The ROI on Business Books
Been quiet around here lately, eh? I’m happy to report I’ve been busy. And not in a “busy” way, but in a “productive” and “delighted” and “excited with my work” way.
In a “book coaching is IRRESPONSIBLE LEVELS OF FUN” kind of way.
I’m taking a break from all the fun because I want to share with you an interesting study that rolled my way courtesy of Publishers Weekly.
A few bright minds in the literary space—including a seasoned ghostwriter of business books—have recently released a report titled A Comprehensive Study of Business Book ROI. I’m going to link you to it here.
It’s worth a read, especially if you’re an owner or CEO who wants to put a book out about what you’ve learned along the (difficult but rewarding) road of leading and running an organization.
I’ve pulled out just a few of the findings to share with you here:
64% of business books show a gross profit
Spending on launch PR and revenue strategy correlated with profit
The median ghostwritten book was 4x more profitable (will be interesting to see stats once they start measuring the impact of working with a book coach)
Speaking, consulting and workshops generate way more income than book sales and royalties (I frequently tell my nonfiction writers that the money’s on the other side of the book—it’s about where it can take you)
Authors never make as much money from book sales as they dream they will (although I’m still collecting royalties on the first book I ever published, plus a few others)
Authors generally also sell a lot fewer copies than they imagine
Despite the above two points, book sales didn’t correlate with how much success an author achieved through publishing a book
Authors earned more revenue if they had a strong go-to-market strategy (that’s one of the things I help you build as your book coach)
Hybrid publishers have earned a reputation for taking better care of their authors (hat tip: Page Two Publishing, who are currently blowing my mind with how well they’re serving one of my clients)
Authors typically underestimated the cost—in both time and money—of publishing a book
The best way to market a book was via the author’s email list
LinkedIn: good
X: useless
Nearly 90% of authors said writing a book was a good decision
The study found a strong correlation between the money authors invested into the writing and publishing process, and the value they extracted
I found this to be such an interesting study. It confirmed much of what I already knew, and threw in a few surprises too. (Reddit AMAs: genius book marketing by sharing thought leadership. Just don’t shill, or you’ll get flayed.)
Writing a business book is hard, excellent and rewarding work. It forces you to dig deep into what you believe, into what you think you stand for, and into the hills that for years now you’ve been telling other people you’d die on. It’s a forensic excavation of your philosophy—and quite often your personal life rides shotgun on the discovery train.
You’ve long heard that writing a book is the next step on the journey to expanding the reach of your wisdom and helping other people do more effective work in the world. It’s a way to build your reputation and add new business lines, like speaking with groups or consulting or writing another book or launching a podcast or shifting your firm’s direction so you’re swimming out of the red ocean and into the blue. It’s also a way to shape the world into more of what you’d like to see.
All of it is true. And now somebody’s brought you the data to back it all up.
There’s a whole new career on the other side of writing a business book if you want it.