Publishing That Book - Still The Price Of Entry

What separates players from plodders is usually having a book published.  Yes, even in the digital 21st century, having a book is the price of entry into the game.

I'm not just asserting this is the case because one of my special areas of expertise is ghostwriting.  In fact, I'm going to explain how you can write own book and bypass middlemen such as myself.

Here's the scoop.

Producing a book has gotten a lot easier.  What readers want is personal experience, not a lot of research or interviews with experts.  That's because as Tom Peters argues in his book "Re-Imagine," no one has the answers on what's taking place in professional life or the universe today.  That's why we're all just trying to find the people who seem to be asking the right questions and speculating in productive ways.  That's why we're listening to Bill Clinton.  He's smart, well-connected, and bold in how he views the world.

So, all you have to do is crank out your personal experience with, say, the new communications, selecting a jury, using knitting as a way to reduce stress, or reinventing your career.  You're not seeking to provide the definitive word on any subject.  Your goal in writing the book is to have something to hand to the media, prospects, current clients, future employers, and sundry influentials.  For example, I have it lots easier placing clients' bylined articles and opinion-editorials if I can tell the media, "I am Fed Exing her latest book."

More good news.  Books are a lot shorter.  Some run 165 pages.  But I would recommend shooting for 215 pages.  The shorter books are more likely to be read.

To organize your book, drive over to Border's or Barnes & Noble, get a latte, and sit for several hours flipping through books in your category (say, communications or lifestyle), and analyze the structures.  What ways of organizing the material are the best fit for you?  Then imitate.

Tone?  Thanks to communications in cyberspace, most books now have a conversational voice.  It's me to you, with a lot of attention to you.  Yeah, it's all about making a connection and providing insight or information that's helpful.

How to get it published?  You can go two ways.  Actually, three.

The first is the conventional way: Agent-to-publisher or Directly to Publisher.  The easiest way to go about this is to ask around your network for those who have published books.  Ask permission to use their names in approaching an agent or a publisher.  That is the easiest way to open the door.

If you can't identify anyone on your network who has published, then you need to get access to a savvy description of agents.  One is available through a paid subscription on mediabistro.com, of which I am a member.  The site's bulletin boards also contain a gold mine of questions and answers about facets of getting published.

Or you can go to the public library or book store and ask where to find an annotated directory of agents or publishers.  The annotation will describe their interests.

If you are going the traditional agent or publisher route and have not published a book before, you will be required to submit a formal book proposal.  Essentially that's a selling document.  You are selling the agent or publisher on the idea that this book is going to sell.  The agent or publisher, in turn, will use that document to get a contract for your book.  You will probably have to approach a number of agents or publishers simultaneously.  Let them know that you are submitting to a number of them at the same time.  This is analogous to job-hunting.  You don't apply just one place, but you apply with discretion and class to many places.

There are a number of books available on how to create a marketable book proposal.  I've written about ten which have resulted in clients' getting book contracts. 

The proposal which sells is 100-percent marketing-centric.  Every piece of it should drive the sale.  That means you have to have down cold what ideas, buzz words, etc. are selling.  For that, scan the books on the best-seller lists.

What a book proposal requires includes:

• Brief overview of the book
• Annotated description of each chapter.  But just don't describe.  Describe the content in a way that will catch the attention of the folks who can get you a contract.  This can all change once you start the actual book.  This is just to sell the idea, any idea.  The objective is to sell, not to actually plan the book.
• Sample chapter or two.  It depends what the agent or publisher wants in way of a sample.  That could actually mean two complete chapters.
• Competitive analysis or what else is out there in the category and why your take is unique or better than what's out there.
• Your marketing plan.  That includes your contacts.  For example, if you attend the World Economic Forum in Davos every year and can peddle your book to other attendees, that is great.  You also want to be creative and aggressive in your plan, for instance, indicate you will hire a publicity firm, create a website and blog, go on a speaking tour, have an in with "Larry King."  The best marketing plans are fantasy ones about how a smart cookie would sell this book.
• Your credentials.  You want to present yourself as a player with unique expertise in what you're writing about.  Include here what you have already published such as articles, speeches or testimony.

All that sound like too much and too risky?

Then, there is the self-publishing route, which has become totally acceptable.  You can read about Self-publishing online.  The vendor most who consider this path check out is iuniverse.com.  You can get your book in print for under a thousand bucks.  But get a copy of the directions for submitting a manuscript since how iuniverse wants the document is not what you're used to doing.

No matter what way you go about producing a book, then you will have to work like an animal or hire a top-tier publicity expert to promote your book.  If you don't have time for this, such as you just took on a case that will be presented in front of the US Supreme Court, then this is not the time for you to publish your book.  But you should still be thinking about publishing it, a lot.

The third way to get a book written and published is to contact someone like moi.  But, I didn't want this posting to be a sales pitch.  Most professionals, if they spend a few weeks analyzing what's selling in the book stores can pull this off on their own.

Side Note:  Getting a book written and published is analogous to learning to drive.  You learn to drive not by reading a manual or by talking about learning to drive.  You learn to drive by getting out there and bucking the traffic.  Stressful?  You bet.