A New Business Model and a New Bestseller?
Every so often a literary agent gets the chance to represent a book that is so unique in every way that it is a privilege to represent. Last week I was given the opportunity to handle such a property. However, I must confess, that I did not immediately “get” the book, largely because it breaks most every rule of business book publishing. First a bit of history.
Two European authors—Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur—spent years putting together a stunning book on business models entitled BUSINESS MODEL GENERATION. The two authors had a great deal of help with the design and content of the book, as it was co-authored by 470 Business Model Canvas practitioners from 45 countries, which in itself is highly unusual for any book, business or otherwise. The authors self-published two versions of the book, starting with a gorgeous 4-color hardbound version that lays flat when you set it down on a desk or table.
Some weeks ago I was contacted by author Alex Osterwalder asking if I would represent him and the book (I was referred to him by one of my other authors). My first reaction was to refuse taking on the book. After all, even though the author self-published 5,000 copies of the book and sold them all through his website (businessmodelgeneration.com) , there was no “official” record of those sales so I knew that publishers would be quite skeptical of the book. And that was only one roadblock. There were also several other obstacles the book faced that would make selling it to a top notch publisher an uphill battle:
* The authors were not based in the U.S., which often complicates matters
* The book has a “clunky,” awkward title (Business Model Generation does not roll smoothly off the tongue)
* The book has a very high price tag of $46.99, more than double the average price of a bestselling business book—and in an impossible economy to boot
So I did not take on the book. Then, some weeks after the authors sold out their 5,000 copies, they reprinted 10,000 copies of the book. Now here is where things get really interesting. On February 3rd, 2010 the authors managed to get a third party seller to sell the book on Amazon. Finally, the authors would get some help in selling the book beyond their own websites (the other site is businessmodelalchemist.com). But once again, there were obstacles that made it very difficult to sell the book on Amazon:
* It’s not even Amazon selling the book on Amazon, but a third party vendor
* It is very difficult to even figure out the price of the book on (see the Amazon page for the book)
* There is absolutely no discount offered for the book (usually Amazon discounts books by 40 percent)
* The Amazon page is so bleak, it makes the book appear as if it is out of stock
One would think that all of those obstacles would derail the book, but a funny thing happened to the book on the way to the bestseller list. The minute the book became available on Amazon, buyers came out of the woodwork to purchase the book. Within 48 hours the book ranked as high as #74 on Amazon, an amazing feat for most any business book and especially this one. Since then, the two versions of the book have occupied two of the top 25 slots on Amazon’s list of bestselling management books every single day. This kind of success is so rare that I would classify this book as a “phenomenon” book, one that beats huge odds to become a bestseller (and this is before any publisher has entered the picture). This time I did not repeat my mistake and happily agreed to take on the project.
Last week I contacted a handful of my favorite editors/publishers and this time I was not surprised when every publisher I notified expressed interest in the book. Given the success of the self-published versions it was hardly surprising that interest among publishers would run high. By this time next week we should have found a great home for the book, with a publisher that sees the book for what it is: an exceptional product that is helping to build a community of people who appreciate all of the blood, sweat and tears that make this a one-in-a-million book and opportunity.
Winning in the Zero-Growth Decade Ahead
This week marked a milestone for me and my relatively new publishing business: I signed on to ghost write my first major book project. The book—a much anticipated watershed book that is the brainchild of one of Wall Street’s most sagacious former money managers—will be published by McGraw-Hill, the same great publisher that employed me for more than a decade. Although in months past I had been offered the chance to work on other books as a ghost writer and/or book doctor, none of them felt quite right until this one. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me back up a bit.
A few years back I contacted Gary Kaminsky, one of the managing partners of ”Team Kaminsky” at Neuberger Berman to see if he might like to write an investing book. Gary—a money manager with nearly two decades of hands-on experience—was both cordial and professional when he told me that he simply couldn’t. His day job of helping to manage more than $13 billion in assets consumed all of his time and taking on a book project then was simply out of the question. However, I knew Gary’s record as a money manager—he was simply one of the best around, routinely outperforming both the averages and the returns of most other money managers. He also made scores of appearances on CNBC, and his presence and platform was only building. Given his track record and rising star, I was not about to give up. I kept Gary’s cell phone number on speed dial in the hopes that one day he might be able to do the book.
That hope became a reality in late 2009. Gary had left Neuberger Berman—which had been acquired by Lehman Brothers—four months before Lehman crumbled. Gary, a visionary in the markets, also had the vision to recognize that Lehman was headed down an inescapable road of ruin and wanted no part of it. He was now free to pursue a book project and I was determined to be his guide and partner into the world of business book publishing. Luckily, Gary and I hit it off from the start. After only a few conversations and a meeting at The Ritz Carlton in Chicago, I interviewed Gary for a full day in his suite at the Ritz. Unlike most first time authors, Gary was focused like a laser on his message. He knew exactly what kind of investing book he wanted to write—a book that would make a bold prediction about the future while peeling back the murky layers so that retail investors would learn Wall Street’s dirtiest secrets. We called the book WINNING IN THE ZERO-GROWTH DECADE AHEAD: HOW TO MAKE MONEY WHEN MARKETS GO NOWHERE and we spent the next ten weeks collaborating and refining the book proposal. We were then ready to meet with publishers.
Every one of those meetings went well. Every publisher we met with was enthusiastic and brought something special to the table. However, it was clear from the start that McGraw-Hill felt that this was a book they had to have. They brought a talented team to the meeting with us (represented by editorial, marketing and publicity), and then described how this book would be their tent pole for their fall 2010 list. Another upside in selecting McGraw-Hill was that I would have the chance to work with people I truly loved when I worked there.
Now comes both the hard part, and the fun part. Gary and I have to write the book. But if the proposal process was any indication of what it will be like to work together, we should have little problem putting together one great book. After all, neither of us are strangers to hard work, and we both share Gary’s vision for the book. If all goes as planned, look for the book on store shelves by year’s end.
My Publishing Outlook for 2010
I must forewarn you that I am an optimist at heart and always will be. However, I am also a pragmatist and have learned that “facing reality” is one of the most important business philosophies if one is to succeed. That said, I believe 2010 is going to be a very good year for business books.
2009 was anything but.
Many publishers were forced to scale back their programs, lay off scores of good editors, marketing people, and other professionals—all while combining and reorganizing various imprints. They did all of this against an ugly backdrop of an awful economy and a liquidity and housing crisis that sunk the Dow to multi-year lows in March of 2009. If you are wondering what the Dow has to do with business book publishing, the answer is “everything.”
Sales of business books—all business books, not just investing and finance titles—are very much dependent upon a strong stock market. Now that the Dow is over 10,000 once again and consumer confidence is up for the second month in a row, sales of business books will likely improve in the first quarter of 2010. However, we are not out of the woods yet. We are still seeing publishers continuing to cut positions and reorganize publishing divisions. But I believe that we are in the seventh inning on that—much nearer to the end than the beginning. Those publishers that do not cut back so sharply will fare the best when things turn around. Some publishers are positioning themselves to come out on top by continuing to aggressively acquire new titles to be published in 2010 and 2011. Of course, a great deal depends on the books and publishing programs of various houses. Unfortunately, several topics have already been over-published—think Bernie Madoff and the Liquidity crisis— and that trend will continue (publishers always follow trends and tend to saturate markets very quickly).
However, there are many great business editors out there who are acquiring and publishing original and compelling books. These innovators will be the ones most amply rewarded when the economy comes back. And the economy and the financial markets always come back…eventually. I happen to be one of those who believe that it will be sooner rather than later.
The Killer Book Proposal
The most common question I get from first time (0r even second time) authors focuses on how the publishing process works: How do I get started? How do we make sure that publishers will be interested in my book ideas? How do I set my work apart from the pack? These are good questions, and the answer to them are all the same.
It all starts with a killer book proposal.
Much to many authors’ surprise, it is a rare event that a publisher gets an entire manuscript in the mail. Instead, publishers get book proposals to review. And while no two proposals are constructed exactly the same way, the best of them contain the same elements—those key segments that all editors look for. The purpose of this posting is to give you an idea of exactly what needs to be included in every business book proposal. For those “big” books—one that you feel could break out and make a bestseller list—your proposal should run about 50 pages in length. That’s what is required to give editors and publishers a complete, three-dimensional picture of your book. As to what should be included, consider the following:
* A synopsis of the book, describing the book as vividly as possible. Make it sound compelling. Draw a picture of what the final book—the finish line—will look like. This overview of the book should not only paint a vivid picture of your book, it should also be written to draw readers in. This first critical section of the proposal should run about four to six pages but could be longer or shorter depending on the book topic, what you intend to write in other parts of the proposal, etc.
* The primary benefit of the book: also known as the USP, or unique selling proposition; what will readers get out of your book that they can’t get elsewhere? This could be part of the synopsis of the book or could be written as a separate—albeit brief—section of the proposal. The key here is to make your book sound like a “must have,” rather than a “nice to have.”
* A quick description of the target audience: this is important, since it will tell us who you are trying to reach. Is it a general Wall Street Journal audience, or higher level, such as financial professionals? If it is a leadership book, is it for “C suite” executives? Or is it for most anyone who sits in a cubicle? This section can be written in a couple of paragraphs, but is nonetheless important.
* Competing books:tell us what books are closest in content to your book. However, this is a bit tricky. The key is to include books that are not only similar to yours, but have also sold well. You may not know which books are successful, so this is one key area for your literary agent to step in and help. Most agents subscribe to a service which includes the sales records of all books published in the U.S. One additional note of caution: you should not include books that have sold hundreds of thousands of books, especially if you are a first time author or someone with anything less than a spectacular track record. Including blockbusters as competitors will make editors think you have unrealistic expectations or even a bit delusional.
* Books specifications: all relevant specs—the length of the book, number of tables, graphs or other pieces of art, and how long it will take you to write the book should be included. Is this a 150-page book or a 350-page book? This is the section that gives editors real insight into the length and level of the book you intend to write.
* A chapter-by-chapter summary: These are crucial, and should run one-to-two pages in length. This is where you put the meat on the bone and give editors real detail on the content of the book. Make sure you include a table of contents first, and then list every chapter title followed by a detailed description of all of the key topics to be included in the book. This is the longest part of the proposal. If you have, say, a fifteen chapter book, then this section should run about 20-30 pages.
* One complete chapter: This is particularly important, especially if you are a first-time author. This shows publishers how talented you are as a writer, while also providing the most amount of detail on one particular topic in the book. Make sure you select a chapter that really is pivotal to the book, and one that you know very well. It should also be one of the most interesting chapters in the book.
* Your bio and platform: This is yet another critical—and usually the final—part of the book proposal. However, your platform—those things that you do that will help sell copies of the book, re: seminars, speeches, TV appearances, social networking presence, etc.—is so important that I usually ask authors to include aspects of the author platform throughout the proposal. For example, if you are an author that appears three times a week on a cable news channel, then you might even lead with that way back in beginning, in the synopsis of the book. The key here is to use your judgment, and remember that the author platform is one of the most important determinants of whether or not a publisher (or multiple publishers) will make an offer on your book.
Find a Writer that Speaks Your Language
Many of the best books that I have worked on over the years have had a ghost writer. There is absolutely nothing wrong with bringing on a professional writer to help you to repair or write your book from scratch. I have always believed that if you’re not a “natural” scribe, then bringing someone on board to help transform your idea into a reality makes perfect sense.
I am also of the school of thought that it is best to hire a writer at the beginning of the process—not in the middle or the end. I learned this lesson the hard way. Once a project goes off the wheels, it is a difficult task to get it back on track. Starting out with the correct writer gives you the best chance of success—and will help you to complete the job much faster than if you have to find a “book doctor” months down the road (I have worked on scores of books at all points of completion and have produced the best books when facing blank pages at the project’s birth).
Once you establish the point that you need a ghost writer, it is best to find someone who speaks in your tongue. An example: when I worked at Portfolio (Penguin), I signed an author who told me he decided to publish with us because I spoke the language of finance/investing. That worked out very well, as it allowed us to collaborate much more closely than would have been possible with the publisher he eschewed in favor of us. That book ultimately garnered incredible reviews and sold close to 100,000 copies.
History and experience are the keys to finding the right author. I have been investing in the stock market since I was 13, and held the title of Publisher of Investing and Finance unit when at McGraw-Hill. It was at McGraw that I worked with investment titans Jack Bogle, Jeremy Siegel and Charlie Ellis.
So if you are writing a management book, make sure that the writer speaks management, a finance book needs someone who knows investing, and so on. You may have to pay more for the right author, but this is not the place to be stingy. Good business authors are in very short supply; that is why they are expensive, and exceptional authors even more so. But remember, this is a book that has your good name on it—one that you will have to live with for many years to come.
M&A, The “Mad Men” Way
If you have worked for a large company for any length of time, chances are that your firm has been involved in multiple mergers and/or acquisitions. This phenomenon has become a more prominent part of big company life since the 1980s, and the publishing industry has been a prime example of the kind of consolidation I am talking about.
In fact, almost every company I ever worked with was either acquired or was a frequent ”acquirer.” After starting at Prentice-Hall in 1982, Simon & Schuster purchased Prentice-Hall in 1984, in one of the first major major publishing acquisitions. Later I worked for a small division of a larger [textbook] publisher—Dow Jones-Irwin—a tiny publisher of financial books for professionals. All of Irwin and Dow Jones-Irwin was soon sold to Times Mirror (publisher of the Los Angeles Times). Less than a decade later, the company was sold again to publishing giant McGraw-Hill.
Overall, Hollywood has not done a great job depicting mergers or acquisitions on the big screen. Wall Street—released in 1987, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen—is probably the best example of showing how Wall Street actually operates. The line in the movie uttered by Douglas’ character, Gordon Gekko, ”Greed is good,” was actually taken from the playbook of former Wall Street inside trader Ivan Boesky (who spent years in prison for insider trading).
Barbarians at the Gate (based on the bestselling book), starring James Garner—released in 1993 on HBO—did a great job of depicting the greed-gone-wild decade of the 1980s, at least in a campy way. It gave people a behind-the-scenes look at the wheeling and dealing on a multi-billion-dollar scale and what people will do when there is that much blood in the water. However, neither of the aforementioned movies showed what it was really like to be one of the employees or managers of a company about to be taken over. At least, they didn’t make you feel it.
That’s where the AMC show Mad Men comes into play. Set in the 1960s, this award-winning show about the early years of advertising and Madison Avenue is known for its authenticity and strong writing. Its third season finale gave people a real feel for what it is like to be taken over by what one character called a “sausage factory.”
This exchange tells the tale: the often unsympathetic but always interesting Don Draper blasts this out to the head of his soon-to-be-acquired-for-the-second-time-in-a- year-company—Bert Cooper:
“Who the hell’s in charge? Accountants that want to turn a dollar into a dollar-ten? I want to work. I want to build something of my own.”
That brief excerpt sums up the frustration of the millions of employees and managers that have been swept up in the merger mania of the last 25 years. People want to work and build things, and in the U.S. we have sometimes forgotten that. Instead, we have moved trillions of dollars and made a mess of the financial system and in turn the economy as a whole. In other words, we have created a culture in which making and moving money has replaced making and moving real goods.
In that Mad Men finale, the managers of the business find a way to get out of their contracts and start their own company—Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. While that show was terrific and genuine for its time, that could not happen today. That’s because lawyers have gotten much more involved in corporations over the last decades, and today, almost all company contracts contain non-compete clauses. Still, I urge people to get their hands on that last episode of the third season, just to feel what it is like when your company goes from one “John’s bed to another,” which is the way the fictional character Roger Sterling summed up what was about to happen to the company he worked so hard to build.
Thanksgiving and Publishing
It used to be that nothing ever happened in the publishing business Thanksgiving week. For all the years I can remember this was a “dead” week. It was so quiet that we were lucky if half the editors showed up at their desks.
Well, times have changed.
Thanks to a continuing lackluster economy, editors and other publishing professionals simply cannot afford to take the week off. Most publishers are having a really tough year, and they need to show the brass that they understand the severity of the situation, and are doing everything in their power to make 2010 a much better year. But that is no simple task either, because the vast majority of books publishers acquire now will not make it in 2010—instead they will spill over into 2011. Also, there are fewer people left to do all the work at most publishing houses.
That is why editors are at their desks this week in record numbers. I know because I am doing a lot of business this week with a number of editors and publishers. And something tells me that next year will be no different. Now we have to wait and see if people show up between Christmas and New Year’s. That has always been the ”deadest” week of the year in all of publishing.
Here is wishing you and your families a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving. I know I have a great deal to be thankful for this year—and will be sure to take nothing for granted.
Dow 10,000: A Sign of Things to Come?
Many people did not think we would see the Dow Jones Industrials—consisting of 30 bell-weather stocks—would reach 10,000 so fast. In March of this year, the Dow slipped to a multi-year low of about 6,500, a horrible and frightening drop from our all time high of 14,000 achieved in late 2007.
However, while many on Wall Street are celebrating the milestone, the majority of those on Main Street are still hurting. In recent weeks I have spoken to cab and limo drivers in Boston, New York and Washington (people who drive other people know everything about the economy). According to them business is still hurting and there are no signs of that turning around anytime soon. Also, unemployment is at a 26-year high, at over 10 percent. And the weekly jobless claims remained unchanged this week, with new workers filing for unemployment still topping the half a million mark (505,000).
Does that mean there is no hope? No, but at present we are getting mixed signals. Taken together, I think it means that a meaningful recovery that will help people of all stripes and industries is still months away at best. The stock market is a forward looking indicator. There is usually an eight to ten month lag between the stock market and what happens in the overall economy. In addition, corporate earnings have been pretty strong, with the majority of companies beating their quarterly expectations.
I am a glass-half-full kind of guy, and given the success of my relatively new publishing business (find it at http://jeffreykrames.com/), I have that luxury. I believe things will get better by the first or second quarter of 2010, but I do not believe that we will see a sharp reversal in the unemployment rate. Companies are adjusting, learning to do more with less. As a result, most companies are not rushing to hire people back. But expectations are so low that I expect stronger Christmas sales than most are prognosticating, and who knows…maybe that will carry so9me good cheer into the new year.
In any event, time will tell. But what the Dow is telling us is that some type of help is on the way. So while it is still really tough, hang in there. If you are without a job, widen your search to include the kind of jobs that at first blush you might not readily think of as being for you. Perhaps just getting out there in the workplace again might make all the difference in your outlook and your future prospects.
Make Sure to See the Whole Court
Continuing with the tennis analogy employed in THE UNFORCED ERROR, as in tennis, people in business need to be sure they have a clear view of the court at all times.
When I say the whole court, I mean the entire playing field that serves as the backdrop to our jobs and careers. When I go out and speak to groups, I warn them about getting tunnel vision or “cubicle vision.” I tell them that it is not enough just to see what is going on in their own departments. They need to see what is going on with their unit, different parts of the company, competitors, the operating environment, etc. Only then can you get a clear picture of how well you and your company are doing, and more important, only then can you take meaningful steps to make things better. In these very tough times, with a national unemployment rate hovering at about ten percent, few of us can ill-afford to be caught off guard by a situation that we simply did not know about because we were too lazy to do our due diligence.
For example, say you work in the marketing department of a food and beverage company. You get good performance reviews, and morale in your department is fine. However, what you are not aware of is that parts of the sales department is in ruins. The company laid off 20 percent of the department because sales for the Eastern region fell off a cliff. As a result, the company is going to have to make job cuts across the board, which includes your department. Had you known, you might have stepped up your game knowing what was at stake; and you could have been better prepared to search for a new job knowing that yours was on the line. In this extreme scenario, you would have to be a real ostrich to get caught this much off guard. But this stuff happens every day in organizations.
Most other situations are a bit more subtle. For example, you may be a salesperson in that same company and not know that your biggest customer is in real trouble, endangering the business that you do with them. Their sales make up more than 15 percent of your [individual] total sales budget, so not knowing that they may shut down their doors could also cost you your job. That example isn’t all that subtle either, but you get the idea.
When things are as tough as they are now, with unemployment rates so high, you must constantly work without blinders. The risk for failing to do so is simply too high.
Protect Your Flanks
“Protect Your Flanks” is a chapter in my newly published THE UNFORCED ERROR. I gave it quite a lot of thought before I decided whether or not to feature it in the book, but in the end, felt it was too critical a topic to omit.
That’s because all organizations have some sort of office politics, no matter how much you (and I) might hate the thought. According to author and career expert Dr. Kathleen Reardon, people with “political savvy, agility in the use of power, and the ability to influence others will go further.”
That’s why it is so important to protect your flanks.
You need to use all of your contacts within the organization to be sure no one is bad mouthing you to your boss. I have seen this scenario play out countless times and it is never pretty. In fact, it’s downright unethical and even immoral. What right does one person have to play with your career and your livelihood? Yet it happens every day in almost all organizations of every size. You have to have enough contacts and be plugged in to the company grapevine or you risk having the rug pulled out from under you before you know that you’re standing on one. How do you do this?
Seek out people in the organization. If you do not make friends, at least make acquaintances. And don’t limit it to people in your own department or work area. It could be people in other departments that have the ear of your boss. Perhaps you made an enemy without even knowing it, or perhaps people are just jealous of your success. Regardless of the specific circumstances, you have to establish a friendly, informal network within the organization so that you are not the last to know that you are in the doghouse—and possibly on your way to the poorhouse if you get canned.
One other piece of advice is more straight forward. Talk to your boss on a regular basis. Ask her if there are things you can be doing to help her make her goals—and the goals of the division. And do not wait for a performance review to find out what things you can do to raise the level of your game. These informal conversations will provide ample opportunity for your boss to let you know if there is a problem or any other issue that may have a profound affect on your future.
- A New Business Model and a New Bestseller?
- Winning in the Zero-Growth Decade Ahead
- Business Book Editors at the Top of their Game
- My Publishing Outlook for 2010
- The Killer Book Proposal
- Find a Writer that Speaks Your Language
- When No Track Record is Better than Some Track Record
- M&A, The “Mad Men” Way
- Thanksgiving and Publishing
- Dow 10,000: A Sign of Things to Come?
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About Jeffrey
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As former Vice President and Publisher of McGraw-Hill's trade business books division, Jeffrey Krames has personally edited and published more than 275 business books, including many award-winning, best-selling titles on business luminaries that include Jack Welch, Michael Ovitz, Ross Perot, William Paley, Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Herb Kelleher and Lou Gerstner among others. Read more...
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The Unforced Error
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