The Wealthy Author: The Fast Profit Method For Writing,
Publishing & Selling Your Non-Fiction Book Debbie Jenkins & Joe Gregory
Debbie Jenkins is a professional speaker, publisher and author. In 2003 she co-wrote The Gorillas Want Bananas: The Lean Marketing Bible for Small Expert Businesses and has also co-authored 11 other marketing and publishing books including, The Amazon Bestseller Plan. She runs the non-fiction publisher, Bookshaker.com, and is the co-founder of The Publishing Academy. She currently lives the expat life in Southern Spain with her husband, 2 dogs and 3 cats.
Expat Women's Interview with Debbie
Expat Women: Debbie, your new book is brilliant. Unlike other books out there that promise a lot for aspiring writers and publishers but deliver very little, you and Joe have shared in this book literally everything you have learnt as both authors and publishers over the last six years. Why?
Debbie: We never planned to share everything because this book is essentially the operating manual, with very little left out, for our own publishing business. In fact, we originally devised the book to be a book of checklists with the working title The Lazy Author's Book of Checklists. The initial idea for the book was a comprehensive list of what is involved in the publishing process without really drilling into the how. But, we quickly realised that providing a book with only half the story wouldn't have sat well with us, and so, with some trepidation we decided to make the content deep as well as wide.
We were also getting tired of seeing authors having their dreams hijacked and ruined by the vanity presses keen to make the publishing process appear to be some mysterious black art in order to line their pockets. If this book saves just one author from making a deal with an overpriced vanity press then it will have done its job.
Expat Women:To me, the best part of your book is your fabulous ability to break down daunting tasks into simple, easy-to-understand steps and comparison charts that anyone could follow. Do you believe writing and publishing is for everyone?
Debbie: Yes. I believe everyone has at least one book in them but that does not mean everyone should write and publish a book. It is not the easiest way to make a living and there is certainly a high up-front risk whether you decide to self-publish or go with a mainstream. I also believe that most things that seem complicated look quite simple once you zoom into the important details. I think anyone considering becoming a wealthy author, and I am talking non-fiction here, should ask themselves these questions.
1.
What's my attitude to risk? If you are a low-risk kind of person then writing and publishing a book is not a good idea. All the time and money you need to invest is front-loaded and you have to wait right until the end to make a penny of your up-front investment back. Of course, you can minimise the risks by taking certain steps, but there is always some element of uncertainty involved in the publishing process.
2.
Am I writer or an entrepreneur? If you are considering self publishing then you really need to treat it as a business. That means dealing with boring, non-creative stuff that many authors really do not want to handle. So, if you want to focus on writing you may be better off finding a mainstream publisher to handle the “business” stuff - although you will certainly pay a hefty price for that convenience. If you are comfortable as an entrepreneur (which I think all truly wealthy authors are) then self publishing will almost certainly provide you with more eventual profit - but the downside is that much of your time will be taken up with “non-writing” activities.
3.
What do I know? For non-fiction to be successful I really believe the author needs to intimately know their subject. Too many professional writers believe they can make a book about any subject given enough research but the result is always an impersonal, over-simplified list of second-hand opinions rather than the result of hard-won experience.
4.
Am I thick skinned? It is a truism that as soon as you publish something and start experiencing success you will find people ready, willing and able to try and shoot you down. So, you need to detach your ego from your book, and believe in what you are doing before you put it out there, to protect yourself. People will snipe so if you are easily hurt, being an author could be a painful experience. Of course, the publishing process is all about balancing rejection - JK Rowling was rejected by many publishers before eventually getting a deal - if she had given up after the first rejection, the whole world, especially hers, could be a very different place today.
Expat Women: What are your six steps to becoming a wealthy author?
Debbie: I see the publishing process as a ladder and as you get higher the stakes increase, as does the potential reward. The first 5 steps on the ladder are common to all published authors but the difference that makes all the difference is not so much about the steps themselves but exactly what you do at each stage. My experience is that most authors brush past some of the early steps and set themselves up for trouble and disappointment later. Step 6 - cashing in - is really the only step that differentiates wealthy authors from the rest, but it can make you wealthy even if your book only achieves modest sales.
So, with the preamble out of the way, here are the steps - one-by-one...
1.
Come up with great book ideas.
2.
Ensure your great book idea has a market willing and hungry to pay for it.
3.
Write your book quickly and easily. (Many people overcomplicate this step, which I believe is often the easiest, if you follow a plan and choose the right approach. In fact, wealthy authors, without question, have been able to immunise themselves against writer's block, easily map out their book before writing a single word and get into a state of flow where the book virtually writes itself.).
4.
Get your book published.
5.
Sell loads of books and raise your profile, and
6.
Turn one book into a lifetime income to cash in on your authority. (In other words, leverage your book to raise your credibility, command higher professional fees as a consultant, speaker, coach or expert, then in turn, use that to help sell even more books!)
Expat Women: Publishing a book has become a much easier process. What publishing options does a writer have these days and what are some of the pros and cons of each?
Debbie: When we wrote The Gorillas Want Bananas we chose to self publish for two reasons: first, we did not like the pitiful royalties the mainstream publishers were offering; and second, we are control freaks! But it certainly was not easy and the financial risk involved was, and I am not exaggerating here, 500 times higher than it is today. Quite simply the old way required us to use the Print-Then-Sell model, which essentially meant printing, storing and individually posting thousands of books as and when we sold them. In the meantime almost £5,000 had been invested in printing alone. Plus, to add insult to injury, the wholesalers, distributors and book stores simply were not interested in getting our book to market. Essentially an impossible task, but in hindsight it created 20 times more cash for us than it would have if we had have gone with a mainstream publisher - but it certainly was not easy.
Today, there are essentially 3 models:
1.
Land A Mainstream Publishing Deal. Despite what the vanity presses are screaming, there are actually plenty of these around, but terms can be downright disgusting and advances are quickly becoming a thing of the past. You will also be giving away the lion's share of the profit.
2.
Pay to Publish. All the companies offering this solution, without question, use the same printing company and will never call themselves vanity presses - although that is exactly what they are. They simply do not make their income from book sales at all but from selling over-priced services to unwitting authors.
3.
Self Publish - buy your own ISBN, instruct your own editors and designers and pay for the print but keep all of the eventual profit. This is not easy but it is much, much easier than ever now that Print-On-Demand (POD) is available. Using the right POD company, you will be able to benefit from a very low setup cost (£150 maximum) and you will not need to order and store thousands of books in the hope that you will eventually sell them. This drastically reduces the self-publisher's exposure to risk and makes the potential to profit far greater.
If anyone suggests you should self-publish using the Print-Then-Sell approach we used by necessity for The Gorillas Want Bananas,they simply do not understand how Print-On-Demand printers work and you should ignore everything else they say!
Expat Women: Finally, can you share with us some of the secrets behind your ability to make more than £30,000 in a single day by publishing just one book?
Debbie: The secret here is setting a big goal and networking with as many connectors as possible. The approach has been much-copied since we first did it and published our guide, The Amazon Bestseller Plan (originally sold for £49, but soon to be released for just £15.00) but essentially requires the author to make an amazing offer to as many people as possible (via their network) all within a 24 hour period.
Expat Women: Debbie, your vision is always inspiring. We wish you and Joe all the best with your latest book and (ad)venture - The Publishing Academy.
