HOW TO BEGIN:
Evaluate Yourself and Your Book for Success
If you want to ensure that you and your book succeed, you must behave like an “authorpreneur” and create a business plan for your product—the book—before you introduce it into the marketplace. To do this you must spend the time evaluating yourself and your book idea to determine if you have what it takes to succeed as a businessperson—a published author—and if your idea has what it takes to compete in its bookstore category.
In the publishing industry, a business plan for a book is known as a book proposal, and we will use the standard book proposal as the foundation for your book’s business plan. A proposal provides:
- the best free book conception and evaluation tool available
- the most effective resource for developing an impressive business plan for a highly salable book
- a practical way to produce an efficient writing guide that helps you keep both the creative and business aspects of your project in mind as you produce your manuscript
- the definitive training tool to develop the skills and mindset necessary for successful authorship
Whether you plan to seek a traditional publisher or to independently publish your book, and whether you write nonfiction or fiction, writing your book’s business plan serves as an Author Training Process. That said, you must learn how to use the specific steps of the process, which are based on the nonfiction book proposal, if you want them to provide a successful Author Training Process.
The book proposal has been an industry requirement for traditional publication for years. Not only that, increasingly, self-publishing experts like best-selling novelist James Scott Bell are telling both fiction and nonfiction students that they need to read a book on how to write a book proposal and then actually write one if they want to produce a successful book. “Going through the hard work of creating a proposal forces you to think like a publisher, to find a market and focus, and to assess competition so you can bring something new to the table,” says Bell. “It’s an external discipline for creating a commercially viable book.”
Almost all aspiring nonfiction authors go through the Author Training Process if they want to become traditionally published, but they often do so unwillingly and unwittingly. They complete the necessary steps because they know they must; they have to produce a book proposal to submit first to agents and then to publishers. They do so with one goal in mind: to become traditionally published authors. They don’t do so with the intention of trying to objectively evaluate themselves or their idea. Thus, they often cut corners, do the minimal amount of work, and don’t learn anything they can apply to the writing of the book (or to book idea generation) during the process. Nor at that point do they actually change or improve their project in any way to make it more marketable.
Most novelists don’t think they need full proposals to land traditional publishing deals and so don’t bother with the entire process explained in this book. They are told that all they need do is produce well-written books with sound and compelling plots to launch themselves and their books into successful publication. They study scene, plot, and character development, and they focus on craft. Many, if not all, ignore the fact that this process could help them move closer to success. While the traditional publishing industry more and more often asks aspiring fiction writers to behave like nonfiction writers and to focus on the business end of book publishing—even to provide fiction proposals that look a lot like nonfiction book proposals, other experts advise novelists to focus first on the pursuit of high-quality writing. Thus, many fiction writers, and even some memoir writers, continue to rely on their manuscripts to sell their books rather than any type of business plan.
Authors who choose to become independent publishers in order to self-publish their books also rarely use the Author Training Process. They know about book proposals, but they think they have no reason to bother with them since “selling the publisher” is the very step they want to bypass. They don’t realize a book proposal serves as a business plan both for their book and publishing company. By bypassing this step, they fail to evaluate their ability to run a publishing company or help their books succeed. As a result, they sometimes find it difficult to attract readers to their books or get frustrated with their new jobs as “publishers.”
For this reason, I would advise all authors—be it of fiction or nonfiction, traditional or nontraditional—to undergo the Author Training Process outlined in this book. It will provide you with the training you need to write and publish a book successfully. If you think this manual is just a thinly disguised book about how to write a book proposal, read on. I will tell you what the Author Training Process and this manual will and won’t do for you before we examine each step.
This manual will show you how to use the Author Training Process in order to:
- Conceptualize both the creative and business aspects of a self-published or traditionally published book. By putting in the time and effort to go through the Author Training Process at the conception stage, before you write your book, you avoid discovering too late that your manuscript has no market, too much competition, or in some other way will not achieve the sales (and success) you desire.
- Give you an opportunity to assess the viability of a work you have completed in order to make it more salable. You then can decide how to alter or adjust your text to make it more marketable. If the creative side of your book appears sound, you then have the opportunity to consider the business side, such as market, platform, and promotion.
- Evaluate how much or how little of the business end of authoring appeals to you and your nature. If looking at your book from a publishing business perspective and writing it with a publishing business mindset makes you balk, or if the tasks involved in producing a successful self-published book don’t appeal to you, you might reconsider your goals.
- Develop the attitude you need to get published and succeed as an author. You will develop a willingness to evaluate yourself and your work through the same lens that agents and acquisitions editors use. You will discover how you and your book idea can change to meet publishing industry standards and become more salable. You will make decisions and take actions to create the most high-quality and marketable book possible. Despite the fact that the process will require you to look critically at yourself, your idea, and your work, and though doing so may feel difficult or overwhelming at times, you will become more willing, optimistic, objective, and committed to your project and your path. You will develop an Author Attitude.
- Learn what is included in a nonfiction book proposal, compile the information necessary to write a proposal, and train to write one. You will put together the information necessary to complete all sections of a book proposal, and with just a bit more effort, you can turn it into a polished proposal ready for submission should you desire to submit it.
What this manual won’t tell you is whether or not you should write your book. You must decide that based on the information you compile and your own evaluation of that information.
Why Do You Need a Business Plan For Yourself or Your Book?
The Author Training Process uses the nonfiction book proposal as its foundational tool because the varied sections provide numerous opportunities for evaluation and training. Also, it creates a more comprehensive business plan as the end product. A traditional fiction proposal contains fewer sections. As mentioned before, today increasingly more agents and publishers ask novelists to produce proposals that look like their nonfiction counterparts as well. The reason for this is simple: The additional sections provide a big-picture view of a book’s market and competition and the author’s ability to help sell a book. No matter how you publish, you want to create a business plan with this depth and scope.
If the necessity of a business plan for your book or yourself represents a new concept, let me explain the importance of having one. Every business needs a plan if the owner wants to succeed. As a writer with the idea for a book, I encourage you to see yourself as a business person. Better yet, see yourself as an entrepreneur, or an authorpreneur. You have an idea for a new business. You need a plan for how to get it off the ground and make it successful.
Anyone who becomes an author enters the publishing business. You are now in the business of creating books, which are products, and selling them. Each book needs its own business plan; if you write more than one book, you might need an overall publishing plan for all your books. You also need a plan for your career as an author.
If you self-publish your book, you start a publishing company of your own and back your own project with your own money. Before you invest your money, you want to be sure your new business venture is viable. A business plan helps you determine this.
If you traditionally publish, you seek a financial backer to fund your “start-up.” A publisher becomes your venture capital partner; the publisher will want to see your business plan to make sure the investment is sound.
As you can see, a business plan helps you prove to yourself or to someone else that your business—your book—has all the necessary elements it needs to succeed. It also provides exactly what it says: a plan you can follow through all the stages of creating your business—writing, publishing, and promoting your book. In fact, a book proposal provides publishers with a business plan for your book as well. To a great extent, they rely on the information in this document as the initial—and sometimes the final—business plan for the book once they acquire it. You will rely on it—and use it—no matter how you publish as well.
What’s in a Nonfiction Book Proposal Anyway?
Because the Author Training Process follows the identical structure used for a nonfiction book proposal, it’s important to have a rudimentary understanding of what this type of proposal includes before we begin.
In my experience, the following list includes the vital sections of a book proposal. (I will describe each section in subsequent chapters.) In some writing manuals, you may find these sections listed in a different order, and not every proposal includes every section. Authors and agents sometimes choose to include additional sections (or fewer sections) or even attachments. However, most agents and publishers see a proposal that contains these sections as comprehensive.
- Overview
- Markets
- Promotion
- Competing Titles
- Complementary Titles
- Resources Needed to Complete the Book
- About the Author
- Author’s Platform
- Spinoffs
- Mission Statement
- List of Chapters
- Chapter Summaries
- Sample Chapters
Each step of the process asks you to evaluate your book idea or yourself through the lens of a publishing professional; that is, a literary agent or acquisitions editor. If you find your project lacking in any way after your evaluations at each step, you have ample opportunities to determine ways to improve your product and make it more viable. I call these opportunities “Precious Moments.”
If you want to learn more about book proposals, great books on the topic include:
- How to Write a Book Proposal by Michael Larsen
- Write the Perfect Book Proposal: 10 That Sold and Why by Jeff Herman and Deborah Levine Herman
- The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published by Sheree Bykofsky and Jennifer Basye Sander
- The Great First Impression Book Proposal by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
The Value of “Precious Moments”
Like many aspiring authors, I initially used the nonfiction book proposal out of necessity. I didn’t really enjoy writing book proposals, but I did it anyway because I wanted to land a traditional publishing deal. Writing a nonfiction book proposal entails a lot of time and work. I joke that you could write a whole book in the time it takes to write a proposal. Despite the time commitment, the value you receive from these precious moments will be worth the time and effort because these moments show you exactly what your book is about. You know exactly what you want to say to your readers. You know you are the right person to write the book, and you know for sure this is the right time to write it. Plus, you know this is the time for a publisher to acquire the book or for you to self-publish. You can’t wait to get started!
That moment is the most precious of all!
After I experienced that moment several times and enjoyed seeing my clients and students experience it, too, I realized the value of writing a proposal wasn’t just in landing an agent or a publishing contract. It was in realizing that in the process of proposal writing I’d conceived the most marketable book possible. When I also learned that publishers actually use book proposals prepared by authors as the business plans for the books they acquire, this reinforced my belief in this document.
Then it dawned on me that I had not produced a proposal for my own self-published books, and I thought, “Why wouldn’t I put the same forethought, market analysis, and promotional planning into my self-published projects as a publisher requires for a book I want them to publish for me?” I concluded that every self-publisher needs to have that very same document—a business plan—in hand prior to independently publishing the work.
I tested my premise when I ran into Dan Poynter, author of Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual and more than 132 books, at a conference. He concurred: “Every self-published author needs to write a book proposal before they write a book. They need a business plan for their books!”
Yet, it’s not just the end product, the proposal or plan, or that one “precious moment” you seek to achieve. It’s the many precious moments you have along the way that move you closer and closer to successful published author status.
My student Rhonda says this about completing her business plan at the conclusion of the Author Training Process: “Now I have the confidence to write the book … the right book. And that’s all I want to work on right now.” Not only that, Rhonda claims, “I now have outlines for five memoirs, and the first is completely drafted less than thirty days since I finished the process.”
How “Precious Moments” Turn Into “Successful Published Author” Status
I’ve seen many aspiring authors experience precious moments as they work with me on a book proposal or as they go through the Author Training Process. These are the moments when their attitude shifts, when they gain a new perspective, when they have an epiphany that makes their book more salable, or they realize they need to do something differently to help their book succeed.
For example, a client of mine experienced one of these precious moments when I handed him back his proposal and said, “Jim, this reads really well, and your book idea appears viable. I think a publisher might be interested in it.” Then came that dreaded word: “But … I think you’ll have to wait six to nine months before you approach a literary agent or a small publisher.”
“Why?” Jim wondered.
“Because you have no author platform. It will take you at least that long to build one big enough to make you an interesting partner to a publisher. Until then, you won’t be able to successfully self-publish your book either.”
I discovered this “little” problem in the Author Platform section of his proposal, which was basically empty. Jim’s book was already written. In fact, it was designed and ready for delivery to a POD company if he failed to find an agent and a publisher. He thought all systems were go when it came to transforming himself from aspiring to published author.
Not so fast.
Had Jim taken Step #8, Weigh Whether You Are the Best Person to Write This Book…Now, in the Author Training Process before he wrote his book and proposal he would have evaluated himself and realized he needed to begin building his platform. Instead, he had to choose between putting his project on hold while he built author platform or move forward now and face the reality of his self-publishing effort not achieving the results he desired. This is just one example of the many “precious moments” you will hopefully discover as you work through the Author Training Process.
Sandy was writing a novel and, like Jim, wanted to approach publishers before choosing self-publishing. She knew how hard it might be to break in as a first-time novelist. We went through the Author Training Process while midway through her manuscript. During Step #1, Develop an “Author Attitude” and Plan Your Success, Sandy discovered she had the willingness to wear a business hat. Later in the process, during Step #8, Weigh Whether You Are the Best Person to Write This Book…Now, she discovered, like Jim, she had little platform. Determined to find a way to promote herself and her work, she explored all aspects of her novel; she listed its benefits, ways to tie her themes into the news, and the topics people might search for on the Internet. With all of this research in hand, she started a blog and set out to create an author brand and platform revolving around these subjects. Additionally, Sandy revisited Step #7, Discover Ways to Brand Yourself and Earn More Money, and experienced a precious moment when she realized she could support her new brand with a series of novels revolving around the themes and topics she had isolated. She created five new book pitches! As she looked at how to better target her market with these new topics and themes (Step #3, Analyze How Many People Really Might Buy Your Book) she decided to add nonfiction to her array of published offerings (Step #7, Discover Ways to Brand Yourself and Earn More Money). She also went back and reworked her manuscript with all her new information in mind.
Dave, a therapist, had a reasonably large market for his book about single mothers. However, as we discussed his readers (Step #3, Analyze How Many People Really Might Buy Your Book), he had a precious moment. It turned out that many of them were not “classically single.” Some of them had husbands absent from the parenting process. “Dave, I said, that means your market encompasses all types of mothers who feel they parent alone.”
With this in mind, Dave re-angled his book to target a much broader market. He also changed the language he would use to write his book (Step #6, Decide if Your Book’s Content Matches Your Initial Vision). Now he would write to a target market of divorced, unwed, or widowed mothers as well as to those with husbands who traveled extensively, worked long hours, or chose not to get involved in parenting duties.
How to Use This Manual
Even without going through every step in the Author Training Process, you can see that it provides you with many opportunities to evaluate what you need to do to go from aspiring to published author and how you can improve your book idea to make it more salable. While some of the steps help you conceptualize your book, others ask you to answer difficult questions about yourself and look at yourself critically. In all cases, the steps move you closer to successful authorship.
Now, let me explain how to use this manual. Each chapter elaborates on a step of the Author Training Process. After you complete the chapter, you can turn to the back of the manual where you will find corresponding training exercises and questions. The real training happens in these exercises as you compile the information for your business plan. Although the chapters tell you what to do in each training step, you actually complete the exercises in the back of this book.
You also will find samples of my students’ and clients’ work, which agents and acquisitions editors have reviewed, in the Samples section. These proposals closely mirror the business plans my students created using the process in this book. The reviews of these business plans/book proposals are not “typical” rejection or acceptance letters. I asked these industry professionals to offer feedback. This allows you to see how agents and editors evaluate real submissions—how they see you and your book idea. As you study their comments, you can train yourself to see yourself and your book idea through the same lens, through their eyes.
If you don’t want to alternate between reading a chapter and then completing the training, you can read the whole manual first and complete the exercises later in one fell swoop. Review each chapter again as you go through the training exercises, if you feel the need to do so.
If you follow this manual and are willing to go through each step of the Author Training Process optimistically, looking at each evaluation objectively and then tenaciously moving toward your goal, you will produce a book with high potential to succeed in the crowded publishing marketplace. You will increase your likelihood of succeeding as a published author. Why? Because you will have developed an Author Attitude. WOOT!
Not only that, you will have produced a business plan for your book (or started on your book proposal), which will include a writing guide for a salable book. WOOT! WOOT!
Ready to start training?