One thing publishers and authors have in common is that they want book sales. Although authors may come to the table with a good platform, a great marketing plan, and even a contract agreement to buy 2,000, every effort is needed to ensure the book sales targets are met. This article explains why it is helpful to develop a business around the book with products and services that support the book and the business.

Our business is ROI Institute, the global leader in evaluating noncapital investments, particularly investments in people, technology, innovation, culture, and marketing. Along the way, we've managed to write more than 100 books—all with traditional publishers except for one recent self-published book. For the traditional publishers, we had to convince them that we could not only write the book but sell the book. Some of these books were very successful; some were not. The difference is the subject of this article.

A good example is our first book, Handbook of Training Evaluation and Measurement Methods, published in 1983 by Gulf Publishing. It was the first book on training evaluation ever. It was based on Jack’s experience as a training manager in a major company, where we were able to show the impact and ROI of investing in training, learning, and team member development. We didn't have a marketing plan or platform when the book was written. But, because it was a new and important topic, the publisher took a chance. Quickly, we saw the power of developing a business around this book, and we began consulting (evaluating programs for others), teaching others how to do it through a certification process, speaking to professional associations and large organizations, coaching others to apply the content from the book, writing articles that support the process, and even conducting research on how well our methodology was working. What happened quickly was that the book drove the business, leading us to conclude, “Books are not our business, but we wouldn’t have a business without our books.”

We sold the business after a few years and netted over $6 million in earnings on the sale of the business and the royalties that we enjoyed through the book sales. It sold over 100,000 copies through four editions. The fourth edition is with Routledge in the UK. That’s the way it should work. The business and the book go hand in hand. The book draws people to the business, and the business supports the book. The principal revenue comes from the business.

Along the way, we’ve tackled other books and attempted to develop businesses around those books. One miserable failure is our book, The Green Scorecard, published by Nicholas Brealey, a UK publisher who asked us to write the book. The book shows organizations how to show the value of their environmental and sustainability initiatives to ensure they are working for you. About 80% of the actions an organization can take to go green represent a positive ROI if they are working properly. This book shows how to do it properly. The other 20% are required by some regulation. It’s a great book, the first of its kind. It was well received and featured in Publishers Weekly and National Geographic.

Unfortunately, we were so busy working on other projects that we gave only one keynote presentation on the book, conducted no workshops around the book, and provided no consulting on the content. Although we purchased 2,000 copies, we still have most of them. We calculated that we lost $17,000 on the book purchases, not counting the time we spent researching and writing the book. We did not develop a business around the book. This is not the way to do it. We were embarrassed, and we apologized to the disappointed publisher.

The challenge is to make sure the authors are committed to building a business around the book. If we had, with consulting, coaching, teaching, speaking, and more writing, we could have made a difference. It would have made the publisher happy, and it would have made us happy. What can the publisher do?

The Author Makes the Difference

We know that book success will depend on the author’s promotion and author-initiated sales. It all starts with asking yourself this question, “Is writing a nonfiction book for you?” We have a helpful assessment, challenging the authors to see if they are ready to develop a book. It focuses on content generation, writing skills, motivation, self-promotion of the book, rejection, criticism, and support. For a copy of this assessment, contact info@roiinstitute.net.

While so many people want to write a book, when they see what is involved in it, they may take a different position. Some people cannot tolerate the self-promotion that has to be undertaken to make the book a success. Some cannot handle the criticism that will come from others who have different points of view or have a competing process. With the determination to write the book, its success rests on four important factors:

• Experience: The potential author needs to have experience with the topic in their book. This is an important issue. Sometimes, a researcher will research a topic and write a book, and they don't really have experience in doing what they are writing about. For them, a lack of experience will hinder building a business around the book. For example, a Wall Street Journal writer conducts a survey of organizations to determine how they make remote work effective. She combines this data with a thorough Google search and writes a book about remote work. The experience may be lacking unless she has worked remotely, advised others on remote work, and helped with implementation.
• Expertise: Along with experience comes expertise. Actions should be among the best with this topic and considered an expert by some. While expertise to sell the book is needed (we want to hear from the experts), it's critical for the business. (Show me how to do it.)
• Passion: The most important issue is passion. We cannot imagine writing a book if you don’t have a passion for the topic. Our passion comes from actually doing it, making it work, and seeing how it helps others. Passion is critical for the book and the business built around the book.
• Market: You can have the best book in the world, but if there is no market for it or it’s a market you cannot reach, it will be a failure. Understanding the market, who will buy the book, how many will buy the book, and how do you reach those people—the author must know this for the book to be successful.

Building the Business

As the book is being planned and written, the plan for the business around the book should also be created. Here are some activities that can support the book and make it a business.

1. Speaking: Most writers speak at conferences, organizations, associations, and professional groups—it’s all about getting the word out and delivering a message that others need to hear. Keynote speeches can be profitable, but most authors cannot build a business on just the keynote presentations. Even the best have difficulty sustaining the revenue.
2. Consulting: Helping other individuals and organizations with the content of the book is probably the most valuable activity of authors as they build business around the books. They should consult. If you are writing a book on mental wellness, a great revenue-generating activity is to help organizations implement mental wellness programs.
3. Teaching: Conduct workshops, ranging from one-hour webinars to one-day workshops, two-day workshops, and more. In our process, we offer a five-day certification, certifying individuals to do what we do. This is offered in person, live virtual, on-demand, and blended. Just imagine, we’ve had 19,000 individuals attend our certification process, paying an average of $3,500 to attend. That's almost $70 million of revenue coming from the books, and the books are used in the certification process …  and the participants will buy more books.
4. Coaching: Coaching others to apply the content in your book is a great revenue generator. Coaching has grown in popularity over the last decade.
5. Additional writing: In our situation, we write case studies and sell them or publish them with other publishers. Sometimes, we have short versions of our books, offer them in different languages, write articles about them, and develop them into an application guide, tools, and job aids to support the book. They drive business revenue and book sales.
6. Research: Sometimes, you can research the topic. If you have written a book on culture, you might develop an assessment to measure the current culture or change the culture. Researching within an organization or across organizations can be a powerful tool to support the book and help build the business around your book.
7. Franchises: Sometimes, you may want to create franchises, particularly in other countries, as we have done with ROI Institute partners in seventy countries.
8. Other tools: Consider apps, podcasts, implementation toolkits, or memberships so that readers can pay a subscription to obtain more tools, processes, tips, job aids, newsletters, and advice.

It’s almost limitless what can be done to promote your business, with the book being the heart of it. The book is used in the business. It’s the tool that drives your business, but it also attracts people to your business.

The challenge for publishers is to ensure that authors have a platform and marketing plan and that they are promoting and driving sales. One of the best ways to do this is to have a business built around the book. Publishers need to encourage them, teach them, and support them to develop a business around their books. The author and the publisher will be rewarded for their effort. If you have questions or would like to discuss this topic in more detail, please let us know.

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