As a writer, I’m a curious sort of person. A less charitable assessment would be to say I have a short attention span. Yet I’ve managed to stumble into the perfect business for me: book publishing.
Like a lot of entrepreneurs, I’m interested in a wide range of topics and have had trouble settling on just one “niche” because I get bored easily. As a book publisher, I don’t have to stick to doing just one thing. My books are on wildly different topics. In fact, each book is almost like its own little business.
I have published a number of nonfiction books that fall into several main areas:
- Adopted pets/Humane sheltering and rescue
- Vegetarian cooking
- Publishing and online business
- Computer tips
There’s an old saying that books don’t market themselves. Of course, that’s true of any business. As a book publisher, I market books in many different niches. Technically, it makes cross-promotion more difficult, but because I have multiple books in the four main product “funnels,” it works out.
Different books tend to sell at different times of year and every book has a life cycle. By the time I’m totally sick of a book, I can stop marketing it because it’s probably out-of-date enough that it needs to be re-released in a new edition or retired completely. Plus, with today’s print-on-demand technology, if a book doesn’t sell for a while, it costs me almost nothing because I don’t have to carry inventory.
Marketing Multiple Books
In today’s world, to market a book you need a Web site. It’s important for each book to have its own little home base on the Web. The key to marketing a book online is to find out where potential readers congregate. Go there, make friends, and subtly share the fact that your book exists and the benefits it offers to readers.
When someone asks about your book and you have a Web site, you have a place to direct potential customers and the media where they can find more information. (And of course buy the book!)
Books Are Just the Beginning
Anyone in publishing will tell you that unless you’re extremely lucky, it’s unlikely you can make a living off just one book. To make real money in publishing, you need to go beyond the book and create other products.
Although I have written and published a lot of books, which do provide a nice income stream, I also have developed other products and services related to those books.
My adopted pet book led to the development of the National Association of Pet Rescue Professionals, which offers tools and information for people at animal shelters and rescue groups who are working to save homeless animals.
My book Funds to the Rescue: 101 Fundraising Ideas for Humane and Animal Rescue Groups came about from writing I did for NAPRP. I’ll be releasing another follow-on book this summer that is targeted at the humane market as well.
Of course, like I said, not all my books relate to one another. Neither do the associated products. Right now, I’m working on the Self-Publishers Online Conference, which is an event that we devised after my book Publishize: How to Quickly and Affordably Self-Publish a Book That Promotes Your Expertise came out.
I got endorsements for Publishize from many people in publishing and realized that there was no conference specifically for self-publishers. So we created one. I invited quite a few of the people who endorsed my book to speak, and the conference became a reality.
Don’t Apologize for Your Creativity
Many creative people are criticized for not being able to stick to “just one thing.” I know I struggled for years to find work that didn’t bore me silly. I encourage you to embrace your nature and don’t let the naysayers bring you down. Being inquisitive and imaginative can be a huge advantage in the long run.
After all, you can’t outsource creativity or your brain. Keep creating, and you’ll never be bored or lacking new product ideas.