My First Book Was a Failure. And a Success.

June 23, 2012. I was enjoying a seafood platter in the tourist district of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina when I received a Messenger notification.

This is hardly the way I imagined the process of writing a book to begin. It was the weirdest reverse pitch from a publisher working exclusively with creative firm principals.

My journey into a new level of thought leadership and content marketing began with a Facebook Messenger post from my future publisher, reading, “When are you going to write a book, you fool?”

I was already writing regularly on aespire.com/insights with content for mission-driven organizations.

The publisher challenged me to take content marketing to a new level, with timeless content for intelligent readers published in book form. Resisting the allure of publishing about trending themes is a long-tail approach, but he assured me, “[When you publish] the whole world looks at you differently.”

With that, the gauntlet was thrown, the challenge made, and the publisher finished his pitch to me with this comment: “You'll be a fool until it’s published.” It was an unusual way to begin a relationship with a publisher and begin the journey of writing my first book.

Personal opinions of my character aside — 10 years later — there are several things I will do differently when I publish my next book.

I Would Begin Building an Audience Two Years Before Publishing

While “Begin at the beginning” is excellent advice, it’s the worst advice when it comes to content creation and publishing a book.

Had I been more familiar with Stephen Covey then, I would have understood his principle, “Begin with the end in mind.” My take on Covey’s advice is, “The heart may inspire you to start a journey, but you must begin with the end in mind.”

The end I would have started with was the category, market need, and audience: If I wrote a book, who would read it?

• I should have focused on building the largest email list possible, relentlessly curating an audience, and understanding what they want to learn. Instead, I focused on writing new content for my blog and the book and running my agency. Writing a successful book can’t be about you.
• I would not count on “If you write it, they will read it.” The day you publish your book isn’t the day you should begin building your audience—you should be engaged with them for a minimum of 12 months or longer ‑ before your book launches.
• Social media, marketing, and book launches can be money-wasting if you don’t have an audience the day your content launches.
• I would invest my promotional budget differently. That leads me to where I would invest in marketing…

I Learned Several Valuable Lessons and Monetized What I Learned

• I would not allow myself to let the perceived expectations of others be the measure of my success or the arbitrary rules of outdated publishing models to determine the marketing path I follow.
• I would define my goals and success metrics realistically, manage my expectations, and plan accordingly to achieve them.
• I would print a small quantity as a signed, limited edition and sell them directly. Then, I would release a mass-market version as print-on-demand.
• I would use an app like Grammarly early and often.
• I applied what I learned. The experience of writing and publishing a book led to working with over a dozen independent authors, corporations, and publishers to design and produce autobiographies, centennial books, novels, and business books.