If you’re a contributor to a book, here’s a guide on how to leverage the opportunity for your business.

A thing I like to do when business is slower is to mentor other entrepreneurs. Back in May, I had a session with someone who contributed a chapter in a forthcoming book and she asked about my marketing strategy and how she can leverage the opportunity she was given. So thanks for the inspo, Cathryn!

First, there are different types of book contributors. The first is being invited to write a chapter in an anthology. If you are spending your time to write a chapter or essay in a book, I believe you should be paid for your contribution.

Curating authors/publishers will say that it’s too difficult to revenue split, but it’s not impossible. At the very least, you can request an honorarium as a contributing author. Time = money when you run a business.

The publishers are the ones who make the money, so if they know they can make their money back, they should pay everyone who contributes a chapter or essay.

There are A LOT of authors out there who offer the opportunity to be featured in an anthology-style book. Many of them are women and have women-only contributors. I know we need to highlight more women’s stories to combat patriarchy, but charging women to work is not the answer. I doubt many men pay to work!

Unless a celebrity edits or curates an anthology or it’s the equivalent of a bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul, an anthology-style book is unlikely to provide exposure that equals your investment (they’ll brag about the book reaching Amazon bestseller status, but that doesn’t have any real clout in the literary world).

Yes, it costs at least $10K for a full-page ad in a magazine or newspaper, but those outlets at least have guaranteed subscribers. Books are one-offs and are not guaranteed to become a bestselling series, especially now that more people are creating anthologies.

My experience paying to be featured in a book

Back in 2010, I was invited to be featured in a book called CRAVE that published guides featuring female-owned businesses in major cities. Great opportunity, right? The fee for my feature was $500, which is not a lot today, but it was for me back then when I had only run my biz for two years.

In exchange for the fee, we received a photo shoot (I purchased a new headshot out of the session), had a two-page profile in interview format, and received 50 books to either sell or give away. My endorsement appeared on the back of the book, so I got an extra mention on top of my profile.

I sold some books at cost, but mostly gave them away. I got no clients from being featured in the book, although what I should have done was gone for coffee with each business owner in the book—I set up meetings with the ones I wanted as clients, but didn’t build relationships with the others.

The second way to contribute to a book is being interviewed for one. For example, an author interviews you about your company for their business book. This does not guarantee inclusion, but if you’re included in the book, there’s a good chance the author will keep you in the loop about the book launch and ask you to help spread the word.

I invited people to contribute a story to my second book and had 47 contributors (and permission to mention another 4 dozen companies). Everyone’s stories varied in length. The exchange for their time was the marketing opportunity for their business to be in the world’s first vegan marketing book.

Some contributors marketed the book more than others, and I wish I had made it a requirement in the agreement that the contributor mentioned the book on social media at least once. I also wish I could have given every contributor a hard copy, which was not possible because of cost.

In sum, if you are contributing a chapter or essay in a book, do not pay to write, and instead ask for an honorarium or consider it a volunteer opportunity in exchange for marketing.

If you are simply being interviewed for a book, there’s no obligation to market it, but it’s a good idea to do so because it’s free marketing for your business. The more books that are in people’s eyes and ears, the more exposure you get.

Whether you’ve contributed a quote or a chapter, let’s talk about how to leverage this opportunity for your business.

1. Get a hard copy of the book

Regardless of how much you contributed, if you know you’re in a book, you should have a hard copy. If the author/publisher doesn’t give you a copy right away, ask for one. You shouldn’t need to buy it, unless you want to support the author for including you.

Lisa Strahs-Lorenc interviewed me for the book she published in 2023, Career Journeys from the Ground Up, in which my story formed a chapter. She sent me a book, so I posted about it on social media, put it in my newsletter, and also mentioned it in a blog post (including this one).

If you’re a curating author/editor, get your contributors a hard copy and empower them to market the book for you with sample social media/blog posts and copy for their newsletter (this is also called “swipe copy”—I call it a “share kit”).

2. Post and share content

The easiest way to spread the word about you/your business being in the book is to take a photo or video of it. Sure, you can just share the cover once and use swipe copy you’re given by the author/publisher, but the more personal the posts are, the better. If the author/publisher doesn’t give you sample social posts or the book summary, ask for it.

This is a memorable Instagram post Meredith Marin of Vegan Hospitality did with my book. And I know I sold at least a few more copies of my book because of this post. Readers told me they heard about my book from her! (See how I linked to her website just now?)

Local contributor Karina Inkster shared a selfie with the book in an Instagram Story. The other memorable post that I know resulted in at least one other book sale was Jordan Bruce‘s Instagram Reel, where she flipped through the book and shared her quotes or talked about the parts that mentioned her.

Out of the 8 local contributors I gave books to, 4 posted content, one hosted my book launch (Vegan Supply), and three did not post any content.

In my mentoring session, I told the contributing author that posting on social media once a day for four months like I did might be a bit too much, but the more content you can share (social posts, videos, blogs, emails) about you being in the book will help to sell it.

While I invited media/podcast hosts to have other contributors interviewed along with me, they didn’t offer that. However, there were some contributors—namely Meredith—whose stories I shared on podcast interviews because they were, well…shareable! So every time I shared the interviews on social media, I tagged Meredith, Vegan Aruba, and Vegan Hospitality, and that amplified my posts even more.

Make sure you tell the author/publisher of the book you’re in that you are available for interviews, even if they’re few or they don’t happen. You can also try doing your own media campaign around the fact that you’re in the book, but I don’t know how successful that would be unless you were the author or curating editor.

When Career Journeys from the Ground Up launched, Lisa hosted a virtual launch event with all the contributors, and that was a great way to get us all involved. She continued hosting or appearing at events to promote the book and shared them in a LinkedIn message to all the contributors so we could continue spreading the word on social media. I joined her at another virtual event about entrepreneurship in late May.

3. Sell the book

I don’t imagine most book contributors will go this route, but they might if they really want to leverage a book to supplement their business or speaking career.

If you can purchase many books at the author price and are prepared to sell that either online or in-person at events (say, conferences where you get invited to speak), you can. Books are not a big moneymaker, but if you haven’t authored your own book yet, it can be a good way to leverage a speaking opportunity and make some additional revenue while getting your info into a reader’s or potential client’s hands.

One of my fellow Vegan Business Tribe members authored a business-related book years ago and paid to put a copy of her book in every tote bag at VegfestUK, arguably the largest vegan festival in the country. Since her ideal client is a values-driven aspiring author, it was a good marketing move for her.

In 2023, I attended a company anniversary party hosted by a colleague, who authored and sold an anthology-style book at the event. Ten women paid a sum of $1300 to contribute a chapter. At the event, the contributors (most of whom were at the party) gathered by the sales table to sign books. Five women signed my book there, but I had to hunt down the curating author and borrow someone’s pen for her to sign my book.

That means out of the nine women who paid to be in this book, only five were physically there to sign books, network, and make themselves known. That’s a lost opportunity for exposure for those who were absent.

The party host was featured in a different anthology book series with 365 female contributors, one for every day of the year. She gave this book away in the party’s swag bag. It was an interesting read, but it’s big, thick, and heavy and I knew I likely wouldn’t reread it, so I gave it away on Facebook Marketplace.

If you really want to go the giveaway route, make sure it’s going to leverage YOU and your business and not be that book people are trying to give away and not keep on their bookshelf.

The woman I mentored said she was going to attend the conference where her book was going to launch in Europe, and considered hosting an event where she could sell and sign books in her city. Coincidentally, she had attended my client Madeleine Shaw‘s launch of The Greater Good in her city, so she knew what a book launch event could look like.

After that, there’s an unlimited amount you could invest in further advertising, from digital ads to sponsoring events, but I don’t imagine a contributor would want to invest too much unless they know they can make the investment back in book sales. Marketing is largely the author’s responsibility. Here’s a past blog on different ways to advertise books.

Need a book coach or marketer to help guide you through the publishing or marketing of your book so you can get it in the hands of readers? Read more about my services here and contact me if you’re ready to begin!