial stuff that you’d be better off not doing.
This book will help you to focus on the good stuff and stop doing the rest.
Step 1: Coming Up With A Winning Book Idea
“The first idea you come up with is often the worst. So why is the first idea where most people stop?”
Debbie Jenkins, www.leanmarketing.co.uk
You may be one of those lucky people who are falling over themselves with ideas for books! If you are then congratulations you’ll enjoy this bit. You can use the checklists, tools and self-tests to help you to review your ideas and pick the one most likely to pay off! See it as a process of elimination rather than creation!
If, however, you’re like most people then you may struggle to come up with new ideas. Or, you may have a good idea but you don’t know how to make it truly great. If this is you then you’ll love this section of the book. I’ll show you ways to generate plenty of new ideas, how to position your idea to be unique, test it to find ways to improve it and even come up with a winning title. But first, let’s just talk a little about getting into the right state…
The Creative State
A lot of people get really caught up here, “I’m not feeling creative today!”, “I’m just not in the mood!”, “All my creativity has slipped from my body and I’m left like a parched and bitter shell of my former self…” Well whatever your (creative) excuse, here’s the news: creativity is a process. Creative people are simply better at running this process (whether they do it consciously or not) than their less creative (and slightly more envious) peers.
So, now you know there are steps to follow and creativity is not some magical ability that you have to barter your soul to possess, let’s first look at your state.
8 Tips For Getting Into A More Creative State of Mind
Get yourself somewhere comfortable and clear from clutter.
Clear your mind with whatever works for you. I suggest doing something like listening to or playing music, going for a walk, drawing or painting or having a long bath. If you’re into meditation or yoga then use that.
Silence your inner critic. You know that voice in your head that edits stuff before it comes out of your mouth? Well it’s useful a lot of the time but it can really stifle creativity! So first, accept that it is useful in some contexts (specifically when you don’t want to say something stupid) and then just agree with yourself that it’s okay to give this critical ‘voice’ a little break, for say the next 30 minutes.
Pose yourself creative questions using words like, “How can I?”, “What if?”, “What’s interesting about?”
Dwell on an idea. If you have a skill, a theme or an over-riding feeling about what you want to create then meditate upon it. Simply let it expand to fill your mind and let the connections in your brain start happening.
Take a notebook to bed. Just before you enter deep sleep your mind is at its most creative. The problem is that any good ideas you dream up while sleeping are often forgotten by the time you wake up. So, take a notebook to bed and let inspiration strike. If your unconscious knows your intention is to record any good ideas that pop into your head you’ll be able to wake up and record them.
Remind yourself that creativity is as fundamental to being human as being able to breathe. The very fact that you’re here at all required massive amounts of creativity. You solve problems every single day that call for creativity. So, if you’ve been told you’re not creative and you’ve believed it in the past then it’s time to grow out of this old and inaccurate belief.
Remember times when you’ve been at your most creative. Feel what you felt, see what you could see and hear what you heard at the time. Now consciously practice feeling those same feelings in the here and now! That’s right, you’ve already been creative so you can do it again, whenever you want.
4 Surefire Ways To Stifle Creativity
The following tips aren’t very useful for being creative, so if you catch yourself doing any of these things then cut it out!
Trying to be creative. The very act of ‘trying’ pre-supposes that you’re not ‘being’ creative. Stop beating yourself up if ideas aren’t coming easily and take a break. Then when inspiration strikes again – which it will – be prepared to jump into action.
Self editing too early. Be prepared to accept and acknowledge any and every idea that pops into your head whilst generating ideas. Otherwise it’s like trying to simultaneously accelerate with one foot while keeping your other foot on the brake pedal.
Talking yourself out of being creative. We’ve already covered this but just to make it clear, all humans are creative, it’s what separates us from pretty much all other living species. So stop the negative chatter. Ignore the past and enjoy it.
Not having fun. If you’re doing it right then the creative process will be a lot of fun. So, if you’re feeling angry, frustrated or annoyed whilst doing this then you need to stop and take a break. See it as a game and take yourself lightly instead and you’ll find it hard not to have fun while being creative.
The 3 Perceptual Positions for Creativity
Another element to getting into a creative state is to ‘act as if’ you’re somebody else and see things from that perspective (or perceptual position). This is a typical NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) approach and is very powerful for finding new perspectives on things. For the purpose of creativity this process can be a lot of fun and can really get out of hand (in a good way) if you want it to. Here are the basics.
1st Position – Yourself – as an author or expert (or you could really have fun and be ‘yourself’ with the imagined creative powers of Walt Disney, Edward de Bono, Einstein, Mozart etc).
2nd Position – Your Audience(s) – prospective readers, reviewers, peers, opponents, competitors etc. Wherever possible try to imagine someone who’s real and whose behaviour and mannerisms you know well then caricature this (take things to the extreme).
3rd Position (Meta Position) – Someone who observes both ‘You’ and ‘Your Audience’ from another position – although this could be strung out to infinity as you continue to observe the observer observing the observed ad infinitum.
How To Use The Perceptual Positions
Come up with ideas from your own (first) position – set yourself a time limit of say 10 minutes for this.
Then step into the shoes of your prospective audience (second) and see what new ideas you can generate. Spend another 5-10 minutes for each one.
Finally, imagine you are a third party watching yourself and your audience interacting (third) and see what else pops up. Spend another 10 minutes here and review the interaction(s) making any notes.
Go back to your first position (as yourself) and come up with any final ideas based on what you’ve learned.
Some people find stepping into these different roles easier if they actually choose three distinct locations to ‘step into’ - 3 different chairs (or rooms) for instance.
What Would Walt Disney Do? WWWDD
A specific strategic application of perceptual positions can be found in the work of Neurolinguistic Programming pioneer Robert Dilts who, for want of a better description, modelled the strategies of dead geniuses and recorded them in his Strategies of Genius book series. This particular use of perceptual positions is based on the creativity of Walt Disney.
Walt Disney developed three distinct modes of thinking:
The Dreamer (unrestrained creativity) – would say:
I get excited by new ideas.
I’m always looking for better ways to do things.
I don’t like limitations.
The Realist (practical yet supportive) – would say:
I need all the facts to make a decision.
I must know everything I can about this.
I want to know what’s real and what’s not.
The Spoiler (pessimistic and contrarian) – would say:
I expect perfection.
Yes but…
I need to know all the risks.
He could adopt any one of these roles at different times and as one employee said, “You never knew which Walt was coming to your meeting.”
Using The WWWDD Creative Approach
Set a creative outcome or goal you want to achieve.
State the outcome in positive terms (ie “I want…” rather than “I don’t want…”)
From the Dreamer mindset visualise the outcome being successfully achieved and come up with ideas by asking the Dreamer questions…
If time, money, knowledge, skill etc. are not a problem what would I do/create/be?
What do I want?
Why do I want it?
What is good (beneficial) about this?
What will the finished thing look or be like?
How else? What else?
Then get into the Realist mindset and ask the Realist questions to improve the original Dreamer ideas…
How can we make this idea work?
How can this be achieved practically?
What are the limitations?
What specifically does this involve?
What legal/financial/time implications are there?
What limitations are there?
Then get into the Spoiler mindset and ask the Spoiler questions to check the viability of the improved ideas to uncover problems…
What’s wrong with this idea?
What could go wrong with this plan?
How do you know this is a good idea?
What’s the worst that could happen if it failed?
What crucial questions need to be answered?
Finally, take any problems back to the Dreamer and Realist positions to come up with further solutions and ideas.
Repeat this cycle until the Spoiler is no longer able to come up with problems or until you’re happy you’ve achieved the creative output you were seeking.
It’s no surprise that Walt Disney’s approach fits almost perfectly with…
The 3 Phases of The Creative Process
Often people get stuck with ‘being creative’ because they’re unaware that there is a sequence of steps that, if you try to do them all at once, will result in the flow of new ideas simply freezing up. To help avoid this ‘brain freeze’ it’s worth following these steps.
1. Generating Ideas
Any and every idea is fair game here.
Don’t self edit or criticise - simply record all the ideas you come up with.
Put yourself into different perceptual positions (as explained earlier) to come up with more ideas.
Use word association, brainstorming, mind mapping (all explained shortly) or any other method of generating and recording ideas that works best for you.
I prefer to cut up loads of scraps of waste paper into little squares so I can reorder, remove and group them easily at the review stage.
2. Reviewing Ideas
Now is the time to allow your inner critic its say.
Typically this will involve a process of elimination.
Sort ideas onto a Keep or Kill scale.
Once you’ve sorted through your ideas I’d suggest using Mind Mapping® (a little more analytical than other generative techniques) to record the outcome of the reviewing stage with room to add more at the improving stage.
3. Improving/Testing Ideas
Choose your top 5 ideas and see how you can build on them (this will be easier once you’ve read the whole of this section).
If you’ve created a Mind Map® then add further depth to it.
Refine your ideas until you have a solid selection of good ones.
Choose your favourite and add further meat to the bare bones until you’ve got a theoretical prototype or test case all planned out.
Creative Approaches For Authors
Word Association
Choose an overriding theme (you could base this on your prospective target market or your area of expertise) and sum it up in a simple word or phrase.
Start writing any words, phrases or ideas that come to mind. This is often better if you have two or more people to bounce ideas off.
Keep going and continue to add associations. It’s up to you if you continue to associate from the initial word (branching out from a central point) or if you keep moving from one word to the next (to create a stream of consciousness).
I recommend using sticky notes (or cut up squares of scrap paper) and sticking them all over a wall or table. Then, once you’re done, grab any that jump out at you and see how you can combine these ideas to make new connections.