How to Publish a Book: 3 Things You Need

What it takes to get a traditional book deal is pretty simple.

This example actually shows why so many celebrities write books. If a literary agent or talent manager came to me tomorrow with a reality TV star and said let’s get this person a book deal, it wouldn’t be that difficult. That person already has a platform — or an audience — that’s easy to sell to because those folks already know this person. In a lot of ways, their audience is ready to buy the book. What I would do in this situation is simply create the editorial — a concept and the actual words on the page — to match their audience, persona, and brand.

However, this isn’t the case for most authors because most people aren’t celebrities. So, when people find me — and this may be the case for you — what they have is the opposite. You may have an idea (and sometimes multiple ideas) for a book — so you have potential — but you don’t really have the platform yet. And that’s a problem because publishers won’t touch your project without a distinct audience to sell your book to. That’s why selling memoirs is so hard for the average writer, because it’s so hard to build an entire audience and platform around a personal story.

This is one of many reasons why I choose to work exclusively with entrepreneurs and experts — because y’all have another reason to build your audience and platform outside of your book. You’re selling something else to your people. It’s a lot easier to fit a book into a platform than to create a platform just to sell a book. And, from a business perspective, it’s easier to see a direct return on investment because the things we do to build a platform — like showing up consistently on social media, building an email list, and refining your content marketing — also increase the bottom line for your business. 

In other words, there’s a business case for investing in your dream of becoming an author. As an entrepreneur or expert, wanting a six-figure book deal isn’t a vanity project or a waste of time and money. Instead, it’s a legacy play. When you decide to pursue this dream, your business benefits — both today and for years into the future.