LESSON 2: The Author s Bio and Competitive Analysis The Author s Bio Finally! Something that s all about you. Writing the Author s Bio is simple, but there are a couple things to keep in mind. Rule #1: DO NOT CHANGE THE TRUTH by much It sounds straightforward, right? Unfortunately, we get authors who tend to exaggerate the facts to a point where they re no longer true. There is a fine line between pumping yourself up and misrepresenting your credentials. It s one thing to say that you are one of the best life coaches in California (with a list of testimonials to back you up); it s another thing to claim that you have been listed as the best life coach in the world (with your mom to back you up). Once an editor is interested in your book (thanks to your fabulous proposal), they re going to their research on you and any skeletons you ve been hiding will come out of the closet. Don t say anything that can t be backed up with third party evidence. That is, proof that doesn t come from you. If you want to say you re the world s authority on dieting, then you d better have the external credentials to back it up. If you say you have helped 300,000 people but your website looks hokey, change your website or don t say it. Rule #2: Don t be modest. If honesty is the best policy, then modesty is the worst when it comes to an author s bio. List your credentials, if you have them, but more importantly, list every radio show, TV, blog, newspaper, testimonial, every shred of evidence you ve been on media. If your agent doesn t like it, she ll chop it before the editor sees it. But she won t even know it exists if you don t list it now. Much as I hate to admit it, a book sold by Kim Kardashian on making a better root beer float has a better chance of getting sold than a venerated professor on a useful, important subject of service to mankind because by some weird flip of fate, she s famous. You be famous too, please, or at least more famous than your nextdoor-neighbor. 1 P a g e
Rule #3: Editors buy authors, not content. This proposal isn t just to sell a book, it s to sell you. Editors want to see that you will take an active (read: insanely active) part in not only creating, but promoting your book. Publishers are looking for a partner in crime (or publishing, as it were), not deadweight. Prove to them that you have what it takes to pull your own weight when it comes to writing and marketing the book. They want to know you will do nothing else not even sleep once the book comes out. You make this evident by your dazzling list of accomplishments outlined in the bio. In summary, the prizes go in this order: 1. Famous people Please be one of the above! 2. Insanely bright workaholics with explosive platforms 3. Really smart people Competitive Analysis Why do you need a competitive analysis? This section of the proposal shows the editor just how savvy you are about your subject and the market for your project. I once got a query during John Gray s heyday. The author wrote to say he was writing a relationship book called Men are from Uranus, Women are from Pluto. He swore to me he d never read any other relationship book (including the most famous one by a similar title) and that this idea had been given to him in a personal visit with an archangel (I get a lot of archangel books ). This kind of ostrich-like behavior is more common than you d think. You need to know your competition. The editor needs to know you know the competition. And the sales numbers on the books to which you compare yours will be used to partially determine if the book you propose will be commercially viable. Step One: Choose your books This is probably the hardest step in the process: choosing which books to evaluate. Luckily, Google and Amazon have made all of our lives much easier. You ll need to pick out just 5-6 books There s no hard and fast rule for finding which books are the best to compare your book to, but here are a few guidelines: Similar subject matter. If you re writing a book on science, don t compare it to something in the self-help genre! 2 P a g e
Amazon sales ranking above 150,000 The books that are selling are ranked (In the Details section halfway down the page) Some show #3,425,677, which means they are not selling well AT ALL. The only books to which you should compare yourself MUST rank between 1-150K, because those books are actually selling. Published by a major house (Random, Penguin, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, McMillan) If you don t know if it s a major house, just type the name of the publisher into Google. If it comes up in New York, chances are it is an imprint of a major house Published within the last five years, ideally Written by authors with a similar background to yours. If you are a self-made businessman, than find someone who s followed a trajectory similar to yours. NDBM. This stands for New, Better, Different, More. Find books that you know you can approach from a unique angle, do something better, or go even farther than previous books have gone before. Again, these are not rules set in stone. Each circumstance is unique, but it s a good place to start. You may find a book so close to your idea that it is depressing. GOOD! Yours isn t written yet! That means you can expand your thinking to go far beyond what that author wrote. Bad news for him is good news for you. His book is already printed. It s too late for changes. And you, the young upstart, are nipping at his heels. You can write whatever you want now, building on his foundation. Step 2: Read Now that you ve found your books, do this crazy thing: buy them! Yes, support other authors (and their erstwhile agents). You don t have to read them cover to cover, but look through them thoroughly. Pick out their strengths and weaknesses. Read the reviews others have written about the book on Amazon. Can you agree? Find some cardinal points. Review those books looking for these things: 1. Tone is the author clear or obscure? 2. Pace is it boring or interesting? 3. Truth is it real sounding or fake? 4. Content is it compelling or dull? 5. Organization is this the order in which things should be done? 6. Writing style academic, stupid, silly, other? 7. Anything else you like/dislike about the book. TAKE NOTES! You ll need them. Step 3: Write the Competitive Analysis Got the strengths and weaknesses of your competition? Great! Now it s time to write! 3 P a g e
Be sure to write out your Competitive Analysis in this format as outlined below. Do not deviate from it. The Competitive Analysis is written this way to make it easy to spot the important information. Change it up, and you risk losing your editor over a formatting issue. Competitive Analysis Title: Subtitle Author s Name, Publisher, Publication Date Paragraph 1: Positive information about the book you re evaluating. What does the book do well? Why is this important? Paragraph 2: Negative information. What does this book lack? Be critical, but not rude. Publishing is a tiny industry in the inner sanctum. The editor probably knows the editor or writer of the book you re evaluating; it s also likely he or she may BE the editor for that book. Ideally, the negatives are elements that your book can overcome. Paragraph 3: Positive information about your book. Explain how your project will combine the strengths of the book you are evaluating and overcomes the weaknesses. This paragraph bridges the positive and negative of the evaluated book and makes your book come out on top. Let s look at an example of a well-done analysis: Secrets of Successful Negotiation for Women: From landing a big account to buying the car of your dreams and everything in between, Wendy Keller, Career Press, August 2004 Secrets of Successful Negotiation for Women is a great book for women who want to learn basic negotiating skills in life, business and personal relationships. Using real life examples, Ms. Keller does a great job of showing as well as telling readers what techniques work in many negotiation situations. Because she is a literary agent by trade and negotiates daily, she is well qualified to write on this important topic. (That was the POSITIVE. Now here s the negative paragraph.) Unfortunately, Keller s book is specifically designed for women. Specifically, women who are new to the idea of negotiation, and who may be slightly unskilled in fending for themselves. Keller s motherly tone at times is offensive to some readers, as is the inclusion of some allegedly sexist remarks on things like using appearance and dress to a woman s advantage when negotiating with a male. (Note I did not say anything rude about the previous book. Because the editor knows the other book, the publisher and/or the editor or writer, we want to always be polite but clear. Here s the final positive, all about your book.) My book, The Most Important Negotiation Book You ll Ever Own, is for both genders. Because of the wider scope of my work, and the fact that I draw on the experience of nearly 100 top business negotiation professionals from many different industries, my work reaches a much broader audience. 4 P a g e
While Keller s book is written for a more entry-level audience, mine is focused on people who are ready for graduate studies in this important skill. My new book will bring readers of all other negotiation books to a higher level of understanding of this critical skill set. See how this takes the weaknesses of Success Secrets book and makes it The Most Important Negotiation Book s own positive strength? When done correctly, the Competitive Analysis reminds the editor of the past successes of a similar book and convinces them that your book can do what the previous projects have done and beyond. Rinse and repeat for the rest of your books! By completing these two sections the bio and the competitive analysis, and because you already completed the overview, you now have 3/5ths of your proposal done! Most people find that they want to go back and tweak/improve the Overview once they ve really gone through the competitive books this carefully. That s normal and a healthy part of how books grow in an author s head. Go right ahead. And don t forget to take a deep breath and acknowledge yourself for so quickly preparing a great proposal! 3/5ths is a big accomplishment. 2013, Keller Media, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Hope you re learning a lot and enjoying this document. Please remember it is copyrighted by our agency, something that will mean a lot more to you once you re a published author. That means you are NOT authorized to share it with anyone else under any circumstances without our permission. If you sneak behind our backs and do so, the evil spirits of publishing will haunt your book and it will not sell 5 P a g e