Branding Strategy For Authors : Part 3 In A Series

This is the third in a series on writing, which is something I have been doing professionally for more than 50 years. Hope you enjoy it and find the insights useful.

A couple weeks ago, I spent an hour chatting with my friend Barb Munshaw. Barb is a social media marketer, but one of the few I know who has her head screwed on right.We have known each other for several years and even had coffee together when she came to town. I like Barb because she is a really nice person, but because she is also very smart and sensible. I get great advice from her and hopefully return that in kind.

Book Chat

One of the things we were talking about today is books.

Lately, I have had a few people email and ask me about the best ways for them to market their books. They all tell me that their books are well written and I believe them. But they repeatedly tell me that they are having trouble getting any real traction from the marketing they have been doing.

I Don’t Want To Rain On Anybody’s Parade, But…

When people sit down to write a book, they do so, generally, with the idea that the book will be successful, make them some money and get them something else, in the way of speaking engagements, consulting projects, clients, whatever.

But as well-intentioned as they might be, they quickly find out that it’s not that easy.

The reason for this is simple. It’s because everybody and their uncle has a book out there that they are selling. Everybody and their uncle is competing for the finite book buying dollar. And a relatively small (maybe 2%) number of the people writing books are actually deriving anything remotely close to a substantial income from their books.

This exalted 2% are the people who actually have book deals with publishers who promote them. They have agents who get them speaking gigs. They have advertising budgets to target their books accurately and substantially. They have other writers in the exalted 2% who will say great things about them and vice versa.

It's a Country Club And Memberships Are Very Hard To Come By

Jeremy Miller (Sticky Branding, a group on LinkedIn) is one of the few people I know of who recently cracked that cult. I watched the process he went then to get a publisher interested, then all the subsequent work he had to go through to actually get the book written, printed, out into distribution and promoted.

After it was all done, he confirmed to me that it was probably the most hellish experience of his life.

Tread Carefully

The decision to write a book is one thing. Physically writing the book is another. And then having that book turn into something that actually reaches the people it was intended for and make you some money in the process is something else again.

I’ve been a professional writer for more than 40 years and the prospect of doing something like that scares the hell out of me. It’s way too much like work. A lot of work. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears. And a lot of hours.

What’s The Value Of A Book Anyway?

From the discussion Barb and I had, we concluded that a book, and by book, I'm generally talking about businessy ebooks,  is nothing more or less than a big fat business card. It tells people, mainly prospects, that you know enough about what you are doing to have put a book together about it. It’s credibility. It’s expertise demonstrated. And if you use it correctly, it can be a powerful promotional tool for your business.

What it’s not, in 98% of the cases, is a profitable product.

So because I am a logical guy, and understand that unless you are Tony Robbins or somebody in that snack bracket, you’re much better off not putting yourself through the ninth gate of hell that getting your book published, promoted  and distributed represents, and just giving it away.

Been There. Done That

I wrote a book about 5 years ago called Small Business Communications For The Real World. It’s aimed at businesses that are just coming into the need to outsource their communications and develop a professional branded identity for their businesses.

These are the kinds of businesses I like to work for, because the economies of scale I offer, both directly and through my supplier network, make it very affordable for them to hire me.

I wrote the book primarily as a short teaching piece, but also as a self-promotional tool.

It is by no means my life’s work. But after I finished it and started investigating the amount of time it would take to market it, the cost of doing that plus what I could charge for it plus the hassle of dealing with processing all that, I ended up concluding that the smartest thing to do with the book was to simply give it away.

Don’t Delude Yourself

It’s a great big world out there and if the digital marketing community has been successful at anything, it’s getting people to believe, like they did with web sites 15 years ago, that without a book, you simply don’t exist.

Be that as it may, I believe it’s a good thing to have a book. What’s not so good is believing that your book has enough earning potential to even compensate you for the time and effort you put into it in the first place. Because it probably doesn’t.

But as a promotional tool, your book can be quite valuable. It shows people that you have your act together. It explains your business point of view so they know what you can do for them. And, maybe, more importantly, it tells them that you are someone who gets things done.

No matter how you use it, writing a book is not easy. Which is why, while there may be a huge glut of books out there at any given time, the number of real authors is actually a very small percentage of the number of potential book writers

So Good Luck

I hope you don’t find this discouraging or off-putting, but rather a bit of an admittedly subjective eye opener. In my experience there’s very little in life more disappointing than a reality check that sneaks up on you.

I know that some of you will be saying that what I’ve given you is just an opinion, and you’d be right. Everybody has a shot to break through the ceiling and have a book that is a big hit and even makes you some money. What I hope I have impressed upon you is that your book and be useful in other ways that might not include retail sales.