Publishing a Book? Here’s Two Big Questions

I had a great conversation lately with someone who’s been working on a self-help book, and wanted some advice. Here are two big questions worth answering. Spoiler alert: if you’ve got something to communicate, that effort starts now. 

1. Why are you writing it? Create a proposal.

First, ask yourself: what’s it for? Ultimately, I’m guessing, it’s about taking things you’ve learned that were useful to you, and sharing them with people who might be in a similar position and could benefit from them.

I wrote a blog post a few years ago when I realised a lot of similar books were written by people in their 40s and 50s. The authors, my hypothesis went, had their epiphanies and now wanted to share their conclusions. It’s as true for The Seven Habits as for Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff or Tuesdays With Morrie.

Understanding the “why” feeds both the book and its proposal. I’m a big advocate for book proposals, whatever your publishing route — even if you’re planning to self-publish. Ask:

• Who’s this for?
• What would they get out of it?
• Why would they want to read it?

The proposal answers the questions you need to ask yourself, never mind the publisher. It feeds the back page — you should be able to look at what you say there and feel excited that you’re sharing what you’ve learned, making your epiphany their epiphany. You can almost sense other people’s excitement.

It should also feed your introduction and conclusion, both of which should align with (if not mirror) the proposal. So, it’s absolutely not wasted time, even if you’re self-publishing. You’ve worked something out and you want to share it — so make the tip of the spear as sharp as possible, so people think, I wish I’d read this 20 years ago.

If you are speaking to a publisher, the proposal is a fantastic tool. And here’s an important mindset check: I have a bad habit of assuming that when I speak to someone, they had nothing else to do but listen to me. I forget they’ve got an entire complex, convoluted, trying-to-steal-oxygen-to-take-a-breath situation going on in their own lives.

Publishers get thousands of submissions, so you’re lining up with a thousand other people who look almost good enough. You’ve got to bring absolute proof that your book is worth their time, that you can deliver, and that it will sell. That leads to the second big question.

2. How are you going to get it out there? Plan for self-marketing.

Next, think about your publishing route — are you betting on retail or online, WHSmith’s or Amazon? Retail is celebrity publishing. Even the biggest publishers are betting on 20 books a year. You don’t stand a chance of getting on those lists, not unless you’re a massive influencer or TV star — so forget it.

What’s left? The online route breaks down into three paths: work with a smaller publisher, pay an even smaller publisher to handle the work, or do it entirely yourself.

All three can work — but they come with different trade-offs. And regardless of the path, you’ll need a proposal.

The smaller paid publishers offer services — you’re paying them to create, market, and distribute your book. Let’s break that down, because you’ll need the same things if you self-publish:

• Creation is a fixed cost: proofreading, editing, formatting, typesetting. If you’re doing this yourself, don’t underestimate the details. Get it proofread — even if friends help, you can’t guarantee you haven’t said something daft in paragraph three on page 38.
• Distribution is similar whether you do it yourself or with a publisher. Only bigger successes need to think about translations or licensing, which usually means working with publishers in other countries — something you can still do later if the time is right.
• Marketing is the real variable. That brings us to: how many copies do you think you’re going to sell? Unless you go viral, it’ll probably be five to ten thousand copies max. More realistically, it might be hundreds.

There’s a tempting idea that if only someone else marketed the book — like a publisher — it would be more successful. But if they’re not prioritising you, you’re often better off doing it yourself, or at least knowing what a good marketing plan looks like and making sure you have the right pieces in place.

Self-marketing is more important than self-publishing. Marketing is about doing all the right things, in a co-ordinated way. Until proven otherwise, you are the marketing manager for your book, so start thinking like one:

• Do you know what effort delivers what impact?
• Do you know where your audience is?
• Are you ready to blog, post, and talk about the work?

Think about where people already know you — LinkedIn, a blog, a newsletter — and use that to help spread the word. Sometimes the nearest platform is your strongest launchpad.

Final thoughts

In the end, this is about getting something out there efficiently and presenting it effectively, so it reaches enough people to make it worthwhile. You might count your audience in tens, or get unexpected reach on social media. Either way, it’s about sharing something meaningful with people who care, not chasing bestseller lists. 

Publishing is an amazingly good long-tail thing — even if things start slow, they can keep ticking away. Once it’s released, even if self-published, nothing is lost: you can still work with a publisher on a second edition. And if you’ve got more you want to say — why not start thinking about the next book?