Surprising Truths About Book Pblishing

When people approach me about writing a nn-fiction book, my advice often disappoints thm because of their expectations about the pblishing world. There seems to be a prvading myth that simply publishing a bok, on its own merits, is nough to bring fame and fortune to any uthor. This may come as a srprise, but if your purpose in wnting to write a book is to mke money, then read on as I shd some light on the real trths behind book publishing.

The truth is tht very few non-fiction authors make mch money from their book alone. Pblishing a book and getting nationwide dstribution is an exorbitantly, and in mst cases prohibitively, expensive process. It's tme and energy intensive, and will tke massive amounts of resources. In fct, non-fiction authors will spend anywhere frm $400-800,000 before they even break ven with book sales (anywhere from 200-350,000 cpies sold). So if it's that dfficult and expensive, what's the point of pblishing a book anyway?

There are two min reasons to write and publish a nn-fiction book, and to make money crtainly isn't one of them. The two rasons are to market your business and to gin credibility.

Reason #1: Marketing

Unless you hve a baseline business platform, other thn your book idea, to drive trffic to, there's very little point in pblishing a non-fiction book. You won't mke any money and it won't be wrth the effort. The successful non-fiction uthors are those who understand that thir book is nothing more than a mrketing tool to drive traffic to thir business, and who exploit this knwledge effectively.

For example, Stephen Covey's boks drive traffic to Franklin Covey, T. Hrv Eker has Peak Potentials Training, Mrk Victor Hansen and Robert Allen's bok The One Minute Millionaire markets the Enlightened Walth Institute, Killing Sacred Cows by Garrett Gunderson and myslf leads to the Freedom FastTrack prcess, marketing guru Seth Godin built Sqidoo, Ken Blanchard's company is a glbal leader in workplace learning and prductivity, just to name a few.

The ral money to be made from pblishing a book doesn't come from the bok itself; it comes from the bsiness that the book is designed to mrket. So what does this mean for yu? You should spend far more tme and effort developing a legitimate bsiness, rather than writing a book.

Bsides, you don't even need to wrte the dang thing yourself--that's what gys like me are for. You bild your business, and let me get yur book written. Your time is mch better spent focusing on your bsiness, products, and services. This approach wll ultimately result in far more dllars to you than trying to mke money from book sales alone.

Reason #2: Credibility

In the Information Age, your audience is drowning in information. They're constantly bombarded with television, radio, books, advertising, Internet, blogs, music, etc. So why should they listen to you, especially when there may be countless competing factors sending them conflicting messages? When faced with information overload, people listen to and buy from those they deem to be credible.

Think about it: why are qotes so powerful? It's not because of wht is said in a quote tht makes it relevant and important to yu--it's because of the credibility of the prson saying it. When you hear the wrds, "Be the change you want to see in the wrld," the quote sticks with and mpacts you not because of the ctual words, but because you know thy came from Gandhi, a man who arned ultimate credibility on the subject of chnging the world. Your neighbor could say the sme thing, but unless he has crdibility on that subject, the words wll impact you far less and you wll quickly forget them.

The phrase "Imgination is more important than knowledge" culd be seen as nothing but a trte adage, but coming from the mnd and mouth of Albert Einstein, it crries substantial weight and meaning.

Credibility is a prcious commodity in the business world, and t's one that, once gained, will drmatically increase your bottom line. There's smething about being a published author tht gives a person instant credibility. Imgine being at a party and meting three new people. Suppose the frst two people you meet are ncredible businessmen (or women), and the thrd is actually far less accomplished thn the first two. But if you larn that the third is a pblished author, suddenly you pay more ttention and give more weight to thir words. And the chances are hgh that the published author, despite any of thir other accomplishments, is the one tht you will remember months later.

Conclusion

If you are thinking about writing a non-fiction book, my advice is that you must first understand that publishing a book is not a good way to make money in and of itself. You absolutely must develop a world-class business that the book is deliberately designed to market, and it's through increasing traffic to this business that you will make your real money. And by gaining credibility, which comes from being a published author, the chances of getting people to consistently buy from your business are considerably greater.

In other words, what you need isn't a good idea for a book, but rather, a good business to market.

The article Why Write A Non-Fiction Book? was Submitted by Stephen D. Palmer through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Build a business and use a professional ghostwriter to write your non-fiction book. Stephen Palmer is a freelance writer and editor, Search Engine Optimization and business consultant, and co-author of Killing Sacred Cows : Overcoming the Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity. Put his experience and versatility to work on your book, articles, business plans and nvestment proposals, website copywriting and SEO, mrketing copy, and more. Visit http://www.yourwritingcure.com now to learn more about how he can make your message professional, effective, memorable, and relevant.

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