Calling cards
Some owners turned authors say their books open doors
by Gary Legwold The book world changed 22 years ago when consultants Tom Peters and Bob Waterman wrote In Search of Excellence. It created a new industry of business books and a new arena for business leaders.
Fast-forward to today. Stroll through a bookstore. Rows of books cover success, leadership, management strategies, advancement, investing, motivation, sales, consulting, business profiles, human resources, e-commerce, starting a business, careers, marketing, advertising, negotiating and wealth.
Some books are by authors you know, but most are by unknowns. And some of these unknowns are local. They don’t write bestsellers, but they still write business books — lots of them. Why? Interviews with three local authors and two people on the publishing side flushed out many reasons. Here are the Top Ten:
1. You skip the first few lines in a conversation. With a book, you are seen as an expert. VIPs often give ear to an author. Your book precedes you, and you can get right to the point of your conversation without having to establish credentials.
Potentially, more people will judge you and your company by the book than by any other means. That means increasing your contacts, prospects and customers. Also, in a marketplace of ideas, a book is an excellent vehicle for getting your message across and separating you from the competition.
Up the ladder
“A book can help you climb to the next rung in your career,” says Milt Adams, president of Beaver’s Pond Press Inc., in Edina. “There’s something about being a published author that makes people look at you differently, like you might have something more to say than the average person.”
Many authors consider books to be high-caliber calling cards. “I use them to promote myself,” says Dale L. Anderson, M.D., an urgent care physician in St. Paul, seminar speaker, and author of Never Act Your Age. “I send the book out with a promo package. The cost of each book is pretty small, so you can’t beat it, whether you are selling yourself as a chef, teacher, salesperson or in business.”
2. A book clarifies your company’s philosophy for customers — and you. Do you really know your mission and your company’s? You will once you write a book, and your employees and customers will appreciate that.
“I give books to potential clients,” says Susan Zimmerman, co-founder of Zimmerman Financial Group in Apple Valley and author of The Power in Your Money Personality. “They read it and understand what my practice is about, which is the marriage of finances and therapy. Clients say, ‘Wow, that’s really an interesting combination. That makes a lot of sense.’ ”
Books also make sense when recruiting. They give candidates a fuller understanding of your business, which helps in matching the best people for the job.
3. You learn. The old saying is if you really want to learn about something, teach it. Writing is teaching. Even though authors know their stuff, they are fascinated by all they learn from writing. They impart expertise and become even more expert in the process. The creativity of writing spins off unexpected enlightenment that — aha! — shows up for the first time in the book for both author and readers.
“Sometimes you don’t know what you are going to write until you write it,” says Zimmerman. “It’s an adventure at the keyboard.”
4. Money. Most authors can’t show you the money from writing business books. The reality is you’ll do well to break even with most books, and wise authors look at books as loss leaders.
Many a book becomes a bust because it is bad and should not be on the market. Adams says last year he fielded 223 queries from wannabe authors and accepted only a third. Some of his rejects may make it into print, but they’ll probably lose money.
Costs vary. Unless you hire a ghostwriter, writing costs nothing except your time. If a publisher buys rights to your book, again, you’re out nothing. But selling to a publisher (or to an agent, who then sells it to a publisher) is a “crapshoot” that can take years of thumb-twirling and rejections, says David Tripp, director of national field and distribution sales for the Perseus Books Group. Tripp is based in Siren, Wisconsin
There are a variety of ways to self-publish, which ensures your book is printed months, not years, after finishing the manuscript. The cost, says Adams, is between $4,000 and $10,000 depending on book length, number of illustrations, color use, design, and assistance needed in editing.
Authors like Zimmerman and Anderson hope their books will lead to more speaking gigs and seminars, higher fees, and possibly a contract with a big publisher who likes the track record of their books.
The more books you write, the better your chances of making money. Tripp says “publishers want to build a brand, so they’re looking for someone to write a series of books.”
“People hope their first book will be a big hit,” says Anderson. “But it’s not. Authors often look back on that first one and say, ‘What a sophomoric effort that was.’ But it’s a start. Then you write five, 10, 20 books and they all combine to bring you a good income. And, yes, you’re always hoping one or more of them will be a hit.”
Contents under pressure
5. Passion. A book is an outlet for one’s passions. Business leaders usually have strong opinions and often come to the keyboard with contents under pressure. They have something to say, and when they get their chance to spill in print, they may be awed and thrilled by their passion.
“You have to have a lot of conviction, confidence, and passion to write a book,” says Seth Hoyt, publisher of the Minnetonka-based PGA Tour Partners magazine and author of Selling With Heart. “If you dabble at it, maybe you don’t really believe in your book and it will never get done.”
6. It’s fun to write. Many authors look at a book as a fun way to pay back. They’ve made their mark and, with the book, they want to help others do the same.
“First you learn, then you earn, and then you return,” says Hoyt. “The book helps me return.”
Hoyt chuckles when he says he gets a return on his return. “I like writing, the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. I take great joy in seeing my ideas come out. I spent a zillion hours rewriting, working on saying more with fewer words and all that.”
If you don’t like writing, hire a writer to collaborate with you. That’s what Anderson did with two of his books. “You don’t have to like writing to write a book,” he says. “But you have to like words and word play. I’m a better speaker than a writer, so I like to work with someone who is a good writer. I like the combination because it’s hard to write a book by yourself.”
Too much fishing
7. Writing beats unemployment and retirement. Adams says several of Beaver’s Pond Press’s 63 authors turned to writing after being laid off. Others were not satisfied with their careers, so they turned to writing and found “emotional satisfaction” and, in a few instances, a second career.
Writing books, says Anderson, is a boon to those who find retirement a bummer. “You can only fish and golf so much,” he says. “Retirement has to be about contributing to others, more than about pleasuring yourself. My poor colleagues my age who have only identified with medicine and not developed other interests, they don’t have the same zest for retirement that I do. My books keep me going forward. It’s another opening, another show.”
8. Books can confirm your life’s calling. Writing a book is about reflection. You are putting meaning to your career and your business.
“The book confirmed that my choice of careers was right,” says Hoyt. “I hate administrative stuff. I can lead and manage and all that, but what I like most is being a salesman. If I can help one person who is told to claw his or her way up the ranks to management or whatever — if I can help that person know it is honorable work to be a salesperson, the book is worth it. Business is all about selling something. In fact, you don’t have business until you make the sale.”
9. Books lead to…who knows? Book writing is an adventure, and a big kick with adventures is you don’t know exactly where you’ll go.
Hoyt’s book has led to mentoring and teaching at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul.
Zimmerman is known as the “fiscal therapist” who throws “Pampered Buck Parties” specifically for busy women who want to learn to manage money and master their “money personality makeover.”
Tripp tells of two guys who developed a computer mouse in the form of a golf driver. They wrote a book “evangelizing the product and process,” says Tripp, and one of them is now with Microsoft.
The message is get the book out there. You never know what can happen until you do.
10. Books help people. In the end, authors are do-gooders. They could choose to take their success and silently ride into the sunset. But no, they can’t help but help others. With their books, they show others how to become better in business and be happier in the process.
“I’m quite happy I wrote the book,” says Zimmerman. “It exceeded my goals. I’ve had people come up to me and say, ‘That book saved my marriage.’ When that happens, you see beyond the money and marketing and all the rest that goes with a book. You see that there is a greater good to books when they help people.”
[contact] Milt Adams, Beaver’s Pond Press Inc.: 952.829.8818; adamsppo@aol.com; www.beaverspondpress.com. Dale Anderson: 651.484.5162; drdla@aol.com; www.neveractyourage.com. Seth Hoyt, PGA TOUR Partners: 952.988.7131; shoyt@namginc.com; www.pgatourpartnersclub.com. David Tripp, Perseus Books Group: 715.349.7226; david.tripp@perseusbooks.com; www.perseusbooks.com. Susan Zimmerman, Zimmerman Financial Group: 952.432.4666; susan@zimmermanfinancial.com; www.zimmermanfinancial.com.
