Waiting for Your Nonfiction Book Deal Can Be a Good Thing

The traditional publishing route takes too long. I want to publish my book now.

If this sounds like you, read this email carefully because I’m going to share two case studies from two people who said that to me.

The first story is from someone who chose not to work with me. I’m going to call her Shanice. 

The second story is about someone who became a client. I’m going to call her Jasmine. 

After having a chat about what it would take for her to get a publishing deal, Shanice decided to self-publish. She didn’t want to “waste time” building an audience, and felt like she could use the book as a lead magnet for her coaching business. 

Jasmine was in a similar situation, but decided that it would be a good idea to expand upon the audience she already had before writing a book. She joined Author Platform Builders and used my advice to hone in on how she wanted to spend her time. 

A year later — 

Shanice had written the first draft of her book. 

Jasmine had grown her audience and was flying around the country doing keynote presentations for more money than she had ever charged. She also started working with my team on her book proposal.

Two years later —

Jasmine had landed a six-figure book deal. 

And Shanice wrote to me, saying: “I’ve never felt so stuck with all the responsibility going the self-publishing route. I chose that because I really wanted to write, so I just went on whatever would feel good and appealed to give me a ‘hit’ of accomplishing my goal to be an author. Combine that with some great but deceptive marketing and voila, it was a recipe for disaster.”

At the beginning of their journeys, Shanice and Jasmine were pretty alike.

But the end result couldn’t be more different. 

That’s because what folks don’t realize is that a book deal (and the subsequent bestselling book) tends to be a lagging indicator. The success of the book only comes after the author has been successful — at testing their content, at marketing and selling it to an audience, and at being able to build that audience over time, usually with more expensive products.

What a book is not is a leading indicator — of your ability to market, of your ability to find an audience of readers and customers, or of your success. 

Because a book is ultimately just a book — paper, glue, and ink. 

Both Shanice and Jasmine will have a book, eventually. 

But only one author has the chance to impact people’s lives in a big way through her keynotes and large audiences, land another book deal, and become a bestselling author. 

As it turns out, good things do come to folks who wait.