The book revenue webinar
A recorded 40-minute session with Eric Jorgenson, Scribe's Author in Residence, titled "How to Use Your Book to Generate Millions in New Revenue." Despite the title, its most useful message is a sober one: the book itself rarely makes money, and the return comes from what it leads to.
- What it is
- A webinar replay you can watch any time.
- Format
- Video, in six timed segments.
- Length
- 40 minutes, including about ten minutes of questions at the end.
- What it asks
- First name, work email and phone number, all required, before the replay plays.
What is in it
The replay page lists six segments:
- The question underneath it all. How to sell without selling, and why treating a book as "a business card" produces a weak book.
- Authority that converts. What changes in a sales conversation when the other person has already spent hours with your thinking.
- Speaking fees and closed rooms. Why organizers and podcast hosts treat a book as a credential.
- The honest version of book ROI. Where the return really comes from, and why it is rarely royalties.
- The expensive mistakes. What going it alone really costs in hours, including one founder's story of trying to save money.
- How the work gets done, then questions. The interview-based process Scribe uses, what an author has to do, and open questions.
Who it is for
The page names its audience: founders, attorneys, advisors, consultants, doctors and speakers who are good at what they do. It is aimed at people deciding whether a book is worth it for their business. It will not help much if you have already decided, or if your book is personal rather than professional.
What you come away with
- A realistic frame for book ROI that does not depend on sales. That alone saves many first-time authors from a bad plan.
- A list of the places a book's value tends to show up: trust in sales, speaking, media.
- A clear picture of one professional process for making a book, useful even if you hire someone else.
What it asks of you
This is the most demanding sign-up in the catalog: first name, work email and phone number, all required. The page says the replay link is emailed too, so you can come back to it. Giving a phone number means a call from Scribe is possible. The page is upfront that there is no pitch until the last ten minutes and that you can skip them.
How to get the most from it
- Watch with your own numbers in mind. Run the Book ROI Calculator first if you can.
- Take notes on segment four. It is the part you can apply whatever you decide.
- Treat segment five as a sales argument. The story about the cost of going alone is real and linked on the page, but it is one founder's experience. Doing a book yourself takes far more of your own time than hiring help, and far less money.
Its honest limits
- The title promises "millions." The talk is more measured than that, but the framing is a sales framing.
- It requires a phone number, which some people will reasonably not want to give.
- The last segment describes Scribe's own process. It is informative, but it is not a survey of options.
- It is a recording, so there is no live Q and A. For live questions, Eric's Office Hours runs when sessions are scheduled; none was on the calendar when we checked.
Before and after
Before: chapter 36 of The Scribe Method, Realistic and unrealistic expectations for a book, if you want the same idea in writing with no sign-up.
After: read a few success stories in your field to see the ideas applied, then the use your book for business path.