BBG Authors Guide FINAL - Business Book Ghostwriters SM

THE BUSINESS BOOK GHOSTWRITERS’
Business Book Author’s Guide to Success
Copyright © 2014 Jack B. Rochester
Second edition
ISBN-10: 0984036911
ISBN-13: 978-0-9840369-1-2
All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the
written permission of the author. However please feel free to forward
or refer the Guide to other interested colleagues.
THE BUSINESS BOOK GHOSTWRITERS
Helping you write the book you know you need.
www.businessbookghostwriters.com
THE BUSINESS BOOK GHOSTWRITERS’
Business Book Author’s Guide to Success
THE BUSINESS BOOK GHOSTWRITERS
Helping you write the book you know you need.
www.businessbookghostwriters.com
Page
Table of Contents
Foreword
PART I: Planning Your Book Project
Why write a business book?
It begins with a thought
How will you get your book written?
PART II: Writing and Editing Your Book Manuscript
The 100-word elevator pitch
The book proposal: your business plan
Building a book from a manuscript
Professional feedback and critiquing
Writing is revising: the rule of thirds
Le mot juste
Part III: Publishing Options
Self-publishing: doing it yourself
The indies: faster, cheaper, just as good
Small presses: small doesn’t mean little
Book publishing services firms: how can they help you?
To “New York” or not to “New York,” that is the question
Continued on page ii
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Part IV: Every Book’s Success Depends On Marketing
Every book’s success depends on marketing
Why YOU must market your book
Two marketing musts
Tools to use in marketing your book
Part V: Need Some Help?
ROI: Books are different from widgets
Opportunity costs: a final thought before our pitch
Working with The Business Book Ghostwriters
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Foreword
“I enjoy writing about innovation because innovation is business at its best. It is
through innovation that we solve the unsolved, create jobs, and improve lives.”
- Chris Trimble, co-author of The Other Side of Innovation
What you have before you is a short course in what we’ve learned during our 40 years in
publishing. We’ve written books of our own and worked as editors of nonfiction and
business books at publishing houses—in other words, we’ve been on both sides of the
editorial desk. We know your pain, and hope this guide will alleviate, or at least
anesthesize, it.
Our author’s guide is organized into five subject areas:
1. Planning your book project: how to get started and what to expect
2. Writing and editing your book manuscript: How much you can do on your own
and when to ask for editorial help
3. Publishing options: should you self-publish, go with an indie, or try to get an
agent and a “New York” publisher
4. Why every book’s success depends on marketing: the 800-pound gorilla in the
room, and he’s all yours
5. Need some help?: writing and publishing a book means learning an entirely new
business, so you might want to have a publishing professional on your team
The first four subjects describe the publishing process: what you need to know, when you
need to know it in order to move forward to the next. However, feel free to hop around
between subjects as your curiosity or need dictates. Each has its own process by which
you must thoughtfully abide if you wish to become a successful published author. You
need to understand what you can reasonably do and what you cannot. That decision will
determine how you approach the fifth subject, getting some help writing your book.
We hope you find this author’s guide useful. Print it, underline passages, write notes in
the margins, frame questions, mark topics you find most important. Then contact us if
you would like to discuss your book further. We love helping authors achieve their
publishing dreams. We have a lot of fun working with people and their ideas. We hope it
will be fun for you as well.
Writing, editing, and publishing. That’s what we do. It’s what we help you do.
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PART I:
PLANNING YOUR BOOK PROJECT
“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really
excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And
we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be
worth it."
- Steve Jobs
Why write a business book?
You’ve worked hard throughout your entire career, and now you’re a successful business
leader, consultant or subject-matter expert (SME) in your field. You’ve been thinking a
lot about writing a book. You’re convinced you have something important to share with
the world. Writing a book: it’s an idea that just doesn’t seem to go away, but how do you
take that idea to the next level? Although each person approaches problem-solving and
goal achievement differently, here are a few of our clients’ reasons which may help you
get started with your business book.
A good book is good for your career. From our perspective of 40 years in
publishing, we estimate fewer than five percent of businesspeople ever write a
book. This doesn’t mean fewer than five percent have a good idea for a book; it
just means most don’t act upon their idea or carry it all the way through. It’s a lot
of work. In fact, it’s nearly a full-time job itself, but the rewards are great and
lasting. And remember, only a good book is good for your career.
A book helps your reader solve a problem. Underlying almost all successful
business books is this core concept: solving a problem. We’re all running around
with too much to do and not enough time to do it, so helping each other solve
problems is a gift. A useful article or author’s guide or book poses a common
problem and provides a solution—or at least a path to a solution—for the reader.
As the philosopher Descartes wrote, “Each problem that I solved became a rule
which served afterwards to solve other problems.” No SME would disagree.
A book establishes you as a thought leader. There are ideas, then there are ideas.
You need a very well articulated idea to become a thought leader. Your book
concept must have legs, and you’re the first and best judge of that. You might
casually discuss your book idea with others and see how they react. You
definitely want to learn if others have written on the same topic, not just to see if
you’re on the mark but also to uncover any close competition.
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Your book idea fulfills a need others are quick to recognize. Nobody wants to
write—or read—a book about something they already know or which is simply
old wine in a new bottle. Think about what issues or problems your clients and
business associates talk about frequently. Is this something you do in your work
or practice? Do you take a problem-solving approach? Offer a workable solution?
Describe a new process? Your book’s promise or purpose is often reflected in the
subtitle. Read a few titles on Amazon; you’ll see what we mean.
A book is the best business card you’ll ever have. Anybody can hand potential
clients a business card, but very few can hand them a published book. If you’re
asked to autograph it, you have even more validation of your estimable standing.
Your book has long shelf life: One of our author-clients wrote his book to explain
his practice to new clients. It boosted his thought leadership and led to a
partnership with a brand-name international consultancy. Consequently, the
publisher kept his book in print for more than ten years.
It begins with a thought
Thomas J. Watson, Sr., the man who founded IBM and made it a technology leviathan,
distilled the company philosophy into a single word: THINK. Such a simple word, almost
self-evident, but nevertheless a stretch for many businesspeople. Were it not, there would
never be mistakes, misfires, or miscalculations. Perhaps the power of the word THINK is
what has made IBM such a successful company for its 104 years in business.
Watson believed so strongly in the concept of THINK that he trademarked it in 1935.
Then he plastered it all over the company. Then he wrote a book of essays about it
entitled As a Man Thinks. In “The Will to Create,” Watson portrays an ambitious
newsboy:
Necessity forces a newsboy to think. With acutely sharpened wits he observes,
ponders, draws conclusions—becomes a keen student of life and people, and at an
early age forms habits of individual thinking which lead to accomplishments later
on. Thought begets the will to create. [p 15]
Everything great starts with a thought. For the businessperson who wishes to write a
book, nothing is as important as thinking the first thought, because it’s probably the core
idea for your book. You continue thinking about that idea: what it is, what it means, its
implications and extensions and ramifications and repercussions, and everything that
encompasses and surrounds it. You think about your idea incessantly—over, under,
sideways, down. You find you can’t leave it alone, not even for a minute, and that’s
good. You’re getting it in shape so you can write about it.
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You must continue thinking and thinking about your idea, giving it time to gestate, grow,
and mature into a full-blown concept that towers above the others. You must thoroughly
understand your rationale and be able to explain your reason for writing this book, the
need it fulfills, and why the rest of the world ought to take note.
Oh, and did we mention you must believe in it passionately? If you don’t yet, you will.
To think through your idea is the first step toward writing a book, and it is often given
short shrift—at the author’s great risk. There is nothing more disappointing for both
author and audience than a half-baked book. Amazon, the premier purveyor of books,
encourages readers to write book reviews—and boy, do they! Where once a book could
ride for a while on the publisher’s publicity or a few newspaper or magazine reviews, that
little bit of competitive momentum has been undercut by the instant availability of reader
opinion. Many readers make their decision to read a book based on the reviews of others
and how many stars it’s been given. Dave Logan, a consultant and author, wrote in an
editorial, “…most business books are air sandwiches: empty in the middle.” Make sure
this comment never applies to your book.
How will you get your book written?
Writing a book is a great deal of work, unlike any other writing you’ve done. William
Zinsser, a career writer, editor, and author of On Writing Well, once said, “If writing
seems hard, it’s because it is hard. It’s one of the hardest things people do.”
Completing your book manuscript will take time—about two years, possibly more—
depending on how much time you can devote to it. (You’ve probably seen dedications
and acknowledgements in authors’ books thanking their wives and families for their
understanding and patience. This singular expression of gratitude has probably saved
many marriages.) Answering the how means being realistic with yourself about the
amount of time it will take to write your book—the allocation of time to think, to write,
to rewrite. Especially to think.
Your ideas and their expression will surely change over time, necessitating rethinking
and reworking your manuscript. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We want you to
become a successful author, so let’s dig into the writing and editing process.
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Part II:
Writing and Editing Your Book Manuscript
“Rewriting is a large part of the whole job. And get rid of stuff that's not working.
Just pare it down until it's a beautiful thing you can hand in, probably late, to your
editor.”
-- Kurt Loder, film critic, author, columnist, and former editor of Rolling Stone
According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of the wonderfully written book Outliers: The
Story of Success, successful individuals practiced their skills for about ten years or
accumulated approximately 10,000 hours of experience. Writing, too, takes practice.
Especially writing books. Writing is a skill. Acquiring a skill requires practice and
development. We know this is true with golf, playing the piano, fly casting, tennis, or
giving speeches.
The same is true of writing. As the great 20th-century journalist H. L. Mencken said,
“There are no dull subjects. There are only dull writers.” Even this—learning how to be
an interesting writer—takes a great deal of practice and a love of words and ideas. But
where to begin? Over the years, we’ve developed a methodology to help you get started
with your book. The first step is the “elevator pitch.” It’s followed by the book proposal,
then the writing and editing process.
The 100-word elevator pitch
Bob and Sam, two consultants, meet at a conference after not seeing one another for a
year or so. “I hear you’re writing a book,” says Bob to Sam. “What’s it about?” Sam goes
into a long, detailed story about how he got the idea and began developing it into topics
and chapters. After seven exasperating minutes Bob says, “Sam, just give me the elevator
pitch.”
The 100-word elevator pitch: it’s a carefully worded, succinct description of what your
book is about. You need to write it, refine it, then memorize it, because you’ll have to
pitch your book to the prospective reader, your colleagues like Bob, your spouse, the
agent, the publisher, the publicist and just about anyone who asks—in sixty seconds or
less. You’ll spend a lot of thought developing these hundred or so words. Take your time.
It’s important that you get it right, because the elevator pitch is the springboard to
describing your book again and again, for example in the book proposal, book cover
copy, Foreword, press release, Amazon Book Description, and more.
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A tightly focused, succinctly written, interesting elevator pitch will return value again and
again. Study elevator pitches for other books whenever you can, especially if the book is
a competitor for yours. Try writing a few pitches and testing them on your associates,
your banker, or your daughter whose tuition you’re paying for her ridiculously expensive
MBA. Revise until it’s perfect, then memorize it so you can recite it, word for word,
whenever anyone asks what your book is about.
The book proposal: your business plan
There once was a children’s song, “Dem Dry Bones,” that went, “The leg bone connected
to the knee bone, the knee bone connected to the thigh bone,” and so forth, a simple
metaphor expressing how everything is connected. Not surprisingly, the same is true of
your book process, and it all contributes to your business plan for the book. In our
business, we refer to the business plan as the book proposal. Just as you wouldn’t think of
starting a business or launching a new product or initiative without a business plan, it
makes no sense to undertake a book project without a plan. We’re talking about a project
that will take several years to complete and which has far-reaching, often profound,
implications for you and your business.
A few of our author-clients have said, “A book proposal is useful for getting an agent and
a publisher. But I’m planning to self-publish, so I don’t need one.” Not true. Regardless
of the publishing platform you choose, the book proposal is your book’s business plan. A
book proposal describes your book in specific detail: its core concept or raison d’etre,
(built upon your elevator pitch), and how you’re going to solve the problem or describe
the issues. It examines competing and complementary books and how yours is different
and better, the manuscript’s length, design considerations, and more. It includes an
analysis of competing and complementary books in the same field. It features the
introduction, detailed chapter outlines, and sample content. A proposal also outlines your
marketing plan and your platform, and how that platform will help you and the publisher
sell books. (We’ll discuss book marketing in more detail in Part IV.) Your proposal is
useful when you want to obtain opinions or validations from peers, if you decide at some
point to seek an agent, or perhaps to obtain a business loan so you can take a six-month
sabbatical in Tahiti to write your book.
The proposal is your best foot forward in presenting your book idea to an agent and
subsequently a publisher. It’s anywhere from 5,000-10,000 words in length—clearly not
something you dash off in a few days. Because it’s so important, we have a book
proposal evaluation and development instrument, the BBG Book Development
Platform™, which we use to help create your book proposal. It’s developed in a work
session we conduct with our author-clients, preferably in person, during which we work
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out each element of the book proposal. It’s revised and expanded several times during
development, but once completed, it’s a detailed outline, script, and step-by-step game
plan for the book.
The book proposal/business plan keeps you on point and on schedule. If ever you falter,
or if you have a long interruption in your writing, reviewing the proposal gets you back
on target. Would you really expect success with any venture that wasn’t thoroughly
planned? So what’s different about building a book? The book proposal is a living
document. You follow it, refer to it as you write, and update it with fresh information—
content, competing books, intended audience—in short, anything that signficantly
changes as you move forward.
Building a book from a manuscript
Building a book is similar to building just about anything you can think of. You start with
an idea, then progress to a schematic or drawing, followed by a detailed plan for
execution. From that plan you create a prototype—the narrative’s first draft. Then you
choose the best materials—ideas, examples, and illustrations—to weave into the
narrative. Once it’s assembled, you trim, shape, polish until it’s the best you can make it,
then you ask other professionals for their viewpoints and assessments.
The first set of professionals includes editorial readers and peer reviewers who assess the
character and quality of your narrative. The second set are the editorial wordsmiths, who
do the finish construction work. The key here is asking people who will give you honest
comments without worrying about hurting your feelings.
Professional feedback and critiquing
Woody Allen said, “I love feedback. I just don’t want to get any of it on me.” Funny, yes,
but you need feedback. Lots of it, but with a caveat. For most writers, it’s tempting, once
you’ve finished a chapter or a draft, to show it to others. That’s human nature; we seek
approval and validation. But you’re likely to be disappointed.
Your spouse, who may or may not read it all of it, will say, “Gee, it’s great!”
That daughter who’s working on her MBA will claim she’s too busy studying but
promises to take a look, then says, “Gee, it’s great!”
Your buddies will say “Gee, it’s great!’ but when pressed further, won’t be able to give
you useful, meaningful critiques.
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This is why you need professional feedback and comments. By professionals we mean
editorial readers who critique manuscripts in your chosen field of writing—in our case
business topics—and to whom you pay a fee for providing written, in-depth feedback and
comments. Once upon a time, the editors at big publishing houses performed this task,
but today many do not. The task has largely fallen to literary agents, who have become
the editorial screeners for publishers.
Most agents screen between 70 and 100 proposals or manuscripts a week, so they’re
making snap judgments based on reading the elevator pitch in the query letter and, if
that’s sufficiently interesting, the first few paragraphs. They’re not in the business of
critiquing. It’s unfortunate for authors, but the job of both agents and editors becomes one
of determining how quickly they can disqualify a manuscript from consideration. Thus
the job of editing rolls downhill to you, the author, before you submit the manuscript.
Writing is revising: the rule of thirds
Michael Crichton said, “Books aren't written, they're rewritten. Including your own. It is
one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done
it....” Achieving interest and readability is no accident. It comes from revising. You do it
and do it and do it, and in the process you get better at doing it.
How long does it take to write a book? There is no set rule or length of time. Some can
write a work in a year; others may take longer. We’re talking about the first draft and
how much semi-contiguous time you devote to it. Finishing the book, ready to publish or
show to an agent, takes longer. In our experience, it will take you twice as long to revise
and edit as it will to write the first draft. That’s our Rule of Thirds: one-third to write the
first draft, and two-thirds that time to revise. If your first draft takes a year to write, your
subsequent revisions will likely take two. You might find that hard to accept, but your
book becomes more cohenrent through revisions. And all the best and most interesting
content often emerges as you revise.
You have a fantastic new idea or practice a methodology that needs to be shared with the
world—the sooner the better. Don’t let these lead times discourage you: If spending three
years writing and revising is out of the question, that’s when you realize you might need
help. An editor with Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 logged hours can help you get your
book published sooner. Much sooner. Without losing the window of opportunity.
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Le mot juste
Finding the right word or phrase is Mr. Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule applied to writing.
Write, then revise, revise, revise, and you’re going to become a better and better writer.
Novice writers often think their first draft is great, and we praise them for their effort. But
when they set that writing aside for a few hours or days—even better for a week—then
re-read it with an unbiased eye, they will see many ways to improve upon it. They’ll
likely find errors and misspellings. Most importantly, they’ll see various sentence
structures and word choices that can be significantly improved upon. This is what the
French refer to as chercher le mot juste, the search for the right word. You’ll come up
with better phrasings and word choices yourself, but editors are a great help, too.
There are three types of editing a manuscript typically undergoes:
Developmental editing, in which an editor works with the author to improve the
writing, stylistics, content, and expression of the content. Do you make sense? Do
your ideas build one upon another? Do you use illustrations or examples to break
concepts into manageable bites? These are a few things a DE will do for your
manuscript.
Copyediting, which focuses on spelling, syntax, sentence structure, usage and
accuracy. One of the banes of using the computer to write is what we term word
processing errors, such as the the repeated word or character, capitalizing when
you don’t want to, auto-correcting homonyms or similarly spelled words like
desert and dessert. You may miss some of these. Ask for help.
Proofreading, a final, careful read to catch any last errors. A professional writer
and editor we know thought she had a sharp enough eye and didn’t need
proofreading: turns out there were only(!) 217 errors she didn’t catch. Our rule of
thumb: There are never enough eyes to proofread a manuscript. Never, ever.
All three of these editors, commonly different people, will help you find le mot juste. The
wise author seeks out these professionals to help in each of the three essential editorial
tasks. You only have one opportunity to present yourself and your work to an agent or
publisher. These editors will help make sure you’ve put your best foot forward.
Here’s reality: If you want to be credible, your writing must be credible. Good writing is
evidence of a logical and persuasive mind that commands both attention and respect.
Sloppy writing is not just annoying; it suggests sloppy thinking. Editors can help sharpen
your expression of thought.
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Part III:
Publishing Options
The best entrepreneurs I've ever met are all good communicators. It's perhaps one
of the very few unifying factors.
- Tim Ferriss, author of The Four-Hour Workweek, which was rejected by 25
publishers
Never have so many varied and exciting publishing options been available to authors.
Where publishing was once analogous to a fierce attempt to scale Mt. Everest, today it’s
a soccer field. Oh, you still need to be a good player—in other words, a talented author
— but at least you know you’re in a game you can play. That game has shifted from one
where a just few agents and editors chose all the books accepted for publication to one
where you get to call many, if not all, your own shots. Your primary publishing options
are:
•
•
•
•
•
Self-publishing, which is essentially do-it-yourself with a little help
Independent, or “indie” publishers, full service but often co-op
Small presses, selective but usually not requiring an agent
Publishing services firms, offering a range of discrete services
A literary agent and “New York” publishing house
Self-publishing: doing it yourself
Self-publishing today isn’t the old vanity publishing model, rightfully denigrated, from
years ago. Vanity publishing had little if any editorial criteria; it provided the most basic
production services and printing, often “send us the money and we’ll send you a book.” It
was expensive and the quality was poor.
Self-publishing is monetarily distinct from most of your options in that you get to keep
most of the earnings—what publishing houses call royalties. We refer to this as the 80-20
rule: If you self-publish, you get about eighty percent of the net, while your costs of
publishing are about twenty percent. A “New York” publisher keeps the eighty-plus and
pays you between eight and ten percent per copy sold. You do the work the publisher
might have done, so you work hard for the money, but at least you have control.
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The Internet, and in particular Amazon, are in large part responsible for creating this new
self-publishing business model. For today’s authors, the big differences are fourfold:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Books got professional editing, layout, and typesetting
A handsome cover, essential to selling books
Books are published in paper as well as electronic, or ebook, formats
There is a sustainable marketing channel: the Internet and social media.
There is a fifth difference as well. When you self-publish, you pay for your own book
production. That includes editing, interior design, cover art, and paper, printing and
binding which we in publishing fondly anoint with the acronym PPB. Fortunately, that’s
a small amount of book publishing costs. It can range from around $1,000 to $15,000,
depending on the services you want.
Publishers who produce self-published and indie books use print-on-demand, or POD,
which allows printing books individually (typically as a trade paperback, although
hardcover is usually available upon request), when you need them. No more of the old
5,000 copies sitting in boxes. Thanks to these new publishing models, your book looks as
professional as one from a “New York” publisher, and you can create interest with
Google, websites, blog sites, Facebook, as well as traditional direct mail. Book
publishing service firms can provide additional publishing services, for example online
marketing.
No author should shy away from ebook publishing. Kindle is the leader, but there are
many electronic publishing venues: Barnes & Noble, Apple, Google, or self-publishing
your ebook with services such as Smashwords.com.
Going Indie: faster, cheaper, just as good
Independent publishers provide the same services as a “New York” publisher, and at the
same quality level. They are selective in what they publish, perform all the editorial and
design tasks, and publish the book in both ebook and trade paperback formats (using
POD). The major difference is monetary: they pay no advance and you participate in
defraying the direct costs. In many cases the services are stepped, meaning the more
value-add the indie provides, the more you pay. Most have a basic package starting at
around $5,000, but your share can rise to $15,000, depending on the value-add services.
They will acquire and register your ISBN, get your book into the distribution chain, and
send you royalty checks. Wheatmark Publishing, a Tucson-based indie (full disclosure:
Jack is publishing a novel with them), distinguishes itself with its value-add, fee-based
services, the Authors Academy and Simple Marketing System.
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Small presses: small doesn’t mean little
Small presses are independent operations that almost always specialize in a particular
subject or market segment. You are not required to foot the publishing fees with small
presses. Many do not require you use an agent, but please pay particular attention to their
submission requirements. Most are run by a visionary editor/publisher with specific
tastes, so don’t send a business book manuscript to a press specializing in science fiction.
Most want a formal book proposal. Dustbooks publishes an annual directory listing of
small presses. University presses are often considered in the category of small presses.
Publishing services firms: how can they help you?
Publishing services are of two types. One is the individual or small studio that lends
creative assistance to book projects An example is Desktop Miracles. The other is honestto-gosh publishers, except you share the book development costs, such as Hillcrest Media
Publishing Group. Most aren’t selective regarding subject matter, so long as it isn’t porn
or blatantly libelous or offensive, and most will provide you with complete, high-quality
publishing services. Most assign a publishing manager to your book, so you’ll have a real
person with whom to communicate. In fact, if they don’t, keep looking. Smashwords is
one such; another interesting new avenue is Booktrope and its team publishing model.
To “New York” or not to “New York,” that is the question
Going “New York” seems to be every author’s wish and hope. They dream of agent
representation and a contract with a huge advance. It’s a tough row to hoe, maybe as
tough as Hamlet’s dilemma, “to be or not to be.” We think you ought to understand
what’s involved if you choose this publishing option.
By “New York” we mean the type of publishing house which most people think of when
they think about publishers: The well-known name and logo on the spines of books found
in bookstores and reviewed in newspapers and magazines. Such publishers are likely in
New York, but can also be found in Boston or San Francisco.
Literary agents are the gatekeepers for “New York” publishing. It’s highly unlikely you
will land a contract with a New York publisher unless you have an agent representing
your book. Going “New York” means you will wait a long time to see your book in print.
It takes months and months to get a contract with an agent, and months more for the
agent to get you a book contract. And you may not. If you do, it’ll be a year to 18 months
before your book is published. Is it worth it to you to wait a year and a half or more to see
your book in print?
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Well, you say, besides the martini lunches, there are benefits to going with a New York
publisher. Let’s discuss the three most authors cite: editing, marketing, and making
money.
Editing. So you believe the publisher will take the manuscript from your hands and edit
your book and make sure it reads like Malcolm Gladwell. Nope. High-level editing
effectively went out with Max Perkins. It’s unlikely anyone at the publishing house will
read it carefully for content. The agent is often your editor these days, advising you how
to revise the book for the market. Once the publisher has accepted your manuscript for
production, you’re still going to be involved throughout the entire process. You’re
expected to turn in a manuscript that’s nearly perfect, ready for proofreading. Once it’s
accepted for publication, you’re going to read and edit and make corrections at least a
few more times, regardless of your publishing platform. This is true for self-publishing
and indie publishing as well.
Marketing. Something else that surprises authors is to learn the “New York” publishers
really don’t do much in the way of publicity and marketing. It’s pretty much “Let’s run it
up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes it.” One author we know wrote a book on a very
hot topic; his publicity and marketing campaign consisted of two freelance writers
sending one email to 60 newspapers and magazines. (One of the addressees had been
dead for two years.) Thus the publisher is going to turn to you, the author, to see what
you’ll do to market your book. If your book starts to sell based on your efforts, the
publisher might set up a tour or throw some money into marketing.
Making money. Don’t expect to make big bucks from the royalties on your book. Few
authors do. If you get an advance, you have to pay it back out of royalty earnings (that
said, we’ve never heard of a publisher asking you to repay an advance). Publishing is a
profit pyramid: The very, very few bestselling authors at the top help the publisher
publish books that are not expected to reach bestsellerdom. Very few authors ever get
rich; many, such as Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allen Poe, died paupers.
But still, you say, everybody looks up to the “New York” publishers, and nearly all
authors wish for a Random House or a McGraw-Hill or a Penguin to publish their books.
Okay, if that’s your premise for going “New York,” think of the best book you’ve ever
read, or one you’ve read lately. Who’s the author? What’s the title? You easily
remember, right? Now, who’s the publisher? No peeking! Bet you don’t know.
If that’s the case, why would you or anyone else care?
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Helping you write the book you know you need.
www.businessbookghostwriters.com
Page 13
Part IV:
Every Book’s Success Depends On Marketing
“When it comes to marketing, failure to plan is a plan to fail. You must understand
the relevance of each marketing tool in order to maximize the time and money you
spend on marketing, both before and after publication.”
- Jerry D. Simmons, former publishing executive and writersreaders publisher
Why you must market your own book
Whether you go with a New York publisher or the self-publishing route, you are still
responsible for marketing your book. You will always be the marketing guru for your
book, simply because no one knows it as well as you. If you get an advance for your
book, we suggest you not spend it on a new boat. You’re going to need it for marketing
your book. If you do a good job, and the publisher thinks you’ve gotten some traction and
attention, they might help out with some ads or publicity or maybe even a short road tour.
But don’t count on it. Having a great platform will help get your book noticed, and you
know your book will enhance your platform. That’s why you must market your own
book.
If this isn’t grim enough, book retailing is suffering. Bookstores large and small are
closing. Those which remain are demanding more services and better terms from
publishers, and publishers are demanding more marketing and sales from retailers. Why?
The increased competition from online sales, notably Amazon. However, this adversity
can be transformed into a blessing for you, since it’s now much easier and less expensive
to market your book from the Internet.
Online and social media promotion is a Really Big Deal. These venues weren’t available
ten years ago. But you have to do it or manage your people to do it.
Two marketing musts
Two aspects of marketing must be thoughtfully considered. No, you must agonize over
them until your brain hurts: title and cover design. Memorable titles sell books. (Subtitles
serve to tell the prospective buyer what the book is about.) The blockbuster title of
Stephen R.Covey’s best seller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People leaves no doubt
about its contents and point of view. Or consider Seth Godin’s Lynchpin: the title may be
catchy, but its purpose is revealed in the subtitle, Are You Indispensable? Titles tell the
reader what lies in store and entice the reader to buy your book.
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Bounce your title ideas off others, and don’t fall in love with your first selection. “New
York” publishers usually choose the title, regardless of yours.
They also commission a cover designer for the art as well, but when you self-publish or
go with an indie, you have a lot of say in the title and covere design. One of the most
powerful business book cover designs was Chip and Dan Heath’s Made to Stick, with its
creative use of duct tape. If you don’t feel qualified to make suggestions or
determinations, get professional help. Book cover designers are a special subset of
graphic designers who enjoy working with authors. Together, you can make sure the
image is as strong a message as the title. Remember, a book is quite often an impulse
purchase, and the title and cover art often sell your book.
Tools to use in marketing your book
Think targeted marketing. If you agonized over describing and defining your target
audience, you already know what keeps them awake at night, how they think, what they
read, to whom they go for advice, and how they make decisions. In a global world of
fickle individuals, broadcasting a message to everyone is wasted promotion. Consider:
•
Once you develop a name for your point of view and have your book title, go to a
web hosting outfit such as GoDaddy and register the name and every conceivable
domain of it to protect the words. Searchable words are gold.
•
LinkedIn is a critical tool. Join relevant groups and actively participate. Better yet,
start one for businesspeople in your subject area if one does not exist.
•
Create a blog on your book’s website, then link it to all other social media. Your
blog becomes your primary online residence. WordPress is a versatile blogbuilder that lets you change various aspects of your blog at will without
professional assistance. Blog on other related blogsites. Solicit visits. Build an
email list to distribute your blogs.
•
Association magazines, newsletters and blogsites for the local chapter of your
national association are a great place to publish an article or excerpt from your
book. The editor is typically a volunteer always in search of material. Help these
editors while helping yourself. Propose a monthly column.
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•
Get listed in online directories your client is likely visit. We at BBG are listed at
www.bookmarket.com, a great resource from John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways
to Market Your Books.
•
Relentlessly seek out any and all opportunities to promote your book. Get a
bookmark printed and hand it out to people you meet on the train, plane, and
grocery store. Leave a few at the chiropractor’s office and anywhere else a likely
reader will pick it up.
THE BUSINESS BOOK GHOSTWRITERS
Helping you write the book you know you need.
www.businessbookghostwriters.com
Page 16
Part V:
Need Some Help?
ROI: Books are different from widgets
When most businesspeople contemplate writing a book, they will often ask themselves if
they can afford the time, resources, and costs. What’s the opportunity cost? After all,
they’re getting an income doing their job, but writing the book is going to be a nonprofit
activity, at least for a while. They may even determine there is no return on investment
(ROI) from a book. In the simplest equation, they are correct. The direct costs of writing
a book cannot compare with the salary or consulting fees one earns. Nor can direct costs
be calculated as they would for a physical product. Much of the author’s time is spent
thinking, writing, revising, then developing solicitations for agents, preparing manuscript
for the publisher, and much more. It’s a lot of work.
A cost accountant may suggest that a three-to-one ROI ratio covers the costs of writing
(and publishing) a book. However, looking only at cost is a short-sighted view. Although
you forfeit some of the direct income you derive from your employment or consulting
gigs, you will earn it back even though most of it will be in soft-dollar returns such as
publicity, enhanced reputation and so forth. If the new business you obtain because you
are an author—from more consulting, speaking engagements, more workshop attendees,
spinoffs, franchising—is at least three times the costs incurred on the book, you have
succeeded.
Here’s the rub: You know you can’t take a leave or absence or put your consulting clients
on hold. Writing and publishing a book is like launching a new product. Do you really
have the time to write a book, regardless of how solid your expertise, point of view,
niche, or thought leadership? You know you need the book, and as you would do in other
areas of your work, it might make sense to hire a ghostwriter for starters, then possibly a
team of professionals including a developmental editor, graphic designer, copy editor,
publicist, website designer, blogsite manager, or SEO expert to work with you.
Opportunity costs: a final thought before our pitch
Since you’re a businessperson, you, like us, are always interested in the
business value of a venture. Herewith our take on the business value of
writing your book.
We counsel our author-clients to think about their book as a business proposition: It’s
going to take your career to the next level, help get you more business, increase sales or
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Page 17
consulting engagements, support a promotion or help you get a better job, even add
cachet to selling your company. Regardless of the reason, we encourage our authorclients to think carefully about a book’s opportunity costs.
You already work 60, 70, 80 hours a week. When are you going to find time for another
full-time profession—writing a book? Some authors believe they can write it
themselves, to save money. Is that what you do with your legal issues or business
finances or other professional services you need—do them yourself? No, because it’s
not your area of expertise and you know it will take too much of your valuable time.
You hire the professional, because you want the work done professionally.
A well-written book will produce benefits. Write a poor one and you are reviled on
Amazon and discredited in your profession. You don’t want people making comments
as Ambrose Bierce did when he wrote, “The covers of this book are too far apart.” You
only get one shot with a book. It’s an investment, and you want a return. Why would
you not hire a professional to increase your potential for success and return?
The opportunity cost for your book ought to be compared against your annual salary
or earnings. How much will it cost to hire a ghostwriter? How much does the
ghostwriter charge compared to the value of your time to write your book? The ghost,
once contracted, works on nothing but your book until its completion—perhaps for as
long as a year. You, on the other hand, will have to steal time away from your core
business and your family. Do the numbers. Your annual income is easily three to four
times the amount you pay your ghost.
Here’s another example drawn from our experience. An author-client wants to hire us to
write her book. It’s an extremely timely topic, all over the news half a dozen times a
month. She’s a consultant and has about ten consultants on staff, each earning better
than $100K a year. We tell her it’s going to cost about $60K for us to write the book,
and she says she can’t afford it. Can we get her a “New York” deal so she can get a “big
advance” from a publisher? Sorry, we say, that’s not a service we provide. As
mentioned earlier, that business cycle is quite long: months to get an agent, more to get
a publisher, then a 12-18-month manuscript-to-book cycle. She decides to try it, spends
six months and gets no offers for representation. Now she decides to write the book
herself. After three months she has only written the first draft of one chapter.
Nearly a year has passed for this consultant. Meanwhile, others have published books
on the same subject. What’s the opportunity cost of that mistake? Perhaps we should
call it the lost opportunity cost.
Please turn the page to learn how The Business Book
Ghostwriters can help you with your book.
THE BUSINESS BOOK GHOSTWRITERS
Helping you write the book you know you need.
www.businessbookghostwriters.com
Page 18
Working with The Business Book Ghostwriters
The Business Book Ghostwriters help you solve the problem of how to get your business
book written. We do this by working in incremental stages to develop and write your
book-length manuscript. Jack, Roger and Jason each contract independently, so you can
choose your ghostwriter. We are more discreet about our work for you than the NSA. We
formalize the business relationship with a Work Made For Hire Agreement. Our
deliverable is a completed manuscript you have approved and accepted. At that point,
you can choose how you wish to proceed to publication.
Pre-launch: Once you have read The Business Book Author’s Guide to Success, we
spend 15-30 minutes with you on the telephone or Skype. Tell us about your dream book
and what you want to accomplish with it. We'll tell you if we can help. This is a free
consultation.
Stage 1: A one-hour consultation via telephone or Skype following receipt of any
existing written material you already have. We use our BBG Getting You Started tool as
the agenda and return it completed to you with a brief overview critique of your book and
its potential in achieving the goals you've set for it. Fee: $195.
Stage 2: A 3-4 hour working session, preferably in person, using our BBG Book
Development Platform (BDP) as the agenda. This platform, an expanded version of the
creative platform used by major advertising agencies and redesigned for book publishing,
summarizes every aspect of your book idea and its strengths and weaknesses. Its function
is to ensure we thoroughly understand your book concept and how best to write it. The
completed BDP (typically ten pages long) is returned to you for your edits and approval.
Fee: $695 plus travel expenses.
Stage 3: A formal proposal and business plan. Your book, like any product, should not
be launched without one. This is how we've built books for 40 years and we know it
works. The book proposal includes a detailed description, a complete table of contents,
one-page descriptions of each chapter (including front and back matter) a structural
internal format for the chapter content, an analysis of existing books on the same topic, a
marketing analysis, and a writing sample (introduction, chapters, etc.). Because sample
writing is included, this stage assures we have captured the style and direction you have
in mind. This is a formal proposal; it could be submitted to an agent or publisher. Fee:
$10,000, half of which is rebated on the last invoice for the completed book.
Stage 4: We write your book. Cost estimates vary with how much time we spend on
content creation, complexity and word count. We deliver a completed book manuscript
that has undergone one thorough revision and is ready for publication. Typical
development time: 6-12 months. Fee: $45,000 to $75,000.
Our contact information is on the following page.
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Page 19
The Business Book Ghostwriters are ready. When do you want to get started?
Please contact us with any questions or for more information:
Jack B. Rochester, East Coast Editor
339-223-9191, or [email protected]
Roger
S. Peterson, West Coast Editor
916-624-3069, cell 916-709-2530, or [email protected]
THE BUSINESS BOOK GHOSTWRITERS
Helping you write the book you know you need.
www.businessbookghostwriters.com

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