Why the Smartest CEOs Are Writing Books (and Why You Should Too)

What if the most powerful growth strategy for your business isn’t another marketing campaign—it’s a book?

In 2011, I had an idea for a book called Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World. Within a year of its release, it had hit the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.

But that’s not the important part.

The important part is what happened next. Speaking invitations multiplied. Consulting opportunities appeared out of nowhere. Coaching clients sought me out. And the business I’d been building—what is now Full Focus—eventually became an eight-figure company. One book launched all that.

If you’re a business owner with hard-won expertise, a book might be the single highest-leverage move you can make. It positions you as the authority in your space. It opens doors that cold calls and ad spend never will. And it compounds over time in ways that no other marketing asset can match.

But here’s what most aspiring authors get wrong. They start writing chapters.

I didn’t. Before I wrote a single chapter of Platform, I sat down and wrote a book proposal.

Here’s why. I’d spent thirty-five years in book publishing—the last several as CEO of Thomas Nelson, a $250-million company. In that time, I’d read thousands of book proposals and helped launch scores of bestselling authors. And I’d noticed a pattern most people outside the industry never see: the bestselling books almost always started with the best-crafted proposals.

Not the best writing. Not the most original idea. The best plan.

That proposal got me an agent. The agent got me a book deal. And the book built the business.

If you want to turn your expertise into a published book that builds credibility and opens doors, you have to stop thinking like a writer and start thinking like an architect. Here are four questions a book proposal forces you to answer.

Here’s the thing most aspiring authors don’t realize. These are the exact questions a literary agent or traditional publisher will ask before they’ll even consider your manuscript. But even if you plan to self-publish, these are the questions you need to answer to prove to yourself that this investment of time is worth it.

What’s Your Book Actually About?

You’d be surprised how many aspiring authors can’t clearly articulate what their book is about. Not in a vague, hand-wavy way—in a single, compelling sentence.

Publishing expert Jane Friedman notes that a well-developed book proposal requires you to address the “So what?” and “Who cares?” questions before you write a single chapter.¹ This is where a proposal earns its keep. It forces you to define your premise, your unique selling proposition, and what makes your perspective different from the dozens of other books on the shelf.

Literary agent Kim Cross puts it bluntly: a book proposal is “like a business proposal where the outcome is not a business, but a book.”²

Think about it this way. You’d never invest $500,000 in a commercial property based on a “feeling.” Yet many aspiring authors pour months—sometimes years—into a manuscript without first getting crystal clear on what they’re building and why it matters. A proposal makes you do that hard thinking upfront.

Who’s Going to Buy It?

Here’s a question that separates serious authors from dreamers: Can you describe your ideal reader with the same specificity you’d use for your best customer?

The market analysis section of a proposal forces you to move beyond wishful thinking like “this book is for everyone” and define your audience with precision. As one publishing guide notes, “When authors say ‘nothing like this exists,’ agents hear ‘there’s no market for this.’”³

This matters whether you go traditional or self-published. Approximately three million books are published in the United States every year, with roughly two million of those being self-published.⁴ In that kind of crowded marketplace, “I wrote a book” isn’t a strategy. “I wrote this specific book for this specific audience to solve this specific problem” is.

The proposal process forces you to research your competition, identify gaps in the market, and articulate why your book fills a need that isn’t being met. That’s the difference between a book that finds its readers and one that gathers digital dust.

Why Should Anyone Listen to You?

This is the section that makes many first-time authors uncomfortable—the “About the Author” section. It’s not a resume. It’s your answer to the question every reader silently asks: “Why should I trust you on this topic?”

Writer’s Digest emphasizes that nonfiction publishers want “recognized writers who already reach readers, especially online.”⁵ But don’t let that intimidate you. Your credibility doesn’t have to come from fame. It comes from experience, results, and a genuine connection to the problem your book solves.

If you’ve been running a business for twenty years, you have credibility. If you’ve coached hundreds of clients through a specific challenge, you have credibility. If you’ve developed a framework that has produced measurable results, you have credibility. The proposal simply makes you organize that into a compelling narrative.

As a business owner, you already have something most aspiring authors don’t—a track record. The proposal helps you translate business credibility into author credibility. That’s a powerful advantage.

How Will You Reach Them?

Here’s the dirty little secret of modern publishing: even traditional publishers expect authors to drive their own book sales. Jane Friedman notes that you “typically need to be visible to tens of thousands of people, with verifiable influence, to interest a major publisher.”⁶

The marketing plan has become the most critical section of any book proposal—and the one most first-time authors skip entirely.

This is where the stakes get real. The average self-published title sells just 250 copies. Over 90 percent sell fewer than 100.⁷ That’s not because the books are bad. It’s because the authors never built a plan to reach their readers.

A book proposal forces you to think about distribution before you’ve written a word. How will readers discover your book? What does your email list look like? What speaking opportunities can you leverage? Do you have an existing audience—even a small one—that’s waiting for exactly this content?

For a business owner, this should feel familiar. It’s just marketing. You already know how to do that. The proposal simply channels that expertise toward your book so you’re not publishing into a void.

Your Next Step

A book proposal makes you do four things most aspiring authors skip:

1. Clarify your concept so it’s focused and compelling.
2. Define your audience so you know exactly who you’re writing for.
3. Establish your credibility so readers trust you before they turn the first page.
4. Plan your marketing so your book actually reaches the people it can help.

Whether you’re pitching a publisher or investing your own time and resources, these four elements separate books that make an impact from books that never get read.

Imagine sitting down to write your book, and instead of staring at a blinking cursor, you have a clear roadmap. You know your thesis. You know your reader. You know why you’re the right person to write it. And you know how you’ll get it into their hands.

That’s the power of a book proposal. It doesn’t just help you sell your book—it helps you write a better one.

What’s the book you’ve been meaning to write—and what’s been keeping you from starting?

Comments

If you have a question about using AI to write a book proposal, click here to send me an email. I read every one. Seriously. Your experiences help me write better content, and sometimes the best insights come from readers like you. 

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REFERENCE

1. Jane Friedman, ”Start Here: How to Write a Book Proposal” (Jane Friedman, 2017). ↩︎
2. Kim Cross, interview by Nieman Storyboard, ”Nonfiction Author Kim Cross Breaks Down How to Sell a Book Proposal” (Nieman Foundation at Harvard, November 17, 2023). ↩︎
3. River Editor, ”How to Craft Nonfiction Book Proposals That Win Publishing Deals” (River Editor, 2026). ↩︎
4. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, ”10 Awful Truths About Publishing” (BK Connection, 2023). ↩︎
5. Writer’s Digest, ”How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal” (Writer’s Digest, 2012). ↩︎
6. Jane Friedman, ”Start Here: How to Write a Book Proposal” (Jane Friedman, 2017). ↩︎
7. WordsRated, ”Self-Published Books & Authors Sales Statistics” (WordsRated, 2023); Spines Publishing, ”Exploring Self-Published Authors Sales Statistics” (Spines, May 6, 2024). ↩︎