Table of Contents as a Sales Tool

Making Money from a Book 3 Responses »
Apr 302012

I love watching people buy books in bookstores. Some of them swoop in to buy a book that they’ve already decided to own. Others browse, looking for a book. Those are the ones I like to watch.

They pick a book from the shelf. Sometimes they check out the endorsements on the back or the copy on the jacket flaps. But almost every thoughtful buyer checks out the table of contents.

That’s why you should make your table of contents work for you. Chapter titles are the key.

Make your chapter titles descriptive. Use your readers’ common language to give an idea in the title about what the chapter covers.

Make your chapter title a promise. Tell your reader what he or she will get from reading the chapter.

Be straightforward, even blunt. This is not the time for cute or “creative” writing. Skip the literary allusions and any and all puns. If you must do something like that, make it a subtitle.

We can write the greatest of books, but readers will not purchase them, let alone read them, if we don’t take the time to tell the reader what’s in it for him or for her. That’s what the table of contents is for.

Posted by Wally on April 30, 2012 Tagged with: ,

Three Kinds of Information Products

Making Money from a Book No Responses »
Apr 232012

An information product is the package where you put your information. You sell some products, like books. You give others, like blog posts, away. I think there are three kinds of products that should make up your portfolio that support each other and your business.

Core products, like books or speeches or audio, are the heart of your portfolio. Core products should stand on their own and deliver unique value. They should also point to each other. Your book should mention your speech where you can also mention your audio product.

Supplementary products add value to core products, but have little or no value without them. A good example is the workbook you develop to help readers get the most from your book. Some supplementary products, like workbooks, should be specific to a single core product. Others, like pocket reminder cards, may support several products.

Promotional products don’t generate revenue directly, but allow you to demonstrate your unique expertise. They can also point to your core products. Blog posts are the most common promotional products. Others are free webinars and autoresponder courses that whet a prospect’s appetite for what you have to sell.

Posted by Wally on April 23, 2012 Tagged with: ,

The Future of the Bookstore

Making Money from a Book 1 Response »
Jan 312012

In the New York Times article, “The Bookstore’s Last Stand,” the bookstore in the title is Barnes and Noble and the villain is Amazon. I don’t think of Barnes and Noble as a bookstore anymore though. For me the Barnes and Noble bookstore will always be the old store at 18th and Fifth in New York, where I spent hours while growing up.

Nope. For me Barnes and Noble is a big company that runs big bookstores and a web site. Once they tried to drive small bookstores out of business. Now they are being done to.

But the NY Times article did get me thinking about what sort of physical bookstore will thrive in the new book world. In the old days, some successful bookstores were specialists, like the San Francisco Mystery Bookstore that seemed like it had every mystery ever written by anyone. Or they had a super-large selection of everything, like Borders and Barnes and Noble.

Those stores were doomed by the Web, particularly by Amazon, where readers can find more titles that you could stuff into fifty super-sized bookstores and where the prices are really good. As I noted, most people I’ve spoken with who buy business books, buy them online, most often in electronic form.

Other bookstores made money stocking and recycling textbooks. They’re threatened by the “textbook-as-subscription” described in another NY Times story, “Making Science Leap From the Page.”

So what kind of bookstore can succeed in this world? My guess is that it’s like the mom and pop hardware stores that thrived even when Lowe’s and Home Depot came to town. They’re like a small restaurant in a small town that Scott McKain describes in Collapse of Distinction. It’s still thriving when other local restaurants have succumbed to competition from fast food and casual dining chain restaurants.

Success will come from what McKain calls “distinction” and it has two components. There is a solid value proposition and a strong emotional connection. An example of how that may work in a bookstore is in “Her Life Is a Real Page-Turner.” Being a successful physical bookstore in the Digital Age won’t be easy, but it certainly can be done.

Posted by Wally on January 31, 2012 Tagged with:

How we Buy Business Books Today

Making Money from a Book 2 Responses »
Jan 302012

This is not rocket science. It’s not even science. It’s more like what the naturalists did during the Victorian Era, wandering around making observations and gathering specimens.

I’ve been asking business book buyers how they buy their business books these days. Here’s what I’ve observed.

Blogs start the process for many people, especially blogs like LeadershipNow who post about business books regularly. I reviewed LeadershipNow a couple of weeks ago. Author guest posts on other blogs and an author’s appearance on a podcast such as AMA Edgewise or HBR Ideacast are also interest triggers.

No matter where they buy the book, almost everyone I spoke with goes to Amazon to check out the reviews. Most prized are the reviews that both summarize the book and offer thoughtful opinions.

The vast majority of business book readers I spoke with are reading business books on an electronic device. For books, Kindle seems to have the most readers, followed by Nook. The iPad is in the mix, but many readers seem to prefer Kindle or Nook for books, even if they read almost everything else on an iPad.

Bottom Line

If what I’ve observed is accurate it means that

  • You should include reviews on key blogs, guest posts, and podcast appearances in your publicity plan.
  • You should make Amazon a focal point of your promotion with the “Look Inside the Book” feature and Kindle editions as part of your strategy.
  • You should encourage quality Amazon reviews.
  • You should have electronic versions of your book available wherever you can.

What are your experience and observations? Do they match mine? Or have you observed something else?

Posted by Wally on January 30, 2012 Tagged with: , ,

Business Book Buyers and You

Making Money from a Book 2 Responses »
Dec 272011

On December 12, 2011, the New York Times published an article about holiday book sales with the jaunty title, “E-Books, Shmee-Books: Readers Return to the Stores.” That article sparked quite a few reader comments. The Times printed several of them on Christmas Eve under the title, “Reading Books in the Digital Age.”

These make great reading and they’ll give you an idea of how book buying and reading habits are changing. If you’re planning on writing a book to boost your career or business, you’re most concerned with the business book buyer.

Business book buyers are only part of the book buying universe. In my experience, they have some characteristics that you want to consider when you plan your book and other information products.

Business book buyers are more likely to use e-book readers like the Kindle. They provide portability and searchability that add value for business readers.

Classic book promotion techniques may not work well with business book buyers. They’re less likely to hear about books they want to read from radio interviews or the book review sections of their local paper. Their choices are more likely to be driven by book reviews in business publications and on trusted web sites like LeadershipNow.  Author-written articles in the business press and on business web sites are part of the mix, too.

Amazon is an important part of the business book buying process for the vast majority of business book buyers I’ve spoken with in the past year. It’s true for Kindle users, of course, but even readers who buy elsewhere tend to use Amazon as part of their vetting process.

Book buying and reading are changing rapidly. As they change the channels and methods we use to promote and sell our books should change, too.

Posted by Wally on December 27, 2011 Tagged with: ,

Two Business Questions about Your Book

Making Money from a Book No Responses »
Nov 032011

Every business book project should have a book business plan that describes the costs and benefits you expect. Start your planning process by answering the following questions.

What will make my book distinctive?

Amazon lists over 150,000 titles for “strategy” and more than 85,000 for “leadership.” They list more than 650,000 for “marketing.” Whatever you’re going to write your business book about, there will be other books out there on the same topic. You have to define how your book will be different before you begin writing.

How will I make money from the book?

Unless your book is a pure exercise in self-fulfillment and you have an unlimited budget, you’ll want to think about how your book will increase your revenue. To make this just a little harder, you probably won’t make much from book sales. So, before you begin your book, get clear about how the book will help you make money.

Posted by Wally on November 3, 2011 Tagged with: ,

Making Money: Tie Products and Services to Your Book

Making Money from a Book No Responses »
Oct 282011

Deborah Jackson is a great example of how to make money from your book, even if you don’t make it from book sales. Deborah was thinking about marketing possibilities for the whole time we worked on her book.

Deborah’s a marketing consultant, based in Brisbane, Australia. As we worked she brought up marketing possibilities and potential products that might grow from her book. Here are a few that she considered.

  • Paid speeches, especially at marketing events
  • Training opportunities
  • Coaching opportunities
  • Products

The result is a good example for business book authors. Visit Deborah’s site to see how she’s wrapped several product and service offerings around her book.

Bottom Line

You probably won’t make much money from book sales, but you can counter that by increasing your income from products and services.

Posted by Wally on October 28, 2011 Tagged with:
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