Book Publishing Listener Q&A

11/15/21 • 68 min

The Business of Authority

The two main reasons to write a book for your expertise or authority business.

The pros and cons of self-publishing vs. seeking out a traditional publisher.

Positioning and pricing your self-published book—and whether to sell it on your website and/or amazon.

How to find and vet the right editor(s) for your situation.

The role of e-books vs. physical books and why you probably want both.

Quotables

“The two main reasons to write a book for business: there's the 300 page business card and there's the revenue stream... it really helps going into it to know which one you're writing.”—JS

“You might make different strategic and tactical decisions depending on whether you want direct or indirect revenue from your book .”—RM

“If you want to reach a broader audience, then it does make sense to go through a more traditional publishing channel or at least something closer to that.”—JS

“The irony (with traditional publishers) is when you want them, when you need them, they usually don't want you—because they want you to have enough name recognition that you're helping to drive the sales of the book.”—RM

“When I published Hourly Billing Is Nuts, since it was so much about pricing, I was like, I want to price this right. And I don't want it to be next to a whole bunch of direct competitors that are cheaper. It'd be like putting myself on Upwork.”—JS

“I wanted really good editors because all of my (client) book experiences up to now have been with really top-notch people at big publishing houses and I wanted somebody as good as that for my book.”—RM

“I think everybody should write a book—the experience is fabulous. It's so good to have to think that hard about something and have a project that's that big.”—JS

“How hard is it to create a physical book on Amazon? It is so freaking easy if you're already doing the e-book on amazon.”—RM

RELATED LINKS

LINKS

The two main reasons to write a book for your expertise or authority business.

The pros and cons of self-publishing vs. seeking out a traditional publisher.

Positioning and pricing your self-published book—and whether to sell it on your website and/or amazon.

How to find and vet the right editor(s) for your situation.

The role of e-books vs. physical books and why you probably want both.

Quotables

“The two main reasons to write a book for business: there's the 300 page business card and there's the revenue stream... it really helps going into it to know which one you're writing.”—JS

“You might make different strategic and tactical decisions depending on whether you want direct or indirect revenue from your book .”—RM

“If you want to reach a broader audience, then it does make sense to go through a more traditional publishing channel or at least something closer to that.”—JS

“I think everybody should write a book—the experience is fabulous. It's so good to have to think that hard about something and have a project that's that big.”—JS

“How hard is it to create a physical book on Amazon? It is so freaking easy if you're already doing the e-book on amazon.”—RM

RELATED LINKS

LINKS

Previous Episode

The Authority Code

How “selling” your work completely changes once you’ve positioned yourself and monetized your expertise.

Building your business in “white space” and a new way to think about your big idea (hint: we’re talking revolution).

Why your genius zone is a pivotal element of your authority positioning.

Rethinking your business and revenue model to more closely match your positioning (and your genius zone).

Getting comfortable with publishing—testing your point of view—until you’re ready to start playing on other people’s platforms.

Quotables

“If you like this show, you're going to love the book.”—JS

“What thinking about your big idea as a revolution does for you is it allows you to think bigger than you would otherwise—as in who am I to think this big?”—RM

“I just see it as we're fellow travelers, we're on the same mission. We're in the same revolution and I don't care who leads it, as long as someone's doing it.”—JS

“It's so important that you discover your genius zone. We started our own businesses—we took a lot of risk. Why shouldn't we be doing what we really love to do?”—RM

“Once you flip your mindset from I do rails or I do price consulting to I know how to build rails apps—then you can start disconnecting your expertise from your labor.”—JS

“You're going to start with an email list, but then the question becomes, what should you do first in terms of publishing? I like writing and podcasting because they feed each other and they've got long tails.”—RM

“Sales conversations are always fun, ‘cause they’re very consultative—it’s like I’m getting to know them.”—JS

“Selling authority is three things: it's publishing, it’s developing your authority circle and it's having sales conversations. It's selling without selling.” –RM

Links:

The Authority Code

Jonathan | Daily List | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter

LINKS

Next Episode

Overcoming Set Points and Plateaus

The role of your mindset in breaking through set points and powering past income plateaus.

Deciding when it’s time to change your revenue model to provide your business with greater leverage—and larger earnings potential.

How to think about and reframe limiting beliefs that keep you from making big leaps in your business.

When your past experiences are powering decisions today that don’t serve you or your business growth (and how to re-wire them).

LINKS

Jonathan | Daily List | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter

Quotables

“There's a certain point where you've found all the leverage you're going to find with this model and you need to find a bigger lever.”—JS

“I'd like to be a best-selling author. But guess what? If I don't write a book, it's not going to happen.”—RM

“One of the things that can be the moment of a huge breakthrough for people is the first time they say no to a client.”—JS

“Maybe there's a voice in your head that says you don't deserve any better than this. That this is the best you get.”—RM

“Lightning round of three limiting beliefs: I can never call myself an expert if I’m not the world’s greatest; Oh, these are all great ideas, but they won't work; I can't stop coding because then I wouldn't be able to consult.”—JS

“There are all these different experiences that impact how we think about money and therefore what we allow ourselves to achieve in our business.”—RM

“You can go back and find out what your particular contribution was worth to the client and then try and extrapolate into the future. So when you talk to someone who's similar, you can get better at guesstimating what your contribution might be worth to this kind of a client.”— JS

“Once you're past the bootstrap stage and your business is truly launched, then there are certain things that are going to move you faster. You have to believe your business is worth investing in them.”—RM

LINKS