Is it time to start publishing your helpful ideas as books?
If so, there are 3 types of nonfiction books I invite you to think about.
To be clear, there are really 7 distinct types of nonfiction books you can publish to make a meaningful impact and raise your industry profile. It’s just that 3 of them are ideal for your first book (or first few books). Guess which ones . . .
#1: The Ultimate Framework
This type of book shares one of your larger frameworks or methodologies. The models or unique approaches you build into this book are typically based on several years of experience creating transformation for yourself and others, and they often take 6 - 12+ months to write in book form.
#2: The Lesson Memoir
Whereas a framework book might share parts of your story to reinforce some of your points, a memoir is built entirely around your story. A lesson memoir pulls out teaching points from a time in your life to help the reader with a key goal.
#3: The How-To Guide or Roadmap
A how-to book gives your readers a roadmap (a set of steps/actions to follow, generally in a certain order) to achieve a specific outcome—like: start a podcast, do well in an interview, raise kids who love to read, etc.
#4: The Tactical Guide or Playbook
Whereas a how-to book provides a roadmap to follow, a playbook gives readers different “plays” (a.k.a. tactics or strategies) to help them on their path. These plays usually don’t need to be done in any particular order (ex: recipes in a cookbook, or tactics you can use in the workplace to make transitions easier and healthier).
#5: The Accountability Guide or Assistant/Coach
This type of book is like an unofficial personal assistant, coach, or accountability partner (or all 3) for people working on a specific task or area of business/life they want to improve. These books often take the form of planners, workbooks, journals, or formulas/prompts. They offer people the space or reminders to practice, plan, reflect, and/or answer “the right” questions for their goals.
Whether an official textbook (used in education settings) or an unofficial one, this type of book is designed to (1) give a well-rounded overview of a topic, (2) dive deep to expand the learner’s knowledge on a sub-topic within a larger topic, or (3) teach learners how to practice something—ex: accounting, civil engineering, business management—as a career.
#6: The Academic (or Not) Textbook
#7: The Case Study or Industry Forecast
This type of book is more than a telling of history, of what is, or of what’s to come, it is a nuanced take on why those things are (or will be). It is you making predictions in your industry, or packaging up the data and facts (of a study or event) and turning that data into relevant actions your readers can take.
Case studies or “state/future of” books allow readers to benefit from the pattern-recognition abilities, original research, and expertise of the author, then make informed, thoughtful decisions.
Okay, that was a lot, so let’s illustrate with an example nutritionist/chef 👩🏽🍳 who is passionate about plant-based food as a form of healing:
#1—as a framework book, she might explore a modified food pyramid that she wants schools, families, and individuals to adopt.
#2—her memoir might be titled More Veggies, Please: How Plants Reversed Disease for My Entire Family.
#3—for a how-to book, she might share steps to gently introduce a plant-based lifestyle to your loved ones, or, how to launch a vegan supper club.
#4—for a playbook, she might publish a cookbook with her most flavorful Dominican recipes.
#5—for an accountability book, she might publish a special meal planner that gives prompts and ideas, but also helps to shift people’s mindsets around healthy living and legacy.
#6—for a case study book, she might share how she launched a popular supper club—including everything she did to attract her first hundred members.
#7—as an academic textbook, she might create Decolonizing Food—and present a system to account for cultural needs and differences when deciding what “proper” nutrition is.
So, which types of thought leadership books are a great fit for your first few publishing projects?
The guidebooks (#3, #4, and #5), here’s 👇🏽 why:
Guidebooks can help you grow your audience from scratch and make a great profit—better than any other type of book.
Framework books and memoirs are best for people who already have a sizable audience. Why? Because they’re not the types of books that people are actively searching for:
“What is it like to experience the life-changing magic of tidying up?” -and- “How do I put atomic habits in place?” -and- “How do I tap in to the art of gathering?” were not common questions typed into Google before the books came out. Similarly, people probably aren’t searching for a compelling life story of someone they’ve never heard of before, right?
So, framework books and memoirs are great, but they don’t typically make great first books for people who are starting from scratch. They also take much longer to write than guidebooks. Guidebooks can be done well in 2 - 6 months. Also . . .
Guidebooks do make great first (and second, and third) books for thought leaders, changemakers, and ideapreneurs who want to grow their audience, spread the reach of their ideas, and make a good income at the same time. Here are a few reasons why (plus some bonus reasons why you might want to make this the year you publish an industry-leading book):
💸 #1:
A guidebook offers you the opportunity to do paid audience building.
People buy guidebooks for the content, not the author.
You don’t need a large, pre-existing audience to sell guidebooks, because they’re the type of books that are most often purchased for the content > author. People want help with what they want help with, so they don’t need to know who you are beforehand.
You’ll have a paid product available on a major search engine.
Your book can exist on a search engine filled with buyers (who already have their credit card details loaded), not just with people who want or need free advice. Meaning: when a person types “interview tips” or “start a podcast” into Amazon, they’re expecting a ~$25 book.
As an example: when I published my first and second print books (2013 & 2014), I did not have a large social media following or email list. But, since my books were available on Amazon and had optimized descriptions, dozens (sometimes hundreds) of new people would find my books and purchase them each month then connect with me on social media.
My book sales helped me grow my online audience, not the other way around.
📊 #2:
Thought leadership or big-helpful-idea guidebooks can be a key part of your business model.
Guidebooks help you get paid now.
Helpful books like the three types of guidebooks we discussed above (how-to guides, playbooks, and accountability/assistant books) are usually same-day decisions for most buyers.
The sales cycle is short. It doesn’t take “weeks to close the customer.”
Guidebooks make a great beginning to your thought leadership ecosystem (or funnel).
Books are a familiar product that don’t take heavy explaining to sell—in the same way a group coaching program or mastermind might.
But, once people are in your ecosystem (and they trust you because of your awesome book), you can build paths for readers to become customers of your deeper products.
Books are recession-proof offerings inside your business.
A low-cost book can be a key part of your revenue model when the economy is down as well as when it shifts back up. People will shift the amount they spend (during a recession) on things like new skills, education, and tools for a better life, but they will still spend. Your book can meet them at the price point they’re willing and able to pay right now, and your relationship with them can grow from there.
Guidebooks can make meaningful, consistent income.
If you set up a way to attract new audience members consistently (which we’ll talk about during the crash course described below), you can earn a meaningful amount of money each month from your guidebooks.
As an example, my second print book (Epic Blog, 2014) made a full-time income each month for several years after I published it. It earned over $100,000 in profit in those first few years entirely due to search engine optimized content and an optimized listing on Amazon.
🤓 #3:
Writing books will help you codify your knowledge, define your most important frameworks or methodologies, and profit from your intellectual property (IP).
Your intellectual property doesn’t just belong in your head or on your hard drive, it belongs on bookshelves and in readers’ hands/minds.
The process of brainstorming, organizing, outlining, and writing a helpful book on something you’re skilled at can help you define/refine your framework and create further, complementary products or services based on that framework.
Your employer and/or competitors shouldn’t be the ones profiting the most off your IP.
Other people take our ideas and profit off of them on a daily basis. You should hold the copyright to your most important works. One of the clearest ways to do that is to write the book on your topic(s).
As an example, a past client and member inside our book publishing course launched her playbook and was able to sell copies to a large organization for every single employee. Previously, corporations were benefiting off of her IP for free or through low-cost workshops.
🤳🏽 #4:
Your book will give you more direction & purpose for using social media.
As you post on social media (and hopefully update all your bios and email signature lines to “Author of [Your Book’s Title]”), you’ll have a meaningful, helpful, up-to-date guidebook to link to—possibly the most up-to-date one in your industry. You’ll no longer just be giving free tips, lessons, and free hard-won IP without directing people to a purposeful, affordable product (your book) to dive deeper with.
😎 #5:
Any way you slice it, publishing a helpful, good-looking book is more of a credibility builder than creating a course/service or doing many other types of things.
Books are great credibility-builders for jobs, speaking engagements, interviews/press, and many other opportunities.
Having a book, let alone the book, on a specific topic is like a magical key that lets you in many closed off doors. The right thought leadership book can also mean a shift in power dynamics—where people are coming to you with opportunities they hope you’ll say “yes” to, instead of being in a position where you’re constantly pitching yourself.
Because it’s not easy to write and publish a helpful and good-looking book, it’s still regarded as an amazing accomplishment.
People say things like, “Oh, yeah, you should check out [name here]. She wrote the book on [topic here].” People don’t say things like, “He created the 3-month live group course on [topic].” Even though, don’t get me wrong, publishing courses and other products is still a useful and profitable endeavor.
The number and quality of paid speaking engagements and workshops I was asked to lead went way up after publishing my 1st book. Also, the caliber of publications I was able to write guest articles for changed drastically. These were just some of the amazing unexpected benefits.
💪🏽 #6:
Publishing your book is about personal accomplishment and proving important things to yourself.
Your book. On a bookstore bookshelf. On the desks of readers. Talked about in people’s Instagram or LinkedIn posts. That feeling is unmatched. Maybe it’s a goal before you turn 40? 50? 65? 85? Maybe it’s just your way of reminding yourself you can do hard & meaningful things. Whatever your personal reasons are, they are valid, and I am here for them.
🙏🏽 #7:
A book can help ensure maximum reach and impact of your work (because you do the kind of work where having a few viral reels just won’t cut it).
You’re not of the generation where your one true dream is to become a TikTok influencer—though you don’t mind the exposure social media can give your ideas. Your goal is to have maximum spread of your deep work . . . which means: people spending real time with your ideas, and/or your frameworks (or other IP) being licensed and taught in schools, etc. A massively helpful thought leadership book can do that for you.
As an example, my first print book (The Small Business Manual, 2013) became a required textbook at multiple colleges in the United States, and made it all the way to a library in Nepal 👉🏽.
📣 #8:
You’ll have a shiny new introductory product to sell when you give talks, workshops, lunch ‘n learns, etc.
More than one of my clients has called me to excitedly tell me about corporations buying their book in bulk and/or selling multiple copies when doing live workshops or keynotes. P.S. I used to sell books “from the trunk of my car” for years while teaching continuing education courses at a university in Texas. The profit margins on sales like this are even better than individuals ordering your book off Amazon or from a local bookstore.
You've been saying you want to write a book since Dru Hill's "Enter the Dru" (i.e. 1998). Let's get started in a weekend.
You've been saying you want to write a book since Dru Hill's "Enter the Dru" (i.e. 1998). Let's get started in a weekend.
The Big Idea Nonfiction Book Publishing Crash Course is now an on-demand course, available immediately.
But, it’s an action-oriented course. You will leave with a plan for your first/next thought leadership book or “big ideas” book, as well as complete clarity on the individual steps (and four self-publishing milestones) required to publish an industry-leading, nonfiction book.
The crash course curriculum takes you through the four phases (and every step) of the independent thought leadership book publishing process.
1. Establish Your Market Position
When you set out to publish an industry-leading book, you’ll want to make decisions in the positioning phase that line up with your goals. To get to the Market Position Milestone, you will go through steps such as:
Setting a very specific primary objective for your book, as well as a secondary goal (is it a credibility builder for speaking engagements, a funnel starter, an affordable product to expand your impact? Etc.)
Choosing the best idea (in terms of topic and scope) for your goal
Deciding on your distribution plan based on your options (we’ll talk about how to get your book in bookstores, libraries, and more)
Outlining your book (I’ll share a hasn’t-failed-me-yet process)
Doing market research to firm up your outline and give direction to your book cover
Coming up with your book’s title, subtitle, and price
Plus a few more steps
2. Design & Develop the Right Book
Now that you know what you want your book to do for you, and for readers, it’s time to design and develop a book that can help you meet those goals. A self-published book should never look or feel “self-published” (which people generally say when they mean “janky”). Your book can and will feel like a major publisher was behind it.
To get to the Design & Development Milestone, you will go through steps such as:
Choosing a “formula” for your chapters so that they flow and are easier to write
Creating your book cover (or hiring someone to design it) and getting “mockups” of your cover that you can share online
Laying out your book’s interior (or hiring a designer to do so) to fit standard publishing requirements
Choosing one or more “writing motivators” (these are mental hacks I use on myself and clients to help get all the writing done)
And several more steps we’ll cover inside the masterclass
3. Create a Sales Engine
While you work on the writing and editing of your thought leadership book, you can also begin to create book release plans and an ongoing sales plan. To get to the Sales Engine Milestone, you will go through steps such as:
Creating a book launch plan around one or more events (that can be in-person or virtual)
Choosing 1 or more of the top 3 nonfiction book funnels to turn on and create consistent sales of your book
Making a sales page for your book
Adding specific elements or pages to your book to help direct people to your online platform while/after they read
And more
4. Secure Your Intellectual Property
So you’re done writing your book and it’s in the final editing & proofing stages. It’s time to secure your intellectual property (IP). To get to the IP Milestone, you will take actions such as:
Creating a legit publishing house/entity
Getting your official ISBN, copyright, and other special book registrations and identifiers that set your book up to be carried in libraries or ordered by bookstores
Ordering proof copies (if publishing a print book), and/or proofing the eBook or audio book
And more
We’ll cover all these steps inside the on-demand crash course.
Naomi Hattaway (1:1 book coaching client)
Photo by Daniel Muller
“Writing a book has always been in the back of my mind, but I felt overwhelmed by the idea of publishing, even though I was leaving valuable expertise and knowledge hiding in my Google drive. When you encouraged me to write an impactful playbook-style guide to help organizations with workplace transitions, turnover, and retention, AND shared how powerful it would be as an intentional short book, I was all in.
Leaving Well: A Navigation Guide for Workplace Transitions went from idea to published in less than six months . . . and I couldn't have done it without your guidance.”
As seen in:
Regina here.
I kinda sorta published my first book in 2012. “Book” is used loosely here because it was a document I created then printed out and hole-punched into a binder for students inside my continuing education courses at the University of Texas.
But, it gave me an idea: why not really publish this as a book? Maybe it would be helpful to people who didn’t live in Austin, Texas but still wanted the info 🤷🏽♀️?
So, that’s what I did. I figured out all the steps, did the hard work of writing a whole book (and fighting all the mental and emotional roadblocks that came up), and published my first real print book in 2013. Then, a lot happened.
I sold copies each month at my in-person classes ✅. I sold copies on both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble’s website each month ✅. The book got picked up by a few colleges for their small business classes as a required textbook ✅. The book made it into certain libraries ✅. I was approached for a traditional publishing opportunity through a higher ed institution ✅. Etc.
I’ve since published many more eBooks, print books, online and in-person workshops, audio courses, and more. But nothing . . . and I mean nothing, matches the feeling of getting a client’s or student’s book in the mail. I can frequently be found showing/gushing about their books on Zoom, and or randomly petting the books 🤣 because I’m so proud of what clients have created. And I’d love to work with you in our 1-day workshop (explained above and below) to help you on your journey to publishing a “big idea” book.
Using the Big Idea Nonfiction Book Publishing Crash Course, you will:
✅ Have a game plan for the next several thought leadership books you can write. You’ll understand how to structure them powerfully, your options for selling them each month, and more.
✅ Finally have clarity on how distribution works for independently published authors. You’ll know how your books can land in physical bookstores, libraries, and more.
✅ Clearly grasp your options for the different formats of books you can publish—hardcover, softcover, audio, digital—and the best places to get each type produced.
✅ Know how my clients & I have created consistent/significant sales of our nonfiction books. Meaning: you’ll get new, priceless ideas for how you can approach sales.
✅ Have a working outline for at least one thought leadership book project.
✅ Get the roadmap for securing your intellectual property in book form, so you can be the one who profits off of you hard-won knowledge and experience the most.
As soon as you register below, you will receive access to the on-demand version of the workshop. You’ll keep unlimited lifetime access to the materials.