Enjoy writing books as a process, not just for financial rewards.
Design books for sustained passive income growth through recommendations.
Create recommendable books by solving real problems effectively for continuous success.
Deep dives
Reasons for Writing Books
Writing books is not just about the financial rewards but also about enjoying the process. The speaker finds writing enjoyable, similar to programming or product design. By engaging in writing, individuals can think deeply about topics and refine their explanations. Through writing, one can explore interests, learn, and create passive income streams.
Passive Income from Book Sales
Writing and publishing books can lead to significant passive income over time. Contrary to the common belief that book sales peak and decline rapidly, well-written books can continue to generate revenue for years. By designing books to be recommendable and solving real problems effectively, authors can secure sustained income growth. Authors can choose strategic approaches between self-publishing for higher royalties or traditional publishing for broader reach.
Creating Recommendable Books
Crafting recommendable books involves depth, desirability, effectiveness, and engagement. Books that matter and deliver tangible results to readers increase their chances of being recommended. Engaging content that offers high value per page enhances the reader's experience and encourages word-of-mouth referrals. By understanding readers' key problems and designing solutions effectively, authors can build books that stand the test of time and foster continuous recommendation loops.
Focus on Reliability in Non-Fiction Publishing
Emphasizing the challenge in non-fiction publishing, the podcast explores the importance of prioritizing reliability over potential high returns. With a significant percentage of traditionally published non-fiction books failing to recoup their costs, the emphasis shifts towards creating a product with a reliable path to secure, passive income. By targeting a specific audience and addressing their needs, authors can increase their chances of consistent success.
Building a Successful Book Launch Strategy
Discussing strategies for launching a book successfully, the podcast highlights the effectiveness of approaches like podcast book tours, content marketing, and event giveaways. Each method comes with distinct trade-offs in terms of scalability, reliability, and time investment. By leveraging these diverse strategies, authors can attract an initial reader base, generate buzz, and increase the chances of their book's success.
In this episode I catch up with Rob Fitzpatrick (@robfitz) about his new book, Write Useful Books. We'll talk about how he approaches book-writing like product development and why the sales graphs for his books look more like a hockey stick instead of shark fin.
Follow Rob on Twitter: https://twitter.com/robfitz
