This map is the product of my observations about the publishing industry, in particular, the self-publishing business. There is just a touch of humor to it.
If you look at the careers of Dan Poynter - The Self-Publishing Manual, Michael Rosenthal - Print-On-Demand Book Publishing, Peter Bowerman - The Well Fed Writer, and so many others you see a fairly regular patter emerge.
First Book - The dirt road. Write on something that interests you. You do all the work to write edit and get illustrations done. You do all of the marketing, promotion and groundswell development. Sell a few hundred copies. (Sometimes you have to go through a few books at this level.)
Second Book - This is the paved road that you merge onto. You still have to do all of the writing, editing, and illustration gathering but you are better at it now. Marketing is easier because you already have a few hundred people who know you. This time you write on something that others have expressed interest in reading your thoughts. Now you are writing to your audience and they are more inclined to want to buy your book. Sell a few thousand copies and get ready for the next step.
Book Three - The freeway. Write about writing and/or publishing a book. Sell millions! It has been said that over 82% of adult Americans feel they want to or could write a book. That is a huge TAM (Total Addressable Market). Each year over 200,000 books are published in the United States. How many more did not get that far. If you could just skip to book three it would be nice but you would have no credibility. So get busy, write the first book. Learn the ropes, write the second one and get ready for riches.
For a list of famous self-publishers visit the Self-Publishers Hall of Fame. Really important people like Ben Franklin, Herman Melville, Tim O'Reilly, president of O'Reilly & Associates, and William Strunk of Strunk and White fame have their stories briefly recounted there.
So the question of the day - what do you know enough about to write 240 pages (average non-fiction book) of captivating prose that other people will buy?
Comment Preview