Sometime back, I was speaking to my good friend and colleague (and fellow Atlantan) Ed Gandia (co-author of The Wealthy Freelancer; and co-founder of International Freelancers Academy). Couple interesting things came out of our chat…
For starters, he was sharing his experience conventionally publishing TWF. Even when authors get into bed with traditional publishers, fully understanding and accepting the limitations of the model, the experience can still end up in disappointment and disillusionment. Ed and his co-authors found themselves in such a situation. Here’s what he told me…
While we seriously considered both self-publishing and the conventional route, in the end, we went traditional. One reason was time: none of us had the bandwidth to manage the process of putting a book together. #2 was budget. We could finance the project, but were willing to give up some control if someone else would cover the publishing and distribution, allowing us to save our limited capital for aggressive promotion.
Finally, our main goal in writing the book wasn’t big profits from book sales, but rather, building a bigger business around the book. So we’d forgo big profits in exchange for wider distribution, and the credibility that comes from working with a major house.
We knew the marketing and promotion would pretty much be on our shoulders; we decided anything the publisher did for us would be a bonus (PB: an exceptionally realistic, healthy and practical attitude, given the conventional publishing reality).
What we didn’t count on was the publisher impeding our progress in that department. For instance, we’d worked hard to get review commitments from major players and business authors, only to discover that, inexplicably, the publisher wasn’t planning on sending out galleys. After pleading with them, they agreed to do something.
We later found out these review copies were cobbled together at Kinko’s. I never saw them, but one reviewer called me personally to tell me how bad it looked. Plus, some of the copies were addressed incorrectly (i.e., Susan got Jim’s copy and vice versa). And a few of the reviewers never even received their copy. It was embarrassing.
Our contact at the publishing house did all she could to fix it, but we were left with the impression that these people were just trying to do their best with limited resources and broken processes—and in an industry undergoing unprecedented change.
Amazing. Though, nothing terribly new or surprising. Still, it blows my mind that a publisher would even take on a book with no intention of ever sending out review copies. Huh?? Why bother? And you can bet they’re not the only publisher cutting corners like that. But…
Did you notice Ed’s mention of using the book to “build a bigger business around the book”? That’s a great way to approach your self-publishing journey, especially when publishing non-fiction or, even better, non-fiction how-to.
In Ed’s case, The Wealthy Freelancer made for a powerful foundation for the programs and products built around that name, as well as his eventual development of International Freelancers Academy.
In my case, sure, I like making profits off my books themselves, but each book promotes other far more profitable spinoff products and services within its pages, or through the URL on the cover. As such, I just want to get as many books out there and into peoples’ hands as possible. Just like Ed.
As most of you know, I’ve parlayed my books into other books, ebooks, an ezine, blogs, teleseminars, speaking, coaching (one-on-one and group), etc. A book can be that focal point for many other income streams, whether or not you actually sell a ton of books.
I’ve been particularly profitable with coaching services as well as companion ebooks (like this one, and these), purchased either at the same time they buy the hard-copy book or as an after-market sale.
That said, many authors have used their book as the ultimate professional credential, one that leads to a higher professional profile, enhanced industry reputation, and most importantly, more (and more lucrative) project/speaking/consulting opportunities in their chosen profession. And for those reasons alone, a book can be worth doing (even if you don’t sell tens of thousands copies…).
If you haven’t released a book yet, is this giving you some ideas for how to build on it?
If you do have a book out, is it a base for a bigger business?
What sorts of things have you been able to spin off from that fundamental base?
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