Writing one book isn’t enough

Hi Reader,

The other day, I listened to a talk by an Irish tech entrepreneur.

She quit a high-flying corporate job to work for a charity.

Now, she is self-publishing a book to raise money and awareness for her charity.

A great cause, yes.

I couldn’t help but wonder what was driving better results for her goal of supporting a charity.

Book royalties?

Or using the book as a speaking point?

You see…

Most indie authors sell less than 1000 copies of their books.

If you sell more than 1000 congrats.

If you sell more than 5000, you’re crushing it.

Even then, earning $6000 or $30,000 in book royalties isn’t as lucrative as it seems after factoring in time spent writing and editing the book.

Whether you’re writing for profit or otherwise, the maths for writing one book are bleak.

The real value?

Well, I’ve interviewed dozens of best-selling authors.

Financial success comes from either building a back catalog of books or publishing your book as part of an ecosystem of products.

By all means, publish a book if you love writing.

By all means write a book to share a message.

But it’s not always the best choice for raising money or making an impact.

I’ve self-published a dozen books.

They’re fun to write.

And they can help you build a brand.

But publishing ONE book isn’t enough.

That exec I mentioned…

She’s spending as much time promoting her book as she did writing it.

She could use another approach.

One Pro Authors follow.

One I reveal in this video

Write on,

Bryan Collins