One day in October 2003, authors Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz found themselves standing over the fax machine, waiting for an offer from a big New York publishing company—an offer their agent had assured them was coming—only to have the deal fall through.
“We were devastated,” Waltz admits. “One minute we were on the road to success. The next we knew, we had the rug pulled out from under us.”
Most authors would have quit, but Fenton and Waltz believed in their book, so they decided to go the indie-publishing route—and they’re glad they did. Fast-forward 15 years, their little 80-page book (Go for No!) has reached bestseller-status, having sold over 400,000 copies and translated into nine languages.
Recently, Fenton and Waltz launched an online course called "Million Dollar Book Formula," designed to teach other authors how to duplicate their success. And while there’s not enough space here to cover all their content (their course is eight hours in length, plus live Q-and-A coaching calls), they’re willing to share three of the secrets to their success.
Tip 1: Keep your book short.
“The overall trend in publishing is toward shorter books,” says Fenton. And he’s right. Some of the biggest bestsellers of all time are short:
- Napoleon Hill’s, Think and Grow Rich, is only 104 pages.
- The Greatest Salesman in the World, by Og Mandino, comes in at 130 pages.
- And Dr. Spencer Johnson’s training and development masterpiece—Who Moved My Cheese?—clocks in at only 95 pages.
“People are desperate for books that can be read in just a few hours,” Waltz adds. “In fact, we’re in the middle of what could be called a short-book revolution.”
Tip 2: Make sure your book solves a problem.
Again, the pair is right on target, and their book is a perfect example. Go for No! helps people reprogram the fear of failure and rejection—which is a big problem for millions of businesspeople—which has a lot to do with why they’ve sold so many.
Tip 3: Overspend on your book cover.
No, that’s not a typo. Fenton and Waltz openly admit they went cheap on their first book cover—and it cost them dearly.
“We lost thousands of sales with our first book cover because we tried to save a few dollars,” Fenton says. “That was really dumb.” Again, they’re right on the money. An author should always invest in the best cover they can afford. You know, people really do, as the saying goes, judge a book by its cover.
Anyone interested in learning more about their course can visit: www.milliondollarbookformula.com
