Honorée Corder is the author of 20 books, including You Must Write a Book, Vision to Reality, and Prosperity for Writers. Honorée coaches business professionals, writers, and aspiring non-fiction authors who want to publish their books to bestseller status, create a platform, and develop multiple streams of income.
She is currently working on I Must Write a Book the companion workbook to You Must Write a Book. It will be available later this year.
This is my second podcast with Honorée. If you want to listen to our first conversation you can click here
In this podcast we talk about how to prepare for and outline your first book, what it takes to create a quality published book and where first-time authors should invest their money in terms of book production. Honorée also discusses how she launches and markets her books. This is an essential listen for any first-time author. Here are the highlights of our conversation.
Every professional would benefit from writing a book.
Your book takes the place of your business card, although you should still have both.
A book helps clients decide whether you are the person they should hire.
The way to be the no questions asked expert in the room is to write a book about your topic.
Your book can be your portable sales pitch. Start a conversation with your prospect and mention that you have a book. Reading your book will answer their questions more deeply than you can in the short conversation. It will help the prospect get a sense of who you are, and whether or not you mesh together well.
Business cards are disposable, books are not.
Your book is a perpetual marketing piece.
You can create multiple streams of income from one book
You can create multiple streams of income by simply publishing your book in different formats (Kindle, paperback and audio.)
You can also create multiple streams of income by repurposing some or all of the content of your book into different things. (Courses, speeches, and coaching for example.)
You should write a book because a book leaves no question that you are the best at what you do.
A book on your subject is the best marketing tool you can have.
If you take the time to write and publish a book and do it well it will lead to opportunities, connections and conversations you wouldn’t otherwise have.
A big mistake first-time authors make is they try to put everything they know into their first book.
Having a conversation in your mind with your ideal reader is a good way to think about what types of information you need in the book and what types of information you can leave out or put in your next book.
It’s important to make all your books look professional including your first book.
It’s important that you write every day. First, it develops the habit of writing which is essential. Second, if you write every day you’re more likely to remember what you wrote so that you don’t repeat yourself.
Writing is a muscle. If you don’t do it every day your writing muscle doesn’t say strong.
You can write for 10 or 15 minutes a day every day to keep your writing muscles strong. It doesn’t have to be a massive time commitment.
If you have a manuscript started and took some time away from it don’t be afraid to dive back in. You’ll probably gain momentum faster than you think.
There are times when life takes over and you can’t devote as much time or energy as you want to writing your book. That’s okay. Just keep going from where you are when you can.
When crafting a book title it’s important to make it memorable.
For nonfiction books the title is what the book is about and the subtitle is the promise the book has to deliver on. The subtitle is the benefit that the reader will get from reading and acting on knowledge of the book.
When asking for advice be sure to ask a professional, whether it be about your book cover, or your title or anything else related to your book.
There are two marketing phases for every book. Phase 1 is 30 – 45 days before a book is published to 44 days after you’ve published a book. Phase 2 is 45 days after you’ve published a book to the day you die.
Phase 1 is when you’re launching the book and letting the world know it exists.
Phase 2 is when you do 7 things every day to sell your book until you die.
When you create a book for the marketplace you have to invest upfront in creating a quality product. There are a lot of free and low-cost methods for marketing your book that are as effective if not more effective than things like high-priced ads.
when you’re asking someone to read your book you’re asking for their most viable resource, their time.
It’s important to be consistent in your marketing efforts. If you do something to market your books every day there will begin to be a snowball effect. If you spend $1000 on one ad campaign you may get some sales in the short term but as soon as the ad campaign ends your sales will fizzle out. If you don’t continue to put energy into your marketing your book will languish in obscurity.
Karma is a phenomenon. What you put out comes back to you multiplied.
Today there are plenty of resources for the first-time author, and there’s no rush. If you’ve decided that you want to write a book, make a commitment to yourself to write at least 50 or 100 words a day until you have a manuscript. Then find an editor. Keep putting one foot in front of the other until the book is done.
Writing a book is the best thing you’ll ever do for yourself.
If you’re going to hire someone to help you publish your book make sure this is in their first time self-publishing a book. Hire someone with experience and a proven track record of success.
Things to Think about As You Prepare Write a Book
1. What problem are you trying to solve for your audience? What are you trying to do for them, relieve pain, bring pleasure or both?
2. Who is your ideal reader? What is your avatar? It works best if you actually pick an individual person who really exists and write the book to them. Having a specific avatar keeps your book focused and on message.
Things You Should Be Willing to Pay for a First-Time Author
1. A Book Editor — you need to find someone who is a professional editor. Don’t let your friend do it (unless they are professional editor.) Don’t pay someone who only edits books part-time.
2. Graphic Design/Cover Design — your cover is one of the most important marketing pieces when selling your book. Your cover is often the first thing your audience sees. It can entice them to click on/pick up the book or pass it by.
3. Copywriting for Your Book Product Description — book descriptions are sales copy. They are the second thing that the prospects sees when deciding to buy your book. Unless you’re a copywriter yourself you should hire someone skilled in the art of copywriting.
4. Interior Layout Design — it’s important that the inside of your book look good and professionally designed. You want to make sure that the text is readable and has a coherent visual style.
Links and Resources Mentioned in the Interview
Honorée Corder’s Amazon Author Profile — go here to see Honorée’s complete list of books available at Amazon
You Must Write a Book: Boost Your Brand, Get More Business, and Become the Go-To Expert — Honorée Corder’s latest book about why you have to write a book and how to do it.
Vision to Reality: How Short Term Massive Action Equals Long Term Maximum Results — Honorée Corder’s book on how to identify your vision for your life and make it reality.
Prosperity for Writers: A Writer’s Guide to Creating Abundance — Honorée shows you how to shift your mindset from starving artist to prosperous creative in this book based on her best-selling course.
The Prosperity for Writers Course — the course that inspired Honorée’s best-selling book prosperity for writers
Your First 1000 Copies: The Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Your Book — Tim Grahl’s book on how to sell your first 1000 copies and grow an audience.
Let’s Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should: Updated Second Edition (Let’s Get Publishing Book 1) — by David Gaughran’s guide to self publishing.
Let’s Get Visible: How To Get Noticed And Sell More Books (Let’s Get Publishing Book 2) by David Gaughran — David’s follow up to Let’s Get Digital. In this book he shows you more advanced tactics to get noticed and sell more books.
Moo Business Cards — where Honorée buys her business cards
Connect with Honorée
http://ift.tt/1FOdos6 — Honorée’s website.
http://ift.tt/2evBN3c — Honorée’s webpage for You Must Write a Book
https://twitter.com/Honoree — connect with Honorée on twitter
http://ift.tt/2cKsYhD — connect with Honorée on facebook
http://ift.tt/2evIBh0 — connect with Honorée on Instagram
from 109: Why You Must Write a Book and Branding for Authors with Honorée Corder