The WRITE Strategy

Welcome to The WRITE Strategy newsletter for business book writers and self publishers. 

The Write Strategy is a community of business experts and leaders who want to share and leverage their knowledge, build their profile and be recognised as a leading voice in their field.

When self publishing a business book, most first time authors focus on the writing part...which is natural. However, writing your book is one half of the business book self publishing journey.

Marketing and securing sales of your book is the second, critical part. To secure book sales you need to create visibility.  Prior to ChatGPT and AI, business book marketing was squarely focused on SEO – Search Engine Optimisation – across your website, newsletters, other platforms (LinkedIn, X, Facebook, You Tube etc).

Now business book marketing is all about Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO).

What is GEO and how can you apply it to your book marketing?

GEO helps ensure your content is leveraged and potentially cited by AI tools when answering user queries. GEO aims to make content easily understood and utilised by generative AI models such as Chat GPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Google's AI Overviews and Microsoft Search.

GEO specifically addresses how AI-powered search engines analyse and synthesize information to provide answers. GEO aims to make content easily "understood" and extracted by AI, potentially leading to direct quotes, summaries, or even integration within AI responses.

Just think about that. If you get your GEO right thousands/millions of people will be ‘presented’ with your content in summary and then a link to it.

Optimised content creation means you need to craft content that is clear, concise, and structured in a way AI can easily grasp.  This content directly addresses user intent and provides valuable, relevant information to AI models.

A shorthand way of thinking about this is to craft content that poses questions and then answers these questions. Think about the questions your potential readers would type into ChatGPT, Google or Microsoft (and maybe use ChatGPT to provide you with some options) across different sections of your website, LinkedIn Articles, YouTube videos…basically all your content.

Build your authority
Establishing your website or brand as a trusted source of information is also crucial for GEO. This means building up a substantial number of relevant and current articles, blogs, newsletters and video. Building authority is a long game. Of course your business book goes a long way to building your authority, so keep GEO in mind when you’re creating website copy about your book. Again, think about creating content based on say 5-10 key questions people might ask when looking for a book on or around your topic. As I say to our clients, “Step out of being the author/expert and think about your potential reader.”

Tracking your content
As with SEO, there’s no point integrating GEO unless you have clear goals about what you want to achieve AND track the analytics. This way you can ‘see’ what content is resonating, what isn’t and tweak or change your content (and perhaps questions) to generate more traction.

Of course, part of tracking your content performance should be linked to clear goals for your business book. Are you looking to promote book sales, generate business leads, build your visibility, secure speaking engagements or all of these?

If you need some help understanding GEO and how to apply it to your business book content get in contact with us via [email protected]. 

5 things to do

1. Here are my three 'must haves' for ANY business book (and none involve ChatGPT/AI in the writing)

1. What is your compelling proposition/insights/foresight?

2. How will your take on your topic be different and add real value to your audience?

3. What will your readers be able to action as a result of reading your book?

2. Endorsements-Why you need them and how to secure them 
Book endorsements are a critical element of business book marketing.
Effectively they are social proof from a respected third party and the right endorsements can help secure greater visibility for your book online and in bookshops.

Endorsements are important…so how do you get them and who should you ask?
Compile a list of all the people you would like to secure an endorsement from.
Plan how you are going to approach these people and consider why they might endorse your book. There has to be something in this for them…so don’t assume a motivation, think your approach through and craft the initial discussion/email/call carefully.

Be clear and concise about what you are asking them for, where you will use their endorsement and the benefit for them? 

Be generous and longer term in your thinking. In a way it’s simple/easy to ask someone to write a short paragraph about how wonderful your book is, but how much more valuable would it be for you to develop a deeper relationship with your potential endorser and provide genuine value in return?

Securing endorsements is your first real test of sending your book out to the world. 

It's a HUGE challenge, but it's one you have to embrace IF your book is going to be published.

3. Next to launching your business book, the most challenging aspect of business book self publishing is how to keep your book visible (and selling) over the medium to long term.

You need to find ways to bring your book to the attention of your key target audiences in a way that makes it relevant and interesting over time (and I mean 6-12 months at least).

A simple way to do this is what’s called news-jacking. 
In any given week there are hundreds of news articles about any number of topics. Follow the news and when you see something that relates to your topic use this ‘news’ to write an article, post, video about it…linking the news item to your book across all the platforms you cover.

If you do this, use the headline of the article, a phrase from the article and, if possible put a link to the article in your post.

Make sure you write an interesting comment/perspective and DON’T promote your book via a link. These types of posts are not about promoting your book but leveraging the news item to generate visibility for you when people search the topic.

4. Connect with one or two key journalists in your area so you can build visibility and rapport with them.

The way to do this is to identify who the right journalist is, approach them via email/phone/text WHEN you can add some valuable comment/insight to something they have written. DO NOT spruik your book up front. Mention your book at the end of your email to position your authority and credibility.

Connecting with journalists and media commentators on their topics with considered, thoughtful perspectives will generate trust and recognition OVER TIME.

5. Video is a key part of business book marketing. I am currently taking Mo McRae's On-Camera Presence program. Here are some key takeouts for me:

1. Be clear about what knowledge/insight you want to share in each video. What VALUE will you deliver? If you can’t articulate this don’t do the video.

2. Winging it does not deliver the best value you can deliver. Plan what you want to share, why and they key, actionable steps your viewers can take. Write it down and practice it.

3. Don’t read your script. You need to engage the camera lens like you’re talking to a friend not delivering a lecture.

4. Get your background and lighting right – this will make a HUGE difference to the professional look and feel of your videos. Think about what you want to project and make the effort to ‘create/craft’ your background. Fake backgrounds are just that, ‘fake’ and you want to build trust.

5. Get your camera position right – and this will probably mean buying a tripod and setting it just the right way. It took me a while to work through this but it’s made a huge difference to the quality of my videos. No-one wants to look up your nose or think you’re about to burst through the screen. There is a place that’s not to close, not too far away – that’s just right. 

5 things from The Book Adviser

1. In a world where no-one knows just who or what to trust, trust has shifted to individuals. If you (your book/company) can become the niche, best source for something, you will be liked and trusted by a number of people, peers and companies in your sector, the media, speaking bureaus.

2. Content marketing, done right, is slow, relationship-driven, and designed for longevity. Advertising can work as part of a content marketing strategy but on it’s own you are missing the point. In 2025, the business book writers who win will be those who build direct connection over dependence on platforms.

The future of business book distribution and content is owned, trusted, and intentional. It’s not about reaching everyone. It’s about reaching the right people consistently, on platforms/channels you control. You can do this. Build direct connections through email, communities, your website, and platforms you own. Your visibility, and that of your book will shift from volume-based promotion to trust-based access. 

3. A publishing business developed by the parent company of TikTok to cash in on the success of #BookTok, 8th Note Press, appears to be closing just four months after it launched a print side to its e-books business. 8th Note Press was supposed to capitalize on #BookTok by publishing works targeted toward Millennials and Gen Zers and then use its integration with TikTok under their common owner ByteDance’s umbrella to market the books. Appears it didn’t work out. Just shows how tough the book publishing sector is, but most of us know that.

4.  Upcoming books. Abby Bloom is aiming to launch her book: The cost of not caring in October. The book takes an in-depth look at what’s called ‘the caring economy’. What struck me most when reading it is that we are all cared for or carers throughout our life. Caring isn’t something we aren’t a recipient of or part of providing at different stages of our life.  You can link with her via https://www.linkedin.com/in/abby-bloom-91b809b/

Jo Cooper’s book is also coming out Sept/October. The Art of The Under Dog: Toppling Towers of Power’ is Jo’s very personal story on how she took on the Owner’s Corporation on The Horizon and in the process changed NSW Strata laws to ensure people could have pets in their apartments. Connect with Jo here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocoopervoice/

5. “In the desert of life, the fool travels alone and the wise by caravan.” I read this in Elif Shafak’s wonderful book, 10 minutes 38 seconds in this Strange World https://www.amazon.com/Minutes-Seconds-This-Strange-World/dp/1635574471 I’ve now read all her other books and can highly recommend them if you want a fiction fix.

5 things to know

1. Good news for independent bookstores. There's a business in the USA, BOOKSHOP.ORG, founded by Andy Hunter. He created it out of concern that bookshops in the USA were shutting down-unable to compete with Amazon. How does it work? Bookshop.org is an online book seller that funnels profits back to independent bookstores across the country. If shoppers choose a specific local store to support, that small business receives 100% of the sales profit; otherwise, 33% of the profit is distributed among all of the bookstores on the platform. That's pretty cool. They are now looking at eBooks. I'm going to get in touch with Andy and see what connection we can make for TBA clients.

2.  The Labor Government has established Writing Australia From 1 July 2025, Writing Australia will be a hub to build expertise and partnerships. It will support writers and publishers- fiction and non-fiction, Indigenous, children’s writers and more. The government is providing over $26 million in funding over three years, with ongoing funding of around $8.6 million annually to support the sector. I am going to engage with it to understand how business book writers can be supported – although I am not hopeful. Here’s the link. https://creative.gov.au/writing-australia.

3.  The annual Australian Business Book Awards is open again. Enter your business book from 11 July and 22 August. Here’s the link https://www.businessbookawards.com.au/

Don’t be shy…enter your book.

There are 8 categories:  Entrepreneurship and Small business; General Business, Health and Wellbeing, Leadership, Management and HR, Personal Development, Personal Finance and Investment, Specialist Business.
Several Book Adviser clients have won categories in these awards…you could be next. If you’re not sure contact me.

4. DropCap Marketplace is a modern rights licensing platform that helps authors connect with international publishers interested in licensing foreign rights. Authors can list their books to be discovered by over 2,700 vetted rights buyers and gain exposure through targeted outreach and book fair placements. Listings remain available for discovery year-round, so opportunities can emerge at any time. DropCap takes a tech-driven approach to help authors reach more readers worldwide through translation rights licensing. About DropCap

5. GlobeScribe, an AI-powered book translation service, today announced the soft launch of its platform. This phase offers independent authors and publishers early access to fast, affordable and high-quality translation services, aiming to expand their global reach. Users can upload manuscripts and receive AI-powered translations within 24 hours, often in two hours. The service is $100 per book, per language. GlobeScribe's AI translates creative writing, prioritising fluency, tone and character voice, suitable for both fiction and non-fiction.' Click here for more about Globscribe. 

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