Books Are Only Part Of It

By Bob Hughes - Nov 15 , 2011

People still think they’re going to make a fortune from a book.

That the book will make them.

That their futures will be made.

The truth is, the world has very few authors such as J.K. Rowling, who sell hundreds of millions of dollars from the sales of her novels.

But even J.K. Rowling knows that a book is not enough.

She built her considerable platform through interacting with her fans and offering them additional information about her magical worlds and her magical characters on her website.

She continued to build her audience, as the Harry Potter universe expanded to very successful (and often very good) movies, to games, to amusement parks. The books were a part of it (perhaps the most important part, since she is, after all, a writer), but they were not the only part. They became part of her brand.

But people still think that all they have to do is write a book, or make a book online, and the world will come.  And if they self-publish, even better! No middleman!

Perhaps they’ve been tempted by stories of self-published authors who’ve signed lucrative book-publishing contracts without realizing that these authors didn’t rely solely on their books, either, but built a platform with their readers. Perhaps they’ve seen that writers such as the late Stieg Larsson have sold over a million e-books. But that came after a phenomenal worldwide success of hardcover books, and although the author is dead, tremendous word-of-mouth for the kind of must-read thriller that comes around once every ten years or so.

A friend of mine is working with two new authors on a book they’ve written. He told me they think they’ve got a great idea, and that they are sure that their book will strike a chord with readers. He asked them if they had a website or blog, or any marketing ideas. They didn’t. They were simply sure that the book would sell, and would take care of itself.

He told them that even in the olden days of pre-digital publishing, books usually didn’t sell themselves, and most books only sold a few thousand copies. They were surprised.

But you shouldn’t be. You know there’s more to being an author than the book.