Business Books
Koehler Books has joined forces with Inside Business to offer Hampton Roads businesses a great new marketing tool: Business Books. Our mission is to provide your company with a productive and unusual tool to add to your marketing arsenal. There are no tricks and mirrors. Just smart thinking, hard work and creativity matched with the strength and power of a major business provider.
Our mission: To publish a book that supports and expands the existing brand of a product, employee or company.
Think of a book in exactly the same way you think of all the components of your marketing program: annual reports, websites, social media, direct mail, advertising, brochures and print materials, display and specialty advertising. A book will not replace any of that, but will enhance your brand image and tell your story in a way that is less conspicuously commercial. A brochure is a hard-edged method of marketing, whereas a book is a softer, more subtle way to make your point.
Bill Rountree, Jr. was a local celebrity and entrepreneur who founded and built Monarch Bank into a major community bank. Tree, as he is known by his friends (which meant anyone he knew or met!) told his story to Koehler Books in the Fall of 2010. This became the book, Tree, which was published and launched in March of 2011.
“Clearly Tree wanted to leave a living legacy,” said John Koehler, publisher of Koehler Books. “The book was intended for his family and friends, but also to cast a good light on Monarch Bank. Monarch was Tree’s baby, and the people who worked there were like family. Tree knew that his book would help Monarch’s image. It did.”
Monarch backed Tree’s book by underwriting a book event in late March. Over 500 people came to the event, including many well known business leaders and friends of Tree.
“I suggested the idea of using the event as a fundraiser,” continued Koehler. “Monarch agreed and we wound up raising close to $30,000 for Monarch Charities, which provides financial support for many local charities. Tree always understood that a business could do great good for the community. He saw his book as just an extension of that idea.”
Businesses who want to publish a book will be treated in the same manner we treat writers and published authors: professionally and with respect. We will make certain demands about the book, namely that it uphold to the highest standards of the literary and publishing industries. Our goal is to craft an excellent book for your business.
Why Legacy Books for Business?
The story of two smart men, Bill Hewlitt and David Packard, who had a dream and the knowledge to make it real through technology.
This is a type of book you could consider writing if your company has created a ground-breaking or well-respected business model. You are sharing some of your trade secrets in a way that is interesting and illuminating. Establish yourself as a teacher, an expert and your brand will benefit.
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Problem Solving Book
Onward by Howard Schultz
The book that explained Starbucks’ brand problem and the solution that saved the company. As told by the CEO, Howard Schultz.
This is similar to the how-to book, but deals more with the internal philosophies that goes into a major shift in your companies direction. And which resulted in successful results.
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Employee Book
Frank Batten, the Untold Story of the Founder of the Weather Channel, by Connie Sage
Tells the story about Frank Batten, the man who invented, installed and then sold the Weather Channel for $3.5 billion.
Your employee does not have to be famous or rich to write about them. But they do need to have some street cred, and must have done significant things in your industry and also hopefully they are interesting.
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Company History Book
Norfolk Southern Railway by Richard C. Borkowski
The illustrated story of the history and development of one of the best railroad brands in the U.S.
Again, you don’t have to be a Fortune 500 company to write a book, but you do need to have some history and a track record of good business, with enough stories to tell that will make for good reading.
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Expert Tell All Book
My Life with Trains, by Jim McClellan
An insider’s story of trains by Jim McClellan, a Norfolk Southern VP who helped start Amtrak.
Your expert must truly have the chops and experience and knowledge to make this book happen. But again, think in terms of the field you are in, and the competition you are up against. Think big. A book conveys instant credibility, but your expert needs to already have cred.
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Employee Memoir
Tree by William F. Rountree, Jr.
Tells the story of Tree’s (Bill Rountree’s) life and how he founded and grew Monarch Bank.
This type of book can be a gift to an employee who is about to retire. What a great surprise gift that might be, versus the $5,000 watch you were planning on giving them. Or it can be a great way to increase awareness about a fast mover or rising star within your company.
The Process of Publishing your Book
The process of writing a book is akin to writing an annual report, but with the added factors of long-form writing and the publishing industry coming into play. It will look something like this:
Meet and Discuss your book
Tell us your dreams. Show us your other marketing materials. Tell us your target audience and how you want to use the book and how it will fit into your marketing program. Show us your outline. We will discuss costs and submit a book proposal.
Develop Content
You will submit an outline and plan for the book based on our direction. You will develop and gather photos and graphics, lists of people to interview. You will also conduct research and gather other support materials at our direction. You will assign a point person. They may also be the writer
Write the Book
If you have already written the book, fabulous. It goes to editing. If not, then you have to write it or we will.
Review
You will review the manuscript, text layout, cover designs and printed proofs.
Publish
We will publish the approved book and distribute it in print via Ingram Books. It will appear in print on Amazon and in epub on Kindle, Nook and iBooks. Your book package will include a book webpage with an exclusive domain name and 50 books. Additional books may be bought at wholesale price.
Promote
You will plan your book event or launch party. You will order books for internal and marketing purposes. You will also institute an advertising plan for the book, along with marketing we will deliver
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The Cost
The cost of a business book will depend on whether or not you bring us a clean finished manuscript, you write it or we write it for you. The typical pricing for a Legacy book starts around $6,000. We will provide you with an explicit estimate based on the shape of your manuscript, number of words, number of graphics and photos and any other customized elements that will be in the book.
Royalties
We will pay you or your company 50% of the net profit of all books sold online, whether print or epub. This breaks down as follows for a typical book:
Printed Books
$16.95 – list price
$7.47- wholesale price
$4.42- printing price
$3.21- net royalty
$1.61 – author’s royalty per printed book
eBooks
$3.99 – list price
$2.59- net royalty (may vary slightly between iBooks, Nook and Kindle)
$1.30 – author’s royalty per eBook
For more information about a book for your business, please contact:
John Koehler
Publisher
Koehler Books
757-289-6006
john@koehlerbooks.com
Bill Blake
Director of Business Development
Inside Business
757-222-3165
Bill.Blake@pilotonline.com
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