Job in a book

Big book publishers love what April Dunford calls ‘idea books’.

Books from people like Simon Sinek, Adam Grant, and Dan Pink.

Typically, they have broad appeal to a mass market but little practical use for the majority of readers. That fits the publisher model–they need to sell tens of thousands of copies to make a profit on the book.

But that incentive model doesn’t align with the majority of consultants and their reasons for writing a book.

A consultant would make bank if 500 of the right people bought and read her book each year. The money comes with the client engagements that follow.

That’s why, if you want to publish a book that positions you as the Undisputed Authority in your field, the trap is to write something that looks like a business book on the New York Times bestseller list.

Notice: Undisputed Authorities who successfully write a book to build their consulting brand take a different approach.

They help a very specific person complete a very specific task.

“People don’t buy products, they hire them to do jobs in their life … It’s about the progress they’re trying to make, not just the thing they’re trying to buy … Our job is to help people make progress in their lives by buying our products.” Bob Moesta

Here are some common threads from those successful books:

1. The book helps the reader carry out one job. If there are more jobs the consultant can help the reader with, those become separate books.
2. They’re usually self-published, or if not, they work with a small, specialist publisher. It’s essential that they maintain ownership of their Intellectual Property. Big publishers typically
3. It’s often a workshop light in a book. It’s practical. You can take what you learn and apply it to your job.
4. Though it’s practical, that’s not to say it doesn’t contain ideas–it does. There’s a lot of Contrarian Wisdom. They change the way the reader sees the job.
5. It’s typically a 3-hour read. It can be less, but it’s rarely much more.
6. There’s no fluff. The stories serve a purpose. They’re not there for padding.

Should you write a book?

I’ll answer this question in more depth in a future email, but in a nutshell, yes I think you should.

Undisputed Authorities, people like Blair Enns and Allan Dib, are the consultants at the top of the food chain. They enjoy these benefits:

• They’re no longer compared to their contemporaries.
• They earn high six-figure or sometimes seven-figure businesses.
• They have little competition.
• They’re oversubscribed with prospects who want to buy the very specific thing they offer.
• They have so much opportunity that they don’t chase clients, clients chase them.

Those Undisputed Authorities always arrive at that position after releasing a breakthrough Hit piece of content, and that Hit is usually a book.

The question isn’t whether you should write a book–it’s when. Assuming you’re with me on this, the next question is…

How do you write a book that positions you as an Undisputed Authority?

At the beginning of a Thought Partner engagement, I run through a 2-hour session with clients where I ask them to answer questions like:

• Describe the best client you’ve ever worked with and why they were the best.
• What progress were they trying to make in their life?
• How were they trying to make that progress before they worked with you?
• What worked and what failed?
• How did previous failed attempts make them feel?
• What’s their goal behind the goal?
• What do they call the job they hired you to do?
• Why are they going to pick up this book?
• What do you want them to think and feel by the end of this book?
• What are the symptoms of their problem related to this job?
• What’s the root cause behind those symptoms?
• What does success look and feel like to them?
• List out the things they know how to do versus the things they don’t.
• Map out every step of this process of getting from A to B.
• What do they need to believe in order to accept what you’re proposing?
• What’s best practice on this topic and why is it wrong?

The answers give you an initial skeletal structure for a book and full content calendar for the next 12 months.

You’ll write chapters, but you won't do it in the dark. You publish snippets on social, share sections on your newsletter, and repackage ideas on podcasts. And, while you’re doing that, you’re looking for market feedback.

The initial structure can change as you write, in fact it probably will. But it’s a starting point to get moving.

And even if you’re not planning to write a book, it’s a helpful exercise to get clarity on what to write for newsletters, social, podcasts, etc. because when you do, everything you write is in service of that job.

Everything is consistent and connected. That’s what branding is, right?

The process aligns and typically feeds into your methodology, helping you codify your thinking, refine your offering, and develop productised services.

So, for your body of work, remember, ask yourself, what job are they hiring my work for?