Too many times I have heard of authors diving in and writing a book only to realize later that they didn’t consider goals for the book. They land up putting a great deal of effort into publishing a book that doesn’t work in their business. Set your goals and plan your book accordingly.
I’m going to talk about two quality goals for generating revenue from your nonfiction book. If you want to write a book that brings you the success you are looking for, set goals.
Some goals are nice to have, but don’t directly move your career or business forward. Those are great goals, go watch my video on Why write a nonfiction book to hear more of those.
I also hear about goals such as a book is the new business card or leverage your book for business. These sound awesome, but what do they really mean?
The goals I am talking about are the concrete goals that move your career or business forward.
Two General Examples
I want my book to bring in new clients.
Your book can act as a lead magnet. Here are five ways you can use a book to attract your ideal clients.
1. Give them away at networking events. Of course, go to the right networking events and give them to the right people.
2. Give them away when you speak for free. Have a booth, people who loved your talk can get your book. You can then follow up by email, because you exchanged the book for their email, right?
3. Give them to someone who knows someone who might be interested in what you do. It happens. You are networking and you strike up a conversation with someone who has a neighbor who needs your help. Give them a book and your number and offer to talk to the neighbor.
4. Sell it on Amazon with the idea that Amazon is an impressive search engine. People can not only find your book, but they can also see the front matter and more when browsing your book. Keep that in mind when deciding what to include in your front matter.
5. Send your book to targeted customers with a letter and a follow up email or call.
And of course, these goals will help you determine the right content for your book. Your book needs to do the following.
• Help readers get to know you, like you, trust you and want to work with you,
• Be generous enough that readers know you have so much more to give,
• Give a sense of what it is like to work with you, and
• Have a call to action!
I want to land paid speaking gigs.
This, in itself, is a business. And you need a plan apart from, ‘I wrote a book’.
Your book can act as your lead to paid speaking gigs when you couple it with a plan and a platform. Here are 5 things to think about…
1. Your platform – website (Read my blog on author platforms.)
2. Speaking topics – one page you can email, or a page on your website.
3. Reel – snippets of you talking, happy crowds, you answering questions, etc.
4. Content for talks – impactful talks, these aren’t those free talks where you sell yourself. You are being paid to do what you do… on stage, and
5. Marketing plan – for the talks that include the book.
Learn more about paid speaking gigs for authors from How to write a book and become a speaker.
You need to write the book to help you meet this goal, which means you will consider this goal when determining the content of your book. Your book needs to do the following.
- Help conference organizers get to know you, like you, and trust you,
- Be organized in a way that shows off your speaking topics,
- Give a sense of what it is like to have you speak at an event, and
- Have a call to action!
There you have it.
A quick rundown of two possible revenue generating goals for your nonfiction book. No matter the goal, know it up front so that you write the right book.
Let me know what you thought of the book in the comments!
– Keep writing
Melody Ann
Author Nation is your go-to resource for becoming a successful nonfiction author, from planning to promotion and everything in between. Download the resource for the stage you are in.