by Alan S. Horowitz
Authoring a book is a project on many financial planners' to-do lists. Because creating a book is a daunting project, few actually follow through. Writing and publishing a book is never easy, quick or cheap, but it does not have to be paralyzingly difficult, and the benefits can make the effort worth it.
There's a saying in the public relations industry: If you want to get booked, you need a book. Landing frequent and even profitable speaking engagements is one benefit of authoring a well-received book.
Marc Freedman, CFP®, president of Freedman Financial, always gave public talks, but was not paid for them, nor were they as frequent as they are now. Since his book, Oversold and Underserved: A Financial Planner's Guide to Effectively Serving the Mass Affluent, published by FPA Press, hit shelves in 2008, his speaking engagements now number about one a month, and he's earning $2,500 to $15,000 per talk.
Writing a book can give you added credibility, notes Mike Byrnes, president of Byrnes Consulting, a marketing strategy and business planning firm for financial planners.
"We are in an age of distrust, and advisers are scrutinized more than ever before," says Byrnes. "A book overcomes this distrust."
John Doerr, author and president of Rain Group, a sales performance improvement firm, says, "The three big benefits [of writing a book] are it makes you stand out, it gives you the ability to say, 'Hey, I really know what I'm talking about,' and, if you do it well, it can touch a nerve with people who then say, 'I want to work with that person.'"
Why Do You Want a Book?
If you're serious about writing a book, ask yourself why you want it, suggests Madeleine Morel of 2M Communications, a literary agency that represents ghostwriters. If you don't know why you want a book, you cannot know what to write about or how to formulate an effective marketing plan for the book. It's important to know who your audience is for a book before you begin writing it, and be able to articulate this for the marketing plan.
Goals for your book might include: boost your public profile, help those in need, attract more clients, educate readers, provide entree into new markets or increase your public speaking engagements.
Finding Time to Write
You have two avenues for writing the book-do it yourself or hire a ghostwriter to help you. In either case, you'll have to decide what goes into the book. Freedman used travel time to plan his book, jotting down ideas and stories while sitting on planes.
Roy Diliberto, ChFC, CFP®, chairman and CEO of RTD Financial Advisors and author of Financial Planning: The Next Step-A Practical Approach to Merging Your Clients' Money with Their Lives, published by FPA Press, used mind-mapping software to organize his thoughts and create an outline.
Here's how Nicole Middendorf of Strategic Financial and author of Simple Answers: Life Is More Than Just About Money put her book together: "I looked at the big areas I would get questions on, put them on Post-It notes, put them on a wall, and organized these thoughts." Writing the book took her one to two hours a day for a year.
Using a Ghostwriter
Using a ghostwriter is more commonplace than you may think. About.com, a site owned by The New York Times Co., reports that 80 percent of books are ghostwritten. Clients will like or not like your book because of your ideas, insights and expertise; publishers will also judge the quality of writing. A ghostwriter can do the writing, but you must provide the ideas and much of the information. After all, you are the expert.
A good ghostwriter provides a number of benefits, including ensuring the quality of writing, pushing the project through to completion and expediting the entire process. The downside is cost. Cynthia Zigmund, owner of the literary agency Second City Publishing Services, says a financial planner should expect to pay a ghostwriter $20,000 to $30,000 for a 200-page book. Writer's Digest reports that fees for a book for which the ghostwriter gets no byline range from $5,000 to $100,000 and average $36,229.
The process typically works like this: The author and ghostwriter work up an outline and then the ghostwriter interviews the author, chapter by chapter, turning his or her ideas into prose. The author reads this and requests changes, usually related to accuracy and tone. The ghostwriter makes revisions, and there may be a bit more give-and-take between them until the chapter is complete. Then they start on the next chapter and repeat the process until the book is complete. Typically, the author owns all rights to the book (and then sometimes relinquishes them to a publisher).
Self-Publishing Versus Commercial Publishing
With a completed manuscript, you now must get the book published. The options are finding a commercial publisher or self-publishing. Many commercial publishers prefer to see a proposal and outline first, because they want to shape the book's organization. The publishing industry's difficult finances and the plethora of financial planning books on the market make it difficult to land a commercial publisher unless you can show how your book is distinct (so research your competition). Commercial publishers want authors with an established audience to whom they can sell the book. Such an audience comes from the author being previously published, on the lecture circuit, having a widely read newspaper column or blog or being on radio or television. If you lack such a track record, self-publishing may be a better option. The advantage to commercial publishers is their infrastructure and expertise in marketing and distribution, which can be challenging for self-published authors.
Whether you pursue commercial publishing or self-publish, you should consider having the book printed as well as available electronically.
Digital printing and e-publishing have made self-publishing more economical than ever. A single copy of a book can be printed for less than $10 by a company like Lightning Source. A formatted e-book can be uploaded free to Amazon and iBookstore and $19.95 to Barnes & Noble, or a Word document converted inexpensively at eBookMall (by B&N), FastPencil or Smashwords. Some online stores let you set your book's price and others set it for you. Other companies offering services to the self-published author include iUniverse, Xlibris, CreateSpace, Outskirts Press and LuLu.
When self-publishing, you'll need to hire a copy editor whether you used a ghostwriter or not, have the cover and interior of the book designed and typeset, hire an indexer if desired, have it proofed, have it printed or uploaded and arrange for its distribution (some authors famously sold copies out of the trunks of their cars). Because most companies that cater to self-publishers print only paperback editions, if you want hardback copies, you might also need to go to a commercial printer, which likely won't do small print runs and is thus more expensive than a digital printer.
For all upfront costs plus a couple hundred paperback copies of a 200-page book, expect to pay a minimum of $5,000 (not including a ghostwriter), and $10,000 for hardback. Middendorf, who wrote her book without a ghostwriter, invested $20,000 in the editing, design and production of her book, including printing more than 5,000 copies.
Middendorf accepts speaking engagements for which the sponsoring organization agrees to buy copies for all attendees. As a result, she has sold more copies than she has given away and estimates sales have brought in enough money to pay for her self-published book.
You've Got a Book, Now What?
With your printed book or e-book, promote yourself as a speaker, radio talk show guest, blogger or subject matter expert so the media view you as an authority. If you're not comfortable with self-promotion, hire a marketing or PR firm to help you get these engagements.
You might give a copy to all promising prospects. Doerr suggests not giving copies to prospects at your first meetings, but rather sending copies afterward or linking to its URL. Include a note pointing out where your book covers issues discussed when you met. This shows you listened to them at the meeting and have the expertise to handle their needs.
And don't forget existing clients; strengthen relationships by sending each an autographed copy.
Alan S. Horowitz ghostwrites books and writes marketing and communications materials including newsletters, blogs, case studies and brochures. Contact him at alan@AHorowitz.com.
Sidebar
Action Plan for Writing Your Book
- Think about your clients' questions and concerns. What really interests them?
- Write these down in outline form.
- Expand each section of your outline with specific points needed to cover that section.
- Write stories and examples (preferably real-world) for as many points as you can. Remember: People like to read about people.
- Start writing, chapter by chapter. Think about the book one chapter at a time so the project does not become overwhelming.
