Category Pirates

Share this post
[Part II] Engineering A Best-Selling Business Book
categorypirates.substack.com

[Part II] Engineering A Best-Selling Business Book

Why some ideas scale and others do not.

Category Pirates šŸ“ā€ā˜ ļø
Jun 28
27
5
Share this post
[Part II] Engineering A Best-Selling Business Book
categorypirates.substack.com

Dear Friend, Subscriber, and Category Pirate,

Last week, we published Part I of our breakthrough study of the best-selling business books from the past 20 years.Ā 

However, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

….ARRRRRR!!!!!

The First 3 Steps Of Writing A Best-Selling Business Book

Let’s recap what we’ve discussed so far:

Step 1: Choose Your Starting Category

Before you even begin writing your book (or ā€œscalingā€ an idea of any kind), you first need to decide which of the 7 best-selling, most-scalable categories you are going to play in—and why:

  • Personal Development

  • Personal Finance

  • Insights/Thinking

  • Leadership

  • Case Study/Allegory

  • Functional Excellence

  • Relationships

Step 2: Idea-Centric or Author-Centric

Next, be honest with yourself:Ā 

Question: Are you a celebrity? Are you at the absolute height of your industry and would everyone inside that industry be able to recognize you on the street? (Michelle Obama’s book, Becoming, is a memoir that has sold over 14 million copies. And by the time it came out, she was one of the highest profile people in the world—and as a couple, the Obamas were the ā€œmost admired couple in the world.ā€ Are you at that level?) Or are you a no-name writer, entrepreneur, or industry thought leader? Be radically honest with yourself. If you are, it might be OK to write an Author-Centric book that leans on your personal experience and social standing. But if not, then you’d be better off writing an Idea-Centric book instead.Ā 

Question: Would you care if someone else ā€œstoleā€ your idea? Or built upon your idea and added their own twist? Or took your idea and ran with it in a different direction? This gets at the heart of whether you are a missionary or a mercenary. Everyone cares a little bit, but if you really care (like you would be furious to see someone else building on your work), then you lean more Author-Centric. You need to be the star of the show. However, if you are ultimately glad people were helped, and you see other people building on your work as a net-positive for the world, then you are likely more Idea-Centric. You just care that the information helps people. Whether you get ā€œall the creditā€ isn’t as important as the mission you are on.

If the book you want to write is Idea-Centric, the categories best suited to ā€œscaleā€ your idea are:

  • Personal Development

  • Insights/Thinking

  • Case Study/Allegory

  • Relationships

If the book you want to write is Author-Centric, the categories best suited to ā€œscaleā€ your idea are:

  • Personal Finance

  • Leadership

  • Functional Excellence

It’s worth remembering that Idea-Centric books are typically more scalable than Author-Centric books because when you write an Author-Centric book, your pool of prospective readers is limited to the number of people who know who you are. Whereas anyone can write an interesting Idea-Centric book, and if the idea is compelling, new, and different, that idea can take on a life of its own—and oftentimes outgrow the author. For example, nobody knew who James Clear was when he wrote Atomic Habits. That is an Idea-Centric book that did not require the author’s credibility in order to resonate with readers.Ā 

So, even if you want to write an Author-Centric book, consider how you might be able to give the spotlight to the idea itself.Ā 

Step 3: Ascend To a Superior CategoryĀ 

Finally, how ā€œscalableā€ do you want your book to be?

To increase your total addressable market of readers, think about how you can ascend up these 7 best-selling categories to maximize your impact and financial upside:

  • If you are writing a Personal Finance book, can you make the category bigger and write it as an Insights/Thinking book geared toward a financial audience? Or, even better, can you make it a Personal Development book about how money habits can unlock more universal, desirable life outcomes (happiness, freedom, status, mental calm, emotional acceptance, etc.)?

  • If you are writing a Relationships book, can you make the category bigger and conduct your own survey or clinical study so the book presents new and different Insights/Thinking? Or, even better, can you give unique, actionable Personal Development takeaways for the reader?

  • If you are writing a Leadership book, can you make it a ā€œscience of leadershipā€ book so it becomes about new Insights/Thinking? Or, even better, can you combine your new leadership science with different, actionable takeaways for the reader—so by the time they finish reading, they will have the necessary skills to be a legendary leader, too?

  • If you are writing a book full of Case Study/Allegories, can you minimize the timely aspects of these case studies and instead focus on the wisdom (Insights/Thinking) that will stand the test of time? Even better, can you help the reader implement this timeless wisdom in their own lives (Personal Development)?

  • If you are writing a Functional Excellence book, can you minimize the timely How To advice and examples that will only be relevant for a few years (if that), and instead focus on the underlying principles of success that will remain relevant for a much longer time horizon?Ā 

Again: all roads lead back to Insights/Thinking and Personal Development.

In order to increase your chances of writing a best-seller and presenting an idea that ā€œscalesā€ to millions of readers, you must either present new and different ways of seeing the world, or give the reader clear and actionable (Obvious/Non-Obvious) steps they can take to succeed in the world.

The magic combination is to do both at the same time.

The ā€œY Do You Writeā€ Framework

Notice how all of these ā€œthinkingā€ decisions need to be made before you write a single word of your book!Ā 

(Thinking about thinking is the most important kind of thinking.)

Once you have worked through these first 3 steps, you will find yourself at a fork in the road:

  • To The Left: Obvious creation

  • To The Right: Non-Obvious creation

We call this the ā€œY Do You Writeā€ framework because in order for readers to understand what kind of idea you are trying to get them to ā€œbuy into,ā€ you need to have perfect clarity around whether you are writing an Obvious or Non-Obvious book. This is what dictates whether readers buy your book and devour it, buy your book but don’t read it, or don’t buy your book at all.

There are 4 combinations of Obvious and Non-Obvious ideas:

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Category Pirates to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
Ā© 2022 Category Pirates
Privacy āˆ™ Terms āˆ™ Collection notice
Publish on Substack Get the app
SubstackĀ is the home for great writing