Be My Guest: Helping Aspiring Authors Evaluate Their Work for Marketability by Nina Amir
Helping Aspiring Authors Evaluate Their Work for
Marketability
I’ve never much liked
writing book proposals, but I considered myself a traditional-publishing hold
out. I wanted to get one (or more) of my books
I write nonfiction, and
nonfiction is sold off of a proposal, which serves as a business plan for a
book. A nonfiction book proposal contains just a few sample chapters, not the
whole manuscript. Fiction proposals tend to be requested after submission of
the whole manuscript, although these days more and more agents ask for a fiction
proposal with sample chapters as well.
I have also self-published
a number of books, but mostly in the name of platform building so I could land
a publisher. These days, however, I write a business plan—a proposal—for my
self-published works as well.
Why Every Book Needs a Business Plan
Actually, I believe every
book needs a business plan, which is why I wrote The Author Training Manual: Develop Marketable Ideas, Craft
Books That Sell, Become the Author Publishers Want, and Self-Publish
Effectively. The process of writing more than one—in fact, quite a
few—book proposals sparked the idea for my newest book, The Author Training Manual, which is, indeed, traditionally
published. (It’s my second traditionally published book.) I noticed that each
time I completed the process, I experienced a moment when I knew I had created
a great book idea. By that, I mean a marketable idea, or one that would sell to
readers if I could get it to market. Also, at that moment I felt ready and
confident to write the book.
Experiencing Precious Moments
I call that my “precious
moment.” However, there are many smaller precious moments that happen as you
write a book proposal. You experience them when you analyze the market, for
instance, and discover that you could angle your book a bit differently to
target a larger number of readers. You might experience one when you analyze
the competition and realize that another author has left out some information
in his book and you could include it in yours. Or you might have a precious
moment when you discover your book is a bit too close in subject matter to a
few already published titles, which requires you to retool a bit but sparks a
new idea and makes your book more unique and beneficial to readers.
Training to Succeed as an Author
My precious moments made
me realized that every author needs to experience them to produce the best
possible book—a book with the potential of selling the most copies. So I wrote
a book that explains how to write a business plan for your book, since that’s
the purpose a book proposal serves, and to use that plan as a tool to evaluate
the marketability of your idea as well as your own ability to help your book
succeed in the marketplace. In The Author
Training Manual I explain exactly what needs to go into each section of the
business plan and how to see that information through the same lens use by
agents and acquisitions editors, who see book ideas as “products” as well as
creative ventures and know how to determine if they are viable. The book even
includes sample plans reviewed by agents and editors, which allows you to train
yourself to see through their eyes and “training exercises.” When you put all
of this together—the business plan, the sample plans with reviews, and the
training exercise, you get a manual that takes you through the necessary steps
to train to become a successful author.
Indie Authors Need a Plan
While those who want to
traditionally publish must go through the process of creating a business plan
for their books, it is all the more important to do so if a writer wants to
self-publish. Indie authors don’t have agents or acquisitions editors to offer
feedback on the marketability or viability of their “products.” Instead, as
publishers, they must make that evaluation themselves. The only way to do so is
with a business plan—a proposal—and the ability to see their own work through
the same lens used by publishing professionals.
So, The Author Training Manual is my attempt to help other
authors succeed. I want other writers to experience that precious moment when
they know they’ve created a marketable book and can’t wait to write it—and to
actually produce a book that sells.
About the Author
Nina Amir, author of How to Blog a Book: Write, Publish, and Promote Your Work One
Post at a Time and The Author Training Manual: Develop Marketable Ideas, Craft
Books That Sell, Become the Author Publishers Want, and Self-Publish
Effectively, transforms writers into inspired, successful authors,
authorpreneurs and blogpreneurs. Known as the Inspiration to Creation Coach,
she moves her clients from ideas to finished books as well as to careers as
authors by helping them combine their passion and purpose so they create
products that positively and meaningfully impact the world. A sought-after
author, book, blog-to-book, and results coach, some of Nina’s clients have sold
300,000+ copies of their books, landed deals with major publishing houses and
created thriving businesses around their books. She writes four blogs,
self-published 12 books and founded National Nonfiction Writing Month, aka the
Write Nonfiction in November Challenge.
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