Two minds are better than one when it comes to a great business book. Decide with your coauthor how ... [+]
Ken Blanchard, a man who has sold millions and millions of business books, once told me in an interview: “You know, I have never authored a business book.”
“Ken, are you pulling my leg?” I asked. “You’ve authored more than 50 business books.”
“No, I have coauthored 50 business books,” said Blanchard. “I know what I know; I want to know what other people know too.”
Blanchard’s impact as a thought leader is far reaching. The One Minute Manager—the iconic 1982 classic that he coauthored with the late Spencer Johnson—sold more than 13 million copies and in 2015 was revised and released as The New One Minute Manager.
Blanchard has now coauthored 65 books whose combined sales total more than 28 million copies. His groundbreaking works—including Raving Fans, The Secret, and Leading at a Higher Level, to name just a few—have been translated into 47 languages. In 2005 Ken was inducted into Amazon’s Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 bestselling authors of all time.
In June of 2020 Blanchard and best-selling author Gibson Sylvestre released a recorded conversation (audio book) aimed at promoting unity and racial diversity. Having lived 81 years, Blanchard, a close friend and mentor to Sylvestre, explained how his mother taught him to love and accept people from all backgrounds regardless of color or creed. More than five decades separate Blanchard and Sylvestre in terms of age; however, their love for God, family, country, servant leadership corporate training, business, and sports united them in a dynamic way. “My mother taught me that God doesn’t make junk,” said Blanchard.
Who unites with your thinking, regardless of age, color, creed, or gender?
In January 2021 the world lost a great author, Diane Gage Lofgren. Or should I say a great coauthor. She taught me how to be a coauthor back in the early 1990s. Lofgren taught others to be a great coauthor too. To quote from her obituary written by Roger Bolton:
Although an extraordinarily successful CCO and CMO, she also was the author of nine books and scores of magazine articles on personal and business relationships. One of her most popular books, with co-author Margaret Bhola, was Women I Want to Grow Old With, a book designed to help women be intentional about making and sustaining female friendships. The authors were passionate about encouraging women to learn from each other and to strengthen their safety net of female friends.
Here are some important lessons Lofgren taught me about being a coauthor:
Decide who will be listed as the lead author. The author who has the most claim on the content of the book is the lead author. Gage was the second author on my book. I was the second author on a book I coauthored with Tom Searcy, because the idea was his. Blanchard is the second author listed on many of his books. It is not determined by who is most famous or has the biggest platform.
Decide if the book ownership will be 50/50 or 51/49. Some of my books are 50/50 and some are 51/49. One bestselling author I know will only do 51/49 deals because he was burned on a 50/50 deal after he had a falling out with his coauthor. She then blocked him from using the book topic as a speech topic.
Decide what the split of royalties will be. This can be 50/50 or some other split. I have even heard of a 95/5 deal. Everything in life is a negotiation.
Decide how you will approach the writing. One way is to split the chapters and have each writer do half the chapters and then trade for editing. Another strategy is to have one author write the first drafts and the other author write the polished chapters. There are many right answers, but the approach must be decided upon in advance and agreed upon as equitable. I have coauthored ten books and each approach was different.
Decide how you will approach the editing and proofing. Any book worth writing is worth writing a first draft that is sucky. The real magic happens in the editing. Proofing is the last step, and the coauthors are not best suited to this because they are too close.
Decide how you will market the book. Books don’t market authors. Authors market books. The number one way to promote a book is to talk about it in speeches, podcasts, and radio and TV interviews. More people are impacted by hearing about the book than by reading the book.
Decide how you will split paid speaking engagements as a result of the book. An expert with a bestselling business book speaks in the $5,000 to $10,000 range. Coauthors should decide how to split this when they come in out of the blue. The real truth is coauthors have to market themselves to gain speaking opportunities. I follow the “You Eat What You Hunt” philosophy.
The bottom line: Two minds are better than one when it comes to a great business book. Great business books share the why, the how, and the what’s next for readers. The readers supply the when. Overall, the coauthors must create a book they love, because if they don’t love the book, how can they get others to love it?
