Monetizing Your Books

As a ghostwriter, I come across a lot of enquiries for writing books. And, my first question to them is, "What is your purpose in writing a book?"

While some do it for seeing a personal wish fulfilled, a goal to be achieved, branding, most of them say they want their book to be a source of income for them. Then I ask them a volley of questions to further ascertain their interest.

I share with you all here three major aspects that one should consider before writing a book, if your primary intent is to monetize from your book.

Begin with the end in mind

As Stephen Covey says in his book, "The Seven Habits of Effective People", this is the first and foremost criterion. It is a litmus test to check if the book is so seriously thought about. What is the publishing date you have in mind? When this question comes offhand, most of the people are unsure what to answer. But the ones giving me an end date are mostly the ones who have turned my clients eventually, and I have written for them.

Imagine writing a book on "AI hogging employment markets" and publishing this book when AI has already consumed chunk of the employment markets. How authentic and timely is your book then? Who will read it? We are not writing timeless tales most of the time, but current affairs and professional scenarios. Time is a much crucial factor then.

My husband is a wildlife photographer, and yesterday he was discussing with a client the strategic location of a hotel while staying in a wildlife sanctuary. Not getting my hint yet? Staying closest to the park and arriving first at the park gate means your jeep is the first to enter the park, and there are much larger chances of you seeing the animals before they hide in the thick of the forest with the mutiny of jeeps entering the park.

Time is of the essence for making the right and the first move, even towards monetizing your book.

Duplicate or Appropriate?

I was meeting a prospect to discuss their book on educational counselling. They had done some background research on their topic and presented me with an XL sheet that showed the other books of the same genre in the market. There were many.

I asked them, what is it that they want to communicate. They told me, you need to research on it. In fact, after a round of incessant questioning and brainstorming, I was about to get my answer from them. And I said, now that you already have what you want to communicate, it is exclusive in your way. Now you do not have to bother about what other books have to say.

Research is supportive only as far as you know what value you are bringing with your book.

Are you a Truman?

Like reality TV star Truman Burbank from the movie 'Truman Show', is your book reaching your audience?

How is it that the audience see your book? What is it that they want? How are you reaching them? What are your strategies for promotions? On which platform are most of your readers? What is your budget for reaching them? Although social media is a vast domain, setting a plan of action for your books once they are written would help you monetize them in a structured way.

One of my clients is a trainer and promotes on social media her training success stories and every copy of the book she sells through these trainings. She has sold more than 1000 copies of her book. Another client writes regularly about his technical expertise on his social media posts. He too has been able to sell over 1000 copies of his book. It is how you are connecting with your readers, and showing them the value.

Books written are incomplete journeys if they are not reaching their rightful readers. But to reach your rightful readers is a list of checkboxes that are time-bound, cost-conscious, and tremendous effort. After all, writing a book is not just poring your knowledge or experience, but a process of investments and returns too that should be supported with expert advice.

An idea is like a cookie that should be dunked for the right time in an appropriate environment to make it palatable. If mulled over much, the idea would drop and make the environment murky.