How do I plan a business book?
- Business books often function as marketing for consulting, speaking, or a company.
- A single framework, named and memorable, is the category's signature.
- Case studies carry the argument; abstract advice does not.
- Proposals are sold on author platform and distribution as much as on the idea.
- Bulk sales and corporate purchases are a significant revenue channel.
Start with one defensible idea that contradicts something people currently believe, then prove it with cases. Name the framework. And decide early whether this book is the product or the marketing, because that changes what you write, how you price it, and how you launch.
Chapter i·Why it matters
Most business books are written as credibility assets, and that is a legitimate purpose, but it should be an explicit one. A book intended to generate speaking engagements is structured differently from one intended to sell 50,000 copies. Writers who do not decide end up with a book that serves neither goal well.
Chapter ii·What to include
- One central idea, stated as a claim someone could disagree with.
- A named framework the reader can remember and repeat.
- Case studies with specifics: names, numbers, outcomes.
- A decision about whether the book is product or marketing.
- Platform assessment: your realistic distribution before publication.
- A bulk sales and corporate channel plan if that applies.
Chapter iii·Example
A consultant's manuscript restated ideas her readers already accepted. Rebuilding it around a claim that most of her industry's onboarding was actively harmful gave the book an argument and a reason for anyone to open it.
Chapter iv·Related questions
In WriteLoom
Everything this article talks about, in one project
WriteLoom keeps the argument, the cases, and the platform plan together so the book and the business goal stay aligned.
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