Author Blog

Business is fascinating. Whether or not we consciously engage our thoughts into how it works and how we can improve it, it affects our lives. Those who have thoughts about business do a number of things: talk to friends/co-workers, write a blog, research more, present meetings or consult for companies. When the idea becomes very concise, thoroughly researched, and suspected that it could have a huge effect on business on a grand scale, the idea gets published as a book. It's a huge achievement, and a powerful symbol of thought leadership.

Maybe you've published a book. If so, it's likely that the process of your first book went much different than what you expected. Many positive things happen when one gets published, but there are also many challenges, assumptions, and other things that can take some steam out of what was originally just a great idea. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way.

800-CEO-READ wants to help authors, and future authors, understand as much as they can about the process and beyond, so that both the book, and them, can be as successful as possible. We've started this blog as a conversation about this information. After 20+ years in the business book industry, we know a few things about how the process works, and how the process can be managed successfully. We'll post our findings and thoughts here, and hope you chime in, too.

Many authors at the last 8cr Pow-Wow had their eyes opened to the fact that selling is a big part of becoming an author. According to Bookscan, in 2007, 25,311,126 business books were sold. That's a lot of books, but think about this - most business books that get published only sell around 1,000 copies, regardless of the topic. That isn't a lot of books; proof that all authors need to be more engaged in the selling process.

Here's a tip: the number above reflects the highest percentage of sales in these 5 regions - NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, DC, and Chicago. Are you an author in these areas? If so, you're in a good place to move your idea. People are receptive to published business thought there. Are you an author outside of these regions? Start targeting these areas - make connections, get speaking engagements, talk to clients there, talk to client's friends there. Talk to anyone there.

On a similar note, author Richard Florida recently did a study on music clusters - geographical areas where employed musicians clustered and what facilitated these clusters: employment opportunities, diverse ethnicity, and labels (publishers) creating scenes based on that region. Knowing where these clusters are, and acknowledging the fact that they exist, can provide others with knowing where to target their efforts for touring and "selling" their work, whether they're thinking of relocating or not.

Selling your book can be a tremendous amount of work. But that's ok, as long as you know it's coming and are prepared to deal with it. Being blindsided by unexpected tasks can take a lot of wind out of a good idea and genuine momentum.

Recently, author Andy Sernovitz asked me, "What do you think about my book cover?" We had a lot of other books around, so we started to analyze it in terms of those covers - how his worked compared to some of those, and how it could've been improved. Then we did the same thing for many of the other books. Prior to this conversation, I watched a lot of people walk up to this same book table and scan the books with their eyes, some never even picking any up. It's almost as if they simply judged everything by how it looked, and moved on.

Chip and Dan Heath's Made to Stick was the one most picked up because of the embossed strip of duct tape across the front. People wanted to feel it. The point I'm making is that the cover of your book has a big impact on who picks your book up. In the retail world, if no one stops and picks your book up, they're certainly not going to buy it.

Even if your book is sold online, how often do you see it (or anything for that matter) that doesn't have an image next it. Regardless of how digitized things become, image is important. Design communicates many other things that the title and author's name do not. Design might say what the tone of the book is, how serious the book is, and it might even visually support the theme of the book (Made to Stick is again a perfect example).

You've written a book on lean manufacturing, or employee retention, or organizational behavior, or leadership. You're an expert on the topic, and that means that it's quite unlikely that you also happen to be a practicing and knowledgeable designer. To remedy this, with a quick web search, you find a ton of companies offering cheap and easy cover design "from your supplied MS Word document." There's the first red flag NOT to take this route. Want proof? Ask any professional designer if they consider Word a design program and something terrible will happen to you. I guarantee it. But seriously, your cover design should be handled by someone using the proper tools with knowledge of what sells in the book market - particularly for the type of book you've written.

Now, this doesn't imply that spending a lot of money on a designer guarantees a great book cover. The point is to take this aspect of your book very seriously. Trust the people you put in charge of this. Look at their history of results. Choose someone whose work you admire - stacked up against the competition. Like Andy Sernovitz and I discussed his cover - you should have an informed opinion about what you like and what you don't.

The New York Times picked a couple covers that stood out in 2007, and posted about them at their blog. Following it is a list of opinions from readers. Looking at this as a case study, it becomes clear how strongly the public will react to what your book looks like. That is, if they even notice it.

Author Dan Pink participated in a really cool thing called Pecha-Kucha, where presenters get 20 slides and 20 seconds each to talk about them. In Dan's presentation, he discussed situations where empathy in communication helped people on a number of levels: reinforcing confidence, sustaining understanding, and creating direction. He shows how, in some instances, these were accomplished in one simple sentence. I've posted his presentation below. It's a great lesson in how to engage with your readers beyond simply telling them what they should do.

And, if you've got a Pecha-Kucha chapter in your city, definitely check it out. You'll learn about things going on in your community that you had no idea of, and it's really fun to boot.

Check out this New York magazine article on Edward Tufte. It's not only further endorsement for book design, but also a great analogy to the author as touring musician/rock star.

"And at these six-and-a-half-hour presentations, the audience starts cheering when he hits the floor, clamors for their books to be signed, buys posters at the table out front. As soon as the applause stops, Tufte bolts backstage, enthusiastically draining a Corona. "There are usually about 500 people who want to talk afterwards, and I've exhausted myself," he says sheepishly. "I have to go hide out. Otherwise it takes hours."

Publicists can get a lot of heat from authors. Authors often assume that by hiring a publicist, all sorts of guarantees come with them. That said, many good things can happen with the right publicist. As with most things, you should do some research to find the one that's right for you and your goals.

Mark Fortier has been an author publicist for over 15 years. His interview with "Bestseller Interviews" reveals great insight into the author/publicist relationship.

From the interview:

"BI: What is the role of a publicist in making a bestseller?

MF: Publicists aren't alchemists and can't create bestsellers with a magic wand, but they can absolutely maximize a book's media and sales potential. An experienced publicist knows which media outlets have the most sales impact, how to customize a pitch to these outlets for the best chance of a booking, and how to use the right timing and momentum so you have enough sales velocity to climb a weekly or monthly bestseller list. A good publicist acts as an author's promotion partner. He or she should be as driven as you are to reach your goal, and wise enough to steer you in the right direction."

Read the full interview here...

Publishing is becoming more and more easy for individuals to take on themselves, at least in terms of production. What can't be as easily replicated though, is the brand and distribution arm of major (and even smaller) publishing houses. Yet, the allure of self-sufficiency and control over one's work, combined with the ease of production, is attracting authors of all genres.

In the past, author David Maister went the traditional route, and is now trying his hand at self-publishing. Admittedly, he doesn't know how successful this will be for him, but he has hope that it will work. An important thing for other authors to consider, is that his book is building upon the attention he has received from his previously published (by publishers) books.

Similar to the recent Radiohead phenomenon of them offering their new record as a download for a "pay what you want" price, having a large, dedicated audience in tow gives you more leverage when taking your work entirely in-house. If you have such an audience, it might be something to consider. If not, you might be joining the masses of self-published authors who will begin to work more on the administration side of their book, than spreading the idea of the content.

Check out David Maister's reasoning behind his decision to self-pub at his blog. One disclaimer though, he mentions the ability to get your book on 800-CEO-READ's site even if you self-publish. While this is possible (it is in Maister's case), it is a rare situation and won't work in every scenario of self-published authors. Something to consider if you decide to take this route yourself.

Author Larry Winget has written a few books and now has his own TV show based on his personal development ideas. His no frills approach has attracted a lot of viewers who are serious about making a change in their lives. How did taking the path of an author help him accomplish this? I asked Larry to give us some insight into his experience:

8cr Author Blog: Before writing your first book, what did you expect to happen once it was finished? How close was that to reality?

Larry Winget: When I wrote my first book I expected it to become a bestseller straight out of the box. I never plan for failure - only success. So I used every resource I had to make it happen. I called every friend with a list and contacted every past client I had ever had. The reality was, it hit #1 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list the first week. Surprised? Not really. Thankful? Oh yeah!

8crAB: How could you have better prepared your efforts to make your books have an even greater impact?

LW: On this one, I do a good job. Every piece of mail I send warns people a new book is on the way. My website notifies people of the progress of the book and when to expect it. I tease my audience through my blog to keep them interested. I talk about the book from the stage whenever I speak to a company or association. I do postcards and emails to notify people of the book. I can't imagine doing anything more than I do to have my books make a bigger splash.

8crAB: What role did your books play in landing your TV show?

LW: A huge impact. The producers were looking for an easily recognizable, in-your-face host for their new reality series at about the same time my book was riding high on the bestseller list. They saw my picture and read the title and knew immediately that I was both recognizable and in-your-face. That sent them to my website and they watched my video. From there we did a screen test and a pilot. But it was the book that grabbed their attention initially.

8crAB: As an author, what's the biggest lesson you've learned?

LW: A great editor is essential in creating a great book. And I'm not talking about grammar and punctuation. I am talking about someone who will help keep your "voice" and stroke your ego and keep the information tight and flowing. I saw a great quote somewhere that said, "An agent protects the author from the editor and the editor protects the book from the author." How true. I think authors are so in love with their words and exactly how they say them that they can screw up their own book by holding on too tight. Write it, then let it go to the professionals.

Oh yeah, my second biggest lesson. You can write the best book in the world but without some PR and marketing, no one will know it and no one will buy it!

If you're able to write, then with determination, you can write a book. How successful the book is depends on many factors, and Scott Berkun sheds some light on those. Need ideal conditions to write? Berkun cites Voltaire and De Sade writing the bulk of their work from prison. If you want to do it, don't whine, just do it. Still on board? Then Berkun recommends doing some much needed, and often neglected, homework:

"The sticking point for most wanna-be published authors is, again, the work. They want to hear some secret that skips over the hard parts. Publishers are rightfully picky and they get pitched a zillion books a day. It takes effort to learn the ropes, send out smart queries, and do the research required to both craft the idea for a book, and then to propose it effectively. So while writing is a rejection prone occupation, even for the rock-stars, finding a publisher is not a mystery. In fact the whole game is self-selective: people who aren't willing to do the leg-work of getting published are unlikely to be capable of the leg-work required to finish a decent manuscript."

Read the full story here...

We're all clearly aware of the "digital revolution." eBooks, iTunes, Bittorrent, etc., are presenting what were physical media in digital formats. It's got a lot of people up in arms, but a lot of other people are pretty happy. Who's right? Well, both sides have great points. Heck, I still buy vinyl records. I love stuff! But, I'll also admit that hitting the road on a 10-day drive wouldn't be the same without the endless listening choices on my iPod. This dichotomy can either be argued to death, or simply moved beyond.

So, moving on, another set of issues arise - copyrights, ownership, distribution, and other things you as an author should have an interest in. Sarah Weinman wrote a great article on Mediabistro about Google's Unbound conference, where they pretty much got everyone excited about them giving away entire published works for free. Everyone, that is, except the publishers. Does Google have the right to give away copyrighted work freely? Should authors start giving their research and ideas away? These questions are much more interesting than the "paper or plastic?" debate of formats.

The article is heavily supportive of digital publishing, and even Seth Godin chimes-in in this regard. But even Seth continues to publish physical books. As I stated initially, there are great points on both sides of the physical and digital formats; it shouldn't be an all or nothing battle. What's critical for authors, and publishers, moving forward, is how to maintain a sustainable environment for moving ideas.

There are numbers for just about everything, and those reading this blog likely have some specific numbers in mind: sales of their books. Amazon's rankings have a complex algorithm for arriving at these figures, and this can become confusing to those who want the facts about their book sales.

With related articles by Chris Anderson, Steven Dubner, Brent Sampson, and Dog Ear Publishing, Future Perfect Publishing gives a great overview of Amazon's method in a post at their blog.

The best part of the article is that it eventually steers you even further away from confusion by offering some tools for how to accurately monitor your sales. Enlightening and helpful.