Julie BroadYour Non-Fiction Sidekick for Writing, Publishing & Marketing a Book That Builds Your Brand and Grows Your Biz

What’s the ROI on Your Book? Wrong Question.

16 Oct 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:28

Julie Broad argues that asking for the typical ROI or average revenue an author sees is the wrong question because averages mislead: every author and every book are different. Results depend largely on the assets an author brings (existing audience, email list, podcast listeners, social followers) and strengths like interview/speaking ability and existing speaking opportunities. She recommends reframing the question to: given my audience, strengths, and goals, what ROI is realistic and what activities will help achieve it? Authors should define what a ‘good ROI’ means for them and evaluate whether a services company helps maximize or build assets such as media exposure, speaking platforms, and newsletter subscribers to boost long-term ROI.

Chapters

What is the typical ROI or average revenue authors see through your model? I don't like this question. Not because it's bad, but because it assumes if you follow what a company lays out for you, then you can achieve at least their average results. The truth? Every author is different. Every book is different. By asking this, you're putting on the company for you to succeed. And the reality is that a services company could do everything right and and a book still doesn't sell. Here's what actually matters. Your results depend on the assets you bring to the table. If you have an existing audience, email list, podcast listeners, social media followers, that's a huge accelerator. If you're fantastic doing interviews on podcasts or as a speaker, if you have speaking opportunities already in line that can dramatically change your roi. Maybe flip the question and say given my audience, my strengths and my goals, what what kind of ROI is realistic for me? Or what kind of activities do I need to do in order to get a good roi? And then define what a good ROI is for you. Because what you really want to know is not the average. But how does this company help me maximize the assets I already have or build the ones I need? Are there strengths, what I need to help me to get to my goals and how do they help me build new ones like get media exposure, speaking platform or email newsletter subscribers and that will help me boost my long term roi. That's where the real value lies.