Clear Answers for Serious Authors.

Business Book Adviser FAQs

• How does book coaching work?

  Yes. The right book coach can save you time and money, ensure that the content of your book is the best it can be and that it deliver value, knowledge and insights to your target audience. Jaqui Lane is an expert in writing and publishing business books. This is an unusual combination. She knows first hand (literally) what you need to do, the order in which you do it and the key experts to engage to deliver a book you are proud of.

• Do I need a book coach?

  Yes. The right book coach can save you time and money, ensure that the content of your book is the best it can be and that it deliver value, knowledge and insights to your target audience. Jaqui Lane is an expert in writing and publishing business books. This is an unusual combination. She knows first hand (literally) what you need to do, the order in which you do it and the key experts to engage to deliver a book you are proud of.

• How do I find a book coach?

  Like most things in life it’s important to do your research as not all book coaches are the same. Many book coaches just help with the writing part of the self publishing journey, but there’s so much more to writing and publishing a successful business book. Of course, talking with someone who has used a book coach and understanding their experience is invaluable, so reach out to your network or look at genuine testimonials online. We’re happy to provide you with the details of some of our clients for you to speak with directly.

• How will I know if my book idea any good?

  The best idea is to talk to a self publishing expert and seek their advice. To do this though you need to be able to have a clear idea of the purpose of your book, your target audience, their challenges and why your book is different to others in the marketplace. Jaqui has written 27 business books and worked with over 100 business people on their books. She provides, honest, direct and constructive feedback.

  Here at The Book Adviser we offer a FREE 45 minute strategy session to help potential business book authors work through this. By the end of this session we’ll both be able to assess if your book idea is any good, and if you have the passion and commitment to write and publish it.

• How do I start writing?

  You don’t just ‘start writing’. To write a good business book you have to plan the content first. This means working out the purpose of your book, the key themes you want to focus on, the specific knowledge/ideas you want to share, your target audience and their challenges. This information informs the content outline of your book. Once you have the content structure of your book you can then start writing. And, to write effectively and efficiently you need to allocate two periods of 2-3 hours per week.

• What is self publishing?

  Self publishing is where you the author take control of all aspects of writing, publishing and marketing your book and invest your time and money in doing to. Of course becoming an instant expert on all matters book publishing and marketing can take time which is why many businesspeople look for a book coach who has done it all before and knows all aspects of the self publishing process.

  Self publishing also means you are responsible for the marketing and sales of your book. This is an area that’s significantly underrated by first time business book authors, yet it’s the most powerful aspect of achieving your book publishing goals. The Book Adviser program devotes three of the eight steps to the marketing and sales aspect of your book and we have three book marketing packages to ensure you leverage your book to achieve the success you want.

• How long will it take me to write my book?

  Having written 27 business books Jaqui knows a thing or two about the time it takes to write a book. Mostly, the timeframe depends on the other commitments you have in your life, like running their business, family and holidays. This said, if you can allocate two slots of 2-3 hours a week, and you have a well thought-out content outline, most people can complete the first draft of a 30,000 word manuscript in 2-3 months.

  After your first draft it will take another 1-2 months to revise your manuscript, get feedback and revise again and then have your final draft reviewed by a proofreader – an absolute must if you want to publish a high-quality book.

• How long will it take me to publish my book?

  Most people write and publish their book in 9-12 months. We’ve worked with clients who have completed their book in as little as six months, some as long as 15 months. The production (publishing) component of your book usually takes 3-5 months AFTER you have a final manuscript.

• Do you edit and proofread?

  Yes, we offer structural editing and proofreading services. Our clients do not require a structural edit of their manuscript as we have worked with them on developing the structure of their book when we develop the content outline based on our planning process. For those people who come to us with the draft of a manuscript we will assess it and either recommend a structural edit or not.

  As we strive to create the highest quality business books possible in terms of their content and production we recommend all manuscripts are proofread prior to the production phase.

• Who will own the copyright in my book?

  You own the copyright in your book and we help you to do this by registering you as the copyright owner through the and by placing a copyright notice on the Imprint page of your book.

• How to I create an eBook or audio book?

  There are a number of options for both eBooks and audio books. You can opt for a DIY approach or we’ll undertake the organisation, formatting, briefing and management of these for you. An important consideration for eBooks and audio books is the timing that you release them to the market and how they support your print book marketing and sales objectives.

  And yes, you can start with an eBook first and then print versions.

• How do I get a great book cover design?

  It is important to create a clear Book Cover Design Brief for a designer, so that they understand the key themes/messages and target audience of the book. The brief should also include what, if any colour and design requirements that relate to your existing branding and marketing.

  We have a range of book cover designers we recommend to our clients and work closely with you on brainstorming concepts and titles. We’re pretty good at coming up with book titles, so try us out.

• How much will it cost me to print a book?

  The cost of printing your book depends on a number of factors the key ones being:
  The page extent of your book – more pages, more cost
  The quality of the paper stock you use
  Whether it is a hard cover book or soft cover book
  The printing process – black & white or 4-colour. The more colours the more cost
  The quantity of books you print – the more you print the lower the unit cost
  The format of your book – there are standard book sizes and these are more economical to print.

• How much does it cost to self publish a book?

  The total cost of self publishing your book will vary depending on what you can/want to do on your own, what assistance/support you need, the length of your book, how you publish it (print, eBook, audio book) and the marketing investment you want to make to achieve your book goals.

  As a guide you should expect to invest between $10,000 – $30,000 over 12-18 months for a high-quality book if you print approx. 1,000 copies.

  In terms of what you can expect to make in book sales, this is directly proportional to the effort and investment you put into the marketing of your book. This said, our clients typically sell 700-1,500 copies of their book over 12-18 months at an average price of $25.00

• Can you help me get a publisher to take my book?

  We are not a book Agent and therefore do not pitch books to traditional publishers. We do work with some hybrid publishers and some of our authors have had great success with their books via these publishers.

• How many copies of my book will I sell?

  The quantity of books you sell will vary and depends on how much time and effort, and investment you are prepared to make in marketing and selling your book. There are a wide range of avenues to market and sell your book that are in your control (such as your website, presentations/speaking engagements, bulk sales, direct marketing to your database, partnership offers and more.

  Our clients typically sell between 700-1,500 copies of their book over 12-18 months, with some selling as many as 3,000-5,000 copies.

  We have developed three business book marketing packages to lead your book marketing strategy and sales.

• How will my book get me speaking bookings?

  You book positions you as an authority/expert in your field. You can use it to engage your industry organisations, relevant media, Podcasts and target content providers to increase your profile and visibility. Through these and active engagement on LinkedIn you can then engage with speakers’ agencies and conference organisers with your keynote presentation pitch based on your book.

• How can my book help build my profile?

  You book positions you as an authority/expert in your field. You can use it to engage your industry organisations, relevant media, Podcasts, other Influencers in your area and target content providers to increase your profile and visibility.

  All your activities around content marketing, your launch and industry engagement across different platforms work towards building awareness of you, your knowledge and ability to engage an audience. LinkedIn and your own website are critical elements of increasing your profile as you can leverage content from your book to engage with 100 and thousands of people.

• How do I market and sell lots of copies of my book?

  Marketing and selling your book is a 12-18 month program that starts 3 months before your book launch and goes for a good 12-months after it. The key thing is to follow the content marketing plan and strategy we develop with you as part of our program.

  An important part of selling your book is to work out what your primary goal for the book is. If you want to use it to grow your personal and/or business brand most of your activities should be around funnelling your target audience to your website to buy your book and then learn more about what you do and how you can help them. You also keep all the money from book sales and can build a larger database.

• Is Amazon the best platform to sell my book?

  Not necessarily. It depends on the purpose, goals and objectives you have for your book. While Amazon is great for international sales (through its print on demand service) standing out from the millions of books on Amazon is hard and you don’t get to build your own database as it does not pass through details of who has bought your book) and you make way less money on each book sales as Amazon captures most of the RRP as their cut.

  There are good reasons to upload your book to Amazon but it needs to be part of a well thought-out marketing strategy rather than your first and only distribution avenue.

Corporate Historian FAQs

• How much involvement does a company historian have with the design and layout of the company history?

  I most cases a company historian will not have much involvement with the design and layout of the book other than providing additional content such as captions for photos, footnotes, reference information, lists. It is important to itemise what other content you want the writer to provide when commissioning them, otherwise they can charge an additional fee for this. As Jaqui Lane has over 30 years experienced in publishing as well as writing company histories, Jaqui can project manage the design and publishing of company histories and be closely involved in all aspects of the design/layout of books.

• How do I provide feedback on drafts of the manuscript?

  The most efficient and effective way to provide feedback to a company history writer is to ‘mark-up’ the first and subsequent drafts of the manuscript. Most writers prefer this to be done via ‘track changes’ in a Word document. However, hard copy comments are also acceptable. It is important that whoever is managing the feedback from the company collate all feedback and provide this as one document to the writer.

• How many revisions of the draft of the company history manuscript is standard?

  There is no standard number of revisions to a company history manuscript however, if a quality brief has been provided to the writer and a content outline agreed BEFORE the writer starts writing, two-to-three revisions would be a workable number of drafts for both the writer and the company. It is important to define the number of revisions and how these will be managed at the contract stage.

• Can I ask a company historian to sign an NDA (non disclosure agreement)?

  It is a standard practice for companies to ask a potential company historian/writer to sign an NDA prior to engaging in discussions with the writer and then for non disclosure and confidentiality clauses to be incorporated into the contract with the writer.

• Who owns the copyright in the company history?

  When a company commissions a history it is standard for the company to own the copyright and all other rights in the manuscript. However, this needs to be negotiated with the company historian on a case-by-case basis. It is standard for the company historian to retain the moral right to be recognised as the author of the work and they may negotiate specific rights.

• How do I organise interviews for a company history?

  Organising interviews for a company history involves three main steps.

  • Identifying the people to be interviewed
  • Engaging with these people to invite them to be interviewed and introduce the company historian and explain the interview process
  • Company historian to make direct contact to organise the interview

• What information do I need to provide to a company historian?

  A company historian will want as much information, documentation, reports, access to former and current directors, management, employees, customers, suppliers as you are willing and able to provide. It is standard for companies to provide open access to their archives if they have them, board/management reports/papers, marketing material and presentations. A company historian will also be interviewing key people, past and present, in the company so a list of these along with their role, tenure with the company will be required.

• How do I brief a writer for a company history?

  Briefing a writer for a company history book required a written brief that outlines the following parts: writing style and tone, manuscript length, timeframe for delivery of a content outline, first, second and final drafts, process for feedback and revision; copyright and    ; payment terms and termination options.

• How long does the manuscript need to be for a company history?

  The length (word count) of a company history depends on a number of factors including the timeframe available, purpose of the book, target audiences, availability of historical information and people to be interviewed. A common length of a company history is 30,000 words. Jaqui Lane has written company histories of 25,000 words to 200,000 words.

• How long will it take to write and publish a company history?

  It will take between 9-24 months to write and publish a quality company history. The timeframe depends on the length of the manuscript required, the number of people to be interviewed, what historical information and documents are available and the format/design of the book. If there is limited time the writing and design parts can be undertaken at the same time.

Book Marketing FAQs

• How much will it cost to pay a publicist to market my book?

  A book publicist will charge between $A7,000-$A15,000 to publicise your book over a 3-5 month period. They work on a ‘best endeavours’ basis, meaning they’ll do their best to get you in front of print and online media, TV, radio and Podcasts, but there are no guarantees. The more you can build your visibility BEFORE you launch your book the better.

• Should I sell my book on my own website or through Amazon?

  There are pros and cons for selling your book directly on your website or on Amazon. Selling directly from your website you will keep more money and get the email details of people who buy it to build your database, but you need to set up eCommerce and fulfillment. Selling your book through Amazon is easier to set up but you receive less money, less often and get no information about who has bought your book.

• Do I need endorsements to help market my book?

  Endorsements for you book are always a GREAT marketing tool. They provide social proof, you can use them in the book and across your marketing and promotions and it’s always better to have other people saying great things about your book. Once your book is published and being sold, ask people to provide recommendations on Amazon (if you are selling there), for your website and on LinkedIn.

• Is paying for Ads on Facebook, LinkedIn and/or Amazon worth it?

  Paying for Ads on Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon or other social media is probably not going to increase your book sales enough to cover the cost of the ads. You are much better off focusing your book marketing budget on building credibility and visibility through sustained organic content and marketing – always directing people to your own website is you are selling your book directly, or partner sites that can market your book to their subscribers.

• How do I work what to sell my book for (the RRP) price?

  Working out the sale price of your book is entirely up to you. There is no official structure or process to follow. Look at similar books to yours (in terms of genre, page extent and format) and where your major sales/market is. Book prices in Australia and New Zealand are higher than in the USA and Europe. I advise The Book Adviser clients to choose a higher retail price that way you can discount and still make money from the sale of single and bulk book orders.

• How much will it cost me to market my business book?

  The cost of marketing your book will vary depending on whether you undertake the book marketing yourself or contract others to undertake your book publicity, social media, content marketing or pay for Ads on Amazon, Inst, Facebook, LinkedIn or other social media sites. You should allocate between $5,000 and $20,000 over a 12-month period.

• What are the best business book self publishing platforms?

  The best business book self publishing platforms are Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, Barnes&Noble and IngramSpark.  In Australia also look at Booktopia. If you are also publishing audio books look at Audible and Author’s Republic.

• Why am I not selling more of my book?

  You are not selling more copies of your book because you are probably not spending enough time and effort in marketing it to your target audiences over 12-18 months. Selling more than 200 copies of your book requires a content marketing plan that includes promoting your book to your network, on social media platforms and channels, podcasts, through your website and targeted book marketing sites.

• How can I sell more copies of my book?

  The main ways to sell more copies of your book are to create visibility of your book across the main social media platforms that your audiences are on and to consistently post and engage over at least 12 months. Make sure that you combine helpful content along with promotions of your book with CTA (calls to action) to buy your book. And think about bulk sales.