Thinking of a great book to write is tough. Writing that book is even tougher. Going through the edits, marketing, publishing and all of the steps to actually get a great book in people’s hands is even more tiresome.
And I loved it.
Every time I hit a wall of frustration in how publishing is still the wild west, I crack a smile. Because I know that every author had to deal with this. Or at least pay someone else to deal with it. One more challenge to filter out the bad books from the plethora of books available. So when I cracked my smile I knew my book was worth doing all of this for.
This is true even with Amazon and countless other websites offering publishing opportunities. Realistically in a few clicks you can have a book available. Not many people can judge the book before it hits the internet (or retail store, if you remember those). Which leads me to another challenge, one I never saw coming.
Reviews are tough to get. You see reviews for everything, stores, toothpastes, books, restaurants. Even cans of corn have reviews. So I assumed that the world was filled with people that leave reviews. It turns out the world does have these people and many of them get paid to review or are simply not people- they are software. I expected my friends and business associates to jump at the chance to review a fellow captain of industry book. They didn’t. Not from a practical percentage of my contacts, anyways.
My target was 20 reviews in one week. I missed that by a healthy margin for two reasons: 1) Reviews take time, 2) People want to actually have time to read the book. I was targeting business professionals that will kill hours on social media every week yet will skip leaving a 10 second review due to their busy schedule. Frustrating as that is, I completely understand the challenge.
You see, I don’t review much. Hardly anything. It takes time and unless I am giving the hallowed five stars I feel like I am hurting someone’s business. So unless the business really messed up or really blew my mind, I skip the review portion. The exception is for friends or businesses I come across online that I like that I know could use a good review.
To my surprise, most of my peeps were just like me. Which leads to the question, did they not take the time to write a review because of a perceived time-management issue or a desire to not leave a bad review? I am going to presume the first one. Though I am clearly incredibly biased.
Either way, the reviews have not been flowing in at the rate of 20 per week that I expected. So more work needs to be done there.
I also expected to unleash my book to a parade and fireworks and rose petals flooding every step I took. Instead it was as eventless as getting a piece of junk mail. Sure, in my mind it was awesome. But just because my book was published didn’t mean people would actually buy it. I had a micro-second celebration before hitting the marketing bricks. That seemed odd, but it was what I had truly expected in a deeper, smarter, more realistic level.
You need to have a semi-unrealistic vision to get yourself moving sometimes. A mother-in-law that continually asks you how the book is coming along helps as well.
I checked out my competition and saw two avenues business books take. They flounder on the ground, making a few sales, but nothing of any real merit. Nothing that would come close to making a profit if they actually paid professional editors, designers and the like to create an incredible product. Which may be why many books clearly do not spend the money to make a great product. The second avenue includes all of the business books you have heard of. The Good to Greats, E-Myths, and 10X Rules of the literary world. These are books that most of us non-fiction readers have read. These books sell hundreds of copies (if not thousands) a month. Most claim a New York Times Bestseller status or something of the sort. They have fancy reviews printed all over them. Some of them are even good books. Some not so much.
That leads me the next lesson. Many well known books are really pretty lame. I won’t list any here since no two people have ever read the same book. (Plus, no one star reviews, remember?) From a practical point of view, someone must have liked them at one time. Or they liked the author at one time. I will say that I am glad I read them. They gave me the faith needed that if they can offer this product and get rewarded for it, I can offer a better product and reap better rewards.
As it turns out, that calculation is a fallacy. It seems a bit like the emperor’s new clothes with many of these popular books. I’ll let you know when I crack the code of phenomenal book sales. Until then, I will continue to search. And write, publish and market all that I can. However I do it I will be sure to create a phenomenal product. Selling a thousands of terrible books would hurt me much more than selling hundreds of fantastic books. At least on the inside.
As you undoubtedly know, the world doesn’t work quite the way we all feel it should. Just about anyone that has ever had to deal with the judicial, health or lending services around can attest to that. In this case specifically, just because the product is great does not mean it will sell. Actually, even if a product is terrible doesn’t mean it will not sell. Seriously, how long can you play with a Tickle-Me-Elmo doll? So that is where marketing, contacts and a decent amount of luck come into play.
To get noticed in the publishing world, you need to have multiple books. (So after writing this little blog, rest assured, I will keep writing more in my next book manuscript.) Check out most successful authors and you will find this. I swear to my wife that Nora Roberts and other romance novel authors with dozens of books must have a Mad-Libs type program to create books as fast as they do.
Something like:
Sexy man name began to touch sexy female name on her body part. As he did, she gasped, “We can’t do this! Evil man name will action verb you!”
Some non-fiction books seem to follow this beaten path as well. I’m looking at you John C. Maxwell. Something as simple as using buzzwords in business such as: leadership, time management, 80-20 rule, priorities, team, family, laws, money, cash flow, team, prospects and principles. Alas, not all art is appreciated by all people. Maybe I’m just picky now that I know the process.
All of this education and experience leads to one true takeaway: If you want to accomplish something, you need to make moves towards that something. For me it is writing, for you it may be something else. That better not be news to you. It may be the 152nd time you’ve been told it and maybe this will be the time you needed to read it.
So go now and get something done. And enjoy the process.
First, review my book. Or grab a copy, read it, ponder it and then review it. Hell, as long as you actually do something awesome with what you read. Then work towards those goals. You only have a few more months before you can tell yourself next year will be better.
James Kademan is a Business Coach for Draw In Customers Business Coaching in Madison, Wisconsin as well as the author of The BOLD Business Book. When he isn’t hustling books, he is busy guiding entrepreneurs to success in business and beyond. He blogs successfully to the world at www.drawincustomers.com. If you are considering hiring a business coach, take a moment to call James at (608)210-2221. Whatever you do, read, learn, enjoy and grow.
