Professional publication services

Of all the credentials desired by professional service providers, perhaps the most coveted is authorship, publishing a book under your own name. A book conveys solidity, credibility and expertise; in the mind of the marketplace, it often distinguishes the serious players from the also-rans.

But if you write and publish a book with the hope that new leads and fresh business will magically arrive at your doorstep when your book arrives on store shelves, you’re woefully mistaken. Without your active effort, your book may become little more than an attractive footnote on your resume. With careful planning and an aggressive campaign, however, your book can do more than catalyze a few fresh leads – it can open up new opportunities you may not have even considered possible before.

The following are eight points to consider about publishing and marketing. Whether you’re planning to write a book, entering contract negotiations or have already published a book and are currently marketing it, these points can help you make the most of a very good thing.

Too many authors focus almost exclusively on the terms of their advance (the money you get while writing the book) and royalties. Keep your focus and remember that you’re not writing the book to make money on sales, but as a tool to build your business or practice. Here a few important things you’ll want to address during negotiations:

Placement: The big bricks-and-mortar stores dictate shelf placement – where your book will be categorized – from corporate headquarters, and headquarters takes the lead from publishers. Ask your publisher where they think it should go and be prepared to fight, er, engage in persuasive dialog, if you disagree.

Free and/or discounted copies: Most publishers will give you a set number of free author copies for you to distribute as you wish. You can never have too many. Publishers may give you more – if you’re prepared to show them a plan for how you’ll use them, such as lists of press contacts you’ll mail them to, or a schedule of speaking engagements at which you’ll offer them as door prizes. You’ll also want to beg for as steep an author’s discount as you can get on additional copies.

First dibs on remainders: If or when your book goes out of print, standard publisher practice is to unload the leftover inventory as remainders sold at sharp discounts. Ask for a clause in your contract that gives you first rights on buying remaindered inventory.

Almighty Amazon.com: Not only is Amazon the big gorilla of book sales, it’s a distributor you can directly link to from your own website. Be sure your book gets all the special features on Amazon.com, from an image of the book cover to extensive “search inside” capabilities.


Expertise can sometimes be defined by the articles, columns, responses and books you write. It does not take a lot of effort to write the articles and columns but it does take effort to write a book. Having a book behind your name shows your expertise. After all, you were able to write 300 pages on what it is you do and make references to your work through examples. What a good way to make cold calls and get people to attend your speaking engagements. Your sales efforts will be much easier once you are defined as the expert in the field. You will have something to refer to when speaking or going to a customer (or a potential customer) site.

You can readily quote the information from the book and use charts and graphs that are relevant to your topic. The audience will have an easier time believing what you say and will also likely want to meet with you for further business. You will not only sell books at the back of the room, you will also be selling your services (or that of your company) to a willing audience. Just think back to all the talks that you have attended and also think of those that made the biggest impact on you. You will find that it is likely the ones that had a book for sale. I recently attended a talk by Jack Canfield and enjoyed his presentation and bought his book "Chicken Soup for the Soul". Before purchasing the book, I would have said “Jack Who?”