Writing an evergreen book may sound daunting to a first time author but it can be done. And you can make good money from your effort.
The late Jay Conrad Levinson once shared a story, he said, “Someone once asked me how much I made for my first “Guerrilla Marketing” book. The answer I gave was $10million.”
Jay went on to say, “The book itself only paid me about $35,000 in royalties, but the speaking engagements, spinoff books, newsletters, columns, boot-camps, consulting, and wide open doors resulted in the remaining $9,965,000.”
Jay Conrad Levinson wrote what book connoisseurs call an “evergreen book.’ Ryan Holiday calls an evergreen work a “perennial seller.”
I his Perennial Seller – The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts, Ryan Holiday advise creators, “Your work doesn’t have to be a flash in the pan. You don’t have to chase fads or trends to be successful in the long run. Not everything just disappears. Truly great creative work, in any field, is designed to last, to endure for years or decades. The best work is perennial.”
Guerrilla Marketing became a series and the series has generated over $800million in sales. Not bad for an idea, which Jay Conrad Levinson stapled together with a stapling pin and no cover design.
The Chicken Soup for the Soul is another evergreen series that has gone on to make over $1billion in sales making the authors of the original or the first Chicken Soup for the Soul, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, super rich and super famous. According to legend the original book was rejected 144 times by mainstream publishers.
The book, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, by John Gray, PhD, is a standalone classic and an evergreen book that has sold more copies than all other books combined. As at the last count, the book had sold over 50 million copies and is not letting up.
The Harry Porter series by J. K. Rowling is in a class of its own. The series have been turned into movies and together have grossed over $7.7billion making the author not only the richest author in the UK, but in the planet. Her networth is estimated at over $1billion but she will be the first to tell you she’s not a billionaire.
As you can guess by now, writing an evergreen book is a worthy aspiration. But it starts with your first book. According to legend, the first Harry Porter novel was rejected by 12 publishing houses before Bloomsbury Publishing accepted it.
Jay Conrad Levinson, Jack Canfield, John Gray, and J. K. Rowling didn’t go out to write best-sellers. All they wanted was to tell the world their stories. Among the books are fiction and non-fiction. One thing they have in common is engaging storylines and the passion of the authors not to give up.
Books don’t become evergreen bestsellers, their target audiences make them. To make your book an evergreen product, select your target audience with precision. Think deep about your target audience and the more precise your customer avatar, the better.
I help business professionals who want to write a book and don’t know where to start get started. If you have been dreaming for years about telling the world your story why not do so today? Maybe you don’t know where or how to start, why not join me at Book Writing Clinic on 17th June?
Hundreds of Nigerians are realizing their book dreams through BWC, why not you? My friend, don’t rest until you tell the world your story. As Maya Angelou said, “There is no greater burden than carrying an untold story.” Funmi told the world her story. You too can. Click this link to join Lagos, Owerri or Abuja BWC.
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