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any prospective business authors dream ofbeing the next David Chilton of WealthyBarber and Dragon’s Den fame. Could thisbe you? Perhaps. Getting a book publishedis a great way to distinguish yourself fromother advisors. You can use it to find better

prospects and clients, attract people to seminars or webinars,or nurture the loyalty of the clients you have now. But whilehundreds of thousands of self-published books hit the marketevery year, fewer than five per cent of these books sell more than100 copies.So how does one get from manuscript concept to bestseller?

First, recognize that writing and launching a book is not easy. It’s

BRAND MANAGEMENT

Every week Sarah Scottgets a call from someonewho wants to write the nextgreat Canadian businessbook. Find out if you havewhat it takes

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FromBook toBestseller

22 FORUM OCTOBER 2014

like launching a new business. To be success-ful you need to have a clear idea of whatyou’re writing about and understand yourcore offering. You need to know your targetmarket and how you will fill an unmet needfor that market.One of the key problems is that few

authors ask these four essential questions:

1. What is your book going to be about? 2. Who is your target audience?3. Why would your target audience want to read your book?

4. How is your book going to be differentfrom — or even better than — similar books that are already out there? (While you don’t have to be the next David Chilton, you should at least comb through Amazon.ca for books similar to the one you want to publish. What would make your approach special?)

I can tell when an author hasn’t answered these questions. Itstarts with the book’s cover. Often the title doesn’t reveal what’sin the book or why people should read it. Sometimes the title istoo generic — it screams, “I’m just another book about retirementplanning with nothing new to say.”Sometimes a book title doesn’t match what’s inside; it’s

written in the obscure language of financial advisors when it’ssupposed to be written for 60-year-olds who spend more timethinking about the cost of a fridge than the performance of theirinvestments.Other times the cover is aimed at the wrong audience. For

example, let’s say a book is supposed to be a manual for successfor twentysomethings, yet the cover shows a Bay Street-type stand-ing by a conference table in front of a Group of Seven painting.Not exactly inspiring for young adults.

Idea FactoryAll great books start with a big, simple idea. Bill Bishop is a best-selling author who teaches entrepreneurs how to create big ideasthat bring in business. He recommends something uniquely pack-aged that explains “why you work with me.” Consider somethingcalled The Latte Factor. Save the money from your latte every dayand over time you’ll be a lot richer. This was David Bach’s big,simple idea, and the concept made him very rich.Use Bach’s technique to create your own big idea. According

to Bishop and publishing veteran Joan Homewood, you need toidentify the key thing that your customers/clients must change intheir life to achieve your model. For example: Do they need tostart jogging every morning? Do they need to floss after everymeal? Do they need to hug their kids before bed every night? Thisdaily tip could turn into your title, your cover, and the key to themodel you are selling in your book.In The Book Breakthrough, advisor coach Dan Sullivan says just

thinking out the plan for a short book can give you the clarity to

sell your idea in a more effective and more profitable way. Hethinks you can do it fast. He believes you can structure a bookstart to finish in just 60 minutes.He starts with what he calls “the dream solution” — your great

business idea. You have to ask some probing but helpful questionsabout your dream solution. First, what do you want your readersto learn or achieve from reading your book? Second, why is itimportant? What makes your dream solution special? Third,what’s the ideal outcome? What’s the best thing that can happento readers from using your idea? And finally, what’s the worst thingthat can happen if they don’t follow the plan?Answer all of these questions and you have created the intro

to your book. But that’s just the outline. Writing is of course a lotmore difficult, as Sullivan notes, but you can hire a writer and edi-tor to help articulate and develop your ideas, and to help you turn

BRAND MANAGEMENT

I’ve seen situations where the book title doesn’t matchwhat’s inside. It’s written inthe obscure language offinancial advisors when it’ssupposed to be written for60-year-olds who spend moretime thinking about the costof a fridge than the perform-ance of their investments.

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your ideas into a persuasive book for your target audience.How do you find the right writer? You can go to an agency

such as Westwood in Toronto, check the online listings, or turnto a publisher. If you are looking online, be careful. Ask whetherthe writer has written a book before. Check it out. Ask theauthor/client how the writing process went.

Your Book Publishing OptionsTo get your book published you can try for a traditional publish-er. This can be a long and uncertain process. First you need anagent. Then you need to write a book proposal, which includes asample chapter, a chapter outline and a 10-page pitch that explainswhy the publisher should invest in your book. Maybe you’ll bethe one in 100 who gets a publishing deal. That has both advan-tages and disadvantages. You won’t have to pay upfront for theedit, design, production, printing and distribution of your book.You will probably have to pay a ghostwriter to get your book inshape for the editor. What’s more, the contract you sign will mostlikely hand all the control over the project to the publisher — thetiming, cover design, paper quality … the works. You’ll likely getbetween 10 and 15 per cent of the profits, and 15 per cent of what-ever money you earn will go to your agent.You could also go to one of the many self-publishing compa-

nies out there. If such is the case, you’ll get what you pay for. Self-publishing (or “vanity”) presses are the Home Depot of publish-

ing; they supply you with some tools and you do most of thework. That’s why it’s called self-publishing. You will not get theediting, production and design quality that you would from atraditional publisher like Harper Collins, and you will never getyour book into on-the-ground bookstores, where most non-fiction books in Canada are still purchased. What’s more, you’ll probably find that your customers may

have trouble buying your book on Amazon.ca. Your readers willtypically have to wait three to five weeks for delivery, if theybother buying.When I was working on a book with an author, I didn’t find

either of these options appealing, so I created a publishing com-pany that allowed people to create high-quality books that couldbe sold in bookstores across Canada and in the U.S. I seeauthors as entrepreneurs who will pay upfront for top-qualityservice in editing, writing, design, production, distribution andmarketing.

BRAND MANAGEMENT The idea is to be part ofthe ongoing conversationabout your topic, so thepeople you are connectingwith will buy your bookand purchase your services.

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For their fee, authors receive 100 per cent of the profits,plus full control over the project. Since opening our doors in2012 we’ve published eight books, and all have been sold tostores such as Indigo across Canada. We’ve also sold books tothe U.S., and even first-time authors have received nationalTV exposure from their books.You have options, and no matter what route you choose,

marketing and advertising are more important than ever.Social media is playing more of a role these days. The idea isto be part of the ongoing conversation about your topic, sothe people you are connecting with will buy your book andpurchase your services. That is why you should be writingnuggets for Twitter, LinkedIn and other venues such asGoogle+ and Tumblr.Internet radio is another way to publicize yourself and your

book. Some online stations may only have 3,000 subscribers,but if you find the right station of listeners who fit your tar-get market, you get plenty of time to talk to them. To find theright venue, use Google to find one that targets your market,and then write a short pitch wherein you describe your expert-ise and how you will solve a problem for your audience.Writing a book is a lot of work, and unless your name is

David Chilton you probably won’t earn back the money youinvest in book sales. However, if you do it right, the book couldbe a powerful way to brand yourself, separate yourself fromthe crowd and sell your services in a profitable way. �

SARAH SCOTT is publisher of Barlow Book Publishing Inc., an independent publishing firm based in Toronto.

1. What are our overall business and marketing goals?

2. How would this publishing project help us achieve those goals?

3. Is the theme of this publishing project aligned with the packaging of our company?

4. Who is the target audience for our publishing project?

5. How does the target audience align with our business market?

6. How would this publishing project communicate our key marketing messages?

7. What customer needs would our publishing project address?

8. How would this publishing project fit into our overall relationship-building process?

9. Why would a prospect call us after reading the content created for this publishing project? What benefits does this publishing project provide to our market?

10. How would we leverage the investment made in this publishing project into other media and marketing opportunities?

Source: The Publishing Success Model, Bill Bishop and Joan Homewood

SO YOU THINK YOUCAN GET PUBLISHED?Ten questions every prospective author should ask before starting a book