How to write a book you know will sell

Predictable.

That’s my favorite word when it comes to building an author platform. And that’s the word I want for your book sales: Predictable.

Writing a book is hard work. Getting it from manuscript to launch date can be even harder.

And the scariest thing about the whole process is wondering if, when you finally do launch your book, anyone will even buy it.

I’ve been involved in dozens of book launches, and I’ve learned that there are three kinds of book projects:

1. The Write and Hope Project. This is where an author writes a book hoping it will find an audience. There’s no real plan in place, except to publish the book and hope something good happens.
2. The Write and Pay Project. This is where an author writes a book and then pays a lot of money to make sure it sells. They hire publicists, pay for placements, etc. This is an expensive process, and getting more expensive every day.
3. The Write and Know Project. This is where an author knows from the first word penned on a new project that their book will sell. This is an author who has already built a direct connection to their audience.

I want you to be that third kind of author — the kind who works knowing they’ve already got an audience.

Recently, I was talking to my friend Josh Kaufman about his book The Personal MBA.

Here’s the interesting thing about his book: It was released in 2010, and never hit any of the major bestseller lists. Yet it continues to sell month after month.

In fact, so far it’s sold over 150,000 copies worldwide.

Then, last year, Josh released his second book The First 20 Hours. It immediately jumped to the top of all its Amazon categories.

It sold over 40,000 copies in the first 6 months.

Now Josh is working on his next book project. And he’s feeling confident while working on it, because he’s already directly connected to his readers and fans and knows they will buy the book when it’s released.

This same approach works for all authors, across all genres.

Because it’s not all about having a huge launch, and hoping you sell enough in one week to suddenly have a bestseller and a huge following.

It’s about creating an author platform, built on connections with your readers, so you can confidently write and launch new books, knowing your audience is already there.