Write for the back catalog

Most nonfiction books get the majority of their sales within the first few months, then taper off to almost nothing within a year. If this is what you can expect from your own book, why even bother writing it?

The good news is, there’s another way. Publishers make 90% of their profit on a handful of back catalog books — those titles that keep selling, year after year.

And those sales aren’t driven by aggressive marketing. Think about it: How much effort does the typical publisher put into promoting a 15 year old title?

Instead, back catalog sales are driven by reader recommendations. And reader recommendations are something you can design for while you’re writing — even before you start writing.

How? The first step is to focus on a problem, not a topic. The next step is to iterate early and often on your book with beta reading. (For all the steps, consider signing up for Useful Books Academy.)