I recently spoke with a potential client, a high-powered professional who had a draft manuscript about meditation, mindfulness, and other mind-body-spirit teachings, something he’d studied avocationally for decades. First as a side gig and then potentially as a main gig, he planned to offer online courses, create a community, and give talks—the types of things many coaches, consultants, and entrepreneurs do.
Because he had initially considered finding a traditional publisher, he also had a book proposal. It was strong, except for the part about his marketing platform—he didn’t have one. That is, he did not have a website, social media presence, email list, podcast, regular speaking engagements, or any of the types of things agents and publishers look for in a proposal to help market the book.
He said something that caused me to pause: “I know I’m doing this backwards. I should build all that first and then write a book.”
Yes, except…not necessarily.
The stage your business is in and how you plan to use your book can help decide whether it is the “right” time to write it. At different stages of business, a book serves different purposes—it can establish credibility, attract clients, or become a product in its own right.
What’s your business stage? What’s your strategy?
First, let’s stipulate that your nonfiction book has intrinsic value—you’re providing useful information or a compelling narrative. The model I’m about to share in no way diminishes that value.
Now, if you think of a business progressing from startup to growth to scale, I’m going to go backwards through that progression. And while I’m using three distinct labels, as with many consultant-y terms, the labels really sit on a spectrum. Don’t get tangled up in the label-y details; focus on the big-picture concept.
Scale: Books are products
Many authors I talk to assume that the goal of having a book is to sell books. They believe that whatever they make in books sales should justify their investment in creating the book.
If you are writing a book proposal to find a traditional publisher, commercial potential is what an agent or publisher is looking for: Does this author have strong enough writing and a big enough marketing platform that we can make money publishing this book?
Agents and publishers are more likely to pay attention if you have been in business a while and have a platform with broad reach—if you have “scale.” You can think about your book as a product and calculate the ROI on your book investment based on book sales. And your message can reach a broader audience than you might find one-on-one or with speaking events.
Growth: Books are marketing tools
Most authors I talk to don’t have scale. Many are established and have a reasonable reach but are in search of opportunities for growth.
In this case, books are often seen as a marketing and credibility tool, “an expensive business card,” as some people say. There is some truth to this, as books are very “sticky.” Unlike literal business cards, books are more likely to be passed on than thrown away.
It can be hard (though not impossible) to find a traditional publisher in this situation, so self-publishing is common.
The associated investment is evaluated differently: Can I raise my rates? Find clients more easily? Get bigger speaking gigs? That’s where the ROI often comes—positioning yourself more strategically in the market.
Startup: Books are foundational content
Finally, when you are in the early stages of a business, your main goal is typically to find clients and revenue for the business itself. For most people, a book is not front of mind at this stage.
However, for some people, including the prospective client I spoke with, writing a book in order to launch a business makes perfect sense. Think about this scenario—someone who:
- Already has a job and wants to make a change to leverage that professional experience, OR has unrelated experience and wants to make a pivot to start a new venture,
- Has a longer-term plan for product and services offerings based on the subject the book covers, and
- Has a limited marketing platform.
If our high-powered professional were spinning out from a larger business to start his own, a book might not be a bad tool to help publicize the change. But especially because his pivot involves a new direction, a well-written book can help establish credibility and demonstrate expertise in an arena for which he is not well known.
In the case of the second bullet, I think it is super smart to write a book before developing online courses and more sophisticated products. Writing a book forces you to organize your thinking, identify gaps, and develop a coherent framework. The intellectual foundation can then be leveraged across virtually every other offering.
In the case of the third bullet, finding a traditional publisher will be almost impossible without a platform, but a book can help build the platform, thus positioning the author for greater business success but also for greater potential to snag a traditional publisher on the next book.
Why so many business writers choose self-publishing
As noted, if you’re in the startup or growth stages, it’s usually harder to find a traditional publisher. Additionally, when you are in those stages, the wait from agent to publisher to book hitting the shelves can feel interminable. Speed-to-market is the name of the game—and unfortunately with many traditional publishers it can take well over a year to get to market.
Once you do have scale, traditional publishers are more likely to be more interested in your manuscript. However, at this point, you’ve done the work of gathering an audience; it can be tempting to decide to keep the audience to yourself, self-publish, and earn higher revenue per book, trusting that the tradeoff in distribution reach will pencil out. When authors in this business stage self-publish, the speed-to-market goal is still there but control is also often an issue.
There’s no perfect time to write your business book
Just as life doesn’t make it easy to find time to write (work, family, you know the drill), it doesn’t make it easy to decide the “best” time for writing your business-related book. With my consultant hat on, I say, “It depends.”
The potential client I spoke with thought he was doing things backwards. I would argue he wasn’t working backwards at all. He was writing the book his business needed first. A book is a great foundational tool to demonstrate he knows what he is talking about on a topic outside his chosen career. And it gives him the content upon which to develop further products and services—a launchpad for his new business.
Your situation is almost certainly different from his. Don’t worry about what other people do. Consider what makes sense for your business, your goals, and your book-writing situation. But whatever you do, make a decision—to write or not to write—and move forward with intention.
I’ve worked with authors in all stages of business (and those whose books are unrelated to business). If you’re curious whether I can help you, get in touch at karin@clearsightbooks.com.