“Many people finally bought my book. Yay! But it wasn’t easy! I had to offer them free coaching for two weeks.”
Me: Congratulations on your massive book sales. How much in total has this brought to your bank account? And how much expenses did you incur while persuading people to buy your book?
Boom! The error was found!
That was a conversation analysis I had with an author the other day. After reviewing her supposed “sold out” feat, we discovered she was running at a huge loss. How did she pull off the book sales? She was giving multiple add-ons to buyers of the book, and these add-ons demanded her time.
“If you buy my book, you’d get free coaching for 2 weeks.”
As far as I am concerned, anything that takes your time has taken your money. Time is money. What’s the price of a book compared to your time? You’d agree with me that coaching is not child’s play.
WHY ARE YOU LOSING MONEY AS A WRITER?
1.) You don’t understand the real definition of a “highly paid writer.”
Many writers are confusing activity for progress. The fact that the unit of your book is selling doesn’t mean you are actually making real-time profit. You can have a number of transactions on your book sales but be running at a loss at the same time.
You won’t know because you probably aren’t journaling like a mathematician.
If you watched my free 2-hour webinar on my Facebook Group tagged “PLANNING FOR A PROFITABLE WRITING CAREER,” you’d recall one of the points I shared about the need to become a smart mathematician as a writer.
You cannot be sacrificing your time just to get people to buy your book. Yes! People might jump on your book because of the enticing offer, but if you check well, you’re losing.
Before you start making big promises just to persuade people to buy units of your book, think again. Do your calculations and ask yourself if it’s really worth it.
The fact that there is an activity of book unit sales going on in your writing career doesn’t outright mean you are making profits. Proper record-keeping will clearly reveal if you’re experiencing ACTIVITY or PROGRESS.
You can sell 1,000 copies of your book and still not be as rich as someone who has mastered how to turn 1 book into a business that pays the total cost of 1,000 copies of the same book. Smart work!
On offers, this is what I’d rather do. I’ll give my book for free to those who pay higher for my time. That way, I make more money as the author versus giving my time and getting paid for a book that costs next to nothing.
For example, I launched my 3rd, 4th and 5th paperback books at live physical workshops in my city. I gave my book for free to registered attendees (who paid a higher registration fee). The total revenue generated profits far more than if I had decided to focus on selling each book to people. Of course, I did my calculations on logistics first because I knew the difference between ACTIVITY and PROGRESS.
“You sign up to attend my paid class (a higher price than the book’s cost) and you get my book for free” is more strategic than “You buy my book and I give you coaching for 2 weeks.“
Why? You make more money faster! If you’re a busy career professional like me, you’d understand that the price of your book is nothing compared to your time. We only write books to provide a self-help guide for our audience.
Be that as it may, if you decide to earn an accumulative figure as payment for training people who buy your book and your book is highly priced, that’s still okay. Just ensure it suits your financial goal at the time.
My point is, you should be documenting your results to be sure you’re not running at a loss. Have your numerical expectations and objectives properly spelt out in order to ascertain if all the activities you’ve been doing are necessary in the first place.
In accounting, there’s something we call Profit & Loss Account. This is an account every writer should prepare whereby you credit your incoming gains and income while you debit your outgoing expenses. This is the statement that reveals whether or not you’re running at a net profit.
Like I said, time is money too. Highly paid writers don’t joke with their time. So, is the time and energy you’re spending on a particular marketing activity commensurate with the money coming into your account as an author in this context?
Another example! It would interest you to know that when I attend business meetings, my primary focus is not on getting people to buy my book. Yes! There is that part, but it’s secondary on my agenda. It’s not like I won’t ask people to buy my book if the need arises, but as a smart mathematician and writer, I focus on the big picture.
What l do? I use my book to drive a conversation that will bring an amount equivalent to the amount I would have gotten if 1,000 people in that meeting actually bought a copy of my book.
You meet a billionaire and instead of using your book to position yourself as the expert he should hire on a premium service, you’re busy asking him to buy your book first. That’s not a smart move per se. How much is your book really? Imagine if a billionaire engages you on services you are so good at! Trust me, that’s money equivalent to selling 1,000 copies of your book or more.
The lesson on this episode is especially for authors writing solely for profit, not for only prestige.
The moment you start putting your book unit sales before the business of your book, you start losing money.
Your book should be the vehicle to your destination, not necessarily your first destination. I’m not saying it shouldn’t be a destination at all or sometimes. I hope you get my point though. Now, that’s only an example. If I begin to share other examples, this article will be too long.
In journaling like a mathematician, start by answering these questions:
- How much revenue did my writing career generate last month?
- How much expenses did my writing career incur last month?
- How much profit did my writing business generate last month?
- What is my income goal for the coming month?
- How will I hit my income goal for the coming month?
Be sincere! Have you ever asked yourself these questions? Even if you have, do you answer the questions every month or you just hope for the best?
Well, HOPE CAN NEVER BE STRATEGY.
Journaling your writing business reports every month helps you track if you’re making a loss or profit. Every serious writer should have a financial goal, plan, and tracking system.
Guess what will help you multiply your income as a writer! Mastery of how sales and marketing works! In my 5th book, 150 THINGS I BADLY WANT TO TELL WRITERS, I shared 150 practical sales and marketing conversations to increase your influence and income. Readers have learnt a lot from the book. Get your copy NOW via bit.ly/bewawritersshowwithenosam
WHY ARE YOU LOSING MONEY AS A WRITER?
2.) You are battling with low self-esteem such that you’re afraid to sell or command premium fees. The cause of this feeling is not far-fetched. You haven’t built COMPETENCE enough to confidently charge your worth.
I know how much time, energy and resources it took me to experience and master the skills I have today. Therefore, I cannot charge less than I think I deserve per time because I’m bringing my experiences to help you get faster results based on my findings and knowledge in my forte over the years. Simple!
If you really believe in the results you have to offer and you’ve spent a lot on personal development, it would be easier to charge a premium.
Here’s the hard truth! You cannot be a die-hard lover of freebies or cheap things only and expect to automatically become highly paid. It’s a mindset thing. You cannot grow beyond your current level of exposure and conditioning.
Recently, a student bought my expensive book just to break the mentality of small thinking. Beyond reading the lessons in the book (which by the way are super insightful), he has indirectly reframed his mindset to be able to sell his own books at that price if he wants.
If you only jump at cheap books just because they cost you little, it would be difficult to become that author who sells a high-priced book. You cannot get what you haven’t given. It’s a simple law of the universe. Fix your mindset today.
📌ACTIION REQUIRED:
1.) Get a notepad and start evaluating the activities you did in your writing career in the last 3 months. Check if you made profit or loss.
2.) Intentionally kick out low self-esteem now. Start buying “expensive” books to build the confidence of highly paid writers.
3.) Join Brilliant Entrepreneurs and Writers Academy (BEWA) via bit.ly/bewagroup to learn more.
4.) Follow my weekly series “WRITERS MONDAY WITH ENO SAM” every Monday on Facebook via bit.ly/FollowEnoSamOnFacebook
#WritersMondayWithEnoSam #EpisodeOne
See you on another episode of WRITERS MONDAY WITH ENO SAM.
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