Use Your Words: Marketing Your Book

Every Tuesday at noon EST when I’m not speaking, I host a BlogTalkRadio show dedicated specifically to speaking! This week we went off the reservation a bit to talk not just about speaking, but also about how to market your book.

Normally I just do a condensed version of the show on the blog, so that people can catch what they missed listening to, and I’ll try to do that here, too. But I’ve got to tell you, this show was packed with really useful ideas, and so you really need to listen!

Here, though, is the nutshell version:

The key to marketing is not to create an audience for your book. It’s not even to bring the audience to you. The key to marketing is to figure out where your audience already is, and then go and stand in front of them!

You basically have two main circles of influence to do that in. You have those people that you know in person and will meet in person, and you have the online world. You can’t ignore either sphere. The people that you know personally you have a deeper relationship with, and you’re more likely to be able to sell to them. But they’re such a small proportion of the population. You also need to reach out to the masses. So you need a wide reach on one hand, and a deep reach on the other. Let’s look at how to handle both these groups:

A. Marketing to Your Personal Spheres of Influence

1. Ask your friends for help

Send out an email to your friends announcing your new book. But don’t JUST announce your new book. Figure out who the main reader of the book will be, and what their main problem is. Is it young Christian moms? Is it recovering alcoholics? Is it men who have just been through a divorce?

In your email, say this clearly, like this:

“I know single, Christian women will really appreciate this book. Can you do me a favour and forward this email to FIVE single, Christian women that you know? Thanks so much!”

Ironically, naming a number, like five, makes it far more likely that the email will be forwarded. If you just say, “forward this email to single, Christian women” people won’t do it, because they don’t have an easy way to measure how big a task that is. Specify a number, and they’ll do it!

2. Figure out Where People Meet

What is the main problem your book is addressing? Or if it isn’t addressing a problem (let’s say it’s a women’s devotional), then think about the key people in your niche, and ask what problems they have.

Here’s why: people are more likely to meet to solve a problem then just to be together. So you have support groups for everything under the sun. Figure that out, and then contact those groups.

B. The Online World

The online world works on RELATIONSHIPS, not on marketing. If you start a blog, or start a Facebook page or a Twitter account where your main goal is to sell your book, and you make this obvious, you won’t be successful.

For your presence to be felt online, you have to participate in conversations that are already occurring. So start a blog where you talk about the problems your niche group faces (again, people are more likely to go online looking for answers to problems).

Then find people on Twitter who talk about those problems. Identify two or three good influences, and look at who they follow. Chances are they will follow people similar to your niche. Follow them, too.

Then just start participating in conversations. Share great YouTube videos. Retweet people. Put up interesting content.

Yes, you can share your book, but it is actually better to develop a relationship first, so that you stand out in the crowd and you build goodwill.

For instance, I once saw a tweet from a woman who was looking for a specific knitting pattern. I knew where to find it, and I tweeted her the link. It took me about 45 seconds. Now I love to knit, but my books have nothing to do with knitting. But that woman was so grateful, and she remembered me, that now she retweets almost everything I post about marriage. I made a connection by doing something helpful.

That sounds like a lot of work, you say. Yep. It does. But that’s what online marketing is. Try to schedule a little bit of time everyday to read through people’s tweets and respond, and to post interesting stuff on Facebook. If people think of you as someone who collects information in your niche, they’re more likely to listen to you when you talk about your book!

That’s the quick synopsis of the show, but there is so much more there. So listen in to this 30 minute recording, and take notes!

And if you want to know more about how to build an online community, my download, Build Your Online Community, is invaluable!

Use Your Words: Should You Write a Book?

photo © 2008 Ed Yourdon | more info (via: Wylio)

Every Tuesday on BlogTalkRadio I host Use Your Words, a 30 minute show where I give you speaking tips!

After asking on my Facebook page about the types of things you all wanted to hear about, I discovered that “writing a book” was right there on the top of the list. So I decided to tackle that in yesterday’s show. Listen in here.

A few thoughts from the show, in no particular order:

1. It’s very hard to get a book published today by a traditional publisher.

They’re looking for a great, compelling idea with a readily available and identifiable market. In other words, they don’t want lots of new books on “how to get closer to God”, which is basically what most of us who speak want to write. They want something very specific, that addresses a problem.

Unfortunately, if we write books for a specific niche, they’re hard to sell if we speak to general audiences. So traditional publishers aren’t likely going to help us much.

2. Self-Publishing is very expensive.

I say more about self-publishing in this post, but keep in mind that you’re looking at roughly $5000. That’s a lot of money. You can expect to sell books to about 10% of your audience, roughly, so if you speak to 300 women a month, and you publish 1000 books, you will likely sell them in three years. If you can guarantee that you can do that, self-publishing may be worth doing. If you can’t, then you should think about waiting.

3. Writing a Book Takes Time You Could Spend Elsewhere

Writing a book will take you at least six months to do well. In that six months, you could have been, instead, building up your web presence and your online community, which in turn would make it easier to sell that book (or to attract a traditional publisher). You could have been researching other speaking opportunities, or even writing magazine articles.

I’m not saying it’s not a good idea; only look at what should come first. Personally, I would concentrate on building a big online presence first, and then writing the book when you have a natural audience to sell it to. I talk more about my perspective in the radio show, so listen in!

In the meantime, if you need things to sell as you speak, a better route is to find something cheaper to produce. I have a great teleseminar that teaches you how to Create Information Products to sell, and helps you brainstorm what will work for you. 

And this summer, I’ll be doing a webinar on how to get a book published, if you’re serious and you do want to pursue this. I’ll give you all the ins and outs, and teach you how to have the best reception from publishers. You don’t want to miss it, so sign up for my speaking information here!

When Your Ministry is Attacked Online

photo © 2009 Nathan Siemers | more info (via: Wylio)

Recently a blog held a contest for the “25 Best Faith Blogs”. Somehow a ton of pagan blogs got on the list, along with a bunch of Christian mom blogs, and a voting war started between the pagan blogs and the Christian ones. It got kind of nasty. The Christians that I saw were trying to stay above the fray, and trying to minister the best they could, but things were dicey, because here were these women who were blogging for basically no other purpose than that they wanted to encourage other moms, and on all their heart-felt posts about motherhood, they were getting slammed in the comments by pagans, who had just found their blogs through the contest.

For many of these Christian moms it was a hard lesson about the internet. Up until then they had flown under the radar, attracting readers who were already Christian, and not really generating negative comments. Now, all of a sudden, they were being attacked for their faith.

I experienced something similar last week. Every week I try to upload a Vlog on my marriage blog that has something to do with marriage. Two weeks ago I uploaded one on what to do when marriage doesn’t meet your expectations. My advice? Remember that marriage is more about holiness than happiness, and instead of expecting your spouse to do all these incredible things, turn to God and ask Him to make you a great wife. Go to Him for your encouragement, and get your eyes off your spouse’s failures. Here it is if you want to see:

Well, the video went by with a few hundred from my blog watching it, when all of a sudden one morning from out of nowhere I had a dozen comments on it, all a variant of “dump the jerk!”, although several used much more colourful language. I deleted them all, but the thumbs down had been hit repeatedly. (If you can go and hit “thumbs up“, I would so appreciate it!).

I asked other friends to go by and thumbs it up, but the two incidents together taught me something.

We can’t be out in social media without being noticed. And sometimes that notice will be very negative.

You can’t stand for truth and not have people lambaste you. So what do  you do?

In some cases, it’s better to keep the comments and not worry about it. If you were starting a blog where debate was the main purpose, then by all means, keep the comments. But that’s not what I chose to do, for several reasons:

1. My website is an advertisement

If people see that I’m consistently “thumbed down”, or attacked in the comments–even if they agree with what I write–they’re going to think that I’m not as persuasive or not as professional as they’re looking for. People tend not to like conflict. So be careful!

2. My website is a ministry

People come to my site and click on my links for advice–and godly advice at that. If people are writing things that diametrically oppose what you are saying, then they could be leading a hurting person who has stumbled upon your website in the wrong direction. And that’s why I deleted them.

Anyone who is online has to have a comment policy, and so here are just some thoughts:

1. Consider comment moderation

Most blogging platforms allow comment moderation. If your website is a ministry, then you may not want really bad comments on your blog–or even profane ones. Turning on comment moderation means that you have to click “okay” before a comment is published. It’s more time consuming for you, and it means that people’s comments don’t show up right away. But it’s likely a good idea.

2. On some platforms, turn off comments altogether.

I’m thinking of turning off comments on YouTube, though I haven’t done that yet. There are some platforms where it’s just too easy to be “discovered” by accident by people who don’t agree, and it’s too easy to be put down. So I’m considering turning them off, since the main purpose of my videos is just to minister, not so that people will debate in the comments. The debates happen on Facebook or on my blogs.

3. Allow comments, but respond thoughtfully

Another option is to keep the comments there, but respond appropriately to all of them. This may be seen as the “Christian” way to do it, because you’re answering their questions and doing further ministry. But the problem is that most people who comment never come back to see what you’ve said. Most just leave a negative comment and then are never heard from again, so you’re not really ministering to them. You’re simply giving them a platform for their views.

In some cases, allowing those comments may, indeed, be useful, especially if you can counter them in a loving and logical manner. But in others, the presence of comments is just hurtful.

4. Defriend if necessary

If someone on your Facebook Page is becoming a menace, or someone is constantly attacking you on Twitter, block them. you have the ability, and it’s okay to use it. Just because you’re out there does not mean that others have the right to attack you, or drain your emotional energy. It is YOUR platform. It is YOUR Facebook Page, your blog, your Twitter account. You are not obligated to give them a platform to say what they want to say. They can go make their own blog if they want to do that. So don’t be afraid to block people if you need to!

When you step out in faith and put your words out in the internet, people will at some point criticize you. It’s only natural. People don’t like messages about truth, and honour, and commitment, and dignity, and integrity, and holiness. So don’t take it personally when you are attacked. Just realize it’s part of the job, they did worse to Jesus, and He’ll handle it with you! And put some safeguards into your sites so that they don’t become places where bad advice in the comments is allowed to fluorish!

How to Create a Platform for Your Ministry

photo © 2008 daretoeatapeach | more info (via: Wylio)

Platform. It’s a word we hear all the time in the speaking/writing business, but what does it really mean?

Today on my Use Your Words BlogTalkRadio show I talked about platform: the best ways to build one, and what’s really important. Listen in to that show here! Tons of great information.

But let me sum up.

A platform is usually defined as:

The number of people who interact with you; it’s usually expressed as a number, and it encompasses the number of people who hear you speak each year; the number of people who visit your website every week; the number of followers you have on your Facebook account/Facebook page, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.; the number of people who watch you on TV or listen to you on the radio; and the number of people on your email list.

That sounds daunting I know, but add all those things up and you can get a number. That’s the number that publishers, for instance, want to see in any book proposal.

The problem is: if you are starting out, where do you concentrate on building your platform? Are there some that are more useful than others?

Definitely. In fact, I would prefer that people defined platform more like this:

The number of people who visit you regularly and who interact with you and who are interested in what you have to say.

I know people with thousands upon thousands of followers on Twitter, but they aren’t targeted followers. They aren’t specifically in their niche, and so they do little for them. It’s better to have people who are excited about you! So let’s look at platform building from the two different sides: Authors and Speakers.

How Authors should Build Platforms

While speaking definitely builds platform, it does it in a limited way. First, it tends to be limited by geography; we tend to start speaking closer to home because that’s where we’re known. It’s hard to get known across the country speaking when your’e just starting out.

So for authors working on a platform, the place to really concentrate is on building an online community, which can reach anyone, and building for radio and television appearances.

Online, remember that Facebook and Twitter and blogs all work together. Twitter sends people to your blog. Blogs provide the content. And people talk about that blog on Facebook! I find Twitter a good place to meet new people in my niche, but in the end, Facebook sends way more people to my blog than Twitter does. It’s much more effective. So work on getting a Facebook Page set up, and make sure to link it to your blog.

And on your blog, write quality content that is specific to your niche. If you’re writing about parenting, don’t go off on politics. Stick to your defined category, so that people know who you are and what to expect. That keeps people coming back for more!

This seems like a lot of work, and if the idea of starting a blog or a Facebook Page sounds daunting, and you don’t know what Twitter is, my audio download “Build Your Online Community” can help. I also have a much more in-depth e-course on how to Build Your Online Community, which is 4 modules long and ends with how to throw an online party for your book (mine brought in $1000 in sales in one day).

How a Speaker Builds a Platform

For speakers, online communities are not quite as important. You’re not trying to sell a book; you’re trying to get speaking engagements. For you, then, the emphasis is different.

Nevertheless, you still need a website! As we talked about last week, before anyone hires you they will look at your website. So have a place where you list your topics and post any videos.

The next best thing you can do to build your platform is simply to network. It is much easier to get hired to speak if people know who you are. So go out to the fundraisers for Christian radio or TV in your area. Get to know these people! Join community-wide committees for Christian ministries. Form a group of ministry leaders that goes out to breakfast once a month. Attend writers or speakers conferences. The best networking I have done is at our annual writers’ conference, where I met my current agent, and the guy who books my speaking engagements, and lots of TV personalities.

Whether you’re a speaker or a writer, having people who you’re engaged with on a regular basis will help you grow your ministry! So keep track of key people. Send out email newsletters. And make sure your website is top notch! That will help you get better known, and help people remember your name when they’re standing in a bookstore, or when they’re thinking of who to hire for their Christmas outreach!

If you want to hear more about this subject, don’t forget to listen in to the show, where I go much more in-depth!

And if you have other things you want me to talk about it in Use Your Words, leave some ideas in the comments! I’m here to help you!

How to Write a Book Proposal

Photo by pedrosimoes7

So many of my followers on Facebook and Twitter have been reporting the various stages their book proposals are in, so I thought it was high time that I share with you how to write a book proposal! I’ve written about six in my life, and three have been accepted and published, and the others are with publishers right now. So it is something I’ve done successfully (and I hope to have good news to announce soon on a 2-book deal), and I’m going to share with you what I have found goes into a good proposal.

What Publishers are Looking for

My agent told me recently that publishers are interested in three things:

1. Writing Ability
2. Strong Idea
3. Platform (ability to sell the book)

Guess which one matters least? Writing ability! It’s great if you can write, but the world is full of talented editors and ghost writers. If you have a stellar idea, one that has been done before, but which catches the imagination or which speaks to this generation in a unique way, that’s what’s important! And if you have the platform to sell the book, whether it’s through a strong internet presence, media presence, or speaking engagements, then you’re attractive to publish, even if you don’t write well.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write your proposal well or work on your craft. It’s just that you must think like a publisher when they’re reading you book proposal. They’re asking themselves: Can I sell this? Does this author have the ability to sell this? They’re not really asking if you can write. Not anymore. Sounds cynical, but it’s true. So with that in mind, you need to slant your whole book proposal to show that this is an idea that has merit, that it resonates with people, and that you have the ability and the dedicaton to sell it.

What a Book Proposal Is For

A book proposal is not a book. It is simply a proposal to write a book. It is an outline of a book, a description of that book, a market analysis of what’s already out there and where this book would fit, and a marketing plan. It’s also a profile of the author. It’s there so that the publisher can scan it quickly to see whether it has merit. Send a book that the publisher has to read dozens of pages for before they can make up their minds and it’s doubtful it will even get looked at. Publishers don’t have time. You send a proposal so that publishers can skim.

With that in mind, let’s look at the main elements for a book proposal. You can follow this outline pretty much exactly. Where I’ve said Main Heading, simply make that a main heading, and then use sub-headings for the rest. Here we go:

Main Heading: Overview
1 – 1 1/2 pages in length.

Here’s where you sell your book! You’re going to spend a page to a page and a half describing what your book is about, what makes it unique, and how you will sell it! You’ll expand on all of this later, but here’s where your writing skills will come into play. Write this well, and you’ve got them hooked.

Open with a compelling or funny anecdote about the problem that your book is addressing, or the main element of your plotline (if you’re writing a novel). Make them WANT to keep reading. Don’t open with “my book will address this problem”. Open with the problem: 15,000 people a year die from addiction to Diet Pepsi, or whatever it may be. Or tell a funny story.

Then on to outline your book. Can you describe your book in a sentence? In a paragraph? You should be able to, because once it’s written, you’re going to need to in all of the publicity.

Here’s my sentence for my first book:

To Love, Honor and Vacuum is for all those exhausted women who feel more like maids than wives and mothers.

See? Or how about this one:

It’s 10 p.m. He wants to start snuggling. She wants to start snoring. Honey, I Don’t Have a Headache Tonight will help women break this impasse–and have fun along the way!

What you’re doing here is addressing the main problem that people who buy your book will have, and showing how your book fixes this problem. Don’t describe your book; describe the benefits that your book brings. If it’s a novel, describe the voice that you speak from, and the feeling that the reader will get from reading the book.

Heading 2: Description
1 1/2 – 3 pages

Next, you’ll start the description part of the book proposal. This may not sound that different from the overview, but you’ll go into greater detail. You’re not trying to be attention grabbing or cute in this section; you’re trying to help them picture what the structure of the book will be like.

Most books are divided into sections. If so, your description can have three headings, for the three sections (or whatever is applicable). Show which chapters go with which, such as this one for my book Honey, I Don’t Have a Headache Tonight:

Subheadings based on sections, like this:

How We Think of Sex (chapters 1-2)
How We Change Ourselves (chapters 3-4)
How We Change Our Relationships (chapters 5-8)
How We Address Specific Issues (chapters 9-10)

I think I called those sections something cuter, but that gives you a sense of it. Then, under each description, very briefly describe how you’re going to deal with the issue. Will you use mostly anecdotes? Do you have experts you’re going to interview? What works will you cite? What are the problems you’ll address?

Subheading: Extras
At the end of the description section, relate any “extras” that will be in your book. Do you have an appendix where you’ll include your survey results? Do you have questions at the end of each chapter to use as a Bible study (that’s a big plus today!). Do you have little tips you’ll be including in boxes throughout the book, offset from the text? Talk about these!

Subheading: Spin-off Products
Can your book be spun into a movie? Into a screenplay? Can you write a workbook for it? Does it lend itself to a calendar? Don’t just name every possible spin-off; only the plausible ones here.

Heading: Market Analysis

Subheading: Competition
Here’s the tough part: where does your book fit into the current market? You’ll need to include some books that your book resembles, and then tell why yours is better. So do your research! Get on the internet and look at other books written in your field. How is your book different? How does it solve a different problem? Does it complement this book? It’s not always bad to have a book that is similar but not completely the same, because if that book sold really well, and you can piggy-back on it, then your book will look more attractive!

Subheading: Primary Market
Next tell who your primary market for the book is, as specifically as possible. Don’t just say “Christian women”, say Christian women, from 25-40, who are married with children at home and attend an evangelical church”. Really break it down so that they know who your target is.

Subheading: Secondary Market
Are there other groups your book will fit with that will be easy to market to? For instance, you may think your book will sell great with Catholics, too, but evangelical publishers have troubles selling in the Catholic market, so that may not be the best one to mention. But if you think your book could sell well at Christian camps, or at marriage conferences, or as a study book for women’s Bible studies, mention this under “Secondary Markets”.

Heading: Marketing Plan

Here’s where you come in! What are you going to do to sell this book? This is often the section of the proposal that sells it to the publishers. If you can make a realistic marketing plan that shows that you are dedicated to doing the work that sells the book, then you’re much more attractive.

And what goes into a marketing plan? Don’t say that you’re willing to do book signings. Everybody does book signings, and they don’t sell that many books. Talk about what events you’ll create that you’ll talk to bookstores about, like “Girls Night Out” events where women come to scrapbook and hear a reading, or “Mommy’s Corner”, where moms bring their little ones for a story time.

And what are you willing to do online? Do you already have a buzzing website? Do you already have a blog that attracts a bunch of readers, or a Facebook Page where people stop by religiously everyday? Are you on Twitter? Do you have connections with some of the big websites in your niche, where you can guest post? Write these all out.

I can’t list all the ideas (I’d need a separate blog post for this), but here are some possible sub-headings you can use to fill in:

• Website Marketing
• Social Media Marketing (including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.)
• Bookstore Events
• Media Blitz (what radio stations and TV Stations you’ll contact)
• Speaking Engagements
• Book Reviews

Under each sub-heading, don’t just say that you will contact magazines for book reviews. Talk about the magazines you already have a working relationship with, or the websites that you already have built up friendships with, to show that you have an “in”. Everybody is competing for space, and if you can show why it’s more likely that you’ll be granted space, you’re much more likely to be believed!

Heading: About the Author
1 Page

Brag about yourself for one page! Talk about who you are, what you’ve done, what credentials you have to write this book, what marketing you’ve already been involved in, and what you’ve already written. Make it personable.

Heading: Chapter by Chapter Outline
1 page per chapter

Now you provide the outline, chapter by chapter, for your whole book. I find this part challenging, because it’s hard to write an outline for a book you haven’t written yet. How do you know what will go in each chapter? But try your best to make it compelling, and include short anecdotes to open each chapter outline, if applicable.

Heading: Sample Chapters
Include 2-3 sample chapters, usually near the beginning of the book, and usually consecutive, so publishers can get a sense of how it reads.

And that’s it! Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? It is! It’s almost as hard as writing the book! But do it right, and by the time you sit down to write the book you’ll be much more focused. You’ve already thought about how the book will be positioned to sell. You’ve thought about what the real message of the book is, and what benefits it brings to the reader. You’ve summed it up in one sentence. You know what your different sections are. And now, when you put it all together, it flows better!

If you’re finding this intimidating, you can get more information on writing a book proposal from Michael Larsen’s excellent how-to book. But know that you can do it!

Create an idea that excites and has merit, and build yourself a platform so that you can show the publisher you have something to offer. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to tackle the book proposal!

And if you need to know where to send it, Sally Stuart’s Christian Writer’s Market Guide lists all Christian publishers in North America (and some elsewhere). It’s a wonderful resource.

You’ve got all you need now. So go to it!

Do You Really Want to Write a Book?

Photo by Patrick Coe

Speakers are natural communicators. We have a story from God-the story that weaves through our lives, that shapes everything we do and who we are, and He is the author of that story. And we naturally want to share it.

Perhaps you started out primarily as a writer, and you began to speak to bring bigger exposure to your books. Or perhaps you’ve been speaking for a while now, and you now want to write a book so you gain more credibility and have something to sell on your book table. Speaking and books seem to go hand in hand.

But if you have never written a book before, I want to use this post to caution you. I don’t want to discourage you, because if you feel called to write a book, you should write a book, and speakers also have more of a natural venue to sell them, so if anyone should write a book, it should be us.

That does not mean, however, that it is easy.

I don’t mean the writing part. That’s hard enough, but at least most of us can picture what that is like. I mean the selling part. When we think of writing books, we dream of advances and publishing houses and book tours, and these things are rapidly becoming a relic of the past.

It is not that Christian books are not published; they are. It is not that there are not Christian publishers; there are. But here are some brutal facts:

Photo by MarkHillary at Flickr

1. Christian bookstores are closing all over the nation.

The number of bookstores is decreasing, which means that the place where people would naturally browse and pick up a book by an unknown author is also decreasing. Think of it this way: how often have you bought a book you had never heard of before on Amazon? Likely never. You tend to buy on Amazon when you’re looking for something specific, and you usually stick to those things.

Yet how often have you walked into a Christian bookstore and come out with a book you had not intended to buy? Likely quite a few times. Christian bookstores are the few places where a large selection of Christian material is available. When these close, the options for Christian book buying will be limited to the internet and the Christian section in Barnes & Noble or Borders. And that’s pretty small.

What is likely to happen is that the top 100 or 200 books will continue to sell very well, because these big chains will still carry them. But the rest? They’ll disappear.

That’s why publishers are very reluctant to take on new authors today, or to take on a book that is not destined to be a huge seller. At one point they would have taken a book that would sell 20,000 copies and be perfectly happy about it. Now many publishers won’t even look at it, because the retail outlets aren’t there.

Getting a publisher to look at your book, then, is becoming increasingly difficult. You tend to need an agent, but an agent is just about as difficult to find, if you’re unpublished, as a publisher is. So you’re in a catch-22. It doesn’t mean it’s impossible (I’ve had books published, and I’m hopefully going to sign a new contract soon), but it’s hard. Very hard.

If you want to increase your chances, write a book proposal. Don’t write the book yet. A book proposal is an outline of the book, a marketing plan, an explanation of who you are and what your platform is, and then 2-3 sample chapters, usually from the beginning of the book. How to Write a Book Proposal by Michael Larsen will help walk you through the process, and is invaluable! Publishers don’t have time to read entire manuscripts. They want the synopsis. They want to get to know the author a bit. They want to see that the author has thought about how to sell this thing and the author has thought about the market for it. And, once they have done all that, they then may want to read sample chapters.

If you spend your time writing your whole book, you do yourself a disservice. It’s better to write a book proposal and see if it sells. If it doesn’t, maybe you can readjust the theme of your book or the slant. That’s harder to do if it’s already all written.

So research book proposals, take a deep breath, and jump in! But remember, there are already a lot of people in the water, and they don’t want to make room for you. That’s why:

2. Self-Publishing is Growing. As publishers stop taking books by unknown authors, the tendency for speakers is to pay for them to be published yourself. Many companies will publish your book for you, for a fee! It can cost about $5,000 for 1,000 copies, though it varies significantly by publishing company. The good news is that you keep all the profits. If you sell every single one of those books for $15, you’ve just made $10,000, likely more than if the book had sold through a traditional publisher. But there’s some bad news, too.

First, it’s a lot of money up front. Do you have it?

Second, when it’s self-published, it’s not usually as well-edited. It may be copy-edited, which means that someone checks your grammar and spelling, but it’s not necessarily given a substantive edit. Pay for the substantive edit, even if it’s expensive. Pay for a critique. I have seen so many self-published books which just aren’t done well. Chapters are in the wrong order, it’s not clear what point they’re making, the voice isn’t clear. You may think you’re a great writer, but that doesn’t mean you know how to put a book together. It is better to invest the money up front and let professionals help you than to try to do it “on the cheap”.

And above all, pay for a good cover! Covers make all the difference. If you have a quality cover, with a great picture, no one can tell whether it’s self-published or not.

Just because you’ve paid for it to be published, though, doesn’t mean that marketing is now a breeze. It won’t be in any bookshops unless you personally go in there and try to sell it. You have no distribution channels, unlike normal publishers. I only suggest self-publishing if you have the personal channels (like speaking engagements) to sell your book at. Otherwise you’re going to have 1,000 books growing moldy in your garage. And nobody wants that.

What if all of this is discouraging you, and you’re not sure you want to write a book now? What else can you do?

As a speaker, I’d recommend building up your video and CD library. Get a great collection of videos to sell. It’s cheaper to pay for someone to make a video of you than to pay for 1000 books, so perhaps put the money there! Offer mp3s of your talk over the internet. You can even create ebooks of devotionals or some of your thoughts that people can download off of the internet, and that doesn’t cost you a cent.

I don’t know what will happen to the publishing world in the next decade. I don’t think books will disappear, but publishers might. Perhaps we will all become our own little publisher, and we’ll sell things more directly. We’ll likely see fewer big blockbuster sellers, and more books that sell just a few hundred copies. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it does mean that it’s a different thing, and we need to be prepared for that.

Later this week: I’ll write a post on how to actually write a book proposal. And coming up this summer: my teleseminar on products you can create relatively cheaply to sell on your website or while you speak!