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7 Keys of Producing A Self-Published Power Book - by Philippe Matthews




What is a Power Book? It’s a self-published book that rivals any house-published book. It’s a book that looks, feels and reads like a book that has the power and potential to become a New York Times Bestseller, but it was produced for a fraction of the cost, time and effort. A self-published Power Book may never see a traditional publishing house because of the many barriers to entry that unknown or first time authors face. This doesn’t mean; however, that you can’t write and produce a book that gets noticed makes money and launches your speaking career.

Below are 7 key principles that I believe are the key ingredients to being a producer of a self-published power book:

Key # 1: Exercise & Rest
I work out every day – sometimes twice a day and I can’t tell you how much it adds to my mental work in writing and producing content that helps people. When I’m on a major project with a self-imposed deadline, I approach my health like an athlete approaches their training.

I’m up at five o’clock in the morning waiting for the gym to open. I have my motivational music cued that gets my mind moving in the direction to produce quality content. I sweat for 30-45 minutes and fully give in to the creative juices.

As a Writer, Information Entrepreneur and Speaker, my inspiration comes at all times of the day and night and I don’t have a set time when I sit down and write. It’s 11:32 p.m. as I sit down and write this piece; but it could well be 3:00 a.m. as I wrote most of my latest book, The Anatomy of An Ezine. This is why exercise is so important. When you burn the midnight oil, you need to be in tiptop shape to withstand the calling of creativity, since it knows no time restrictions.

Key # 2: Get Power Player Endorsements
The moment you have an idea as to what the subject of your book is going to be about you should be making a list of the people you want to endorse your book. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for success celebrities and business leaders to endorse your book. Most of them have websites with a link, where you can send them an email request for an endorsement. If they say respond back with a no, go on to the next person on your list but don’t stop, get discouraged and spend time wondering why they didn’t endorse your work. Fortunately, there are too many people to choose from to get stuck on one or two rejections.

At PI Publishing Group, we have a standard form and process that we use to get endorsements and we even give a deadline as to when we would like to have the endorsement returned. Many times, it will be you--the Author, writing the endorsement and having the person you asked to approve and give permission to use the quote you submitted to them. For instance, my endorsement from Stedman Graham from my first book, How To Make Millions When Thousands Have Been Laid Off, was originally written by me and approved by him. Many times, the high-powered people that you go after do not have time to sit down and write a personal endorsement; but will take a rough draft endorsement and polish it up.

Personally, I may not be able to endorse every book/manuscript that shoots across my desk, but I’ll do my best. Thus, if you have a book/manuscript that you would like for me to consider endorsing, I’d be glad to give it a shot. Please send it to me at mailto:info@pipublishing.com, and let’s see what we can do.

Key # 3: Have a Foreword Written
A foreword is vastly different than an endorsement because it will take much more time and an understanding of the book you are writing. With The Anatomy of An Ezine, I ask my friend and mentor, Mark Shearon, of the 3% Club if he would write the foreword for the book. He agreed and we set a deadline and got a phenomenal product. I sent him the uncorrected manuscript in a PDF file with a password to protect against anyone else reading the book before it was launched. When he checked his email, Mark called me for the password, and the ball was rolling.

On rare occasions; however, you will find that some people who you ask to write the foreword for your book will ask you to do the first draft, so they can get a feeling for what you want. With Mark, he sent me an email with his first draft asking me if what he wrote summed up the message and mission of The Anatomy of An Ezine. What he wrote blew me away and I replied to his email saying it was fine as is; but he wanted to polish up even more.

Having a foreword in your book gives a great deal of credibility to you as the Author. It says that you have people and a network that believes in you and trust you with their words. Trust me, most of the eBooks and print books that are produced by Self-Published Authors don’t have endorsements and surely most of them don’t have a foreword to establish the tone of the book.

If you will make the effort to just add a foreword to your book, you will greatly move yourself away from the self-published stereotype and stigma. Find a mentor or someone you hold in high esteem to write the foreword for your book and watch your credibility increase as well as your sales.

Key # 4: Quality Cover Design
You should pay no more than 0-00 for a quality book cover. When you get friends and family who are not graphic artists to do your cover; unfortunately, it will look like it. At PI Publishing Group, LLC, we use Zarsa Design headed by Web Diva, Heather Sensenbaugh.

Have a concept in mind when you contact your graphic artist. It would even make sense to start now collecting book covers from other authors that you like that would fit your industry. By having an idea of what you want up front along with book cover samples, it will cut down the time and costs of creating mock-ups and countless layouts. For more information on cover design and resources, you can contact me personally at mailto:info@pipublishing.com.

Key # 5: Answer Questions And Needs
The contents of a power book must answer a question or fulfill a need for the reader. It can’t be fluff, puff and a bunch of BS stuff -- it has to have substance and answer a question. Don’t waste the reader’s time with a beautiful cover, celebrity endorsements and foreword and have content that insults the intelligence of the reader!

I know Key # 5 should be rudimentary; but pass your manuscript around to people who are smarter than you and let them evaluate the work. I’ve had many ideas that never saw the light of day because I reached out to those who knew more and asked for their advice and it was well worth it. And, we haven’t had a bomb yet!

Key # 6: Must Have A Call To Action
Just like a good speech that makes people move from “why” to “why not”, the contents of a power book must do the same thing. After a person reads your book, you will want them to take action on the principles, opinions and advice that you offered in your work. If they read your book and leave with the feeling that it was just entertaining, you have lost the point of writing a book.

My goal with everything that I write is to get some kind of response from the reader – an email or phone call but there has to be an “ah ha”, in your content. Otherwise, it’s an “oh no,” and the reader will never come back your way again.

Key # 7: You Don’t Have To Be A Writer To Be An Author
Wow! When I first heard that and truly understood it, I was blown away. Most people think that they have to have a degree from Harvard to write a book but writing a book and authoring a book are two very different processes. Wealth-Building Guru, Robert Kiyosaki told me in my previous book, How To Make Millions When Thousands Have Been Laid Off that “When I write a book, I write it once and I sell five million copies, whereas there are reporters who write every single day but they never get rich and they’re better writers than me.”

What a powerful statement that is because my Mentor, Dr. Cuttie Bacon, III encapsulated this when he told me the four books that he authored, he didn’t write, he had them dictated by his Fiancée! Another author I know uses voice recognition software to author their books and then hires a writer/editor to clean it up and check the grammar.

With these 7 keys in place, there is absolutely no reason for you not to become an Author of many books. It’s all in the mindset and the mission. Take control and take charge of your intellectual property and move mountains with your words!








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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Featured on CNNfn as an Internet Expert, Philippe Matthews is the President/CEO of Philippe International and General Manager of the PI Publishing Group, LLC, which publishes the Internet eZines and websites; HowYouMakeMillions.Com and EmpowerMag.Com.

He is the Author of How To Make Millions When Thousands Have Been Laid Off and his latest book; The Anatomy of An eZine:
[http://www.anatomyofanezine.com/], which chronicles his journey of how he successfully launched his own Internet magazine and how anyone with an idea or dream can do the same. For information on how to launch your own eZine, send a blank email to:
mailto:anatomyofanezine@titan.sparklist.com.

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