The secret to making real money as an author
Business owners and professionals know that their most valuable resource is time. If they invest their precious time into anything, it had better yield a good return in dollars, productivity or quality of life. With the average book royalty being one to two dollars, how can anyone with business savvy justify the investment of time and energy it takes to write and publish a book?
The answer is that it’s just not worth it to gamble on hoping to write a book that makes a lot of sales. Even if it sold 20,000 copies, it only translates to $20,000.00 to $40,000.00 for all the work it takes to move all those books. When the average book sells less than 99 copies, the return on investment just does not add up.
The secret to making money with a book is to use the book to drive sales in your business. A smart business owner is always looking for ways to attract more ideal clients and stand out from the competition. Becoming a published author is a great way to declare yourself as the leading expert in your field. When you use the authority that you gain from your book to position yourself as the best solution to a problem, you can charge higher prices and close more sales than your competitors.
How then do you translate the book into actual money? This is done by tracking where your clients came from and how much money they spent. Bob Burnham of Expert Author Press has been in the expert author publishing industry for over 15 years. He says that “On average, a lead that is acquired because of your book will spend three times more, stay three times longer and refer you ten times as often.” With these odds, it starts making sense to write and publish a book that promotes your business or expertise.
When you write the right book, you can use it as the calling card for your business. Imagine the impact you would have when networking if you gave people your book rather than a business card or brochure. Inevitably we forget who we met at an event and throw out all the paper that we picked up, but a book is hard to put in the garbage. It ends up on their desk or bookcase, reminding them of that person who gave it to them. It is not uncommon for me to get business from someone I met several years prior because I gave them a book.
There are a number of ways you can use your book to generate business. Here are a few of my favorites:
Speaking to my target audience and giving away copies of my book. The impact here is massive because you have a double whammy as the speaker and the author on the subject.
Sending my book to people I want to connect with along with a personal note. A bubble wrap envelope always generates attention. When you follow up you can be pretty sure they checked you out.
Use your book to get interviewed. You can use offline media like TV, radio and newspaper or do online like social media, blogs and podcasts. Just make sure to tell people how to get a free copy of your book and provide a link to either download it or have one mailed.
A book is one of the best ways for a business owner to stand out above all the marketing noise these days. Writing the right book is not that hard. If you’d like to grab our free RIGHT BOOK Templates, please go to www.ExpertAuthorPress/templates.