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Lately, I have been getting a lot of questions from people wanting to know how I write, publish, and market my books, especially my most successful book, “How To Deliver a TED Talk.” I love helping others become more effective communicators so I’m happy to share the insights and techniques I have learned along the way. This post, Part 3 in a three-part series, covers how to market a nonfiction book. The other posts are:

• How to Write a Nonfiction Book
• How to Publish a Nonfiction Book

Tip 1: Build your platform by being an active content giver

At this point, I am assuming that you have written and published a well-edited nonfiction book that has material people value and want to share with their friends. However, no one knows that your book exists. To help people find it, you have to start giving

I’m a strong believer in the hypothesis that if you give great content away, people will want to buy your book. They are not rewarding you. Rather, they hope (and it should be true) that what is in your book is as valuable as what you give away for free. I give content away by blogging at least once a week. In case you are wondering, I use and recommend the Focus child theme on the Genesis Framework in WordPress. (I used to use and love the Thesis theme, but the new version became way too technically complex even though I used to be a programmer.)

There are tons of books written on platform building for people entering the ‘expert economy.’ Three of my favorites are Michael Hyatt’s Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, Brenden Bruchard’s The Millionaire Messenger: Make a Difference and a Fortune Sharing Your Advice, and Michael Port’s Book Yourself Solid.

Tip 2: Give content on other people’s platforms

It is going to take a while for a critical-mass of people to find (and hopefully share) the content you are giving away on your own platform. While you build your content empire, give content away freely on other people’s platforms. My main way of doing this is serving as a guest on other people’s Podcasts. One of my favorite podcasters is Moe Abdou at 33Voices. At least at this stage, I’m happy to be interviewed by any Podcaster independent of the size of their audience.

Every once in a blue moon, I write a guest blog post but I try to reserve written content for my own platform.

Tip 3: Figure out who the influencers are in your genre and send them two review copies

I maintain a list of the top influencers (mostly bloggers and other writers) on public speaking. My go-to resource is Guy Kawaskaki’s Alltop which aggregates and ranks blogs in every imaginable category.

Once I identify an influencer, I reach out with a very personalized email to ask if they would like a copy of my book to do an objective review. Most say yes since they are as hungry to get content as I am to give it. Plus, we are all fans of each other’s work.

Next, I mail the influencer two physical copies with a handwritten note. Even though this process is more time consuming and expensive than sending an eBook, I send physical copies because it shows I care. I send two copies so that the reviewer can read one and pass one on to a friend.

Outside of influencers who regularly write reviews, I do NOT give books away. With my first book, What Great Looks Like, I gave hundreds of books away and ended up with two reviews. When you give a book away, it will collect dust. When people buy your book, they read it since they have skin in the game. If they enjoy it, they may reward you with a review.

Tip 4: Get as many positive reviews on Amazon as fast as you can

Though I do not have scientific proof, I believe that building a strong, early flow of positive reviews on Amazon is a major driver of book sales, triggering a virtuous cycle – reviews drive sales which drive reviews which drive sales…

Your friends and family will likely provide the first reviews. The next wave will come from the influencers to whom you sent books. Then, when you book takes off, everyone else will jump in. As an added touch, I do my best to track down people (usually via LinkedIn) who gave me four or five star reviews to thank them.

Some people will give you 1 or 2 star reviews. You just have to accept that some people will hate your work. Do not try to change their opinion. And, don’t feel hurt; as Seth Godin would say, it is a good sign you created something remarkable when some people love your work and others loath.

Tip 5: Sign up for NetGalley

Once you get some traction, reinvest some of your profits by signing up for NetGalley. They provide their community with access to your book in exchange for objective reviews. The NetGalley reviewers are quite active and influential so your reviews will show up on Amazon, GoodReads, and blogs.

NetGalley is the only “service” of this type that I use. I avoid all forms of paid reviews, including Kirkus.

Tip 6: Speak for free or for fee every chance you get

Early on, you are probably going to need to speak for free at every venue you are invited to. Go for it and have fun. You should be able to sell books from the back of the room (if you do that, make sure you use a credit card processing device like Square and sell at a price equal to or less than what people can buy your book for through any other channel). Once you are established, you can start speaking “for fee” and bundle your books with the deal.

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Please add a comment if you agree or disagree or if I missed anything.

Lately, I have been getting a lot of questions from people wanting to know how I write, publish, and market my books, especially my most successful book, “How To Deliver a TED Talk.” I love helping others become more effective communicators so I’m happy to share the insights and techniques I have learned along the way. This post, Part 2 in a three-part series, covers how to publish a nonfiction book. The other posts are:

• How to Write a Nonfiction Book
• How to Market a Nonfiction Book

Tip 1: Pay for developmental editing, line editing, interior design, and cover design

If you followed my advice in my last post, How to Write a Nonfiction Book, then you have a manuscript with basic formatting. Unless, you want to release garbage, you need feedback on your book. Start with friends and family, but engage a developmental editor if you can afford it. A good developmental editor knows your genre and will provide you with actionable feedback. A developmental editor gives you notes and suggestions; they don’t actually touch your text.

Once the content of the book is in great shape, pay for line editing which includes proofreading to find typos and copy-editing to fix issues at the sentence and paragraph level. I rely on the amazing PJ Dempsey for line editing.

Finally, pay a professional to do your interior layout and cover design. When I self-published, I use CreateSpace’s custom services for this.

Tip 2: Self-publish

Congratulations, you finished writing your book and you should be proud. Now, you want the world to read it. If you are a celebrity with a following of hundreds of thousands or millions of adoring fans, you can skip this tip. For everyone else, I recommend self-publishing since it is nearly impossible to get a large, traditional publisher to acquire a book. (You can always switch to traditional publishing later if your book takes off – that is what I did.)

If you actually have a choice to make between self-publishing versus traditional publishing, here is what you need to know:

• Speed (winner = self-publishing): It takes six months to a year to get a book published traditionally. Self-publishing is nearly instantaneous.
• Quality (winner = traditional-publishing): Traditional publishers have their brand and their money on the line so they will make sure your book is a quality product. You can try to achieve the same on your own, but you would need to find a freelance editorial team with deep, current expertise in your genre.
• Editorial control (winner = self-publishing): The quality you get from traditional publishing comes as the price of editorial control. While I don’t think an editor will change your ideas, a good one will challenge you and tell you that some of what you wrote garbage. That bothers some people.
• Cache’ (winner = traditional publishing): For better or worse, there is a certain amount of prestige with having a book released by a large publishing house. That endorsement feels good and also helps open doors for speaking engagements and press interviews.
• Volume & Distribution (winner = tie): Though traditional publishers can help a little, the truth is that you will need to do 99% of your own marketing. Yes, traditional publishers will get you into bookstores, but most of your volume will come from Amazon (Kindle and print). With my self-published books, I sell 50% Kindle, 40% Amazon print, 9% Audible, and 1% other (Nook, Google Books, iBooks, etc.).
• Income (winner = self-publishing): I suppose that if your book is a flop, then you will make more money with traditional publishing since you get to keep the (small) advance. However, if your book is a success, you get to keep a much larger percentage of the royalties (typically 75%). Plus, you get to set the price.

Tip 3: Offer print-on-demand and eBook Versions

I looked around at many self-publishing alternatives including Amazon’s CreateSpace, Lulu, SmashWords, Outskirts Press, and BookBaby.

I use CreateSpace for print-on-demand and Kindle conversion since they are tightly integrated with the rest of Amazon and have exceptional quality and price. Once a book gains traction, I expand distribution in other eBook channels using BookBaby. If a book is really cooking, then I use Amazon ACX for Audible conversion. Since audio quality is so critical, I rely on Kevin Pierce on the ACX platform for his voice and production skills.

Some people have asked me about print-on-demand versus regular printing. I emphatically recommend print-on-demand for two reasons. First, you can fix typos easily with print-on-demand. Second, you do not have a maintain inventory or handle shipping since your distribution partner does that for you. Yes, you get less profit per book with print-on-demand but that tradeoff is a pittance for the two big benefits, especially since odds are (just being honest) you are not going to sell as many copies as you think you will.

Tip 4: Set the price of your book

There is plenty of incredible research available on book pricing. This presentation is among my favorites:

In my opinion, the right initial price point for a self-published non-fiction book is $2.99 Kindle/eBook and $9.95 print book. If you start higher, you risk pricing yourself out of the market. If your book is very successful, you can always increase the price over time without offending your early buyers.

Tip 5: Get an agent

You don’t need an agent if you are self-publishing. However, if you decide to ignore my advice and pursue traditional publishing, then you need an agent who is well connected in your genre to shop your book around (do not waste your time trying to engage publishers directly). The best advice I can offer is to look in the acknowledgements of your favorite books. Most authors thank their agents. You can then reach out directly to the author who will usually be glad to facilitate an introduction to the agent. It is almost as hard to get an agent to represent you as it is to get a publisher to take on your book so expect a lot of rejection. Also, reputable agents do not charge you; instead, they take a well-earned cut of your eventual earnings (usually 10%). My agent is Jackie Meyer from Whimsy Literary Agency.

Tip 6: Get an attorney

Once you get an agent, get an attorney. You should have the attorney review the agent’s contract before you sign it. Then, if you get a publisher interested in your book, you need the attorney to review the publishing contract. Do not skip this tip if you get to this phase or you will be penny-wise and pound-foolish. My publishing attorney is Maura Wogan from Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC.

*****

Please add a comment if you agree or disagree or if I missed anything.

Lately, I have been getting a lot of questions from people wanting to know how I write, publish, and market my books, especially my most successful book, “How To Deliver a TED Talk.” I love helping others become more effective communicators so I’m happy to share the insights and techniques I have learned along the way. This post, part 1 in a three part series, covers how to write a nonfiction book. The next posts will be:

• How to Publish a Nonfiction Book
• How to Market a Nonfiction Book

Tip 1: Write to express your ideas

The first advice most writers give aspiring writers is, “Don’t Write!” While there are blissful, Zen-like moments, writing is mostly lonely and mentally taxing work. Worse still, publishing is frustrating and occasionally costly. If that is not enough to dissuade you, marketing a book consumes more effort than the other two activities combined.

Still, at least for me, writing is worth the pain. A few weeks ago, I was writing in a Starbucks when an aspiring novelist engaged me in conversation. Even after I warned him that I know almost nothing about fiction writing, he still wanted to pick my brain. He shared his visions of great wealth from the millions upon millions of copies that he planned to sell. My advice was as follows. Let go of the concept that writing is a business. Writing is a hobby. For every J.K. Rowling or John Maxwell, there are perhaps hundreds of thousands of authors who sell no more than a few hundred books. To the best of my knowledge, a raging nonfiction success is 10,000 books sold; that is a very rare feat.

I think the best attitude is to write to express your ideas. That means you declare victory when you type, “The End.” It should not matter if you sell a single copy. It should not matter if your ideas are groundbreaking or not. Just express yourself. Though not required, I recommend writing about ideas that make the world better in whatever way you define as better.

Tip 2: Own a nerdy niche

Express your inner nerd. I’m a leadership-nerd so my first book, “What Great Looks Like,” was about leadership. Though a commercial failure, it was a great personal success. I’m also a public speaking nerd since speaking is fundamental leadership skill.

When I started writing “How to Deliver a TED Talk,” one of my close friends in publishing said the topic was too niche. I wrote it anyway and it has had reasonable commercial success. My third book, “How to Win the World Championship of Public Speaking,” is so esoteric that I’ll be lucky if I sell a few hundred copies to Toastmasters with competitive speaking aspirations. I just keep expressing my inner nerd and do not concern myself with what will sell. Commercial success for a first-time author is infinitesimally remote, so in my opinion, you are better off writing about something you think is cool.

Nerdy niches are more interesting if you can combine ideas from two words. For instance, in “How to Deliver a TED Talk,” I combined what I knew about public speaking with what I knew about cinematic storytelling. Those two worlds were only just beginning to touch when I wrote the book. What two worlds do you geek-out on that you can combine?

Tip 3: Go three levels deep in a single genre

Even if you “combine two worlds,” I still recommend staying within a single genre. Some major genres, based on Amazon book departments, include: Business & Investing (1,665,809); Health, Fitness, & Dieting (523,688); and, Self Help (239,466). If you want to write a book that combines the major genres of investing and fitness, then go for it; just go in with eyes wide open that readers (and publishers) prefer books that fit neatly into a single genre.

Saying “go three levels” deep is a way to find a big enough, yet unique enough, niche. By way of example, “How to Deliver a TED Talk” is: Business –> Public Speaking –> TED. There are countless books available that stop at the second level, public speaking, but are boring since they all say the same thing. Contextualizing public speaking best-practices to TED Talks makes things interesting. By the same token, Carmine Gallo’s “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs” does the same thing: Business –> Public Speaking –> Steve Jobs.

Tip 4: Read a lot

When I was in my mid-20s, I shared with my wife my dream writing a novel. Much more well-read than I (she learned to speak English by reading Shakespeare at age six), she said, “You need to read a lot more fiction than you do if you want to write a decent novel.” I disagreed with her at the time, but I see her wisdom now.

I have read hundreds of nonfiction books. Though I was not consciously paying attention, I was learning how to write. On my best days, I hope I’m a good writer, not great, good. I try to logically order my thoughts, stay in active voice, and use accessible language and grammar. I now fully agree with my wife… if you do not read a lot in your chosen genre, then you have little business writing.

Tip 5: Keep your intended reader fixed in your mind

I recently read a manuscript that a friend of mine was about to submit for publication. Sometimes his explanations were at a very basic level – useful for a 21-year-old with limited professional experience. Other times, he assumed a level of knowledge that only a seasoned corporate executive would have. His mistake was that he was trying to serve both audiences; however, he served neither. When I wrote How to Deliver a TED Talk, I imagined that I was writing for a 35-year-old, white-collar professional with limited public speaking experience.

In many instances, the gender (or other demographic and behavioral factors) of your intended reader matters but I wanted to write for men and women. By keeping the intended reader fixed in my mind, I applied a consistent depth to my subject at all times.

Tip 6: Write then edit

I find that if I edit as I write, I get bogged down. For that reason, I write the first draft of my entire book start to finish without editing anything. That is what second, third, and occasionally additional drafts are for.

Strive to write at the same time and in the same place every day.  For many, the most productive time is in the morning.  However, I have a pretty demanding day job, so I write between 7pm-9pm in a particular room in my house (though I do break things up by writing occasionally in Panera, Starbucks, or Barnes & Noble.)

Tip 7: Develop a title and an outline to go deep on one big idea

If you are going to write then edit, you need to have a strong title and outline to make sure your first draft is of reasonable quality. The title serves as the promise of value to the reader. A title also helps you self-edit. As you are about to commit words to paper, ask yourself, “Does what I am about to say fulfill the promise of the title?” If not, note your idea for a future project but do not put it in the book.

Your outline then supports your title. While it is possible to write a book without an outline, I don’t recommend it for a number of reasons. First, an outline helps you organize your ideas. You may decide to write a series of essays that could be reordered without affecting comprehension. You may decide to write a book with a strong narrative arc (in nonfiction, the arc is often problem-solution). Second, an outline ensures that you have enough material to fill a book. There is no definition of how many words a book has to be to qualify as a book. On the low end, you can get away with 10K to 20K words in a self-published e-Book. A proper nonfiction book suitable for print publication should be about 60K words.

Some authors advise spending massive amounts of time outlining. While it is true that time spent outlining is time saved writing, I’m more in the minimalist camp. My outlines consist of chapter headings along with bullets for the ideas that I want to convey.

Tip 8: Do not waste time with fancy formatting

Unless you are a book design expert, do not waste even a second of time on formatting. Write in plain-text (occasional bold and underline is OK). When you are done, you can and should hire someone to make your book beautiful. If you want to spend as little money as possible, then pick up Guy Kawasaki’s book template which comes as a free bonus if you buy APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur.

Tip 9: Support your ideas with research and remember to cite sources and get necessary permissions

Countless low-quality, nonfiction books are published each year filled solely with opinions. You owe it to your reader to support your ideas with research. I use Google Scholar to find academic research studies that are esoteric but interesting.

You also owe it to your reader to cite sources. I see a lot of books that regurgitate anecdotes and conventional wisdom which on deeper inspection turn out to be urban legend. I always find and read the original source and so should you.

Finally, if you quote other people, it is good etiquette and often a legal requirement to secure necessary permissions. For “How to Deliver a TED Talk,” I reached out to every single speaker whose talk I quoted. In one instance, a speaker had a blog post stating that due to email overload, he closed all email accounts. My solution was old school – I sent handwritten letter to him via FedEx and included a postage-page return envelope.

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Please add a comment if you agree or disagree or if I missed anything.