The Publishing Academy is launching their new site today. As one of their expert authors I have contributed a considerable amount of material to the site.
Whilst all the material I’ve contributed I have used myself it is worth discussing how other people have used this material and made a success.
The following article is about how Bryan McCormack has written a book and secured a publishing deal in less than 12 weeks. The book will be published in the first quarter next year and whilst we cannot guarantee that it will be a bestseller it is more than likely to sell extremely well. This article will deconstruct how Bryan guaranteed himself a well written book, a publishing deal and potentially huge sales volumes.
On Sunday the 27 September I was with Bryan discussing the possibilities of him writing a book. The usual issues of what could he write about came up and I took Bryan through a specific technique. We went through some of Brian’s core skills and experiences. Once we had a few of these we started to match them up and see what we could combine to come up with something unique. Very quickly we found two areas that Brian is passionate about and combined them. This was the core idea for the book.
Bryan then went away and did some market research. He identified that his book would relate to 2 specific markets. One of these markets is huge and has lots of hungry buyers. The other is more niche but Bryan knew that he could relate his book to their specific needs whilst still covering the big market. What made this work even better was the fact that Bryan combined two skill areas creating such a unique product that there is virtually no competition.
At this point Bryan knew that he has a potential bestseller on his hands. He knows his audience and he already knows their needs and the angle for his book. The key point that many first time authors miss is that the issue with best sellers is not just about the content of the book. It is all about having a market that is hungry for the content of the book. Without the market research it is not even worth starting to write.
I created a complete programme for the Publishing Academy about how to find a market and create a product or book to meet their needs in record time. This is the process Bryan is following.
The key to writing a book in quick time is all about knowing what the book should contain. With this in mind Bryan set about writing a very detailed contents page. This is a good thing to do for two reasons.
The first because it gives you a clear outline of what you are writing and the general overview of the book. The second reason for doing this is because the contents page is a big sales tool for the book. Think of this from a customer’s perspective. Many people buying non-fiction books will look through the contents page to ensure that it contains relevant material for them. Having a large and detailed contents page increases the chances of your book selling.
Instead of leaping in and writing the chapters Bryan spent even more time with his contents page. He broke the page down even further, into sections and even the key points for each section. He then developed a format that he could use for most of his chapters.
With all of this in place it is easy to then just fill in the content. So Bryan just typed all of the content in, without judgement or editing. Once he had the content of a chapter down he then went back smoothed it out and did his first pre-edit. The majority of the book is already written and the whole will be complete before Christmas.
The reality is publishing is a business and no one is interested in a well written book unless it is going to sell. Therefore the key to getting a good publisher is making sure you meet their needs in terms of not only the style and type of book but also that there is a market and that the book will sell.
Every author needs to be an ambassador for their book. This means that when you are pitching your book to a potential publisher you will need to convince them that you can sell your book. In reality all of this boils down to answering some key questions for your publishers. This would include the nature of the market, how you intend to sell into that market, what the competition is and how your book is different. You should also include samples of the book and some idea of when it will be complete.
Obviously having personal contacts and a network is going to help substantially. I put Bryan in touch with my publishers and Bryan made the pitch as we discussed above. My publishers have accepted Bryan’s book and they are currently negotiating a contract. Once this is agreed to the satisfaction of both parties we will release the details of the book title and the contents.
The reality is that many people write books and self publish. The issue isn’t about being published but is everything about publishing a meaningful book that meets the needs of your market. From start to finish Bryan has been using techniques that are well written up in the Publishing Academy. There is no absolute guarantee that it will be a bestseller but by following this process there is every likelihood that Bryan’s book will be flying off the shelves.
If you have the idea that you would like to be a published author than the one place you should look is the Publishing Academy. For the next three days the Publishing Academy are launching their website with a whole host of bonuses, freebies and goodies. All of the ideas and techniques Bryan has used to write his book in less than 12 weeks are fully written up on the website. You can check out the Publishing Academy site here.
Tags: Books