Our guest speaker last Friday, February 5th was Matthew Bennett, Founder and President of WritePrintSell.com (BTDT.com). Matt is an author and innovative marketer who has bowled a perfect 300 game. Matt commented that the latter is a rare occurrence. Matt has sold over 5 million books and been in this business for over 33 years in the publishing and self-publishing business. Getting into the publishing world is extremely difficult. He is disturbingly transparent telling his clients what they need to hear. His goal is to get aspiring authors published and current authors more sales of their books.
There is a strong trend towards non-fiction books. Print is not dead by any means. According to Matt physical books still out sell ebooks by a wide margin. Less than 10% of all books purchased are read cover to cover. And over 60% of books printed are never sold. Over 70% of people polled indicated they wanted to write a book. A new book is published every 20 seconds. Usually selling just a few copies. Only 3% of writers sell over 500 copies. Matt commented that it is the easiest time in history to knock out a new book. A writer must focus on marketing, distribution and execution to be a successful.
Matt has sold over 5 million books as stated in the opening paragraph, but very few in book stores. Matt has always relied on his own way of marketing and distribution of his books. When writing, put your ego aside. Always hire a professional editor. So do not hire a friend or relative. Don't make your books too long. Also, unless you are really famous, do not write a memoir. Matt always approaches a company about buying his books before he has even written the book. Hard back books are unpopular giving way to paperback books.
Well, lets see how many Rotarians start writing books this week. Go for it.