Julie Broad (founder of Book Launchers) argues authors should stop focusing on "breaking even" on book-unit sales and instead aim to 10x their return by measuring business outcomes (new clients, speaking gigs, partnerships, courses, etc.). She gives rough cost estimates for creating a high-quality nonfiction book ($5,000–$10,000), notes that breaking even on pure book sales would require roughly 1,000–2,000 copies for many authors, and uses an anecdote of a reader leading to a $6M business sale to illustrate the broader value a book can produce. The video closes with examples of 10x outcomes and a call-to-action to contact Book Launchers.
Questions this video answers
$5,000–$10,000
About 1,000 copies (for the lower-end example)
Approximately 1,500–2,000 copies
A buyer paid $6 million for the author's business after reading his book.
Chapters
One of my favorite questions would be authors ask me is how much money am I going to make per book? Because they're trying to figure out how many books they have to sell to break even. If you're wondering how many books you have to sell to break even, stick around. I've got some simple math to help you figure it out. Hey, I'm Julie Broad, award winning author and founder of Book launchers.com a company that helps entrepreneurs and professionals write, publish, and sell a fantastic, fantastic nonfiction book. Is money holding you back from writing your book? Are you wondering how many copies of your book you will have to sell to break even? Well, first, I think that's actually the wrong question. Why are you doing anything to just break even? I mean, really, it's a lot of work to go through life just working to break even, right? No? Okay, we'll stop scrubbing the bar. You get what you focus on. So first, let's change your focus. Goodbye, break even. And hel, what will give me a 10x return on what I'm doing? How you define success matters. I've talked about book costs before and we have this ebook on writing a book and calculating a budget to help you calculate the cost to self publish. You can check that out right here. If you want to create a high quality book, one that could sit on the shelves of Barnes and Noble or chapters into going Canada, then you're looking at investing somewhere between 5 to $10,000 just for editing, layout, cover design, and a few other essential elements. So you can see how you have to sell at least 1,000 copies to break even. But what's your goal for your book? If you're thinking I want to be a best seller, why is it to get new clients, raise your prices, land paid speaking gigs, maybe land a TV or a movie deal? So now we're talking. It's rarely about units sold, but what that book does for you and for your business. My favorite news story of this came from a podcast interview. I did, one where the guy I was interviewing said, you know what? I didn't sell many copies of my book, but one guy read it, decided he wanted to buy my business, and he paid me $6 million for my business. So I consider that book a success. I think I probably would too. That was a conversation with John J. Bohen, and he was talking about how he's authored more than 20 books. And he said, every single book has been a success, but not all have sold very well. Some turned into great lead magnets, generating seven figures in sales others. Others sold thousands of copies at events or led to big speaking engagements. And as I mentioned, one led to the sale of his business. Many authors try to figure out how many copies they have to sell to pay back the cost of writing, publishing, and promoting their book. For most authors of nonfiction books who invest in creating a high quality product, the answer for the break even point question is probably going to be around 1500-2000 copies. But that's the wrong thing to focus on. A better question isn't how you pay back your investment you it's how you 10x it. Now here are some of the ways that you can 10x that investment. Of course, it depends on your goals and your business. But 10 speaking gigs, a TV movie deal, 20 new clients, a strategic partnership or brand extensions like swag or courses or retreats or workshops turn your book into a massive profit producing product for you and for your business. From good old Canadian Wayne Gretzky. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. So if all you're doing is figuring out where you're going to break even, you're probably always gonna break even. You can increase the chances of success by getting a great team on your side. If you want help writing, publishing, and selling a nonfiction book with a specific goal in mind, let's chat. That's what we do at Book Launchers, and we're pretty darn good at it. Now below, let me know what your 10x goal is for your book. Go ahead, type it in those YouTube comments below and subscribe to the channel so you're getting all the free and fabulous tips. And if you like this video, give it a thumbs up. And if you prefer to pay for these tips, give this video a thumbs down. I'll see you on the video.
