Tiago Forte's Blog, page 24

Launching Your Book

Everything you’ve done up to this point has been preparation for this singular moment: the launch of your book.

An incredible amount of time, energy, money, and attention has been invested by many different people. The foundation has been laid for sales of your book to reach thousands, or tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions of copies.

You will have 6-12 months from the time you submit your final manuscript to seeing it appear on store (and digital_ shelves. That gives you plenty of time to work on the items below. And you’ll need that much time!

The launch meeting

Once the book is ready to be released, it’s time for the launch meeting. This is a grand gathering of everyone involved in the publication and promotion of your book, including:

Your publisherYour editorYour publicistThe head of publicityThe head of marketingA representative from online marketingThe head of sales (along with divisional heads for certain markets)A representative from special salesSub-rights representatives for first serial and foreign sales (if relevant)

The only person related to the book who won’t be there is you. This is why it’s so important to make a favorable impression on all these people beforehand. Their level of excitement and enthusiasm for your work directly impacts its success.

Marketing vs. publicity vs. sales

The difference between these departments can be blurry, but here is a rule of thumb: Publicity is what you get for free, and marketing is what you have to pay for.

An article in The New York Times is publicity, while an ad on their website is marketing. Being on Good Morning America is publicity, while sending pamphlets to their staff is marketing. Having your book on the nightstand in a primetime TV show is publicity, while paying for it to be there is product placement, or marketing.

You’ll generally have much more contact with the publicity department than with marketing. In fact, you’ll probably have your very own publicist. This is because publicity depends on you as a speaker or interviewee, whereas marketing is in charge of ads, postcards, and search engine optimization across many authors.

Large publishing houses have their own internal sales departments that sell to independent bookstores, large chains like Barnes & Noble, online merchants such as Amazon, mass merchandisers, and more. Another department for “special sales” is in charge of making deals with corporations and other non-bookselling retailers. Regional sales reps cover sales to specific regions. The sub rights department focuses on excerpts in magazines and newspapers. And the person who handles foreign rights will reach out to subagents with contacts at foreign publishers.

Your publicity and marketing budget

The size of your budget for marketing and publicity largely depends on how the launch meeting goes. This is why you want to have prepped your editor and other publisher contacts with as much supporting information as possible.

Here are some things you can do to maximize your publisher’s ability to promote you and your work:

Get blurbs: Especially from well-known people, blurbs (or endorsements) have a remarkable impact on people’s willingness to look at your book more closely, from salespeople all the way to buyers. If you know someone influential, try to get an early blurb and include it with the proposal.Make a Top 10 list of desired endorsers: In case anyone in the room knows anyone on the list or knows someone who knows one of them.Share ideas for reading/speaking/events: Book tours are quickly becoming a thing of the past, but if you have ideas or opportunities for in-person events, share these with your editor to open up the possibility of getting a budget for those engagements (especially if you have ways of getting lots of people to show up).Present creative marketing techniques: Make a case for the marketing efforts you believe will be most effective based on your audience, experience, and network. Frame these efforts in terms of return-on-investment.Give your editor a list of book chapters you think could be excerpted and publications and websites most likely to excerpt you: This will show you’ve done your homework and make the people handling first serial rights very happy.Identify specific countries that might be fertile markets: If your book has a connection to a certain country or region, let the sales reps know.Tell your editor about communities or groups you’re a part of: If you are part of a professional networking group, a club or membership organization, a linguistic or cultural group, or something else, this will give the publisher’s staff favorable channels to go after.Provide positioning: One of the best tools you can provide to the sales force is proper positioning. By laying out the bestselling lineage of your book, along with successful but not directly competitive titles, you help them connect your book to existing audiences.Summaries: Salespeople don’t have time to read every book they represent, which means anything you can do to help them understand it saves them time and increases your chances for exposure. This could include slides, digests, cheat sheets, bullet points with the main takeaways, or a short trailer video.Provide a list of places or companies where your book stands a good chance of selling: This could include places mentioned in the book, companies who are favorable to its message, or groups that are likely to be interested in the topic.The publisher’s catalog

A book’s catalog entry is basically its coming-out party. Great catalog copy can be the difference between minimal and huge orders. Libraries, independent bookstores, gift stores, and universities all look at catalogs as they make their purchasing decisions.

Generally, the entry contains just eight or nine nuggets of information, including publication date, price, cover image, and author photo. Be sure to include a clause in your contract that gives you consultation rights on the catalog copy. 

Publication date

Think about the best time of year for the book to come out, ideally to tie in with holidays and seasons. Fall is the most difficult season, because that is when publishers release their big, blockbuster new titles. Off-peak periods such as late August or February can actually be good for new releases, since there is so little competition.

Finding a category

Every book has to be put into a certain category so that bookstores and libraries know where to put it. Shockingly, many books are miscategorized, leading to obscure placement far from where people look for it.

The first time you see your book’s category will probably be in the catalog. Look for it, and if it’s incorrect, tell your editor. The submission of forms by your publisher gives them a chance to sway the category it’s ultimately placed in.

Pricing

Publishers have some leeway in how much they charge for the book at retail. They may increase the price to cover extra costs for illustrated books. Often, they will charge just under the average cover price, but this can be a turn-off for buyers and even cause discount chains to not order it, because they need a certain return on their investment.

Catalog spread

The presentation of your book in the publisher’s catalog says a lot about what they think of it. If it has a two-page spread, an announced first printing of 50,000 or more, and a long list of publicity and marketing commitments, you can be sure they’re putting their full weight behind it. This in itself is also a form of publicity, and printings often end up being much smaller than originally advertised.

Author photo

You will usually be required to pay for and provide a professional headshot to be included on the back flap of the book. As tempting as it is to find a friend or amateur to take a quick snapshot, don’t do it! Find a professional and invest in headshots as valuable business assets.

Six-month meeting

About six months before your publication date it is a very good idea to have an in-person meeting with the people who will be instrumental in making your book successful. By bringing together your editor, publisher, publicist, and anyone else relevant to the launch, you can get on the same page and sound out what they think will be the biggest challenges and opportunities. Don’t expect anyone else to take the initiative and make this meeting happen. 

Since this might be the only meeting you have before publication, come prepared. Have your polished pitch, publicity and marketing ideas, and questions ready to go. Share any new endorsements you’ve received or been promised. Share with them what you’ve already done or accomplished: speaking engagements booked, journalists contacted, magazine pitches submitted, websites published, communities partnered with, etc. Make your team see that they are working with a seriously organized, dedicated, and passionate author who will make the most of their time and effort.

After talking about what you’ve already done, tell the team what you would like to happen. You could share a list of your “Top 10” most desired publications or endorsers. Someone in the room just might know one of them, or know how to reach them. They might also be willing to give you a budget if you have a solid rationale for why you need Amazon ads or a book tour. But also be sure to have “safeties” that are well within reach.

Most important of all is your pitch: the most succinct and powerful delivery of what your book will do for its readers. You should practice this to perfection and use it to inspire your team, who will adapt it for their own use and to inspire the sales force. 

After the meeting, talk to your agent and ask them for feedback on your performance and what you can do to improve. Send thank you cards to everyone who attended. And ask your agent to send a follow-up requesting all the publisher’s promises in writing to make sure you’re both on the same page.

The sales conference

Three to six months before your book comes out, your publisher will hold a sales conference. Anyone who has anything to do with the selling, marketing, or promotion of your book should attend. The editor or publisher will pitch your book to the entire sales force in under three minutes. 

This is a crucial moment: They will likely hear pitches for 600 to 800 books in this one meeting, and yours has to stand out and make an impression. Hopefully, you’ve spoon-fed your pitch to your publishing team because this is their shot to sweep everyone up in the enthusiasm of your idea.

The sales reps will leave this meeting armed with your tip sheet, which includes the basics of your book (title, subtitle, ISBN, publication date, etc.), plus all the marketing and sales information such as comparison titles, audience, and which other similar books that audience bought. Note how much of this information you’ve been tracking and developing since day one. The tip sheet is the single most important sales tool in your arsenal.

Hitting the road

As early as six months before your book is published, sales reps begin their quest to convince booksellers to order your book. Some will focus on a specific region, such as the Pacific Northwest. Others sell to national accounts, such as Barnes & Noble or Costco. But in every case, they will have no more than 30 to 60 seconds to spin their magic for you. And they can’t overhype or exaggerate their claims – at the end of the day, all they have is their reputation.

Despite the prominence of ebooks and online retailers these days, these early pitches and the book orders they produce in some ways determine how big your launch is, from the publicity and marketing budget to the size of your first print run. They are an early test of the attractiveness of your book and its pitch.

There is more than one way

This series has focused on the most traditional path to publishing a book. It should be clear that this is not an easy journey. In some ways it is more difficult than ever, with more competition on all fronts than ever before.

But the existence of alternative paths provides a beacon of hope for all aspiring writers. If you are dedicated to publishing your writing, you can rest assured that there is a pathway for you. It might not be the one you prefer, but access to the machinery of book publishing has been completely democratized by the Internet.

Instead of looking at traditional publishing as your one and only chance to “make it,” you can pursue it knowing that there is an attractive Plan B. And Plan C and Plan D. 

It is no longer a question of “whether” you will get published. It is only a matter of how.

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The post Launching Your Book appeared first on Forte Labs.

Writing the Book

After all this work and finally signing a deal…it’s time to do the thing you’ve been asking for, and write the book.

Leave plenty of time to do this — more than you think you need. And then, add additional time for unexpected rewrites, reviewer feedback, finding photos and illustrations, securing permissions, doing followup research, and interviewing people.

It’s helpful to construct a master calendar or timeline showing what needs to happen each month, from signing all the way until publication and beyond. This will come in handy not only for making consistent writing progress but for marketing and promotional events and deadlines.

While a lot of what goes in in writing is mysterious, there’s a few things you can do to make it as painless (and even fun) as possible.

Join a writing group

Consider joining a writing group. Writing groups and writing partners can be a great source of inspiration, accountability, feedback, and moral support.

It’s hard to take on all the roles you’ll need to become successful – brilliant writer, excellent editor, superb proofreader, social media guru, salesperson extraordinaire, graphics genius, and perfect publicist – all by yourself. You need to build a team, even if you ultimately decide to self-publish.

Documenting your research

Keep track of everything. Whether you are gathering information from historical documents, interviewing experts, getting photos and articles online, or using excerpts from books or magazines, write down everything relevant: publications, exact dates and times, photographers’ names, page numbers, etc. You’ll need these details for footnotes, the bibliography, and for tracking permissions.

For interviews, the best documentation method is to record them. Be sure to ask for permission, and to test your equipment before starting.

If you want to reprint more than one or two lines from a poem, song, essay, or book, you’ll likely need written permission from the copyright holder. You’ll certainly need permission to reprint a photograph, illustration, or painting. If you don’t, your publisher will ask you to remove the material in question or they won’t publish your book. Don’t pay for permissions until the last possible moment, in case you end up not using them.

Feedback

As you write, it’s important to get feedback from people whose judgment you trust. After writing and rewriting as much as you can, step away from the book so you can get some distance. Give the draft manuscript to diverse readers and ask them to tell you what they liked, and what didn’t work.

Here are some questions to ask of reviewers:

Did the book deliver on its promise?Was anything confusing or awkward?Was the information easy to understand?Was any information missing?Did the arguments make sense?Where does it flow? Where is it choppy?Was there enough humor? Too much? Did any jokes fall flat?

Once the manuscript is near completion, read the whole thing out loud. This will take a long time, but the process is invaluable for catching mistakes, unnatural language, and wordy passages. Your voice will naturally find the point of emphasis, and you’ll find ways to add your own personal rhythm and inflection.

Working with your publisher

Publishing houses are made up of humans and thus operate with all the idiosyncrasies and foibles native to our species. They are hierarchical organizations, with power and authority flowing from the head of the publisher down to the editor-in-chief, editorial directors, executive directors, senior editors, editors, associate editors, assistant editors, and finally, editorial assistants.

When a senior executive at a publisher makes you an offer, they are making a big statement about you within their organization. Acquiring and publishing a book often takes years and involves a lot of people, so the offer represents a big bet on you. Because they’ve put a lot of trust in you, it makes sense to put a lot of trust in the editor you’ll be working with.

A good first step is to set up an onboarding call and get to know each other. Prepare a list of practical, substantive questions. Here are some examples to choose from:

What would you like me to know about how you and this process work before we begin?Do you want to see chapters as I finish them? Or would you prefer to see a completed manuscript?Do you prefer telephone or email communication?Do you have any general or specific editorial suggestions before I start? Is there anything in my argument/presentation/information/plot/characters and/or tone that needs work? Did you see any stylistic problems in my sample writing/manuscript that you would like me to work on?How closely should I stick to my outline? Would you like me to let you know about any outline changes?What is the ideal publication date? Are there certain key holidays or events you want to plan my book release around that will affect my deadline?

As you establish a working relationship with your editor, don’t forget to maintain contact with your agent. Keep them updated on the state of your manuscript, since they will know when and how to manage expectations with other stakeholders. Use your agent as a sounding board for concerns or questions you want to bring up with your publisher.

Copy editing and proofs

Once your manuscript is received and accepted, it will be handed off to a copy editor. Their job is to nitpick your spelling, punctuation, grammar, clarity and consistency of language, and accuracy of facts. Depending on the size and complexity of your manuscript, this could take a week to a month or more.

They will send you back a copyedited manuscript, which you then go through in detail, approving or rejecting every change. You typically have a week or two to do this. If you disagree with changes, you may need some back and forth with your primary editor, though you almost never have direct contact with your copy editor.

Once you approve this final manuscript, you won’t be invited to make any further changes. The manuscript will now be on its way to the typesetter to be turned into page proofs, a set of which will be sent to you for approval. After this point, all you can do is point out typesetting errors or make small, last-minute adjustments.

While you’re checking the page proofs, the printer is turning them into bound galleys with pages cut to size. These will go to a number of book reviewers, who are warned not to publicly quote anything as they are still subject to change.

The last thing you’ll see is a “blad” (an acronym for “book layout and design”), a pamphlet-sized sampler of your book sent to reviewers and media people for a first look.

Once you’ve submitted your final manuscript and reviewed the last few items, it’s time to switch gears to launching and promoting your book. You’ll have plenty of time for this, as it can take between 6-12 months for a final manuscript to show up on store shelves.

In the next post, we’ll look at the most effective ways of getting the word out about your book, with the ultimate goal of selling as many copies as possible.

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The post Writing the Book appeared first on Forte Labs.

Negotiating Your Contract

Once you’ve accepted an offer for the publishing rights to your book, it’s time to draw up and sign a binding contract.

Many of these contract details have standard provisions, but you can always ask about and negotiate for them. The more you understand about the implications and subtleties of these clauses, the more empowered you’ll be in your negotiations.

Bonuses

Bonuses typically come in two forms: bestseller bonuses and earn-out bonuses. They can be included in the contract and are simply added to the amount advanced that you have to earn out.

Bestseller bonuses usually revolve around hitting the mother of all bestseller lists: the New York Times. For this kind of bonus, the higher on the list you reach, the more you get paid. You typically get paid for the amount of time it stays there, up to a certain limit.

Here are some standard New York Times bestseller list bonuses:

$2,500 per week for each week the book occupies any of the #6-#10 positions$5,000 per week for each week the book occupies any of the #2-#5 positions$10,000 per week for each week the book occupies the #1 position

The earn-out bonus is given if your book earns out its advance or sells a certain number of copies within a certain amount of time (usually a year). For example, if you earn out your $25k bonus within the first year, you could be given an additional $10k advance. This can be a feasible addition to your contract since it doesn’t add risk for your publisher: They only pay if you outperform the advance.

Royalties

Royalties are payments made to you by the publisher as your share of the book’s revenue. They vary based on three main factors:

Format of the book (hardcover, paperback, ebook, illustrated, four-color)Buyer of the book (independent bookstore, mass merchandiser, special sales outlets)Terms on which the book was bought

The format of the book impacts royalties because it changes production costs. For example, if you have full-color illustrations, the publisher will want to lower your royalty to absorb those costs.

Here are standard royalty rates:

Hardcover: 10% for up to 5,000 copies; 12.5% for up to 10,000 copies; 15% thereafterTrade paperback: 7.5% for all copiesMass market paperback (cheaper paper, often sold through special distributors like magazines): 8% for up to 150,000 copies; 10% thereafter

An “escalator” is a provision in your contract that your royalty goes up if you hit a certain number of sales. For example, if you sell more than 50,000 copies your royalty rises from 7.5% to 8%. If you can get an escalator added to your contract, you should do so.

Unfortunately, escalators can also go down. If your publisher reprints a limited number of copies, your royalty could be reduced to make up for the higher printing costs of the smaller run. To minimize the impact of this, try to stipulate that:

The escalator only applies to the smallest number of books possibleIt can only take effect once per yearIt only applies two years after publication

It might seem shocking that the author of a book only gets to keep 5% to 15% of the sale price of their own book, while the publisher keeps 85% to 95%. But they sometimes earn even less than the author. If a book has a retail price of $15, and the average wholesale price is $7.50, then the remaining $7.50 has to cover all the publisher’s costs. This includes your advance, your royalties, production costs, warehousing costs, shipping costs, any outside staff, and of course, their very large overhead.

In any case, fight for the highest royalty you can. Even half a percentage point can make a big difference if your book does well: For a book that retails for $20 and sells 100,000 copies, a half a percent higher royalty means $10,000 more in your pocket.

Royalties for ebooks have gone through major changes in recent years, partially due to some drama between Amazon, Apple, and the U.S. Justice Department. But the result is that most major publishers pay authors 25% of the amount actually received from retailers for your ebook, referred to as “net receipts.” This is because publishers now have only partial control of pricing in an age of Amazon domination. Independent publishers have much more variability, offering between 20% and 50% of net receipts.

Discount chains like Walmart and Costco account for a growing percentage of book sales. They typically negotiate deep discounts on their book purchases, but the upside is that they purchase very large quantities, and their stock usually isn’t returnable. The royalties for these sales usually run about ⅔ the standard royalty rate.

Delivery and acceptance

Your contract will stipulate when you will need to deliver a final manuscript for publication. Be sure to leave plenty of time to actually write the book. Though publishers are used to deadline drama and will usually give you an extension, if you miss your deadline and an extension wasn’t approved or you miss your extension, you are technically in breach of contract and they have the right to cancel your agreement.

Typically, you will go through at least one round of revisions before your manuscript is officially accepted. You may have to make anything from minor cosmetic changes all the way to radical restructuring. But once your manuscript is handed over to the copy editor, it is considered accepted and your acceptance payment can be processed.

You should also decide on a publication date, especially if your topic is timely or needs to be released in conjunction with a season or holiday. You should count on at least nine months between the time you submit your final manuscript and books shipping to retailers.

Because of these long timelines, you may need to finish writing your book before your contract is signed. This means that you put in all the work and deliver a finished manuscript long before the money promised to you is in your hands. So, if something goes wrong and your contract is cancelled, you’ll have nothing to show for it. To prevent this, be sure to get a deal memo (explained earlier) before you start writing, and don’t turn anything in before the contract is at least signed. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for a rush on your contract and check.

Your contract will state the circumstances in which your work can be rejected. You want to be sure the publishers can only do this for editorial or legal reasons. This means that they can’t cancel it due to changing market conditions, or a disagreement about the material itself, or because another book was just published on the same topic. They will need to have a due cause, such as the manuscript being editorially unacceptable or violating plagiarism laws. If not, you will have grounds to sue.

If your book is cancelled for legitimate reasons and you’ve already received part of your advance, you’ll have to pay it back by the date stipulated in the contract. In the best case, your contract will say that you only need to pay it back out of the proceeds if you sell the book to another publisher. But most current contracts now demand repayment within 12 to 18 months of cancellation.

Copyright

Always retain the copyright to your book. Some publishers will state that they “may” register an author’s book. Or that they own the copyright outright. Neither situation is acceptable. Under all circumstances, you want it stated explicitly that the publisher shall register the copyright in your name.

Subsidiary rights

Your publisher has “primary” rights to print and sell it in hardcover, paperback, and ebook versions in North America (assuming it’s being published in the U.S.). Sales of the book in other formats – such as audiobook, large-print, or movie rights – or in other regions – like Japan, the United Kingdom, or Brazil – are considered “subsidiary” rights (sub rights).

The royalties for sub rights are open to negotiation but typically follow royalty conventions pretty closely. The first number represents your share of the pie:

First serial (the appearance of an excerpt from your book in a magazine just before or coinciding with its publication): 90/10Second serial (the appearance of an excerpt from your book in a magazine after publication): 50/50Book club: 50/50Permissions (the use of part of your book by another author): 50/50Paperback: 50/50Special editions: 50/50Foreign-language translation: 75/25 (50/50 for illustrated books)United Kingdom: 80/20 (50/50 for four-color illustrated books)Textbook: 50/50Large-type edition: 50/50Ebook: current rate is generally 25% of net, but ebook pricing is very much in fluxMultimedia adaptation of a book (which may use some of the text and/or illustrations, or additional text or illustrations as well as video or sound added): 100/0Audio recording: 50/50Commercial and merchandising: 100/0Performance (film, TV, stage): 100/0Storage and retrieval: 50/50Calendar: 50/50

You should try to retain certain sub rights in totality (the ones marked 100/0 in the list above). If granted to your publisher, these rights will likely die a sad and lonely death, but you and your agent could do something with them. If you can sell them, 100% of the proceeds go directly into your pocket. Many agents have contacts with foreign “scouts” who look for titles to bring to their country.

Returns

It may be hard to believe, but the sale of a book to a retailer isn’t final. If your books sit on the shelves and no one picks them up, the retailer has the right to return these books to the publisher for a refund. To compensate for this, publishers hold up to 25% of your royalty payments back as a “reserve against returns.” Try to limit this to 20%, and to stipulate that it cannot be reserved for more than two royalty periods (each royalty period equals six months).

Out-of-print clause

Books don’t really go “out of print” these days. Although your publisher may not do a giant print run a couple of years after publication, they will probably still make it available as print-on-demand or as an ebook, since that doesn’t require any overhead. But this means that if they don’t help market your book and the book is still deemed “in print” according to your contract, you cannot take back the rights.

To avoid this, set a “performance standard” for your book. This states that if the book doesn’t sell a determined number of copies (for example, 500) in any and all formats in a certain period (such as a year), the rights either automatically revert back to the author, or, more typically, the author can request a reversion of rights with a set time limit for the publisher to reissue the book or decline.

Warranties and indemnities

Most publishing contracts require you to “warrant” that everything you’ve written is yours. In case it’s not, you “indemnify” (protect) your publisher from damages in case someone sues. This applies even if you borrowed someone’s words by mistake, so be sure to cite every single source you use. Make sure that anyone assisting you does the same.

Author copies

Your contract will state how many free copies of the printed book you will receive as the author. This can be as few as 10. If you want to give additional copies of your book to friends, relatives, customers, or promotional partners, you’ll need to purchase them! Luckily, you get an author’s discount, which is usually 50% but sometimes as low as 40%.

Some publishers will also agree to give you many more free copies for promotion and marketing. Be sure to ask for this in your negotiation, and tell them to whom you plan to give them away. You could secure 250 free copies if you have a lot of media contacts. Sometimes you will need to send them a name and address and they will send the books directly.

If your company plans on buying a large number of books (over 1,000 copies), you may be able to secure a large discount. If you can make a direct sale to a company through your connections, you might be able to increase your royalty on these sales. Be sure to negotiate these terms upfront.

The cover

Try to secure “consultation rights” for your cover, meaning they have to run the proposed design for the cover, interior, flap, and catalog by you. Although this only gives you a chance to view it and doesn’t give you a right of refusal, at least this will give you the opportunity to fight for what you want. If possible, include a clause in your contract that you and your publisher will mutually agree on a cover.

One way of doing this is to collect visual examples of what you’re looking for: typestyles, other book covers, artwork, photographs, and palettes. But besides your personal taste, the cover has to accurately communicate what the book is about. The same is true for the spine of your book, which is often overlooked but has a dramatic impact on its visibility when it’s sitting on a crowded bookcase.

The title

When it comes to your title, you want to pick something you will be comfortable saying many, many times for many, many years. Be sure to include either “approval” or “mutual agreement” on the title in your contract.

If it comes down to advocating for or against a particular title with your publisher, here are some mistakes to avoid:

Don’t say “but everyone I talk to hates this title”: Unless you are polling a very large number of people, or they are very influential people such as booksellers, this doesn’t carry much weight.Don’t fixate on one word or phrase: Even if it makes your hair stand on end, personal dislike isn’t enough of a reason to reject a title. You are not the audience for your book.Options

Publishers often ask you to give them an “option” to buy future book projects before others have the chance to bid. To make sure you don’t sign away too much, include some limits:

Only your next fiction or non-fiction bookOnly a book written solely by you, not with a co-authorOnly extend the option for a certain period that begins with acceptanceOnly for 30 or 45 days after showing them your next proposal, after which you’re free to shop the book aroundOnly if you can agree on terms within 30 daysIf you’re luckily (and skilled) enough to reach this stage, you’ve climbed the Mt. Olympus of book publishing. The vast, vast majority of writers never get close to this point. You’ve sold your book – now the only thing that’s left is to write it!

In the next post, we’ll talk about the process of putting pen to paper (or more likely, finger to keyboard) and writing the book you’ve already put so much effort into.  Subscribe below to receive free weekly emails with our best new content, or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or YouTube. Or become a Praxis member to receive instant access to our full collection of members-only posts.

The post Negotiating Your Contract appeared first on Forte Labs.

The Ins and Outs of Offers

After you’ve written your proposal and sent it to publishers, the future of your book is in their hands. 

If you’ve done your job effectively, you will receive an offer (or hopefully, offers) to purchase the rights to your book.

Almost all offers come in one of three ways:

Preemptive offersAuctionsIndividual offersPreemptive offers

Preemptive offers happen when one publisher wants to “preempt” (or knock out) the competition early. These offers will often be good for only 24 hours, because they don’t want you to shop the offer around to competitors. The good news is this means the publisher is really passionate about your book. It’s a sure thing and may be the best offer you’ll get.

The downside is that, if you accept the offer, you can’t use it to breed other interest. Someone else might have offered you more, but you’ll never know. Or, another publisher might have been a better match for you, even if they didn’t offer as much money.

If you get a preempt, ask them all the questions you can think of. Consult with your agent about the pros and cons of accepting. It’s tempting to want your agent to make the decision for you, but ultimately, the decision is yours.

Auctions

There are two kinds of auctions: round-robin auctions and best-bid auctions. Both occur by phone or email at a predetermined date and time.

In a round-robin auction, all the participating editors (representing their publishing houses) make first-round bids. Whoever has the lowest bid in one round makes the first bid in the next round. Each new offer has to top the previous one by a minimum percentage of (usually) 10%.

So, if someone makes an initial offer of $10,000, the next bidder has to come in at $11,000 or above. But they can bid more than 10%, which is a strategic move to knock others out of the running early. The bidding goes on until one editor is left standing.

Price is just one factor in the auction. Others include format (hardcover vs. paperback), rights (worldwide vs. North America), royalties, publicity and marketing commitments, and more.

Here’s a play-by-play example to give you a sense of how it happens: Let’s imagine that Crown (a division of Penguin Random House), Putnam (another division of Penguin Random House), and HarperCollins are bidding on your book.

Their initial bids for the first round are as follows:

Crown: $25KPutnam: $40KHarperCollins: $40K

Crown, the low bidder in the first round, then makes the first bid in the second round, which must be 10% higher than the last round’s highest bid. Since HarperCollins and Putnam placed the same bid, the agent typically contacts the person who called first and lets them know where the auction stands.

The second round goes as follows:

Crown: $44K (the minimum bid)HarperCollins: $49K (they round up from the minimum bid)Putnam drops out

Third round:

Crown: $54KHarperCollins: $61K

Fourth round:

Crown: $75KHarperCollins drops out

You can see that Crown made a risky move in the fourth round, offering more than was required in order to try and knock out the competition. The strategy worked.

The beauty of the round-robin auction is that you can watch your money grow by leaps and bounds. Another is that the lowest initial bidder can come out on top. The downside is that money is the controlling factor. Sometimes the underbidder may be your first choice because of their values or enthusiasm, but you have to go with the winner. Another downside is that if one publisher was willing to pay a lot more than the others, they will discover this through the auction process and adjust their offer to be more in line with the others.

Sometimes an editor will make a preemptive offer before the bidding starts, but it’s typically not quite as juicy as you would like. You and your agent may then ask them to “take the floor” in the auction. Their bid becomes the starting point of the bidding, below which no bid can go.

There is another significance: The floor-holding editor sits out the auction and watches how things play out, but they retain the option to make the final, top bid, which is typically 10% higher than the last bid. Floors are great because they guarantee the sale of your book, but they also discourage other publishers from participating because no matter how much they offer, they can lose out at the last moment.

The advance

The main number to negotiate in your contract is the size of your advance. An advance is like a loan or investment. The publisher fronts you the money you need to write the book in advance of the book actually starting to sell.

Say you receive a $20,000 advance. And your hardcover book sells for a retail price of $20, and 10% of that goes to you. This 10% is your royalty.

But you don’t actually start receiving royalty checks in the mail until you’ve “earned out” your advance. In other words, this is when you’ve paid back the $20,000 the publisher fronted you. This means that 10,000 copies of your book will need to be sold (earning $200,000 gross) to earn out your $20,000 advance (10% of $200,000). Only after these 10,000 sales will you start to receive royalty checks for any additional sales. Incredibly, only 10% of books ever earn out their advance and pay out any royalties at all.

Advances are typically paid out in multiple payments over time, not in one big chunk. Typically, you get the first payment when the manuscript is accepted and the last one when your book is published. Other payments are commonly made upon the signing of the contract, delivery of the manuscript, and publication of the softcover version.

Do whatever you can to get more of the advance earlier. For example, by changing a ⅓, ⅓, ⅓ payout schedule to ½, ¼, ¼ or adding a clause that you will be paid upon softcover publication or within 12 months, whichever is earlier. If something should happen and your book doesn’t reach publication, you usually get to keep whatever money has been advanced to you.

In any case, it can often take three to six months or longer to actually have the cash in hand. Here is a typical payment schedule:

January 1, 2015: offer madeJuly 1, 2015: payment due on signing of the contractOctober 1, 2016: delivery and acceptance payment madeOctober 1, 2017: publication payment made

So your final check will not be in your hands until almost three years after you received the offer.

Making the choice

Eventually, assuming you have more than one offer, you’ll need to accept one. Talk to the editors over the phone to get a sense of their enthusiasm and commitment level. Here are some signs that indicate a publisher is highly committed to your project:

A track record of publishing your type of bookEnthusiasm from the top of the organization to the bottomAn established reputation in prestige, attention, design, or anything else that matters to the success of your bookA desire and ability to go the extra mile to get your book into readers’ hands

Sometimes a publisher that seemed uninterested shows up at the last minute with the biggest check. Or, a publisher with a lower offer turns out to be the best option because of their intense commitment to the idea. Or, one of the bidders makes a compelling pitch, a big commitment to spend on marketing, or a large first payment.

If you can, talk to authors who have been published by the editors making you an offer to try and get a sense of what it was like to work with them. Think about the publishing company as a whole – are they all committed to your book? Have you heard from the marketing, sales, and publicity departments? Do they understand online sales and have the resources to make an impact there? You want to have as much of the house behind you as possible.

Whatever happens, be hyper-polite and send thank you cards or at least emails to everyone you meet with, in person or virtually. This isn’t only the right thing to do but might make an impression so that they look out for your next book.

Don’t assume that a big advance automatically means a publisher is committed. As strange as it may seem, big publishers sometimes shell out big bucks and then pay little or no attention when the book comes out. This could be due to a change in leadership, a lackluster final manuscript, or slow pre-orders.

Negotiation

Don’t be afraid to ask tough questions and negotiate for the best deal. For example, you could ask:

What are the highest royalties you’ve given in a contract?What range of advances do you give?Will you have an advertising or publicity budget?Will you build a website for my book?

You can also make a budget, which will often help justify the advance you are requesting. Spell out how much you estimate you’ll need for research, content licensing, permissions, and travel. Maybe you need an assistant to check your sources or a babysitter to look after the kids while you write. Include that in your advance budget.

When you arrive at a deal, be sure to get it in writing as a “deal memo.” It can take months to execute and sign the actual contract, and you don’t want them “forgetting” what they agreed to. This memo should include the advance, royalties, payout, rights, delivery date, bonuses, options information, and anything else that’s relevant.

Here’s an example of such a deal memo:

Territory: North America.Advance: $75,000.Payout: $37,500 on signing, $18,750 on delivery and acceptance, $18,750 on publication.Royalties: Hardcover: 10% for the first 5,000 copies, 12.5% for the next 5,000 copies, 15% thereafter. Paperback: 7.5% flat. Ebooks: 25% of net.Sub rights: Publisher retains audio and first serial. 80/20 split on British rights, 75/25 on translation. (Note: The first number in those ratios represents the author’s take.)Bonus: $10,000 earn-out bonus. Must earn out within one year of publication. Bonus applied to advance.Option: 30-day option on the next proposal, to begin after delivery and acceptance. No matching clause.Title: Mutual agreement on the title.Cover and jacket: Consultation on the cover and jacket copy.In the next post, we’ll examine the contract details you’ll need to understand and sign off on for the offer you accept.

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The post The Ins and Outs of Offers appeared first on Forte Labs.

Finding an Agent and Publisher

You should think of the people you’re working with at each stage of the publishing process as your publishing team.

Each one contributes something different and has different interests, but what you all have in common is the desire to see your book through to publication and on to the greatest possible success.

This team can include many kinds of roles, from research assistants to publicists to designers to writing coaches, but there are three roles that will be paramount: your editor, your agent, and your publisher.

Let’s take a close look at each of them.

Editors

It is wise to work with an editor even on the proposal. You will likely need to pay them upfront and out of your own pocket, but doing so will greatly improve your odds of success.

A “developmental edit” usually includes a thorough read of your manuscript and a detailed editorial letter that outlines overarching conceptual or structural changes. A “line edit” includes all of the above, plus a line-by-line markup. The cost for these in-depth reviews ranges from $250 to $25,000, depending on who does it.

An earlier, more lightweight review can be done by a professional reader, who assesses the commercial potential of the manuscript or proposal for about $75 to $1,000.

Agents

If you seek a mid- to large-size publisher, you’ll send your proposal to a literary agent. If you’re looking for a small, regional, or university press, you’ll send it to them directly.

A good agent will cost you but will provide plenty of support in exchange. They know the editors at major publishing houses and what they are looking for. They can help with everything from your title and your bio, to the development of the plot, to basic editing and proofreading, to knowing the competition.

Your agent is a salesperson and a buffer between you and the publisher, helping negotiate terms and pass along communications. They might help with marketing and strategy, connect you with good publicists and designers, and advise on which offer to take.

This is why an agent receives a percentage of your earnings – they touch nearly every aspect of the book. Ideally, you’ll choose an agent that will help you not only with the current book but with your long-term publishing career.

Most literary agencies charge a 15% commission on advances, royalties, and most subsidiary sales (note that this is 15% of the 15% you typically make as an author after the publisher takes its 85% share).

For foreign rights, a 20% share for the agent is standard, since they have to split their fee with co-agents abroad. The smallest agencies can charge up to a 30% commission on certain sales. And most will charge you for out-of-pocket expenses like postage, overnight delivery, and messengers.

Here are some questions to ask an agent, whether you reach out to them or they reach out to you:

What other books like mine have you sold?Do you help authors develop their material?Will my contact be primarily with you or your assistant?Will you help me promote my book when it comes out?Are you a member of the Association of Authors’ Representatives, Inc.?Do you have client and editor references I can call?What publishing houses do you work with on a regular basis?How many books have you sold in the last year?Are you known for selling a particular kind of book (ex., business, science, African American, romance, literary fiction)?Have you negotiated terms with all the major publishing houses?Do you have co-agents who help sell your books overseas?

Here are some red flags to watch out for:

An agent who charges “reading” or “development” fees, which should be freeA contract that locks you in for a set amount of time (either party should be able to walk away with 30 days’ notice)A contract that locks your next book up with that agent (you should be free to work with any agent you choose)

If you find someone you like, send them your proposal or manuscript. Here are some questions to ask them after they’ve had a chance to review it:

What specifically did you like about my material?What specifically stood out?What did you feel were the problems?Are there specific sections that you feel need strengthening?Is there anything that you feel should be added?Is there anything else I need to do to make my material ready to sell?Do you have the time to mark up my material so I can better understand your thought process?

You can change agents for the same book, but it can be messy. If your agent has submitted your manuscript to publishers and it remains unsold, it can be very difficult to find another agent willing to take it in. If you do change agents, be sure to get detailed records or cover letters from your ex-agent so you know where it’s already been submitted.

Publishers

If you’re lucky enough to pass the initial screening and meet with publishers, you want to make the best impression possible. Come in person if possible. Get a card from every single person you meet there, and send them thank you letters afterward.

Here are some specific questions to ask:

What other books have you published that are similar to mine? Have these been successful? Why or why not?What changes do you foresee in my book’s content or direction?What are the weak points in my proposal/manuscript, and how would we fix them?What are the strong points in my proposal/manuscript, and how can I improve on them?What kind of publicity/marketing plan do you envision for my book?What kind of publicity/marketing have you done for similar books?How do you like to work? Do you prefer to receive a complete manuscript or to get several chapters at a time?When do you see my book coming out and why?

Here are the kinds of publishers you may want to consider, including the pros and cons of each.

Independent presses

It’s generally better to be the big headliner book at a small but well-respected independent press than to be far down the list of priorities at Penguin Random House.

The downside of the small guys is that if your book blows up, they might not have the resources to put behind it, whether for publicity or extra print runs. That is a far less likely scenario, however, than never getting your book published in the first place.

If none of the large publishing houses are interested, you will likely need to go to smaller, independent presses (defined as publishing fewer than 12 titles per year). That doesn’t mean your book won’t be successful though. Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October was first published by the Naval Institute Press, Chicken Soup for the Soul and its dozens of offshoots by Health Communications, and Fifty Shades of Grey by a small Australian press. Independent publishing is a multi-billion dollar business.

There may even be upsides. Independent presses are more likely to give you personal attention and see you as a valued player in their portfolio. Because they publish so few books, they are more likely to work their hardest to keep each one alive. Independent presses also often specialize in one topic or area, which means they know their industry well. But this means that less than a third of titles they publish end up in bookstores, as they often bypass the general market and sell directly to their niche. If prestige is a concern for you, the size of the press doesn’t matter so much as its reputation.

What are the downsides of going with a small, independent press? Mostly that they have less money.

They generally pay much smaller advances (in the $1,000–3,000 range) if they pay any at all. Once the book is out, they also pay less in royalties, starting at about 5% of the cover price, whereas the Big 5 pay 7.5% of the cover price for paperbacks and 10% for hardcovers. This is because they have to cover higher costs that come from not having economies of scale.

Small presses also have smaller marketing budgets nowhere close to the thousands of dollars a large publisher might invest in promoting your book. They also have smaller distribution networks and often contract with larger publishers or specialized distribution companies to handle order processing and shipping. But some very small publishers might not even have that and rely on local sales, web sales, and word of mouth only.

University presses

Traditionally, university presses were sleepy outfits who published books they thought were important, with little or no concern for market demand. But as the industry has consolidated, and large publishers got more conservative, university presses have picked up lesser-known authors who nonetheless have blockbuster potential. Over 50% of their lists are now made up of mainstream trade books, including memoirs, histories, and fiction.

Academic writers who have written a popular book but would like the prestige of a university press to advance their careers may choose to go with these publishers. If authors hope their books can eventually be used in classrooms, university presses have the experience and contacts to help make that happen.

As university presses receive more submissions, they rely more and more on agents to filter submissions for them. That said, many of them have regional publishing programs dedicated to local authors.

Micropublishers

Anyone can become a “publisher.” Micropublishers can be as small as one person working out of their garage. They are easier to access because there are so many, but they won’t do much by way of developing or promoting your book. They won’t pay an advance, may not edit, and produce only an ebook or print-on-demand book with little to no distribution. They won’t get your book into bookstores. But they can be a welcome alternative to self-publishing completely on your own.

Vanity presses

Although the number of routes to publishing has exploded, it’s harder than ever to get your book through the traditional publishing process. To meet this demand, a new category of “vanity presses” has arisen. These “pay-to-play” companies charge you as a client to edit, publish, and distribute your book. Generally, vanity presses don’t have a clear stake in your success and are best avoided.

Contacting publishers

It’s a good idea to address your emails and letters to a specific editor within a publishing house. Find their email address and tell them:

Why your book is right for their list: Use the research you’ve done about their author portfolio.Your book pitch: Examine the copy on the back and jacket flaps of books they’ve published to get a sense of what they’re interested in.Your “why me?” pitch: Let them know why you are the perfect person to write this book.

You’re likely going to face a lot of rejection as you send these emails, so it’s important to use them as learning opportunities. Are there consistencies in what they say is missing from letter to letter? Which points have you not made clearly enough? Is your beginning weak? Does your ending fall apart? Or is there a weakness in your writing, characters, or plot?

Even if your book doesn’t end up selling, rejection letters can help you pinpoint what you need to work on, and also your strong suits as a writer. Maybe one chapter grabbed the attention of agents and editors, and you can reorient the book around it. Maybe a character that really resonated with people can be expanded into a central protagonist.

Whatever happens, take the time to compose a thoughtful reply and to thank editors for taking the time to read your submission. And if you don’t hear back, don’t be afraid to follow up.

It’s impossible to predict success

A good thing to keep in mind is that no one knows for sure what books will be successful. A study at the Wharton School of Business about predictors of success in trade publishing overwhelmingly showed that no amount of number crunching or analysis can predict what will be successful. So if you can’t get a large publisher to talk to you, don’t take it as a sign that your idea is doomed.

In the next post, we’ll dive into the in’s and out’s of the kinds of publishers’ offers you’ll hope to be receiving for your book.

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KM Brasil: Construindo um Segundo Cérebro [Portuguese]

I recently spoke at KM Brasil, a virtual conference in Brazil dedicated to the frontier of knowledge management. I presented in Portuguese, and you can watch the recording below:

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How to Be Productive Working from Home (Without Going Crazy)

Over the past 6 months as COVID has raged around the world, millions and millions of people have had to switch abruptly from working in an office, to working from home.

Even if you had previous experience occasionally working remotely, you’ve probably noticed that doing it FULL-TIME is a completely different experience.

You need a radically higher level of self-awareness, self-management, and self-efficacy. There is an entirely new set of tools and techniques needed to stay focused and productive in an environment that probably wasn’t designed for it.

Many have taken up the WFH (Work from Home) banner online to collect tips and tricks on this new frontier of personal productivity. But it can be difficult to collect and sort through those tips on top of everything else we’re already overwhelmed by.

So I’ve partnered with the best expert I could find – Thanh Pham of the legendary blog Asian Efficiency – on a 90-minute online workshop where we’ll share with you the very best tools we’ve discovered over 18 years of combined WFH experience.

Asian Efficiency is one of the longest-running and most influential productivity blogs on the Internet, with 1.5 million annual readers, 2 million podcast downloads, and over 15,000 customers. I remember reading it in 2012 when I was first learning about this concept called “personal productivity.”

It profoundly shaped my view of what that means, and what is possible when you take control of your work and shape your environment to suit your needs. There are very few people out there who have more experience training people in the fundamentals of remote productivity.

Register at the link below for Thursday, Sep 24 at 2pm US/Central to get a calendar invite. We’ll send a replay afterward to everyone who registers:

Register here

Thanh and I will spend an hour training you on our best WFH techniques, and then answer your questions in a 30-minute Q&A at the end.

Here’s a bit more detail on what we’ll cover:

The power of identifying your 3 Most Important Tasks (MITs)Thanh’s 3-Step Work From Home BlueprintThe 7 essential tools you need at home to be organized and efficient while working from homeHow to create an objective scorecard to determine whether you had a productive day, instead of relying on guessworkOur top recommended tools, strategies, and appsHow to create boundaries and breaks to protect against “Zoom fatigue”A preview of Thanh’s comprehensive Productive at Home courseAnswers to your top WFH questions (collected in advance at registration)

I can promise you this will be an incredibly valuable training for anyone who WFH part time, full time, or is seeking to make the transition.

See you there!

Tiago

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I’m speaking at Teachable’s “Share What You Know” Summit

It is June of 2016, and I’m sitting quietly at my computer in a trendy cafe in downtown Oakland, California.

I’m gulping down a huge, over-sweetened chai latte and sweating profusely as I log in to my computer. I’m incredibly stressed out, and using the sugar as a coping mechanism.

I’m sweating not because I’m working under a tight deadline, or getting ready for a job interview. I’m sweating because I’m taking a step toward my dream: to teach what I know online and make a career out of it.

The event I was registering for was Teachable Summit, a virtual conference hosted by the online learning platform Teachable. It was my foot in the door to the world of online education. Dozens of the top instructors and creators sharing countless tips and details about how they did it.

But it wasn’t yet another webinar for me. I knew I was there with a purpose: to change how people leverage their knowledge, to share what I knew about building a Second Brain.

I knew that in order to teach others how to leverage their knowledge, I had to do it myself first. I needed to create a course that embodied the principles of saving, organizing, and sharing their expertise. Instead of just talking about it, I had to demonstrate it.

That weekend was a turning point in my journey. I attended a dozen different sessions, took copious notes (obviously), and came away with a radically deeper appreciation for what it took to not only launch an online course, but to make it successful and profitable.

I could hardly believe my luck. I felt like I had found my tribe. I learned so many skills that no one talks about and that you would never even know to look for, like how to create a mini email-based course for bite-size learning, and how to design “lead magnets” that make people want to subscribe in the first place (those are links to my actual notes from 2016).

Since that experience, I’ve recommended this annual event to everyone who asks me how to get started on their own online teaching journey. There is nothing like showing up to an event with thousands of other people striving for the same dream, and hearing from dozens who have actually done it.

Just now I looked up my stats on Teachable and saw my lifetimes sales on the platform since that fateful summer:

It is an absurd number. Far beyond what I ever expected or imagined. What is most meaningful about it is that I hardly ever look it up. I get to spend my days focused on how to make a bigger impact on more people with the resources and knowledge I’ve been blessed with.

That is the real gift – being able to spend all my energy on how I can serve others, instead of worrying about paying the bills.

It is now 2020, and another impossible thing has happened: I’ve been invited to be part of Teachable’s “Share What You Know Summit” for the first time ever.

Again, this is surreal. I’m speaking alongside some of the biggest creators and teachers in the world. People I’ve admired and emulated for years.

I’ll be delivering a brand new online workshop that I’ve created specifically for this event, called Digital Note-Taking for Course Creators. I’ll demonstrate how having a Second Brain full of your best ideas and insights is THE perfect jumping off point for creating an online course. And then I’ll do a Q&A to answer all your specific questions.

If you have any inkling that you may have something worth teaching, if you’ve watched online education from afar and yearned to be a part of it, if you know in your heart that the massive movement of online learning we are now experiencing is something you want to contribute to, I invite you to join me:

Learn more and register for Sept. 22-24

It’s only $29 for a limited time, before the price goes up. An outrageously, almost criminally low price for the accumulated knowledge that will be on display. That is my affiliate link above, and I proudly receive a commission for each person who uses it.

You’ll receive not just the Summit workshops, but also the 2020 Share & Scale bundle, a vault of useful Teachable video tutorials, plus tools and services to grow an online business. I still refer to the bundle I got access to 4 years later.

My pre-recorded workshop drops on Day 1, Sept. 22, for all attendees. Here’s the rest of the schedule:

Sept. 22 (9AM to 4 PM EST): CoachingSept. 23 (9AM to 4 PM EST): CoursesSept. 24 (9AM to 4 PM EST): Sales & Marketing

Over these three days we’ll cover:

Opening keynote with Lisa NicholsHow to create your first online course (or coaching service)Live Q&A with Gary Vaynerchuk on social media promotionDeveloping a visual brand and site that stands out and attracts your ideal customersIn-depth workshop on email marketing with Pat FlynnHow to accelerate your learning as a business owner with memory expert Jim KwikGenerating new customers (in a genuine and authentic way)Diversifying and scaling your offerings over timeHow to manage your business finances as a creator with Anthony O’NealSimple strategies for recognizing and conquering the mental blocks many creators experience (e.g. self-doubt, fear, procrastination)Closing keynote with Nicole Walters

To give you a sense of the scale of what’s happening, since 2015 more than 100,000 creators have sold over $500 million in courses and coaching on Teachable alone. But half of that—$250 million—was just in the last year.

If you’ve been waiting months or even years to jump into this space, now is the best possible time. We are in the midst of exponential growth as everyone is stuck at home and looking for ways to keep themselves entertained and educated.

I can’t recommend this event enough, and I’m really proud to finally be able to give back on the same platform that has given me so much.

See you at the Summit!

Tiago

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Video Series: Tiago Learns Roam

In this new video series, I walk you through my own learning process as I get to know Roam Research, the “note-taking tool for networked thought.”

From creating my Roam account and opening the program for the first time, I’ll ask the stupid questions so you don’t have to, experiment with every feature through trial and error, and use my own ideas as a testing ground for the best way to make use of this powerful tool.

I’ll update this post with new episodes as they’re released, or subscribe to my weekly newsletter below to be notified as soon as they come out. I’ll send you my 100 Favorite Second Brain Quotes as seen in this series (as a Roam page, of course) as a thank you.

In episode 1, I talked to Roam Founder Conor White-Sullivan. After our “Twitter feud” over the past year, in which we debated the pros and cons of different ways of organizing information, we decided to set aside our differences and join forces. By combining my techniques with Conor’s technology, I’m hoping we can make a real impact on how the world uses knowledge.

After a brief introduction from Conor, I decided to dive in and get my digital hands dirty. Whenever I learn how to use a new tool, I like to start working with it directly as quickly as possible. As soon as we finished our call, I spent 30 minutes organizing and cleaning up my first page of quotes.

This experience gave me a few insights into how Roam works differently from other note-taking apps. I got used to the bulleted list format, got the hang of the important double bracket feature, and started to experiment with the sidebar.

For my next stage of learning, I decided I need to talk to an expert. I scheduled a call with Nat Eliason, whose course Effortless Output in Roam was one of the first and most influential voices in the Roam community. We invited a few hundred of our closest friends for a “live writing” demonstration of how Nat uses Roam to write his popular weekly newsletter Monday Medley. 

Nat answered several of my top questions, such as how to search for things, how to use #hashtags to keep track of where I’ve written about certain topics, and how to use different sized headings to organize a page into sections. The live attendees had dozens of other questions that Nat generously stayed on afterward to answer.

Stay tuned for more episodes!

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Introducing Effortless Output with Roam

In the summer of 2018 I sat down with a guy named Conor at the Interval, a trendy coffee shop and bar on the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

We were there to attend a conference called iAnnotate, on a niche academic topic called “web annotation.”

I’d had a couple conversations with Conor online, and knew only that he was working on some newfangled database tool called “Roam Research.”

He claimed it would change everything. That prominent scientists and academics were already using it. That it would finally fulfill the grand promises of technology pioneers like Doug Engelbart and Vannevar Bush.

I thought it was a bit of a crackpot notion. I was used to getting pitched on some app or another almost every week, each one promising to “change the world.”

But Conor continued refining his product, and over the next year it slowly spread through tech circles with a reputation for changing how people thought about note-taking.

I myself am a late adopter of new technology – I prefer to be the last one on the bandwagon, when it’s already clear that the bandwagon will be successful. I kept an ear out for news of how Roam was doing, but otherwise stayed true to my Evernote roots.

A year later, in August 2019, I visited San Francisco from my new home in Mexico City. As an excuse to see friends and fans, I organized a workshop and meetup at a local coworking space in the SoMa neighborhood.

Conor was there, and as we wrapped up the writing workshop he insisted that his tool was the exact manifestation of the “networked” approach to writing that I was teaching that very night.

 My writing workshop in San Francisco

A small group of us went out afterward to grab drinks and a bite to eat. And Conor and I hatched a plan: we would start an online “beef” that would attract some attention to the fledgling PKM (Personal Knowledge Management) space.

I never could gave predicted how successful that beef would be. It exploded among our tiny niche in raging Twitter battles between our rival factions, in a beautiful display of nerd rivalry.

In the year since then, Roam has exploded in popularity, with an endless list of well-known public figures declaring their dedication or at least interest in adopting it for their own work. It’s been shocking, honestly, to see how quickly it has become a mainstay of the online intellectual world.

I recorded an interview with Conor in December of 2019, so our differing approaches to creating a Second Brain could duke it out in an “idea battle royale.” In that call we floated an idea: a Roam-themed cohort of my course Building a Second Brain.

It seemed crazy at the time. But you never know where life will lead you. Today is the day we make that idea into reality, with a new course on Forte Academy called Effortless Output with Roam, taught by my friend Nat Eliason.

The course isn’t just a “general introduction” without a real purpose in mind. It is focused on making Roam a core part of your creative output, personal knowledge management, and productivity.

Nat has you choose a concrete creative project as a practical experiment for learning how to use Roam, which is exactly how I recommend you do it. You’ll join a “capstone” group where everyone will be using their Roam knowledge to research an area of interest and create something new. Social learning at its finest.

The course can be taken in a self-paced format for just $250, which includes a 7-unit video-based curriculum, 3 bonus units on advanced topics, a dedicated discussion forum on the Circle platform, and in-depth case studies with Roam experts. And of course, as with all our programs, you get lifetime access to future updates.

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If you want more hands-on support, you can also choose the $500 option (which closes on Sept. 8) and join 5 live implementation sessions with Nat and course alumni. They’ll demonstrate the most effective ways of using the program, answer questions, and connect you with course alumni and other experts who think the way you do.

We’re launching this course in parallel with cohort 11 of Building a Second Brain, so you’ll have the best of both worlds if you decide to do both: the focus and specificity of a course completely dedicated to Roam, plus the community and big picture ideas from the wider Building a Second Brain community.

If you’re new to Roam and interested in learning more, I suggest you check out this video by Nat where he explains what is so great about the program, and why people are raving about it so much:

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Learn more and enroll on the Effortless Output with Roam website:

Enroll now

If you’d like to receive updates related to Effortless Output in the future, including a new YouTube series called “Tiago Learns Roam,” just subscribe below:

Thanks for reading,

Tiago

P.S. Nat and I will be hosting a “Live-Writing Workshop” on Friday 8/28 at 3pm ET, where Nat will demonstrate the amazing powers of Roam for quickly pulling together a compelling piece of writing (such as a blog post, email, memo, or website copy) out of existing notes.

Register here to get a calendar invite (we’ll also send out a recording to everyone who registers)

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