The 5 tiers of business book projects — which one fits you?
Business and nonfiction books span a vast universe, from million-selling juggernauts to dashed-off self-published quickies. If you are planning or writing a business book, you need to calibrate your level of ambition. It’s fine for the lead in the local production of “Our Town” to dream of being the star of a tentpole studio action movie, but they need to succeed in the production they’re in, not the one they covet.
So choose which of these five tiers you plan to slot yourself into. While it’s possible to start in a lower tier and generate so much success that you move up a notch or two, your plan should be to succeed in the tier you’ve chosen.
Some book projects will fall outside these parameters, of course. Think of these tiers as archetypes that can guide your thinking. My hope is to help you help you make appropriate investments of your time and money — it’s no use creating a tier 3 book with a tier 1 marketing budget, for example — and to keep your ambitions reasonable.
Tier 1: Small and fast, with limited impact
Tier 1 books are typically self-published quickies intended to moderately burnish the reputation of the author. Their budgets are limited and their potential is, too. Authors of these types of books often produce one or two per year in hopes that one will catch on, but if your experience is limited to books of this kind, it’s very hard to move up a tier.
- Audience: poorly defined or narrowly focused
- Publishing model: self-published (Kindle Direct Publishing or Ingram Spark)
- Typical page count: 60 to 120
- Time to write: Less than 6 months
- Time manuscript to publication: Less than 3 months
- Freelance helpers: Typically none; may hire cover designer or copy editor
- Distribution: Amazon only
- Marketing budget: Less than $5,000
- Formats: print-on-demand paperback, ebook
- Typical sales: 200-500
- Impact: Can generate some local speeches and business leads among a focused audience.
Tier 2: Hopeful and ambitious
Tier 2 books are created by authors whose ambition is to make an impact but without the budget or time to invest in creating a major release. Authors in this class budget tens of thousands of dollars on writing and marketing. They’re typically impatient to get their ideas out into the world.
- Audience: focused, but with some broader ambitions
- Publishing models: hybrid; or professionally self-published with help of author service company
- Typical page count: 120 to 200
- Time to write: 6 to 12 months
- Time manuscript to publication: 6 to 8 months
- Freelance helpers: Developmental editor, cover designer, low-budget publicity or marketing experts
- Distribution: Mostly Amazon
- Marketing budget: $10,000 to $20,000
- Formats: paperback, ebook
- Typical sales: 500-2,000
- Impact: Helps to secure speaking slots, but by itself doesn’t lead to keynotes. If done well, can generate significant business leads.
Tier 3: Professional author aspirants
Tier 3 authors are ready to invest significantly in themselves as authors, speakers, and thought leaders. They’re more patient than Tier 2 authors, seeing their books as an investment in taking their careers to the next level.
- Audience: clearly defined segment that has business goals
- Publishing models: hybrid; small publisher, Wiley, or academic press; or may attract attention from some larger publishers if idea, marketing, or author’s profile are strong enough
- Typical page count: 180 to 280
- Time to write: 12-15 months.
- Time manuscript to publication: 8+ months.
- Freelance helpers: Developmental editor, publicity or marketing experts, graphic designer for illustrations, sometimes ghostwriter, sometimes literary agent
- Distribution: Amazon, sometimes airport stores or other bookstores
- Marketing budget: $20,000 to $50,000
- Formats: paperback or hardback, ebook, audiobook
- Typical sales: 1,000 to 10,000
- Impact: Can lead to speaking career if successful. Often generates significant business leads or boosts author’s company.
Tier 4: Author and thought leader
Tier 4 authors are typically already thought leaders hoping to shore up their reputation or move up in visibility and influence. They treat the book launch as they would a startup, with significant investment and clear goals for their career.
- Audience: rich, well-defined segment
- Publishing model: traditional publisher, sometime hybrid; significant investments in book proposal creation
- Typical page count: 200+
- Time to write: 12-24 months.
- Time manuscript to publication: 8+ months.
- Freelance helpers: Literary agent, developmental editor, marketing and publicity firm, graphic designer for illustrations, speakers bureau, sometimes ghostwriter. Author’s company may also contribute resources.
- Distribution: Broad
- Marketing budget: $30,000 to $100,000
- Formats: hardback, ebook, audiobook, foreign translations
- Typical sales: 15,000 to 50,000
- Impact: When successful, establishes and elevates a clear thought leadership position with lucrative impact on speaking, consulting, and other opportunities
Tier 5: Celebrity
Tier 5 authors are either already stars or have the resources to become one. Their launch resources assure success, which they know will pay off in various ways, not all monetary.
- Audience: broad
- Publishing model: top-tier traditional publisher
- Typical page count: 150+
- Time to write: variable
- Time manuscript to publication: 8+ months.
- Freelance helpers: Often ghostwriter, literary agent, developmental editor, marketing firm, publicity firm, speakers bureaus, and many other resources
- Distribution: Broad and international
- Marketing budget: $100,000+
- Formats: hardback, ebook, audiobook, foreign translations, spinoffs (e.g. documentaries, podcast)
- Typical sales: 50,000+
- Impact: Creates or maintains author’s top tier reputation
Dream big, but invest appropriately
Ask yourself these questions:
- Who am I now? Whom do I want to be?
- What is a realistic objective for this book in helping me to be what I want to be?
- What level of investment am I willing to make in creating and promoting this book? Is that of an appropriate size given my ambitions?
- Regardless of what tier I am in, what can I do to make this book reflect the quality of my work and my ideas?
Books that do better than you expect can help you to move up a tier. But even if that’s your dream, you must understand what you are doing and where you are coming from. Dream big, but invest appropriately.
Think I’ve gotten the tiers wrong? I look forward to your suggestions.