Using Self Publishing to drive your business

1. Self-Publishing
Your Book
Your book is a business card that doesn’t
get thrown away

2. Talking Points
• Self Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing
• Changing landscape presents opportunities
• Why write ?
• Putting a book together
• Must Haves
• Raising your personal and professional Brand
• Promoting your book to drive your business
• Focus on practical issues
• Spent 18 months servicing self-published authors
• This is just a glimpse of a dynamic and changing
environment
Anchor Points

3. Publishing has changed
Source: Forbes

4. Self-publishing has exploded
Source: Bowker, Inc

5. Strong Growth Trends
Source: Smashwords

6. A lot of competition ….

7. So why write a book ?

8. Source: Digital Book
World

9. Premise
1. Only a small percentage of people will buy your book
2. Of those who buy, only a percentage of people will read it
3. Of those who read your book, only a small percentage will believe,
remember and tell others about the content of the book.
You are writing a book to raise your brand
and drive your business.
In order to drive your business, you need a
sophisticated and professional product
You may be the next Malcolm Gladwell, but until that happens, assume:
This does not matter

10. Why write a Professional book?
• Shows you are serious enough about the
topic to write a book
• The business card that does not get
thrown away
• People won’t likely need your services
when you hand them your calling card
• The spine becomes the most important
part of the book

11. Different Levels of Engagement
• Level 1: Write a book
• Level 2: Write a competent book about a topic
• Level 3: Write a competent book that solves a
problem
• Level 4: Write a competent book that solves a
complex series of problems and changes how
people think
• Level 5: Write a competent book that solves a
problem and changes how people live

12. Must Haves
• Editor
• Book Cover Artist
• Graphic Designer
• ISBN
• Website
• Print Your Book
• Public Relations
• Typos, grammar, flow
• People judge a book by the cover
• Font, Margins, Layout
• Necessary to sell
• Discoverable, Tie-in w Social Media
• 100 – 200 Copies to start
• Raise awareness, Speaking, etc

13. Price of entry
• Editor
• Book Cover Artist
• Graphic Designer
• ISBN
• Public Relations
• Website
• Print Your Book
$1,000 - $1,500
$ 100 - $ 500
$ 500 - $1,000
$ 150
$ 750 - $2,000 +
$1,000 - $2,000
$ 750 - $1,500 +
Total $4,000 - $8,000 +
Although expensive for an individual, this cost can be
absorbed by most businesses – if there is a payoff

14. Other Options
• LionCrest “Book-in-a-box”
• Green Leaf
• Advantage Media
You can collaborate on a book
Find A Ghost Writer
$10,000 + …. But you are more likely to
get a finished, salable product ….

15. Milestones
1. Find a topic that you are knowledgeable about that relates
to your business (directly or indirectly)
Round-table with peers to establish the focus
2. The more useful the topic, the better
Solve someone’s problem that has money to pay you for the solution
3. Establish hard (& soft) deadlines and appoint an enforcer
4. Write, rewrite – and then rewrite again
5. Don’t skimp on the “must-haves”
6. Don’t print too many books (100 – 200 at a time)
7. Don’t worry about how many books you sell

16. Driving your business
1. The book is your business card that isn’t thrown away
2. It raises your personal and professional brand
3. It establishes you as an expert
4. It will drive traffic to your website (blogs, posts, tweets)
5. It will lead to speaking engagements
All of this will raise awareness, add to confidence
and help to close sales

17. Books
1. E-books have their place, but the demise of printed
books has been greatly exaggerated
2. There is no better software/hardware archiving tool than
a book
3. Authorship makes you more interesting
4. It connects you with people
5. Books make unique and personal gifts

18. Questions/Comments ?
johnb@starlake.biz
www.rarecompanybook.com
@berglund_stl
http://www.slideshare.net/JohnBerglund/venture-café-1027
John Berglund