To Write or Not to Write: Is Publishing a Business Book Worth It?

According to one recent survey of 301 nonfiction authors, 64% of business books show a gross profit. Moreover, the same survey reports that the average profit for books that have been out for six months or more is $11,350. If you’re hoping your book is your ticket to champagne dreams and caviar wishes, these general facts might be enough to deter you from writing a book.

However, if you’ve done any digging into the world of authorpreneurship, you know that answering the question of whether publishing a business book is worth it for you, requires going beyond generalizations and financial gains.

Is It Right For You? 

To decide whether publishing a business book is worth it for you, ask yourself these three essential questions.

1. Do you have a business case for your book?
This is the single most important question you can ask yourself if you’re a business owner who wants to become an authorpreneur. When you’re writing a book, you’re taking away time from other revenue-generating activities, so it needs to be crystal clear why you are doing this.

Consider this unpopular opinion: If writing your book is not the highest and best use of your time, you shouldn’t write it. Period. However, you may think differently.

Can you write a book to better serve your clients? Can you write a book because you want to add “author” to your Linkedin profile headline? Can you write a book to leave a legacy for your grandkids? Can you write a book because you have an incredible story of resilience that the world needs to hear? Yes. Yes. Yes. And, yes.

On the other hand, if you are writing a book primarily for the purpose of becoming a thought leader and growing your business, then you must have a clear strategy for how this book will make you money.

This business book checklist will help you understand whether you have a business case for your book.

• I want to use my book to land paid or unpaid speaking gigs
• I want to use my book to sell an existing course or training
•  I want to use my book as a companion to a course or training I will create
• I want to use my book to drive traffic to my website
• I want to use my book as a springboard to building thought leadership
• I want to use my book to increase my consulting fees
• I want to use my book to grow my audience or reach a broader audience

The more of these boxes you can check off, the stronger the business case for writing your book.

Whether you should write your book yourself is a separate question. Let’s turn to this question next.

2. Should you write the book yourself?  

Even if you have a business case for writing your book, you don’t need to write it yourself. If you’re a business owner, the odds are good that you’re not a professional writer. This means that not only will writing your book take time away from running your business, but also you may run into obstacles (like perfectionism, fear, imposter feelings, writer’s block, and overwhelm) that will make the writing process more energetically demanding, take longer, or prevent you from finishing your manuscript entirely.

If you’re wondering whether publishing a business book is worth it, it should be obvious that writing 85% of a manuscript that you never finish is definitely not worth it.

Fortunately, there are many ways to get a book written. Ghostwriters write books for entrepreneurs who have more ideas than time to write them down. Some say as many as 90% of non-fiction books are ghostwritten. Thus, ghostwriting may be worth considering.

To decide whether you should write your book yourself answer the following questions:

• Can I find at least 5 hours per week in my schedule for the next 24 weeks (6 months)?
• Is it important to me that “author” be part of my identity?
• Is it a dream of mine to write a book?
• Does the idea of writing a book feel energizing?
• Would writing my own book feel satisfying (vs. like wading through quicksand)?
• Is writing a book the highest and best use of my time?
• Will writing my book further my business goals?

If you answered “yes” to at least four of these questions, then it makes sense to consider writing your book yourself.

3. Is now the best time to write your business book?  

If you’ve read this far, you likely have a goal to publish your business book sooner rather than later. That’s great. But is now the best time to write it?

In some sense, this is a trick question. There’s no “best” time to write a book when you’re also running a business. The mistake many first-time authors make is thinking that it’s just a matter of finding the time.

Whether this is the best time for you to write your book, though, isn’t just a practical question about whether you can find the time. It’s about two things: finding your big idea and knowing how your book fits into your bigger business goals.

Deciding to Do It? 

Have an idea for a book that you can’t stop thinking about? Know that writing a book will further your current business development goals? Then there’s a good chance publishing a business book is worth it.

You don’t need my permission to write (or not to write) your book. But considering these questions will help you make the right decision.

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Written by Emily Crookston.
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