Why is there a rush in Non Fiction books to Become a Bestseller? Should you join the rush?

While the focus in Fiction books is usually one or more of the following

1. Building a career as an author
2. Building a large readership
3. Building a large email list
4. Becoming a New York Times or USA Today Bestselling Author
5. Making profits
6. Making a living as an author
7. Quitting your day job

In Non Fiction, we see a very different set of priorities

1. Sharing your story by writing a biography
2. Sharing your skills and experience by writing a business focused book
3. Sharing your skills and knowledge by writing a book on a topic you know, such as gardening or health or knitting or herbal remedies or how to
4. Building a consulting practice or a small business, based on your book (whether or not it is successful)
5. Becoming a Bestseller in the ebook store, and strengthening your reputation
6. Writing a book to acquire customers
7. Writing a book to establish thought leadership in your area, and become recognized as an expert and an authority
8. Growing your Brand
9. Growing your company
10. Getting free marketing for your company by launching a book
11. Becoming a subject expert and an authority by releasing a book which shows you know the area

We will leave out all the ‘get rich quick’ people. We are focusing on Authors of Good Intent

Non Fiction focuses on very different things from Fiction

You will notice that in Non Fiction there is not much focus on ‘making a living as an author’, ‘quitting your day job’, ‘building a large readership’, or ‘making profits’

Instead there are three broad areas

1. Sharing knowledge and experience, or sharing your story
2. Building and growing your company and business, with a book as a tool to do that
3. Launching a book, and making it a bestseller, and creating a business or a consultancy service on the basis of that book

Of these, the one that is really popular in 2020, as well as in recent years, is –

Launching a book, making it a bestseller via smart marketing, then using that ‘Bestseller Status’ to project yourself as an authority and a subject expert. Then using your new status as a ‘subject expert’ and ‘authority’ to get consulting work and projects for your company

So, basically 2 (building and growing your company by leveraging a book) and 3 (launching a book, and creating a business based off of it) are fundamentally the same thing. The latter method is smarter, as becoming a Bestseller gives you credibility and a fast start to building a strong business. You still get the benefit of using the book to build your brand and acquire leads. By adding the magic of becoming a bestseller, you also establish leadership and expertise

Becoming a Bestseller to Build a Business

This is the rough template some entrepreneurs and consultants and coaches use to Become a Bestseller

1. Write a high quality book in your subject area
   1. The higher the quality of the book, the easier the rest of the process
   2. The narrower the subject material, and the higher your grasp of it, the higher the chances of success
   3. The more expertise you have and can demonstrate in the book, the better
2. Determine the categories in the Kindle Store, and the Apple iBooks store, where your book has the highest chances of becoming a category bestseller
3. Setting up a promotion plan for the book
   1. This includes getting book reviews
   2. This includes setting up promotions and ads
   3. This includes having a plan of what happens on each day, and how they coordinate
4. Actually doing the entire promotion and getting Bestseller Status
5. Making sure the book is capturing lots of leads (potential customers for your business or consultancy or coaching service)
6. Making sure the book and your website and email newsletter are converting those leads into actual customers
7. Making sure that you are setting everything up properly and efficiently

If you do it correctly

1. Your Book becomes a bestseller and gives you credibility and authority
2. You can establish yourself as a subject expert and a thought leader
3. You can have your book be a permanent customer acquisition resource
4. You start getting a good number of leads
5. You start converting a high percentage of them into actual customers

Your bestselling book can be an extremely powerful mechanism to both establish yourself, and to acquire customers

After Becoming a Bestseller

A few important things to keep in mind after you become a bestseller

1. If you can produce more high quality books, in areas and subareas where you have actual expertise, then this is a beautiful path to go down
2. You must deliver very good results for your new clients
   1. If you do, you can leverage their reviews and testimonials to build a very strong business
   2. Do not get lazy and miss the opportunity to create a very strong and viable business
3. Keep improving the book
4. Keep improving your skills and expertise
5. Do not venture into areas where you don’t have expertise

In some ways, Becoming a Bestseller is just Part 1 of Your Journey

Make sure you are prepared for the remaining parts of your journey. Make the most of your great start

Before Becoming a Bestseller

A few critical things you should figure out before you take your shot at becoming a bestseller

1. Make sure you are an actual subject expert
   1. The last thing you want to do is mislead a ton of people and harm their careers and livelihood
2. Make sure it’s an area you actually want to work in
   1. If your book takes off, you will get a good amount of work
   2. Make sure it is work you are happy to do
3. Make sure it’s targeted at customers you actually want to work with
   1. This is even more important
   2. Your book will target a wide range of customers. Make sure to narrow it down to exactly who you are willing to work with
   3. The biggest headache will be people who want ‘instant success’ or think of you as a ‘magician who can get them success without hard work’
4. Actually getting Bestseller Status is critical
   1. Choose a category (or multiple categories) where you can get Bestseller status with close to 100% probability
   2. You might not have the resources to try again and again. So make sure you get your Bestseller Status on the first shot
5. Don’t be overambitious
   1. Go for something that is achievable and realistic
   2. Go for a category with low competition
   3. Go for an area you know better than the back of your hand
6. Don’t be under ambitious
   1. Make sure you go for Bestseller Status, even if it is a small category
   2. Make sure to set specific targets for how many new leads you want, how many new customers, and how much new revenue

It is incredibly important to go into the process, knowing and understanding exactly what Becoming a Bestseller will mean, and what you want from it

Becoming a Bestseller is a very strong competitive advantage, and well worth the investment

If you spend a lot of time analyzing all the benefits, it becomes abundantly clear that Becoming a Bestseller gives a lot of benefits

1. Establish your Expertise
2. Become a Thought Leader
3. Acquire Leads
   1. Additionally, if you set it up correctly, your book will provide you with a steady flow of leads
4. Acquire Customers
   1. You can keep tweaking your sales process to convert leads into customers at a better rate
5. Become an Authority
   1. Beyond establishing your expertise, you can also become an Authority
   2. People will start coming to you for help and advice on what to do. You can sell consulting and coaching services
6. You can build a business or company based on your new found expertise and authority
7. If you already have a business, you can make it much stronger

Becoming a Bestseller is a very strong competitive advantage

If you plan things out carefully, you can make a very good amount of money from the new customers and the new business you drum up

Should you join the Rush?

Yes, with a few caveats

1. You will not be able to succeed until and unless you pick the right categories
   1. The most important part of the entire process is to pick the right categories to go for Bestseller Status in
2. Everything will be much easier if you have a very high quality book, and are an actual expert in the subjects you are writing about
3. You will get customers from the categories you become a bestseller in
   1. So, make sure you focus on the categories your business expertise actually is in
4. Your book reflects yourself and your business
   1. Make sure you don’t cut corners
5. You must have a plan and a sales funnel for the potential customers (leads) you acquire from your book
6. Becoming a Bestseller is a very big competitive advantage
   1. Take every part of the process very seriously
7. Do not pay too much for extrinsic things
   1. Paying for things like producing a high quality book is fine
   2. Paying for things such as excellent marketing is fine
   3. Do not be paying for useless things like 1,000 copies of your hardcover, consulting, coaching, ‘special tricks’, etc
8. Perhaps the best way to consolidate your advantage of becoming a bestseller, is to release more books in areas you are an expert in, starting with more books in the exact same area as you already are a bestseller in
9. Perhaps the best thing you can do after Becoming a Bestseller, and establishing yourself as an expert, is to become an Authority
   1. Become a leader in the area
   2. Become a thought leader in the area
10. Make sure you target the categories you actually want to work in, and the customers you actually want to work with

And Best of Luck!