The Real Reason Speakers Need Books (And Authors Need Stages)

If you want to get booked on bigger stages, build your authority, and have your message carry on working even when you're not in the room, then this episode might be a game changer for you. I have got Sue Richardson with me. Now, Sue and I have known each other for years, and this conversation has been a long time coming. She's the owner of Write Book Company. It's a publishing House, and she's helped hundreds of business leaders and experts bring their ideas to life, and she is also a speaker herself, so she's walked both paths. We finally managed to get this interview recorded, and in it, Sue is going to be sharing the truth about why speakers need a book if they want to build a lasting brand and get on the bigger stages. Whether you should self-publish, go traditional, or choose a hybrid model, and what to do if you've got a brilliant idea but you haven't got a clue where to start. So if you've ever wondered whether a book is still worth writing when there's so many others out there— I asked that question— or you're sitting on an idea but you're feeling completely overwhelmed, then this episode is going to answer those questions and a lot more. Let's dive in. Welcome to the Speaking Club, Sue Richardson.

Thank you very much, Sarah. It's lovely to be here.

Yes, lovely to have you here. Now, this is something we've been talking about for a while now, um, because we've known each other for a while. I've worked with your clients, you've worked with some of my clients. So, uh, yes, it's a, it's been a, a long time in the making. Now, people may have a clue as to what you do based on your background. But I want to ask this question to kick off with. You help business professionals turn their ideas into books. And what drew you to book publishing in the first place? And especially, I would say, business books over anything else?

Well, initially it wasn't business books at all, actually, but there was a good reason why we ended up with, with business books, because I was, I was working for other publishers. I was in, I was in academic publishing. I was doing journals and social sciences and stuff, and it was dull as dishwater, quite frankly. And I was kind of— but my big passion in life was textiles, textile art and craft. And I'd come from a theatrical background. So I was kind of like into kind of storytelling, and I wanted something a little bit more exciting and creative. And I decided to create my own because, because I was, I thought I knew everything there was to know about publishing because I was a, you know, a proofreader and then a copy editor and then a project manager in academic publishing. And I decided to start my own publishing company, but it was all crafts and cookery. It was that kind of stuff that we went into. And a couple of things happened that were just amazing because that, for example, there was a, There was a, an art shop that had this very special kind of yarny, thready, textiley stuff that they were selling to textile artists. And, and an artist who used this stuff, and that, and that nobody knew how to use this stuff. So it was called Angelina. And these 2 got together, this art shop and this artist, and, and they created this book. And with, with us, with our help. And it, it sold literally thousands and thousands and thousands of copies. And it was this incredibly niche book for this audience who didn't know what to do without it. There was no other resource for them at the time. Of course, nowadays you'd just go on YouTube, wouldn't you? But actually then, and it was a real lesson for me, it was like, oh boy, the power of a book. I mean, literally they sold that. Not only did they sell thousands and thousands of copies, but the art shop did really well. Mm-hmm. And the artist became really famous for her use of this, of this yarny stuff. So it was like really, it was a real lesson. And, and it was quite soon after that that one of our cookery, um, books won an award. And the, and the author of that, um, got a television series in China. And it was like, you know, and then it's like, then people start to say, oh, how could I use a book to really help me Build my business. And we were going, oh, well, this makes sense. You know, we can help you with that. And really kind of the rest is history. We stepped much more into the business space and we've been there ever since, really.

Wow.

Okay, cool.

And I think this is, this is a point that you made there, which was like, today people will just go online and have a look. And we've seen a proliferation of books, and, you know, I wanted to see from your perspective what you would see as the unique role of a business book in a world where we do have an abundance of online content and everyone and their mother seems to be writing a book.

Yeah, I mean, they aren't though. I know it seems like that sometimes, There's 2 things here I think that's really important. I think one of the things that's really interesting is that, yes, it's true, we now have so much available to us. We almost have too much out there.

Hmm.

And there's something, you know, because you can get a hold of all sorts of things. Can you trust the information that you get? One thing, you know, there's a lot around that. There's a lot around the fact that somebody who actually makes the effort and puts the, the hours and the time and the energy and, and the focus into actually creating a book.

Mm-hmm.

There's a kind of thing here around, we just love people who write books. We, we respect them for having done it.

Mm-hmm.

Because actually not everyone does it. And yes, a lot more people are doing it, which is good. But the other thing about it is to do it well. And, and we need to make sure when we're— if we're going to embrace this, this is not— this is an important thing that you're putting out into the world, and it needs to be done with care.

Mm-hmm.

Because if it's not done well, it doesn't do your reputation any good. And you want people to respect you for having done it. Now, sometimes, I mean, one of the things that I recognize absolutely is you don't even have to have your book read by everybody to be more respected because you're a published author. But it does need to be done well. And I think one of the proli— the things about the proliferation with self-publishing is that there are times when sometimes people shoot themselves in the foot because they don't actually really quite understand. We'll probably come on to talk more about, about the difference between the different publishing routes. But, you know, to answer your question here, if literally everybody you know, has a book because they can have one, there is a danger that, you know, that book won't be seen. It won't be— it'll, you know, it'll be too diluted amongst the rest. It will be lost in the noise like everything else that we do. And actually, if you publish a good book and you publish well, Mm-hmm. you will always stand out from the crowd. I really believe that. We love books, but we love good books.

Interesting. So I'm gonna sort of hone in on something that you said there, publish well. First of all, could you unpack what you mean by publish well?

Yes, I can. When I say publish well, it can't— I don't believe a good book comes out of something that is done lightly.

Okay.

It doesn't have to be massively earnest and, you know, erudite and, you know, academic. You know, I'm not talking about that. It could be in its style. It could be quite light and engaging and entertaining. It's not about— it's about what's fit for purpose. I think that's actually really the kind of the core message here. To publish well, you need to have the right plan in place. It's all about being very strategic about it because there are so many different routes now, and there are so many ways of publishing, and there are so many people doing different things. There is no one-size-fits-all here. There really isn't. And we are blessed to be in a world where we have so many different options. for publishing books that can help us build our businesses. So publishing well means publishing well for you, and that means having a strategy, having a plan, and creating the right plan for your business. So really being clear about what it is you want to achieve is the place to start. And very closely aligned with that is who the book is for, who your target audience is. Do you know what, as I'm saying this, it's— I'm thinking about what you do. Because this is exactly, this is, you know, I know there will have many speakers listening to this podcast and people who you've worked with. It's, you and I've had many conversations where we've gone, yes, you know, because it is very similar.

Yeah.

It's about understanding, you know, the, your delivery, the, the thing, the way that you are going to create this book and the way that you're gonna put it out into this world. The success will come from The difference that you make to the people that, that read it, and that will in turn make a difference to your business.

Cool. And I think I'm gonna come back to that, but I just wanted to give perhaps a practical example of something that maybe wasn't published as well as it could be, and, and that is my own book, which which I wrote in 2016 and went the self-publishing route. And I find this with speakers, and I suspect that you find the same thing with authors. Now, my book was on how to use humour in speaking. At the time, there wasn't much around. I think the content is still great, but I called that book Cracking Speech, Mate, and my target audience It was mostly in America, you know, bit, bit Australia. I chose a title that made me chuckle and fit— fitted my brand, but didn't actually do the job it needed to do for the book. And I think had I been working with someone like yourself who could have helped me publish well, you would have challenged me on that in the same way that I challenge speakers on talk titles, on you know, the whole big idea of their talk. And I, you know, I, I, that would have done better. And I, does that, is that sort of what you mean as an example? Not all of it, but just a small sort of tiny example.

Yeah, I think it's really, it's a brilliant example. And, and, and, you know, you may be being a little harsh on yourself, but hey, um, I, I do, I do, I get what you mean. And I get that also, you know, clearly the book didn't quite deliver for you exactly what you wanted. And therefore, you know, um, on some level, you know, it didn't quite work as you'd hoped. I think it's 2 things here. Now, sometimes people think of, like, you know, working with publishers as there being a kind of curation aspect to it.

Mm-hmm.

Well, I think that's probably true in the traditional publishing space, without a doubt, for very— for obvious reasons. Curation is important for them because they have lists that they need. They shape those lists. It's— they're like any other sort of, in a way, a manufacturer. They know what, you know, they know the kind of products they're looking for. They want to make those products and they know their audience, they know their markets, they, you know, and they might grow and change and move things around, but essentially they're building products that they're going to sell, that they're going to, you know, to get out into the world. Now that we have a situation where curation in a sense is not necessarily the point, But it is perhaps there's an element here of positioning. I would call it positioning. Yes.

Yeah.

And it's about being really, being able to understand. And this is something that I think that publishers do that perhaps sometimes self-publishers miss out on. You know, you kind of think of positioning and you think of it in a marketing sense as being, well, you know, if I know who I'm writing for and I, you know, then that's about it really. But actually it's a lot more than that. It's a lot more about, you know, what's driving you to write the book in the first place. It's about purpose, it's about mission, it's about how you're gonna make a difference. It's about, you know, about very specifically stepping into the shoes of the people that you're writing for and understanding how to deliver to them something that they are going to find transformative, actually, potentially. Now, it doesn't have to be massive. It could be just one thing in, in your book that changes the way somebody thinks.

Yeah.

That in itself is the kind of snowball beginning. So it's a, you know, it's very much around understanding that, you know, publishers, publishers have a role which is about helping you to clarify your message. And even if you self-publish, you can take a lot from that. You can understand, you know, you can do a lot of work on that by yourself. But it's, it's, it's always good to work with other people because we're too much in our own heads. We're too much in our, you know, as kind of probably most people who are thinking about writing a book have expertise of some kind.

Yes.

It's quite hard sometimes when you're sitting in that place to understand Exactly how to deliver something that your audience, the audience you want to have the influence and the impact on, will really, really value what you give them.

Yeah, and I think this is definitely a place where we cross over because I'm always telling people, you can't— you're too close to your stuff to the point where you can't see the label you need to put on the jar so that everyone knows you know, your target audience knows that this is for them. And so, yeah, that's, that's, uh, that's really helpful. And I guess, you know, we effectively— what we're talking about is you want to work with authors who have books that will, um, change outcomes for people rather than simply exist. How do you You know, discern that? How do you spot the difference, um, from your perspective?

Um, I do think that it comes back— I've probably used this word already— um, it comes back to mission. Let me— that's the word that I find myself returning to time and time again. It's mission, it's passion, it's purpose. It's, you know, when I see, when I, the thing that kind of really gets me goosebumpy is when I meet an author who has a vision for making a significant difference in the world. They, they've either got a story that has inspired that, you know, a sort of origin story.

Mm-hmm.

But, or just, They often, often it comes from one story that they tell me that I go, that's where, that's where, that's the beginning of the book. That's your start. You know, it, we as human beings, we, we inspire each other all the time. You know, we're, and you know, you in, in what you do again, I mean, that's why we love, we love to hear each other speak. It's the same thing.

Yeah.

We'd love to sit in an audience and listen to a speaker because we love the stories that they tell where we go, ah, and the light bulbs go on and we go, okay, now I can do this because I'm I'm inspired to make a difference because that person has done this or shown me that way or whatever it is. It's the same with authoring books.

Hmm.

It's, it's really, um, and it's about owning that because I think one of the things that happens sometimes, and again, it comes back to these kind of people who are experts in their field, it's incredibly difficult to get wrapped up in the what. You know, I, the book is going to be the place where I'm gonna put all this clever stuff in my head. I'm gonna put it out there. I'm gonna put it in this book, and then it'll be out in my head, and everybody will love it. Well, actually, you've got to come back to the why. You've got to come back to the what is it exactly that I want to achieve for myself by doing this, apart from just dumping all my knowledge in, into a, onto the pages. But also, what is this gonna— what difference do I wanna make? What do I want someone to read? And what do I want them to do when they've read it that will make a difference either to them or to their— the people that they work with or whatever? Where is the transformation going to happen? And when people are conscious of that and they write in a way that engages their their reader with stories, with examples, with honesty, with authenticity, with a tone of voice that's real. It doesn't, you know, not— it's not academic or fake or, you know, any kind of posturing or full of ego stuff. It's honestly, that's where the clue lies. That, and that's all it needs to be. It doesn't, to me, it doesn't even have to be Kind of, you know, a lot of people say, well, I don't know what I would write a book about because I haven't got anything new to say. I just go, hang on a minute. Of course you have, because you are you. You are unique. You are an individual. You have your own story. And that's really powerful. I don't know if— were you there? We— I know you and I were at a convention fairly recently together. Were you there the morning that Bryony Thomas told her story?

Yes, I was. Yes.

So powerful.

Yeah.

You know, now one day that no doubt will be a book or it'll be in a book. I mean, she's done books with us, business books with us, but there is this extraordinary thing about sharing a story that is literally, that in itself is transformative. And for me, I think that it's quite brave. to do it. And but, but to do that well is enough, actually, you know, and to understand what it is that you want to happen as a result of it.

Yeah.

You want people to think about certain things like Bryony asked us to do in that talk.

Yeah.

And, you know, and for her, you know, there are huge reasons in terms of, you know, supporting the charities and all the stuff that she does. So it, it's mission-led, powerful stuff, you, you know, and then getting the right guidance to make sure that you shape the stories around it and the lessons that come out of those stories into a great book.

Leads me on to, we've touched on this a little bit already, and you've mentioned it, and it's very true that people do get confused, uh, over which way to go. In terms of publishing, in your view and experience, what do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing versus a traditional publisher versus a hybrid?

Yeah, I mean, it's a great question, and there's, there's a lot of different— do you mind if— I mean, I don't want—

I—

you'll have to just stop me if I go on too long.

I will, but I'm sure people will be interested.

I think in a way it comes back to something I said a bit earlier, which is, um, you know, there is no one-size-fits-all. There is no correct fix. There is no absolutely right way. But that's not me trying to dodge the question because there are, there are so many pros and cons for each branch and each element. And so If we were to start, let's start off with traditional publishing. Why not? Let's start there, because that's the oldest route. And of course, for some, that will be absolutely— I could say that in front of everything, you know. For some, there are routes there for everyone, and for everyone, there's the right route. So With traditional publishing, especially in the business space now, I would say that probably the thing to be most aware of is that traditional publishers are— they're in charge. Let's put it that way. They're in the driving seat. The business shape of this is that they will own that book. You know, your name might be on it, but it's not yours. It's theirs. As a product, it's theirs. They have the publishing rights to it. They will create it. They will invest their cash in it. They will make it into the product that they need to make it to— into for the market that they know and the audience that they understand. And they will do all the work to make that product commercial enough for them to keep the lights on and pay their people and do all the things that they need to do. So you need to sort of get your head around the fact that if you wanted to go down a traditional publishing route, You have to sell to them. You sell your idea, you set, you pitch it really well, you work hard on that pitch, you probably work as hard on that pitch as you do on, on the book, um, to make sure that you're, you're, you're presenting a case to them that fits. And these days, publishers especially, again, I mean, well, I think this is across the board, but certainly in my experience of business publishing, They need to know that there is something quite original in your book in terms of original thinking, in terms of— so this is a slightly different argument in some ways, because it's— it— and it might be right for some people, especially that they need 2 things. They need something quite original, but they also need you to have a very big network. They love speakers, but they need to know that you are speaking at a level where, I mean, they will probably want to know exactly how many people you are speaking to, how big your audiences are, what kind of platforms you are on, that kind of thing. Because they know that you will sell the books because they don't, they could take it to market. All publishers are good at, they've, you know, the route to market is the thing they do. The actual selling of books is the thing you will do.

Yeah.

Because it's you, your name, your profile, the people you know. Those are the reasons why people buy books because it's connected to you. So it's a complicated product in a way because as a product it belongs to them and yet you are the one that has the power to sell it. So for a traditional publisher, there's a combination of You've, you've got to be a good writer. You're not gonna get a great deal of support to actually write the book. They've gotta be convinced you can write. Mm-hmm. They've gotta be convinced that your idea is great. And third, they've got to be convinced that you have the kind of profile already that's going to get their, their books sold. You know, so I'm kind of mixing up the pros and cons a bit there, but it, you know, it's, it's a great route because you don't have to invest your own cash in it. Got a route to market, you've got a professional team looking after you, doing all the bits to make a beautiful book. But the other side of that coin as well is that you may not have much control over the project. Yeah, once you've— you can write it, but once it's gone, you, you know, some publishers will consult you on cover design, others won't even ask you, for example.

And then the financial model. I think most people in their heads have got this idea of a publishing company will give you an advance, and then that advance they're looking to make back in sales, and then you only get more money if it exceeds a certain— that advance, and so on. But is the ROI with a publisher smaller ongoing than if you did your own book, if you did a different route?

So it's a very interesting question, and again, it's quite a complicated one because The truth is that, of course, your I of the ROI as a writer of a book that's going to be traditionally published is the time you spent writing it.

Yeah.

Mostly. You may decide to, because the publisher isn't gonna do any PR, you may decide to invest in a book publicist or, you know, something like that. But essentially most people who go down the traditional route, unless the traditional publisher wants you to buy and forces you to in the contract, makes you buy a number of books, which sometimes they do, do. Usually the investment you're talking about is your time to write the book.

Yeah.

So the return on that is minimal.

Yeah.

It's true because the publisher is going to need to get their return first. Now, this whole business about an advance, the advance of course is an advance on the royalties that they think they might need to pay you over a fixed period of time. So they work, they work out how many books they want to sell. in a year or 2 years or whatever it is. They then decide what the royalty percentage of the sales are like, is going to be for you, which might be about 5%, something like that, of the COVID price. It might be— it depends on how they work it. Sometimes it's on the net price, sometimes, or the net receipts, and sometimes it's on the COVID price. But anyway, whatever they decide, they will then That advance is something they may pay you, which then you have to earn out.

Yeah.

So you won't get any more money until you've sold 10,000 copies, and then they're into their— if their next 5,000 copies, you'll get a little bit more, which is very nice, thank you very much. But it doesn't often happen, and actually advances are quite rare now.

Oh, interesting.

Again, it will depend on the level of profile of the person they're speaking, they're dealing with. So if you take a Paul McGee, for example, who I imagine has never moved from his original publisher, I don't think he has. Some of them do move around a little bit more. And, but the, the seller, the people who write business books or personal development books, whatever, that sell really, really well, they're quite hot properties actually. They've become quite hot properties. So they will get advances because the publisher doesn't want them to go and offer their book to somebody else.

Yeah. Yeah.

So, you know, and so there's all sorts of things like that going on, but that's kind of later on. If you're just setting out on this journey and you decide, no, I've got something really original, I've got something really commercial, I've got a really good chance of finding a publisher, then be prepared to, in, for your first deal, not make very much money at all.

Interesting. Cool. Okay. Which takes us on to the next way of doing it, which is—

So if we went— I'll tell you what, why don't I tell you what I think? In a way, it perhaps is easier to go straight to the self-publishing route because it's almost like the other side of the coin.

Yeah.

Um, so the self-publishing route, clearly most people will be aware, is something where you literally, you own it. You have full ownership, full control. You decide what you're going to do. You need to put in place the professional team to help you do it well. So you will probably need at least a copy editor, if not a developmental editor. There's a difference between the two which we can talk about if you think your listeners would value it. But essentially it's just about making sure that you get the right editing support to get your book into good shape. You'll want it properly typeset. You don't just shove it into Word and hope for the best. It doesn't work quite like that. You need a nice, a nice looking interface, you know, nice looking text. And you need a proofreader. I always recommend get, get, have a, have it copy edited and then typeset it and then proofread it. Do those 2 things, 3 things with publishing professionals. You're halfway there. Because at least the book will look good. And then, and then get a good professional cover designer to do your cover. Someone preferably who knows about books, because they might, might have some knowledge that will support you in getting that positioning piece right and making sure that your book is going to be— have the right cover. You know, we have an awful lot— it's incredible how vain we all get about our covers. But pink is my favorite color.

Like, um, I quite like— Maybe you've seen the ice cream one. sort of standing out for me. Yeah.

So Jeff Ram is one of the biggest business— you probably know him. Do you know him? He is a highly successful speaker and we do his books and they are just a joy. But Jeff knows exactly what he wants. He knows exactly what his customers want. He writes, he put, he does his book, books very directly for his customers. This is why I say There are so many different ways to skin a cat. It's like there are— it's not as simple as just if you have your plan, your strategy, the how, the publishing route comes out of this too.

Yeah.

Jeff did used to self-publish and then came unstuck because he wants bam, he wants color, he wants lots of design, he wants lots of exciting things going on in his book. And poor Jeff came completely unstuck with Amazon. And I had this phone call from— I've known Jeff for years, and I had this phone call many years ago now, 'cause Amazon just couldn't publish his book. They couldn't print his book. They couldn't get anywhere near his book 'cause it was too Jeff. Um, so he said, can you help me? And I said, yes, of course I can. And we've been publishing his books ever since, which is an absolute joy and delight. And he does— he is pretty wacky.

Yeah.

But it's not, It's not about him, it's about his customers. Even he, you know, even though it's not, it's not what you might call traditional in any way, he's always thinking about what's gonna land with his customers.

And I think that comes back to when you said it's about the mission and the why. I think it's also as much about the who as the why.

It is as much about the who. Those 2 things go hand in hand without any doubt, and you cannot separate them actually. I mean, I, when I have these conversations with people, I tend to start with why, but we're move very quickly into the who, because the who— you can't really have a why without a who.

No, no, absolutely not. Absolutely.

So it is, it's really important. So the, the self-publishing route has its limitations. There's one. Yeah. Um, also the limitations are, you know, obviously the time it's going to take you, the energies it's going to take. You don't know what you don't know. That's the issue with self-publishing. If, you know, if you can find yourself a publishing project manager, somebody who's come from the industry to hold your hand through it, perfect. That's what I would recommend. It's really important to think about how, it's almost like, you know, would you build your own website? Would you, would you do your own? I mean, some people do, and some people might do their own accounts and VAT returns and all that kind of thing, whereas other people in business might say, well, I couldn't do that without my bookkeeper. We're all different. We all nowadays, we're all pretty good at doing all sorts of things, but publishing is, and self-publishing is, it's a big ask. It's a lot to do. So something to bear in mind, do you have to do this literally yourself, or would it be sensible to look for somebody with expertise from the publishing world who can help you with it? The other bit about self-publishing is a route to market thing. It's a distribution thing. And we've kind of touched on this a little bit already, but there is an element to which there are so many self-published books now.

Mm-hmm.

And if most of us accept that probably our main route to market will be through Amazon, and as a, as a publisher of one book, you have no power really.

Mm-hmm.

You have no, you have very little. You've got a lot of people out there who say, oh, I can help you be number one in Amazon. And I, you know, I can help you. To be honest, you can be number one for maybe 10 minutes, you can call yourself a bestseller and it isn't really gonna help you. You know, something you can put on your— it's a vanity piece. You can put it on your LinkedIn profile, bestselling author. Great. So what? So is everybody. Do you know what I mean? It doesn't actually shift the needle. So it is a thing just to kind of really bear in mind that it's a hard— it's hard to do. It's It's a really good way of, on a quite a low budget potentially, getting a book out there quickly, having control over it, having ownership of it. I love it for all sorts of reasons, but you need to be sure that self-publishing is the right route for you. And, um, and then do it as well as you can and realize that it's going to be some— so you're going to need to do some work to make sure that you're delivering the book to the people that need And then there's the halfway.

We could touch briefly on that.

And then there's the hybrid route, which is in a way what you kind of best of both worlds. I, I would like to think in that a hybrid publisher has a prof— they come, they are professional publishers. It's like the other word I like, quite like, that's that where the best hybrid publishers I would apply this to are partnership publishers.

Yeah.

So essentially what it is, is you, they, you get a publishing team, you get a publishing company who will have all the aspects of route to market that a traditional publisher will. They'll, they'll put your book in their catalog. They'll represent you to the publishing world, the book trade, if you like, get your book much more widely seen. You'll have much more reach, take you to Frankfurt Book Fair and London Book Fair, not you personally, but the book. All of those things which might open up opportunities for foreign rights sales. There's lots and lots of kind of stuff that you can't do when you self-publish.

Hmm.

But it's a bit much bigger deal, you know. It's a much bigger investment to make, you know. It involves printing high-quality books, which is lovely, but, you know, it's, it's for— it's a slightly different animal, um, but with a much bigger impact, I would say, if that's what you need. Um, but you invest your cash in it.

Yeah.

So the publisher takes your cash to do the work, And then you get a much bigger slice of the pie in return.

Yeah.

So whereas a traditional publisher is going to return maybe 5 or 6% of the COVID price to you if you're lucky, with a hybrid publisher you're likely to see much bigger returns. So after, you know, you— because you've paid for it all.

Yeah.

We, for example, pay a royalty of 30% of COVID price. Yeah, once the trade has had everything that they need to take from you, all the Amazons and the Waterstones and the distributors and the wholesalers and all the people have had their piece, that's what's left. So as a publisher, we don't take any of that, we give it all to you. But that's so that— and that most hybrids will have something similar because you've effectively, you've funded the book.

Thank you, that's really helpful. Hopefully that's given people Um, some clarity. Um, now we talk often because authors are often speakers. Speakers, as we've also discussed, can become authors. How do you see— and I know this is something that you often talk about— how do you see these 2 mediums reinforcing each other?

It's a— well, I think it's a lovely— it it's a magical thing, you know, there is a thing where, which I've seen all the way through the 25 years I've been publishing for people in the business space, this, the magic that happens when speakers have books because it makes a speaking business go much more easily for all sorts of reasons. One is, you know, the PR around the book, There's a kind of whole layer of the fact that, you know, like with any, any business, you're, you've got something that's out there in the world that people are finding because that book solves their problem. You don't even know they exist. But there's also the semi-closed doors of opportunities where you have something that you can produce that you can give to that opportunity, whether it's a meeting booker or a, um, you know, an event organizer or a speaking agency or booker or whatever, where, you know, they get you because you've shown them a book, which is so much easier to get behind that door than yourself. So there's a kind of element where a book can be an ambassador for you, really, really important ambassador, almost like, you know, another team member, a salesperson in your team. Um, can speak for you, um, and contain your key messages, which is really important. Um, so, and also, you know, there's no doubt about it. I mean, some speaker agencies won't even look at you unless you are published.

Yeah.

You know, we, we, we know that, you know, I mean, I know an agency may not be right for everyone, but there are opportunities that come from being a published author that's really important. And then when a speaker gets on stage and they speak and they have a book, guess what happens? People want the books.

Yeah.

So there's this lovely cyclical thing. So what I would say is that speakers need books because it's gonna really enhance their work. It's gonna help them build their business, gonna help them raise their fees potentially because they're published, all of those things. Um, and build their reputation and their brand and all of that. But they will also be much better at selling books than people who don't speak. So I always say to authors, if you haven't really put your toe in the water with this on the speaking front, really think about doing it because you will sell more books. You know, that, as I said earlier, the traditional publishers, probably if you're in the business space and you're not speaking, they're probably not even gonna look twice. Yeah, you know, they really want speakers, and they want speakers because speakers sell books. So, you know, it's a— it works both ways, and it's a magical, um, circle that goes round and round.

Yeah, brilliant. So hope you heard it. If you are a speaker and you haven't got a book, look at that. And if you're an author, get yourself a talk from the book because it will help you in all sorts of ways. Very symbiotic. Okay, a few more questions before we go into the, um, standard ones. So what's the single most common mistake you see aspiring authors make when they start writing their book? We might have covered it, but if, if we have, then reiterate it.

Yeah, I think we have covered it, but I think it's great to kind of like reposition what I said earlier in answer to this question, which is the biggest mistake I see people make is that they just think what's in their head needs to go down on, in, on paper and get produced. It's about having that plan. It's about being really clear about the why and the who together before you think about what goes in the book.

Cool.

Because that's where the magic lies. That's the biggest mistake. It's not even a mistake because actually it's just a way of thinking.

Yeah.

And, um, and if they get to me first, I, I try to kind of head them off at the pass and say, go back and have a think about why you're doing this in the first place. Quite often people realize that the book that they thought they were gonna write wasn't the right book at all. Interesting. So it's very powerful.

And quite a, a link into the name of your company, The Write Book there. Interesting.

Funnily enough, that was exactly right. You know, years ago, whenever it was that we decided to rebrand, for years when I used to speak, my, one of my talks was Write the Right Book. publish it in the right way, reach the right readers. That was my little thing that I had when I do— used to do my original talks. And we were just kind of really doing that kind of real sort of massive navel-gazing thing when we used to be called Sue Richardson Associates, SRA Books. You know, it was really boring. And my colleague Paul said to me, blimey, it's staring us in the face, Sue. It's the right book company. And I went, that's exactly what it is.

I love that. I love that. Cool. Okay. So now you have recently launched a different kind of program and it promises, and I hope I've got this right, idea to published in 6 months. Why is this a departure for you, something new, and why that specific timeline?

Okay, great question. Well, it is a departure because this is a self-publishing route. Um, last year we launched something called Write Book Direct because we recognized that actually, you know, I think there really is a place for self-publishing these days. I really do. Um, again, you know, if it's right for you, why not? And yet we know, as we've said, that sometimes self-publishing can lead to people not shining as brightly as they might in their books, as you described so beautifully with your experience. So there's a kind of thing of, why don't we bring our expertise, our publishing know-how? You know, we've all been in publishing for decades. We've got a lot of years between us where we can, we can put what we know into people who want a self-publishing route. So we launched WriteBookDirect, and then we recognized that we still hadn't quite solved some of the problems that I've been talking about today about self-publishing. And we thought, well, we can do that too. With—

we could—

it's just so— it's a combination of guidance and publishing, but self— but it ends up with a self-published product.

Yeah.

So you won't be— you wouldn't, you know, people wouldn't be on our list you know, they won't be represented by us as publishers. They will go off after the 6 months and they will be their own publisher, but they will have done a really good book they can be really proud of, and that's gonna work for them, that they'll have done all that planning and that strategic thinking and the writing and the positioning and all of that stuff they'll have done with our guidance. Now, the reason we've done it in 6 months is because honestly, we, it's only a short book and it's only really suitable for people who really want to do this in an accelerated way. narrator fashion. So it's a kind of— it is a speeded-up way. It's a kind of, I do not want a book to clog up my life for the next 2 years. I want to get this done. 30,000 words, it's not a huge ask. It can be done. You've got 3 months to write it and then 3 months to create the rest of it and the, and the marketing plan and all of that. So it's kind of focused. not drawn out. There's kind of, in a way, no room for, like, there's plenty of guidance, there's plenty of support. There's, as a cohort, people can support each other. We have the community, the Write Book Impact Hub, which is a community where you get free membership if you are on the program. So it's kind of, there's a lot of support there, but it's for those who go, no, I, I can do this. I wanna be disciplined about it. I'm gonna have a plan. I'm gonna get a lot of support to get it done, and I just want it out and done and in my business working for me by the summer.

And so when you say in your business working for you, typically who's this most going to suit in terms of aspirations for becoming an author?

Do you know what I think? Because it's literally, it is a 30,000-word book. It's probably going to be somebody who wants something very practical. for their audience, for their specific audience. They're gonna have, they're gonna have an opportunity to get very clear about that audience while they're with us. So there's a kind of, you know, a really, um, it's, it's very much the book that is designed as the calling card, as the—

Cool.

The door opener, the practical thing. It might be a very practical book for clients you've already got or customers you've already got that's gonna enhance what you're already offering. But it's got a very specific job to do that I think, you know, it's, it, it's, it's a mini mission, if you like. It's a part of your mission. It may not be the only book you ever write, but it's, it, for a lot of people, it'll be toe in the water. Funnily enough, the people that we've got on the course are people who've written books before.

Interesting.

And they've done it the other way and they've gone, no, this, I want a second book, but I don't wanna spend 2 years doing it. I wanna do it, you know, as quickly as I can. I have a specific purpose, a specific, specific task for this book to do and I'm gonna get it out. So the kind of people, I think it's perfect for speakers or people who are putting their toe in the speaking world or, or established speakers, but anyone with, um, a business in any form, you know, consultancy advice, but it could be actually, it could be anything really if it has a, it has that clarity of purpose. if anyone's listening to this and they think, do you know, I'm not sure if it's for me, I am really happy to spend half an hour digging into it because we are not looking to have people join us if it isn't right.

Yeah.

But if it is right, it, it, it's, it's starting next week. So it's like, you know, get on board. But we can have a chat and I'm not, I'm not gonna push you into it because I don't believe in that. And you know, when you're asking somebody to write and produce a book in 6 months, there's no point in pushing someone into it. It's gotta be right for them.

Yeah, it's definitely got the, you know, right fit between, between you and the, and the person working with you. Absolutely.

Exactly. Cool.

That's really, really helpful. So I have one question around the editing process and we're gonna put the links just to say, we'll put all the links so that if you do want to explore that programme, there'll be a link in the show notes for you to have a look at the stuff and book in a call with Sue. get her expertise just to even see whether this is a starter and if it is the right book even potentially. Um, so that— we'll put that in the show notes. Now, in the editing process, I'm curious, what's one question you always ask that transforms a manuscript from good to sort of business impact level? Is there one?

Ah, yes. Now, um, is there one, one question? Do you know what? I, I, the thing that immediately comes to mind actually is about the fact that quite often when people, and this doesn't relate probably to people who would be coming on the accelerator at all, because this is more likely to happen when you think, oh, I think I might write a book and one day I might publish it and stuff. And And what can happen sometimes is that if people aren't thinking very clearly in the beginning, so it comes back, I'm sorry to be boring, but it does come back to that plan again, the strategy again. But it's more than that. It's also about writing a book that is economical enough to do the job. So I think it's about conciseness.

Right.

I think it's about the thing that makes a book, you know, the books that win awards for us are always the— I've got 2 of them behind me. I've got Think Like a Coach. Actually, she was, she was a finalist at the Business Book Awards. Can I Offer You Something was a winner of her section. Um, but they've both sold rights to foreign languages, in foreign languages. They're both really successful as books. They are really short. They are really concise. They are really to the point. They're really practical. They're great little books. But the thing about them as well is that the personality of the author shines through.

Absolutely.

And I think that's a tricky thing to, to do, but it's so important. That's when a book changes everything because it, it becomes a book that people don't wanna put down.

Mm-hmm.

'Cause it feels like you're with them, you know?

Mm-hmm.

You're actually in the room with them and you're really, you're, and that's because it's beautifully positioned. It's beautifully concise. I'm not saying for a minute, don't, you know, that the lovely, lovely writing and beautiful prose isn't important. It is. But, you know, in the business space, our attention is appalling these days. So the shorter and the more concise, but with engagement, with passion, with personality, those 2 combined are the things that will make the most effective book.

Sounds very similar to speaking where you've got even less time to grab people's attention.

That's true. Look, how many times do we do that? We go, yes, it's so, so simple. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Now, I have some standard questions for you because you are also a speaker. In fact, you're, you know, you're a fellow of the Professional Speaking Association. You've already alluded to the fact that you speak in order to You know, grow your business as well. What's the best thing that speaking has done for you?

Without doubt, the moments that I've had where I've come off stage and someone has come up to me and said, I had no intention of writing a book until I heard you speak, and I know I'm going to.

Oh, fantastic.

I love it when that happens.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's—

That for me is like, yes, my job is done.

Absolutely. Yeah. That's—

There's a person with a brilliant idea there, you know, and it was just sitting dormant inside, not being— and for me, not dormant, that's not fair. They were doing their work, they were doing their stuff, but it just, you know, and then you see their world change literally because they've become— because they've put those ideas into something that goes out into the world in a way that they can't Ever.

So, and I think what you're saying there is something that I think is at the heart of what a great speaker does, which is show new possibilities to people in the audience so that they can see, you know, it opens up something new for them. You know, that's not always the case, but often it is the case. Something that seemed intractable before, impossible before, Becomes possible. And if you can make— help people make that shift, then it's a fantastic feeling when, when it happens. Now, have there been any times where things haven't gone so well, Sue? There, there's been times when you thought, oh my goodness, I need to forget about that, I never want to remember it ever again?

What, you mean actually speaking as a speaker? Do you know what, Sarah? I I am actually a very— I think you know this about me. I'm quite a nervous speaker. I'm, I'm better now, or at least I haven't done any speaking for a bit. It's, it's really naughty. I've just been so focused on, on building element, other elements of the business, and I need to get out there again and do more. But I, um, I have had— I, I think it's self-talk. I think, and I think I did, I, I got myself into a place where Um, I, I've always been nervous. I, I mean, uh, you know, like you, I started off in, in the theater and I hated being on stage. Hated it. I used to have such terrible nerves. I would literally, I'd be one of those actors that would go off stage and throw up. I just hated it so much. So in, I actually left the theater because of that. So when I came to start speaking, I went and did a speaking course with a lovely guy who had NLP training.

Mm-hmm.

And he completely switched my head around, absolutely switched my head around. And I learned how to deal with the nerves and, and I learned how to, to get, but I've never found it easy. And then COVID happened. And when I went out to speak after COVID, it was almost like starting again. It was really weird. I, all the nerves, all the kind of self-talk, you know, just really strange. So I would say that I, the experiences I've had have been Absolutely self-inflicted. Because what I've done is I've incredibly well prepared, probably overprepared if anything, because I was so nervous that I just did too much.

Yeah.

And then go on stage and freeze up in absolute terror. It's the worst experience of my life. And then I understood something about speaking, which has meant that this has never happened to me again, which is actually I have this knowledge and I have this— I have some stories to tell and I have some stuff that is not about me at all. It's about you guys out there. And if one person in this room gets something useful from what I have to say, that's good enough. And just go, you know, and stop thinking about me, you know, because really— It's not about me at all. And, you know, and that has fixed it for me. And I've, I love it again now. Um, and fingers crossed. Oh, I'm always gonna be a bit nervous. I'm always gonna be a bit nervous, but I, I, I kind of speak to the nerves in a way that helps me to control them. And I don't go on stage like a, a bunny in the headlights anymore.

Excellent. You are, yeah, you are the vehicle for the message. Absolutely true.

Right.

I've got 3 rapid-fire questions with rapid-fire answers.

Okay.

Okay. First question, and this is probably gonna be a hard one. What's the book that's had most impact on your own life and why?

Oh my goodness me. Purple Cow by Seth Godin.

Cool.

Because it taught me that I could create a remarkable business.

Brilliant. Love that. And I'll put a link in the show notes to that book for you guys to have a look at it yourself.

It is probably 25 years old.

I know, but it's still good. It's such a good book.

Yes.

Okay. What's the best bit of business advice you've had and why?

I think it comes back to thinking about what the customer's needs are first and foremost and adapting accordingly.

Yeah, no, that's, that it's timeless and Absolutely critical, and so many people forget it time and time again. We all need to be brought back to that when we get lost in our own expertise and all of that good stuff. Okay, final question. If you could have one mentor, and they can be alive or dead, fictional or non-fictional, who would you choose and why?

These questions that you say, they, they're rapid fire, but oh my goodness, what a huge question to Um, one mentor and why? Gosh.

There'll be a name that pops into your head.

Well, there is a name that's popped into my head. Um, and it's a huge one, but why not? Um, I hope it's not— I, I think a lot of people probably say this name as well because it's kind of Perhaps a bit obvious, but I'm gonna say it because it's the one that came into my head, and that's Nelson Mandela.

Cool. We've had a few times, not loads, a few times.

Yeah. Yeah. I think it's mission.

Yeah.

It's about having the belief. It's about somebody who I, who has such a passion and such a belief that he can change the world and does, you know, massively. I mean, so massively around such huge injustice and inhumanity and, and, and comes out the other side and creates, you know, along with, of course, you know, many others, but still, you know, things like the Truth Commission and stuff. And, you know, he's not full of retribution and revenge and extraordinary human being. And I'd love to sit at his knee for a couple of hours and, you know, and just absorb some of that incredible humanity.

That's a brilliant answer.

Love it.

Lovely answer. So thank you so much for sharing all the stuff that you have shared today. I'm sure that it's going to give people a lot of clarity and inspiration around bringing their idea and expertise into a book and into the hands of the people that will love having it. If people want to find out more about WriteBook, about you as a speaker, Uh, about the Accelerator program, where's the best place for them to go?

So therightbookcompany.com.

Excellent.

Simple as that. We have a brand new squeaky clean website for 2026, and you should find everything that you need to know there, including if you click on the button publish, you can find the different kinds of ways that you can publish with us. But Accelerator is one of those. Um, and as I said, that's, that's, uh, kicking off next week. And so, you know, get in quick and we'll have a chat. And there are all sorts of opportunities all over that website to click on a button and book a consultation or book a chat about Accelerator. Also, just to quickly say, we do have one more Accelerator briefing on Thursday this week, which is— what's that? What date is that?

15th.

The what?

The 15th.

So one more briefing. And you're most welcome, just half an hour of your time to come along and find out a bit more. And, um, that is on the website as well with the time and everything. You can book yourselves in. Um, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. That's another good way to connect with me. But if you struggle to find Sue Richardson, because there are a number of us, look for The Right Book Company. You'll find that and you can, you can, um, connect with me via that.

Brilliant.

Was that—

And I'll put all the links to all of this in the show notes as well. So you can, you can find those easily. Sue, thank you so much. It's been lovely speaking to you. Best of luck with the Accelerator Programme. I know it's going to be really helpful and a great success. So, um, yeah, exciting stuff. Thank you.

It's been such a pleasure. Thank you so much, Sarah.

Well, I hope that you got a lot out of that. I know I did. I told you it would be, you know, worth listening to, and there are so many gems there. It's difficult to pick out the ones that were like the, the most resonant ones, but I think the few that really stuck with me— first of all, that reminder that your book isn't just a book, it's a platform, it's a brand builder, it's a way to get your message working when you're not in the room. Also, the clarity around publishing routes. I wish I'd had that information before I self-published my book in 2016. I probably would have done things differently, to be, to be fair. It's still a great book. Cracking speech, mate. But I'd have possibly done it differently. And also the idea that if you're already speaking, you're probably closer to a book than you think you are, and you just probably need the right support to shape it. And Sue is one of the many people that can help you do that. And obviously their new program, Idea to Published in 6 Months, the Accelerator Program, might be worth a look at if this is something you want to do in 2020. And of course, if you know another speaker, consultant, coach who's thinking about writing a book, share this episode with them. Hopefully it'll help them on their journey too. And yeah, thank you so much for choosing to listen to the Speaking Club podcast, or watch it if you're watching on YouTube. Really appreciate it. If you're a regular watcher/listener, then subscribe if you haven't already done that. And if you, if you like the show, I'd be so grateful if you leave a rating. Or review, and you can do that wherever you're listening, or you can do that at ratethispodcast.com/tsc. And if you got something from this show, leave a comment below if you're on YouTube. I'll pass it on to Sue, or you can connect with her on LinkedIn. And if you've got any questions or things that you want me to cover in the show, then reach out to me on LinkedIn, leave a comment below, and yeah, I will see you next time. Until then, you know what I'm gonna say. Go out, grab your life by the nuts, and get cracking. Bye-bye. It's a nightmare. You're an expert with so much to say, but now that you've been booked to speak, you're struggling to know exactly what to talk about. You want a talk that engages the audience and wins you new clients without you losing your personality or any feeling pitched to. But what happens when you sit down to create that talk is that you end up staring at a blank page for ages, or worse, surrounded by hundreds of sticky notes with content that you could include. With so much material, you just don't know where to start or finish. Don't worry, because many experts like you face exactly the same challenge, and that's why I created the Blank Page to Stage Guide. In just 50 minutes, this breakthrough resource is going to help you identify the big idea of your message, make it relatable for the audience that you're speaking to, and convey it all in a way that gets the audience inspired and on board with your idea. And it works even if you have tons of material or your subject feels less than exciting. If you want to cut through swathes of content and get a talk that you're excited to share, your audience loves, and wins you new clients, then grab your Blank Page to Stage guide from saraharcher.co.uk/newguide-tsc. Oh, I forgot to say, it's completely free. Enjoy! Enjoy!