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Table of contents:

• Do I have the time to write the book myself?
• Am I confident my writing skills are on the level of publishing professionals?
• Am I able to organize my thoughts and ideas into a book’s standard narrative structure?
• What do I want this book to do for me or my career?
• How quickly does this book need to be published?
• Can I objectively assess the quality of my content?
• Am I confident that my writing voice will enhance my credibility?
• Am I sure about which details should be shared and which should remain confidential?
• What’s my track record for completing personal projects like this?
• What is the potential return on a mediocre book versus a well-written one?

Many leaders aspire to be authors, writing their own books, but are reluctant to hire a ghostwriter to assist them. For many, that reluctance is due to a misunderstanding of a ghostwriter’s role. Some people claim it would be “inauthentic” not to write their own book.

A nonfiction ghostwriter is not a writing surrogate. Despite the misconception, they do not write alone, without much input from the author, and then deliver up a finished manuscript for rubber-stamping. No, a business book ghostwriter is a true writing partner who collaborates closely with the aspiring author to understand their perspective, expertise, and message. Together, they determine the best way to structure the material to be shared with readers and then devise an outline to achieve that goal.

A skilled, experienced ghostwriter is part interviewer, asking pointed questions to surface the most useful, interesting information; part therapist, providing support and encouragement to the author to explore uncomfortable subjects; part writer, helping to communicate the author’s message eloquently; part project manager, assuming responsibility for moving the project forward according to the agreed-upon schedule; part editor, constantly looking for ways to polish and improve the draft manuscript; and part publishing consultant, offering advice and connections to help the author find a publisher that will best meet their needs.

There are few downsides to hiring a ghostwriter if you are sure you want to write a book, but here are 10 questions to consider as you weigh that decision:

Do I have the time to write the book myself?

Leaders are among the busiest people around and are typically stretched thin trying to manage work projects, internal teams, and suppliers—not to mention family and friend relationships. Some attempt to set aside time in the evenings and/or on weekends to make progress on their book, but having to put the project down for days or weeks at a time, it’s difficult to get back into the writing flow quickly. Even the best writers and communicators decide that working alongside a writing partner is a better use of their limited time and results in a better quality finished product, typically in a fraction of the time. Writing a book on your own can take many weeks or months of solid, solitary work. However, if you have ample time, it can be a very satisfying use of it.

Am I confident my writing skills are on the level of publishing professionals?

Asked another way, will your writing produce a publishable book you will be proud of? The last thing you want to do is spend 6-12 months writing a book and then not be proud to tell everyone of your accomplishment. While you may be the expert in your field or have unique experiences and ideas to share, do you also have the communication skills to package those ideas in the best possible light? It’s a rare person who has both those talents.

Am I able to organize my thoughts and ideas into a book’s standard narrative structure?

Brilliant business leaders frequently have many ideas, thoughts, stories, and lessons they could share, but deciding which stories are relevant to making a book compelling may be a challenge. A ghostwriter can help organize notes and ideas into a coherent narrative arc that is engaging and builds momentum with each chapter. Someone who is a publishing industry professional and who has ghostwritten dozens of books can quickly recognize the best way to plot out relevant points and stories in book form.

What do I want this book to do for me or my career?

Before you begin structuring ideas and laying out stories, stop to ask why you want to write a book. Is it to preserve your legacy? Share your ideas? Document your story? Position yourself as a leader in your industry or region? These are just some reasons to write a book, because they can open doors to new opportunities and enhance your credibility. But know what you want a book to do for you before you get too far along. If you’re writing a children’s book to amuse your children or grandchildren, a ghostwriter may not be essential. But if you’re writing a book to earn praise and boost your reputation, make sure your finished product won’t do the opposite.

How quickly does this book need to be published?

The speed of technology leads to information obsolescence much sooner today than even five years ago. The speed of information-sharing moves quickly, which means that if you opt to write your book yourself, by the time it is out in 2-3 years, the content may no longer carry the weight it does now. It may be out of date. Hiring a ghostwriter can’t guarantee that your information will still be current by the time your book comes out, but they can typically complete your manuscript in a few months, rather than years. Can you afford to wait?

Can I objectively assess the quality of my content?

It’s hard to know what other people will find interesting or new when you’re so involved in a situation or business. Involving an objective third-party in helping you determine what material is relevant and interesting to the target reader can make your book much stronger. Ghostwriters ask the questions they know readers want answered and help identify which stories will resonate, which is hard to judge when you’re on the inside. Ghostwriters offer an outside perspective.

Am I confident that my writing voice will enhance my credibility?

Everyone has a writing style that is uniquely their own. In many ways, it reflects how they speak, so that when their writing is read, it’s clear who the author was. But not everyone is a fan of their own writing or their own style. The good news is that a ghostwriter can either mimic your writing voice so that your book sounds like you, or they can make it sound more scholarly, more formal, more professional—or whatever type of writing personality you’d prefer.

Am I sure about which details should be shared and which should remain confidential?

Many CEOs and business leaders have intriguing stories to share, thanks to years of navigating challenging business situations. If those examples are clearly proprietary, most authors know the details can’t be included in a book. However, there are frequently old stories that are quasi-public information at this point that some leaders may want to include. However, sometimes those stories could cause more harm than good, and an outside perspective can help keep authors out of trouble. Ghostwriters, sometimes with input from attorneys, can advise authors regarding which stories are safe with changes, which stories are fine to tell, and which ones absolutely need to stay out of print.

What’s my track record for completing personal projects like this?

Have you been working on a manuscript for years? Do you have a habit of getting started with gusto and then losing interest (or hope), as time goes on, and challenges emerge? The truth is, most people who start writing a book never finish. They may have the best intentions, but life gets in the way, momentum fades, and the manuscript gets put aside. The Independent Book Publishing Association (IBPA) reported nearly 15 years ago that 200 million Americans (or around 81 percent at that time) wanted to write a book. I’ve seen a statistic repeated through the years that only 3 percent of people actually write those books, though I have been unable to find the original source, so I don’t know if that number is reliable. But it’s certainly true that there are far more books that remain unwritten or unpublished than there need to be.

What is the potential return on a mediocre book versus a well-written one?

A well-written book can raise the visibility and prestige of an author, creating potential new business and media opportunities that may more than offset the costs of writing and publishing a book. However, that can never be guaranteed because the success of a book depends on the amount of marketing and promotion that occurs to support it. On the other hand, it is almost a certainty that a poorly written book will earn low Amazon reviews and potentially damage the author’s reputation, reducing the chance of other speaking and writing invitations. Hiring a professional to assist can improve the odds of producing an authoritative title.

A recent study of the ROI of writing and publishing a book reported “More than 90 percent reported some form of nonmonetary value in their books, and 89 percent said writing a book was a good idea.”

Want to learn more about the process of working with a ghostwriter and getting your book published? Feel free to request a free copy of my Insider’s Guide.

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Table of contents:

• The Authenticity Misconception
• How Amateur Writing Actually Obscures Authenticity
• How Professional Ghostwriters Amplify Your Voice
• The Professional Parallel

“I plan to write my own book because I want it to be authentically mine” is one of the most common objections I hear from aspiring authors about working with a ghostwriter.

Some business leaders, CEOs, business owners, entrepreneurs, and experts are under the impression that working alongside a ghostwriter will somehow make their book less authentic, less theirs. That by working with a ghostwriter, the resulting book would be an inaccurate or artificial representation of their message.

The opposite is actually true.

The Authenticity Misconception

Some aspiring authors seem to equate the physical act of taking notes or typing on a computer keyboard with authenticity. That unless they personally peck the keys, the words that appear on the page do not represent their own thinking or experiences.

That understanding of authenticity is inaccurate, or at least flawed.

Think back to middle school or high school when you encountered a subject you struggled with. For me, it was geometry. My brain loves algebra, but geometry? Not so much.

To help, my parents hired a tutor to work with me weekly. She sat next to me, asking questions to figure out where I was getting confused and then showed me alternative perspectives that helped me grasp the concepts.

When I took the tests in that class, the answers were all mine. No one would ever claim that the answers I gave belonged to my tutor, right?

The same is true in ghostwriting.

A ghostwriter can help you clarify and refine your thinking, organize your core message, and draw out memories and stories you may even have forgotten, but which are perfect for some of the lessons you want to share.

They work alongside you, asking questions, pushing back, or playing devil’s advocate to be sure that you’ve considered all aspects of your topic, and then assist in explaining your ideas or message clearly.

The ideas are yours, as are the words.

The same is true of speechwriters. Speechwriters work alongside CEOs and leaders to refine keynote speeches and presentations, but the speeches themselves are always attributed to the person who gives them. There’s rarely any question of authenticity there, so I’m always surprised when it surfaces with respect to ghostwriting.

How Amateur Writing Actually Obscures Authenticity

What gets in the way of authenticity, of you revealing your best self, is amateur writing.

Let’s face it, most business leaders are not professional writers. Yes, they may be brilliant strategists and skilled negotiators, but that doesn’t automatically make them adept communicators. Unless they routinely write as part of their job, what they create on the page is likely to be less eloquent than they’d like.

Many non-writers focus so much on the mechanics we learned in English class that the resulting material is forced, even clunky. Trying so hard to be grammatically correct with accurate punctuation can lead to writing that is awkward or dry.

Of course, what makes writing effective is emotion and expressive language. Sometimes writing is more evocative when the rules of the English language are thrown out the window. Ghostwriters understand this.

Unless you’re confident your writing skills are on par with well-paid professionals, meaning ghostwriters, it’s likely your book will be underwhelming if you write it yourself, without support. It will be authentic, certainly, but it may not be worth reading in that case, and it may not help you achieve your ultimate objective (the reason you wrote your book in the first place).

How Professional Ghostwriters Amplify Your Voice

A ghostwriter’s job is to amplify all of your best qualities. Not to cover them up or hide them, but to shine a spotlight on how you communicate.

The best ghostwriters pay close attention to how you explain concepts, which words and phrases you rely on heavily, as well as your cadence and style. That’s what makes them ghostwriters. They reach a point at which they think like you, too.

Their job isn’t to put words in your mouth, which is probably what you’re most afraid of, but to translate what you’re saying into an even better version of what you’ve shared. They may take out the pauses or the tangents you like to go on when you’re explaining something, and bring the message back to what you most want to say. And they write it just like you would say it.

It’s your message in your words, only maybe a touch more organized.

The Professional Parallel

Working with a book ghostwriter is very similar to working with a public relations firm on a press release you want to issue about a new initiative or a big announcement. You want to share a message, but you rely on professional communicators to capture the essence of what you want to say.

If you use a PR firm, you probably also rely on a marketing communications team to design PowerPoint slides for presentations. You provide the key talking points and main message, and you leave it to them to organize and supplement it with graphics.

The same is true with speeches, as I pointed out, and other documents, such as white papers or submitted articles.

The ideas are yours, the words are yours, just amplified and improved.

Does that make them any less authentic? I don’t think so. They’re still all yours.

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Table of contents:

• Why Workbooks Are Trending Right Now
• The Business Case for Companion Workbooks
• What Makes a Good Companion Workbook
• Which Book Topics Work Best for Workbooks
• Creating Your Workbook

Ask a literary agent what types of books are selling right now, and in addition to prescriptive memoir, self-help, and fiction, you’re likely to hear them mention workbooks.

Search on Amazon for workbooks and you may be surprised by the number that have emerged on the publishing scene. There are workbooks to accompany all types of books, from business to memoir to textbook, thought leadership, children’s, and reference, among many others.

Many bestselling titles now have workbooks available, although not all have been created by the original author.

Why Workbooks Are Trending Right Now

Workbooks have burst onto the publishing scene very recently as readers increasingly want to understand how to apply what they’ve read.

The shift toward practical learning, rather than reading for information or pure enjoyment, seems to have sparked interest in creating supplementary tools. Instead of taking in a memoir to better understand the author’s experience, for example, readers now appreciate ancillary tools, like workbooks, that help them pick up the intended takeaways and consider how they can help improve their own lives.

You’ll spot many books now offering a companion workbook to aid in comprehension or application of the material.

The Business Case for Companion Workbooks

From the authors’ perspective, workbooks offer new opportunities.

Yes, designing and creating them requires work, but once produced, workbooks can provide a new product line and additional revenue stream. They can be sold independently or bundled with the accompanying book, increasing the profits from each sale.

They can also help improve the Amazon rating by helping each reader get the maximum benefit.

What Makes a Good Companion Workbook

Now, not all workbooks are useful; there are good workbooks and bad. One recent one I bought was nearly a complete repeat of everything in the book, rather than containing exercises to help apply the takeaways. It was disappointing.

Some common elements of helpful workbooks include:

• Exercises that reinforce concepts
• Fillable forms
• Action items
• Space for reflection
• Templates
• Tracking forms
• Scheduling tools
• Calculators
• Additional reference materials and resources

The best workbooks complement and deepen the reader’s understanding of the original book, rather than simply regurgitating the same material. It should help the reader figure out what to do with the knowledge they’ve gained.

For example, a workbook to accompany a retirement planning book could have many types of financial tracking tools, evaluation forms to help determine where you are in your retirement planning journey, links to online calculators, and perhaps some pages to brainstorm and dream of what an ideal retirement would look like.

Which Book Topics Work Best for Workbooks

It’s surprising how many genres and subjects could use a workbook. Obvious topics, such as self-help, business, fitness, hobbies, careers, and how-to, where the reader is looking for education and guidance, are fairly easy to convert into a workbook format.

Others may be more of a challenge, such as fiction, art, or cookbooks, but with some creativity, I bet you could come up with some useful pages to help readers reflect and learn from the original content.

Creating Your Workbook

If you’d like to consider producing a workbook, start by designing some of the key sections, much like you crafted your original book’s outline.

Is there a chronological process that could form the backbone of your workbook? Are there certain milestones or core lessons the reader needs to comprehend? What exercises or actions could support their application of your material?

Could you provide a list of essential tools and equipment? How about a typical timeline for implementation? Photos to demonstrate the ideal outcome?

As long as you keep your readers’ interests and needs front and center in your planning process, I’m confident you’ll be able to think of many additional exercises and tools to aid them.

Workbooks are hot right now, so do your best to design and produce one soon, to take advantage of this trend. Because workbooks help readers make better use of your book, they can also convert one-time fans into repeat customers.

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Table of contents:

• Setting the Foundation for Success
• The Discovery Phase
• Build Trust

Some of the most successful books turn out so well because they are the product of brilliant ideas and expert writing.

Most business leaders have the experience, stories, observations, insights, lessons learned, and vision to make a great book, but they don’t always have the publishing familiarity to be able to shape it into a successful read.

That’s often why they get stuck. Some aspiring authors are unable to proceed with writing a book because they’re not sure of the first step, or the step after that. They don’t know what the process of writing and publishing a book looks like.

Fortunately, that is exactly the type of knowledge and expertise that a professional ghostwriter brings to the table.

Of course, the success of such publishing partnerships depends on how well you collaborate. In many cases, the success or failure of a partnership or collaboration comes down to clear communication and expectation-setting.

Setting the Foundation for Success

The best collaborations begin with a plan, a roadmap for how the writing journey should go.

Before you dig into the writing process, it’s a smart idea to clarify exactly what each person is going to contribute to the project.

Set clear expectations for who will do what. Usually, that happens as part of a ghostwriting agreement.

Typically, you’ll offer the big-picture vision of the book and the defining purpose, as well as the subject-matter expertise and stories and examples that bring your insights to life. Your ghostwriter will bring their knowledge of how books are prepared, what publishers expect to receive, their familiarity with storytelling, and their ability to take complex concepts and turn them into easy-to-understand prose.

To ensure you both stay on course, put these understandings and expectations into a document. In the marketing communications world, this document is often referred to as a creative brief. Briefs lay out who the target audience for the book is, what the book’s bigger purpose is, what you want readers to understand or know by the end, when you’ve both agreed it will be done, and which publisher will be releasing it, among other things. You can fill it with as many particulars as you both prefer.

The goal of this brief, or roadmap, is to keep everything on course in terms of contributions to the narrative and the schedule. It also helps prevent scope creep, such as if you decide halfway through that instead of 60,000 words, you think 80,000 is a better length. You may be right, but that will require a renegotiation of your agreement with your ghostwriter. Likewise, if you both realize partway through that you need an outside researcher to dig for lesser-known case studies, you’ll want to update your blueprint to reflect how that work will be done and by whom.

You’ll also want to be clear about communication expectations. Will you schedule regular Zoom meetings? Will you share information via email, or will you create a Google Doc or a Slack channel? What is acceptable for a response time? Should you both agree to at least acknowledge a message within 24 hours? Or is 48 more reasonable? How about weekend communication? Is that okay or overstepping?

There’s no right or wrong answer here. However, you two need to agree on how and when you’ll collaborate. If you’re a morning person and your ghostwriter is a night owl, you probably won’t be receiving immediate email responses, though you may spot files landing in your inbox late at night.

If you talk about it upfront, no one will be surprised or disappointed by the timing of communications. That helps keep the work progressing well.

The Discovery Phase

Ultimately, the quality of your finished product will depend in large part on how well you transfer what you know to your ghostwriter.

You’ll do that by providing background materials you’ve probably been gathering for ages, as well as writing samples and videos of you presenting relevant material, as well as through the meetings you’ll have where you talk through the book’s content.

Before we start having phone or Zoom meetings, I prefer to send along questions in advance so that clients know what we’ll be discussing and can give the topic some thought. That frequently helps with recalling relevant stories or examples, which can be difficult to come up with on the spot. You might ask your ghostwriter to do that for you.

As you’re talking through content, be sure to share what you can about your preferred writing voice. How do you want to come across on the page?

Are you more comfortable with a conversational tone, to make your material more accessible, or would you rather take a more scholarly or professional tone, to convey your mastery of the subject? Telling your ghostwriter what you like helps them figure out how to match it in the writing.

Build Trust

Successful collaborations are based on mutual respect and transparency. Really, what that means is being honest.

Yes, you should express any concerns about whether you can actually make the deadline you’ve committed to in your publishing contract. Yes, you should share helpful pieces of information about you, such as that you’re hard of hearing, for example, or you’re nervous about sharing some personal stories publicly.

Professional ghostwriters value and appreciate clients who are willing to be open with them. They won’t judge you and they’ll be much better able to meet your needs or address your concerns if you let them know what they are.

When you’re just getting to know each other, it may be hard for your ghost to recognize when you’re joking, for example. Tell them, to be sure.

Be kind and thoughtful when providing feedback. Your ghostwriter is nervous and wants to give you exactly what you’re after, which can be difficult initially. So, when you provide feedback on chapters or section drafts, know that you will encourage your collaborator to continue to strive to do their best if you can be compassionate and clear when you offer input.

If you’re harsh or mean, they may shut down. They certainly won’t be able to give you a better product, and they may opt not to continue working with you.

Remember that your ghostwriter is your writing partner and not your employee. Consider them your equal and you will have a much more collaborative relationship built on mutual respect.

A collaboration blueprint can be as formal or informal as you both choose. However, you’ll want to be sure you establish clear expectations, maintain regular communication, demonstrate mutual respect, and express excitement for the chance to work together.

If you do that, your writing partnership will have the best chance of resulting in a manuscript that is even better than you had hoped.

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Table of contents:

• The Real Cost of a DIY Book
• The Professional Ghostwriter Investment
• When DIY Makes Sense

Most CEOs and business leaders would agree that thought leadership positioning can be good for business and good for your personal brand. To achieve that status, you need a strong public presence, which is typically accomplished through regular articles, blog posts, books, public speeches, and media interviews.

Given the frantic, often all-consuming schedule that C-suite execs and entrepreneurs grapple with, it’s almost impossible to keep up the pace of information-sharing without outside help. Retaining professional support has become a normal part of doing business now that we live in the age of 24/7 social media.

However, some leaders believe that the only way for their personal brand and reputation to be authentic is if they create their own content. For many, that holds true even when the possibility of writing a book surfaces.

The Real Cost of a DIY Book

Business leaders who consider writing their own book often focus on the financial benefits, to the exclusion of other considerations. They tally the cost savings of a do-it-yourself (DIY) book and arrive at a fairly large number.

After all, professional ghostwriters aren’t cheap.

But in making the decision only about money, they don’t take into account other costs.

The first is their time investment. To begin drafting a book, you can’t just start writing unless you’re working on a fictional account that can be made up in your head. If you’re writing a nonfiction book, you’ll need to study existing books on your topic, to confirm the book you want to write doesn’t already exist. You’ll need to spend time organizing your key points and creating an outline. Then you’ll need to do online research to confirm that your arguments and examples are based on fact and not hearsay or AI hallucinations.

Your first draft of a chapter could easily take 40 hours or more, depending on how fast a writer you are. Many of my clients are smart, creative, and articulate, but writing even a few paragraphs can take a full day, they’ve told me. Which means that 40 hours per chapter may be low.

When you start to calculate how much of your time you’ll invest, using your equivalent hourly wage as a rough estimate, you may be surprised by what writing your own book is costing you. If you’re paid, say, $100/hour, each chapter is costing you at least $4,000 if you can get it done in 40 hours. That may be optimistic, however.

Beyond the straight number of hours you’ll need to spend working on your draft manuscript, there is the issue of consistency. Rarely are weeks exactly the same schedule-wise, which means you may be able to find two hours this week to work on your book and maybe four next week, but it’s a challenge to make consistent progress.

Without a dedicated block of time in which to work on your book, it could take many months just to finish drafting a single chapter. It’s difficult to gain any real momentum when you’re working at that pace.

When your whole manuscript is drafted, are you familiar enough with the book publishing industry to know what to do with it at that stage? Do you know who should review it next? Do you have a publisher lined up?

Then there’s the quality question. You may be a decent writer, but are you a strong enough writer to pen a book you’ll be proud of? Are you confident it can stand head-to-head against other books on the same topic?

Poorly written content can do you more harm than good. If your book turns out to be mediocre, as evidenced by Amazon reviews or published book reviews, the damage to your reputation and career can be extremely costly.

Writing your book yourself can certainly help keep money in your pocket, but is that the best decision long-term?

The Professional Ghostwriter Investment

Professional ghostwriters charge tens of thousands of dollars to work alongside you and write your book. The more experienced, in terms of books published; the number of bestsellers to their name, NYT, WSJ, and USA Today; and the number of writing awards earned; the higher their price tag. That’s because with more experience, the lower your risk of ending up with a dud.

Newer book ghostwriters will certainly charge less. By “less” I mean under around $25,000. Celebrity ghostwriters will charge more on the order of $150,000 and up. And the rest will typically be somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000.

As with most things, you tend to get what you pay for.

Some of you are seeing those numbers and are certainly experiencing sticker shock. How can ghostwriters justify charging that much, you may be thinking?!

Well, they’re charging for their considerable expertise as well as for their time. Drafting, editing, and polishing your book will take months. And skilled ghostwriters bring to the project specialized publishing expertise that will also benefit the project.

The result is a book that is better, more insightful, and more skillfully written than you could have done on your own — without you having to spend hours and hours trying to finish it.

When DIY Makes Sense

There are situations, however, when writing your book can make the most sense.

The first is if you genuinely enjoy the writing process. If you love writing, then consider hiring a writing coach to guide you. You’ll be the writer, and you can have a consultant standing by to offer feedback and input on your drafts.

The second scenario when writing your own book makes sense is if you have lots of time. If you have free time and are interested in doing the writing, that’s another vote for a DIY approach. Of course, this assumes that you’re not already under contract and you don’t have a deadline hanging over your head in a couple of months.

Finally, if you can’t afford to hire a professional, writing your first draft can be one way to reduce your need for a ghostwriter. If you can craft a rough draft manuscript that you can hand off to a developmental editor, you can save money that way, too.

Your decision regarding whether to write your book yourself or to hire a professional ghostwriter really comes down to opportunity cost.

You can absolutely write your own book. You likely have the skill and you have the ideas, so you could write it. But should you? Is spending months writing the best use of your time? What is your time worth? And are you confident that a manuscript you draft will be worthy of 5-star reviews on Amazon? Will it be the best version possible?

That’s where the true value of a professional ghostwriter can make all the difference. They can help ensure your personal brand and reputation are enhanced by your book and that you’ll have a positive return on investment.

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Table of contents:

• In Praise of Print
• The Digital-First Approach
• Print as a One-Two Punch
• Sequential Release

The vast majority of my clients come to me planning to publish a hard copy book. Not necessarily hardcover, because paperback is lighter and less expensive, but they want a tangible, physical book.

I don’t blame them, since print books are still considered the gold standard in building credibility and authority.

In Praise of Print

A print book has a “thud factor” — the satisfying sound it makes when you drop it on a desk. The heavier the book, the deeper the sound.

A print book also has a laundry list of potential uses. You can use it as a direct mailer to send to prospects and current clients as evidence of your expertise. You can bundle it with speaking engagements as a value add. You can assign it to students in the college courses you’re teaching as an adjunct, as well as many other promotional opportunities that are easier when you have a physical item.

People don’t generally throw books away, so your title will have permanence.

The two big downsides of print books are the speed and the cost.

No matter which type of publisher you’re working with, a print book will take longer because of all the pre-production work required. After the editing and proofreading, there is the page layout and print preparation, followed by the actual printing. Then the printed pages have to dry before they can be bound together.

I don’t think anyone has ever referred to printing a book as a “speedy” process. It’s not.

As for cost, if you’re working with a traditional publisher, your agreement likely requires that they pay for production. The tradeoff is that the speed of production is typically much slower than that of hybrid and independent presses. Hybrid publishers do require that you pay for production and printing, but it is possible to expedite the process.

Given the time required for books to be printed, there are many situations where it can make sense to release a digital version first. This would be in advance of your official release date.

You can still follow it with a hard copy book, but digital-first can help ensure you don’t miss any marketing opportunities that are time-sensitive.

The Digital-First Approach

Digital-first publishing allows you to get your ideas out into the market faster. In many cases, your book can be available in weeks versus months.

This can be critical when you’re addressing timely topics, a competitor is also working on a book, or in industries where obsolescence is a concern. You need yours out there first.

In addition to speed of availability, since digital-first means your manuscript is formatted digitally for availability online as an e-book, your potential reach is massive. When the electronic version of your book is available on platforms from Amazon Kindle to Google Play Books to Apple Books, buyers worldwide have access. There’s no shipping delay to get to the other side of the globe.

I’m not saying that this is an either-or situation, however. You can and should still proceed to release a print version of your book, but if time is of the essence, lead with a digital version while the hard copy is in production.

Print as a One-Two Punch

Physical books carry more weight as evidence of your accomplishments than digital versions. For that reason, business leaders building their personal brand will want to proceed with a print version.

Another important reason to proceed with a hard copy book is that traditional media outlets, conference organizers, colleges and universities, and corporate buyers prefer to see hard copy books. A print book is a tangible credential that digital-only authors lack.

Sequential Release

Frequently, it’s smart to release both versions of your book in staggered fashion: first comes the digital format, followed by print weeks later.

Launching a digital version first allows you to capture market attention.

The other advantage of leading with a digital version is that you can get reader feedback. This can be useful if you still have time to revise your hard copy edition before it goes to the printer.

With the pace of business only increasing, finding ways to circumvent traditional slow-moving processes can yield even greater success long-term.

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Table of contents:

• Writing for Anyone and Everyone
• Underestimating How Long a Book Takes to Produce
• Leading with Ego, Not Value
• Putting Off Marketing Until the Release Date
• Viewing their Book as a One-Off Project Rather than an Asset

Many CEOs have built successful companies. They’ve taken the helm and helped their businesses expand organically or through acquisition, rolled out new products and services, added headcount, and/or maybe pursued new target markets. They’ve generated millions, or even billions, in revenue for shareholders.

After those major accomplishments, you’d think writing a successful book would be easy, right?

Not so much.

Yes, my clients do well with their books, but not all books written by CEOs and business owners — even with the help of a ghostwriter — will automatically achieve their goals.

After ghostwriting dozens of business books with CEOs, business owners, founders, professors, and experts, I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. I’ve also witnessed other authors with fantastic ideas make costly mistakes that negatively impact how well their book performs.

Fortunately, these failures are completely preventable. You just need to learn what the red flags are so that you can avoid them when you’re writing your own.

Mistake #1: Writing for Anyone and Everyone

One problem many business leaders have is that they almost know too much. They have so many amazing experiences and lessons learned that they know could be helpful. And they want to share all of them with everyone.

Unfortunately, targeting a broad audience can lead to a book that is so generic that it gets lost amongst all the other general business advice books.

A better approach is to zero in on a particular group that will benefit most from your insights and observations. Maybe that’s fellow CEOs of organizations with 1,000+ employees. Maybe it’s leaders of companies in the AI space. Or maybe it’s new college grads looking for their first job.

By focusing on one particular group of potential readers, you’re in a much better position to help them with their specific challenges and opportunities. But the challenges that new college grads are facing today are very different from what a Fortune 500 CEO faces.

Pick one narrow group and write your book for them, specifically.

A client of mine several years ago wanted to write his company’s corporate history for anyone, anywhere who had ever heard of it. That’s a massive audience, I pointed out. I encouraged him, instead, to write it for the company’s biggest fans. Assume some existing knowledge of the company and then share inside stories that its advocates would love to hear. After all, they would be the most likely to want such a book and to recommend it to others.

The book became an international bestseller.

Mistake #2: Underestimating How Long a Book Takes to Produce

Many business leaders have been thinking about writing a book for years. They’ve had a lot of time to think about it and frequently have a well-developed idea of what they want included. Although the scope of their book may be clear to them, they generally underestimate how long it’s going to take to draft a manuscript of 60,000 to 65,000 words.

Some think they’ll be able to work on it in the evenings or on weekends, or even while on vacation.

They expect that 30 to 60 days should be plenty of time to get it done. Of course, once they sit down and try to make significant headway on their own, they realize their thinking was flawed.

It typically takes much longer than 30 days to produce a quality manuscript, even with the help of a ghostwriter. A well-written, high-quality business book more often takes 9 to 12 months to finish. Yes, it can be done in less time, but only if the author (you) has the ability to carve out time weekly in their schedule to talk through chapters and review drafts. Without that dedicated time, it can take more than a year, or longer.

If you can block off 1-2 hours per week to meet with your ghostwriter, it’s possible to get your book done in a matter of months.

Mistake #3: Leading with Ego, Not Value

CEOs who write books to inflate their own egos generally end up with boring content. If the primary purpose is telling everyone how great you are, it’s going to fall flat.

I say that because most readers today want takeaways. They want actionable insights.

One of the bestselling categories at the moment is prescriptive memoir, because readers like compelling stories, but they also want to know what to do with the information shared. How can they apply it in their own lives?

CEO books need to include strategy, recommendations, and useful ideas, not just story after story about what an incredible job they’ve done at their current employer.

A CEO client of mine several years ago wanted to write a book to explain her company’s intellectual property. Her goal was to help other business leaders by sharing easy-to-understand anecdotes and stories alongside insights and recommendations. She wanted to have a positive impact, first and foremost.

Several times I had to push her to toot her own horn because she was so focused on making sure she explained the business principles and how-to information she knew would be helpful.

And it was. Her book immediately hit the Wall Street Journal bestseller list because she made it all about service to her reader and not about her.

Mistake #4: Putting Off Marketing Until the Release Date

Many leaders are under the impression that marketing their book starts as soon as it hits bookstores. Some also expect publishers to do all of the promotion, which is not true, but what’s important to understand here is that activity surrounding raising the visibility of the author, their message, and their book needs to start well before the book is done.

I often recommend that authors begin blogging, if they aren’t already, about their book’s topic now. Start sharing research, reports, articles, op-eds, and related speeches that can help explain why the book’s content is needed or relevant.

Pursuing guest podcast interviews, public speaking opportunities, conference participation, publicity, and advertising are all good starting points to make your target audience aware of you and your message months before your book is out.

The worst thing that can happen is that you put off marketing until you have books in hand, and at that point, media outlets view it as old news. Some have three-month lead times and need to receive advance reader copies before the book is available in bookstores.

I can’t say that I have too many clients who wait until the last minute to promote their books because I’m constantly emailing them publicity opportunities to pursue while we’re working together. I push them to get their title finalized and cover designed so that they can share that image of their “forthcoming book” with everyone they come in contact with.

Mistake #5: Viewing their Book as a One-Off Project Rather than an Asset

Some CEOs get so focused on the process of writing their book that they lose sight of the bigger picture. They’re relieved when the time-intensive work on their book is concluded. Then, their book comes out, they share it, and they move on to other tasks.

Sure, their book is a useful credential, but they don’t invest as much time as they could in leveraging it.

In truth, a book should serve as an asset for years to come. The most successful CEO authors do all they can to extract value from their investment of time and money.

In truth, you can slice and dice the sections and chapters of your book in many new ways to repurpose it for maximum benefit if you’re strategic about it.

You can use chapters as potential keynote topics. You can take lessons from chapters and convert them into LinkedIn articles or blog posts. You can convert some of the content into lead magnets for your company. You can mail your book out with a personalized note as a way to forge new business relationships.

Really, the opportunities are endless.

One of my clients years ago wrote a book to launch their new company. From the outset, it was a critical asset, and they used it as evidence of their expertise. The book helped them land lucrative consulting engagements and training opportunities worth millions of dollars. Then, they pitched a second book, which they sold for a six-figure advance. That book, which I edited, was a New York Times bestseller.

The book was successful because they planned from the outset for it to be the foundation of their marketing strategy, which they then built on and added to so as to create new business opportunities.

Business leaders who invest in books as tools to showcase and amplify what they’re doing frequently find that it can spark new business opportunities for them and for their company. But it does take strategizing and planning from the outset.

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Table of contents:

• The Credibility Amplifier
• Your Stage Awaits
• Inner Circle Access
• The Partnership Magnet Effect
• Compounding Growth
• Permanent Credibility

We’ve all heard, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

While it is certainly true that your network — “who you know” — is a valuable personal asset, there is also value in a tangible form of your expertise — the “what you know.”

That’s what your book is, quite literally. It contains evidence of your intellect, insights, and experience.

But what you may not realize is that your book is also the key to unlocking business relationships that would be all but impossible to access without it.

The Credibility Amplifier

When you invest time and money in conceiving of a book topic, organizing, writing, and publishing it, you’re setting yourself apart from others in your field.

That act of packing your experiences and expertise in book form immediately confers on you the title “author.” And once you’re an author, you’re viewed as a step above or ahead of others in your industry. You earn instant credibility that opens doors and starts conversations for which others have not yet qualified.

Your book is proof of your authority.

Your Stage Awaits

One reason that business leaders and experts write books is to qualify for speaking opportunities. Published authors are frequently invited to speak.

Event planners, conference organizers, trade show managers, and corporate meeting planners are constantly on the hunt for credible experts who can provide useful information or advice to their audiences. Your book is evidence that you have ideas and a perspective to share.

And that you’re likely articulate if you were able to write an entire book.

Of course, with speaking as with most opportunities, success breeds success. When you do a great job at one conference, the conference planner will recommend you to their colleagues. Corporate meeting planners mention you to their peers looking for suggested speakers. Word can travel fast.

Each appearance can dramatically expand your network and reinforce your authority positioning.

It can also increase your bank account. With each talk, speech, or presentation that receives positive reviews, your fee rises. Keynote speakers may start by charging $500 and quickly increase it to $5,000 or even $20,000 per gig if word spreads.

While the cash is great, the new relationships formed can be even more valuable. Your network will continue to expand, and along with it, your reputation and credibility.

Inner Circle Access

As you’re making a name for yourself on the speaking circuit, it’s likely you’re being invited into some rooms you didn’t even know existed. There are mastermind groups, industry think tanks, and invitation-only meet-ups and gatherings where serious business gets done among those given access.

Your book is your ticket to get in.

Advisory boards, boards of directors, professional associations, and industry groups often seek out well-known authors to assume leadership roles, join boards, or participate as panelists. These leadership roles get you in front of industry leaders and decision-makers who want to be aligned with experts and thought leaders like you.

The networking that happens at these levels, with these types of people, is very different, very strategic.

The Partnership Magnet Effect

Just as success yields more success, successful people want to align themselves and be associated with other successful people. Being a published author puts you almost in a category by yourself because it signals a level of success that few other people in your field can match.

With a book credit to your name, you may find that other leaders in your field now view you more as a colleague and potential partner or ally. As such, they may be more willing to share their thoughts and ideas with you.

Now, as colleagues, there may be opportunities for joint ventures, partnerships, collaborations, or strategic alliances that you probably couldn’t have even imagined a few years ago. Because now you’re seen more as a peer, an equal, than someone who needs their help.

Compounding Growth

One of the most valuable aspects of your book is the effect it has on your ability to grow your network. There is a compounding that happens, much like in investing.

Each new connection you make as an author has the potential to exponentially increase your network, and with individuals who have their own high-value network you can tap into. Your status as an author more easily opens doors to new connections.

Then, the exponential growth of your network creates exciting new business and professional opportunities you might never have imagined. Business deals, partnerships, collaborations, referrals, speaking invitations, board positions, podcast and blogging offers — the list of possibilities is almost endless.

And it all starts with your network and the launch of your book.

Permanent Credibility

The biggest advantage your business book can provide you is ongoing credibility and authority in your field. Your published book benefits you 24/7, sparking introductions behind the scenes, enhancing your reputation and credibility as people hear about your recent release, and opening doors you didn’t know were there.

Your book is a silent marketing tool that is always working for you.

The impact on your network is also permanent. Even years after its release, your book will continue to serve as a networking catalyst, forging new relationships and uncovering new opportunities that compound over time.

Yes, a book is a product. It’s proof of your expertise and market knowledge, but it’s also a key to a network of relationships that can transform your business and your career.

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Table of contents:

• Why Your Second Book Matters More than You Think
• The Strategic Framework
• Practical Implementation
• Common Pitfalls to Avoid

“How can I plan a second book when I haven’t even finished writing my first one?” you may wonder. If your first book hasn’t been published, you may find it ridiculous to already be looking ahead to a second or even third book.

And yet that’s what successful business authors do. They’re working on the outline for their second while their first is still being produced.

This isn’t unrealistic optimism that drives authors who are looking ahead — it’s strategy.

If you can map out a plan to publish, say, one book a year for the next four years, you can develop a writing practice and rhythm that can also help build your audience as each book is released. This approach is a lot like movie producers who already have a plan in place for future movies that build on the first (think Star Wars, for example).

Although business book authors are crafting nonfiction, not fiction, there are writing techniques they can use to tee up their next book at the conclusion of the previous one.

You should be doing this, too.

Why Your Second Book Matters More than You Think

There’s a saying that “Money loves speed,” which applies here. In business and publishing, momentum is critical but fleeting. You’ll make more money, generate more opportunities, and attract more attention if you can extend the buzz that your first book generates.

The release of your first book creates a window of opportunity that can last up to a year or so. During that time immediately before and after your book hits bookstore shelves, you’ll have the best opportunity for media attention, podcast interviews, speaking engagements, and guest lectures. Interest will swell during that time.

It will also start to wane over time, which is why you need a follow-up book strategy already in place during those first 12 months.

Planning your second book, your sequel, helps extend and preserve the momentum your first book generates. When people ask, “What’s next for you?” you can respond with the title of your forthcoming book, which your current audience can go ahead and pre-order. Strike while the iron is hot, as they say.

An added benefit of planning for your follow-on book is that you’ll position yourself as a serious business author rather than someone who only had one big idea.

The other benefit of a one-two publishing punch is that the marketing benefits can compound. The cost to promote your second book will be lower if you move quickly because you can leverage the platform you’ve started to build with your first.

You can go back to reporters who interviewed you about your first book, you can email folks who signed up to be notified of future books, you can announce your next book on social media, and spark interest from those who have been following you.

The Strategic Framework

Your first decision as you’re mapping out your publishing future is deciding if what you’re writing is best presented as a series or if each book will be standalone, on different topics.

A series is best when you have a theme or a methodology that you want to carry across several books. I see Jen Sincero’s books, You Are a Badass, are all theme-based. Whereas Malcolm Gladwell’s or Seth Godin’s books are business-focused but with different titles and perspectives.

One strategy isn’t better than the other, but you’ll want to plan accordingly.

A series often applies a common methodology to different demographic groups or fields, for example, such as The Complete Idiot’s Guide series that tackled dozens of very different topics. Standalone sequels, on the other hand, apply your thinking and perspective to varied topics.

No matter which approach you take, your books should all complement each other. They should all maintain brand consistency to continue to support your expanding author platform. That’s harder if your books look very different and are for very different readers.

A smart activity is to map out each book before you start writing, to determine in what order they should be written and released and to make sure they don’t overlap too much content-wise.

You’ll also want to strategize how soon after your first book your second should be released. You don’t want it to follow too quickly, or you may confuse your audience and cannibalize sales of your first book. Then again, you don’t want to wait longer than, say 24 months, because you may lose that connection to your audience that you forged with your first release.

Practical Implementation

Although many authors write their first book and then realize they have more to say, so they start work on a sequel, it’s much easier if you’re already building your sequel as you write the first.

You’ll inevitably end up cutting certain parts or deciding that some content won’t fit or doesn’t work in your first book. When you set those extra parts aside, don’t just toss them away or delete them. Instead, start a file that you fill with those bits and pieces. That can be a physical file folder or an online document, like a Google Doc or in an Evernote folder.

As you’re writing, you’re likely to spot many adjacent topics or unexplored angles that you simply can’t fit into your first book.

Before you start planning your second book, however, do a little market research on which topics resonate the strongest with your target audience.

You can do that by writing blog posts or articles on some of those bits and pieces, or drafting conference talks or podcast episodes. Pay attention to the response you get. Is it crickets? Or are you overwhelmed with comments and questions? This feedback can help you gauge audience interest.

As you talk about your research interests, don’t limit yourself so narrowly to the topic of your first book. Think more broadly about what your two or three or four books will have in common. Then position yourself as an expert in that. This positioning helps plant seeds for future books.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

The biggest mistake authors make is writing follow-on books that regurgitate what they said in the first book, or that aren’t different enough to stand alone. Each of your books should be unique, sharing genuinely new ideas and insights and stories or research results that support your perspective.

The worst thing you can do is write a solid first book and then follow up too quickly with a book that is half-baked, or not as developed as your first. When that happens, your audience is much less likely to buy a third or fourth book, and your momentum dies.

Plan ahead, but take your time with execution. If your second book isn’t ready because your thinking isn’t there yet, don’t publish. Better to wait another year and roll out an exceptional manuscript than to rush and underdeliver.

Start keeping track of ideas that could become books. Write blog posts to test the waters. And map out how you can spread your extensive expertise over several books.

Your second book will be as successful, or more so, as your first if you plan for it now.

Crafting a sequel strategy will allow you to get out in front of your competition and stay there with an ongoing series of well-conceived and well-written titles.

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