WHAT WE WORK ON INSIDE THE PROGRAMME
Over six months, The Business of Being an Author takes you through the practical and strategic foundations of building a business around your book. This is not about vague inspiration or generic author advice. It is about helping you understand how to turn your book into something far more valuable, commercially, professionally and strategically.
The Commercial Author Mindset
Before anything else, we look at what it really means to become a commercial author. This is a fundamental shift in thinking. Instead of seeing your book as the end product, you begin to see it as the start of something much bigger, a trust builder, a business asset, a positioning tool and a long-term opportunity creator.
Whether your Book is up to the Job or Not?
Not every book is capable of creating the outcomes its author hopes for. We look honestly at whether your current book is strong enough, relevant enough and strategically aligned enough to support the kind of opportunities you want it to create. This part of the programme helps you assess your book through a much more commercial lens.
Clarifying your Author Business Model
A book on its own is rarely the business. It needs to connect to something bigger. We work through how your book fits into your broader business model, including your services, offers, speaking, consulting, reputation and future opportunities. This helps ensure the book is not working in isolation, but as part of a larger strategic picture.
Driver 1 – Establishing the Author Business Imperative
We begin by exploring why authors today need to think beyond simply writing and publishing. This driver helps you understand the real business opportunity that can sit around a book and why taking a more commercial, intentional approach matters if you want the book to have lasting value.
Driver 2 – Building a Commercial Author Brand
A book can strengthen your brand enormously, but only if your brand is clear, credible and aligned with the message of the book. We work on how to position yourself more effectively as an author, how to build trust and how to create a stronger commercial identity around your expertise.
Driver 3 – Designing Your Strategic Product Architecture
A book should rarely stand alone. We explore how it can connect to your broader ecosystem of products, services, programmes, speaking topics or consulting offers. This is about creating a smarter structure around your intellectual property so the book becomes part of a bigger commercial engine.
Driver 4 – Mastering Leveraging
This is where many authors leave enormous value on the table. We focus on the many ways a book can be leveraged to create greater visibility, deeper trust, more conversations and more commercial opportunities. You will begin to see your book not just as content, but as a tool that can be used in many
different ways.
Driver 5 – Using Collaboration as Opportunity
Books can be extraordinary door-openers for collaboration. In this part of the programme, we look at how your book can help create strategic partnerships, joint ventures, cross-promotional opportunities, event participation and other forms of collaboration that expand your reach and relevance.
Driver 6 – Building and Nurturing Your Author Tribe
Authors often underestimate the value of building a community around their work. We explore what your tribe looks like, how to nurture it and how to create stronger engagement around your ideas. A book can be a powerful focal point for community, loyalty and deeper connection when used well.
Driver 7 – Harnessing the Power of Media
A well-positioned book can significantly increase your media relevance. We look at how to use your book to become more visible, more media-friendly and more attractive as a source of commentary, insight and expertise. This includes understanding the role of publicity, podcasting, contributed content and other forms of media exposure.
Driver 8 – Selling Books in Bulk
Bulk book sales are one of the most overlooked commercial opportunities available to authors. We explore how to identify, package and pursue bulk sales opportunities that can increase revenue, build reach and create additional value around the book.
Driver 9 – Developing Book Marketing Endurance
Most authors think about marketing as a launch activity. In reality, the most successful authors think much longer term. This driver focuses on building sustained momentum around your book so it continues to create value long after launch week is over. This is about staying relevant, visible and intentional over time.
Driver 10 – Committing to Author Evolution
The strongest authors keep evolving. They do not stay static, and neither does their market. We look at how to continue growing as an author, how to stay relevant and how to keep building on the body of work you have created so you are not constantly starting from scratch.
Driver 11 – Creating Your 10 Year Publishing Plan
This part of the programme takes a longer-term view of your publishing future. Rather than treating this book as a one-off project, we explore how it can fit into a broader publishing strategy that builds authority, continuity and momentum over time. This is where authors start thinking like builders of a body of work.
Driver 12 – Planning the Next 12 Months
Long-term thinking is important, but so is having a practical plan for what comes next. In this final stage, we focus on the next 12 months, the priorities, actions and opportunities that matter most right now. This helps you leave the programme with clarity, direction and a realistic path forward.
Turning ideas into action
A big part of the value in this programme is not just the ideas themselves, but how they are translated into action. Throughout the six months, you will be encouraged to apply the thinking directly to your own book, your own brand and your own business model. That means the learning becomes real, practical and immediately useful.
