In this series of blog posts, I’ll teach you my own techniques for earning 18 streams of income from publishing your book. I’ll also give you an opportunity to participate in a free training that talks about each of these 18 ways to make money from publishing your book.

Your Book Shouldn’t Be a Business Card

Many times, I meet authors who treat their books like business cards. Why? I’m not sure. Perhaps a self-proclaimed guru or mentor gave them this advice somewhere along the way.

Although there are major differences between business cards and businesses, most authors don’t know them. Sadly, this is why most authors are also broke.

Here are just a few of the differences:

Poor Authors Make These 3 Mistakes

18 Streams of Income for Your Book

I started out as a poor author, and I stayed a poor author despite being traditionally published. Then, in 2010, with my fourth book, I started to get smarter. I changed my perspective, and my influence, impact, and income began increasing. As a result, I turned each of my next four books into 6+-figure businesses. These 18 streams of income helped my dream of becoming a full-time writer become a reality.

1. Audiobooks

According to an article published by Forbes in 2019, over half of the American population has listened to an audiobook. And the number of audiobook downloads continues to rise every year. I believe audiobooks will continue to explode in popularity for three reasons:

• Audiobook players—smartphones—are always at our fingertips.
• The spoken word version of a book adds a whole new dynamic to the book-reading experience.
• Listening to an audiobook allows us to do two things at once.

If you’ve published a book already and haven’t yet recorded your audiobook, I feel like you’re missing out on an excellent opportunity to boost your income as an author (discover ten tips for successful audiobook recording here).

2. Ebooks

Similar to audiobooks, ebooks are now as close as your smartphone. With the average person touching their smartphone over 2,600 times per day, this gives you an amazing opportunity to reach more people with a digital version of your book.

Reading an ebook can happen while standing on a subway, sitting in a doctor’s office, or waiting in line at a grocery store. What’s even more incredible is that your smartphone has the ability to hold hundreds of books. And with many ebook publishers now paying authors up to 70% royalties on the sale of their ebook, this gives you an excellent opportunity to multiply your income as an author.

3. Hardcover

Hardcovers make a statement unlike any other format. They scream expensive—and they are! Sometimes retailing at more than twice the price of your paperback version, they are another smart way to earn more income from publishing books. However, self-published authors and top-selling traditional authors can benefit from getting massive discounts for their hardcover books when they order in bulk. (This is why you sometimes see authors giving away 10,000 copies of their hardcovers at conferences—one per attendee.)

4. Softcover

Softcovers—also called paperbacks—are still hot sellers. This format gives your readers the benefit of reading your book without the higher cost of a hardcover. And according to this CNBC article, physical books are still outselling any other book format. Many avid readers still prefer holding a physical book in their hands over reading a book in electronic format.

5. EPUB

EPUB is an ebook file format with the extension .epub that can be downloaded and read on devices like smartphones, tablets, computers, or e-readers. Though Amazon’s ebook format is proprietary (they use a .mobi format), many of the other digital book retailers use the EPUB format, including Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, and Apple Books. While Amazon leads the industry in ebook sales, there are still a large number of readers who are loyal to other formats.

Tune in next week to continue your journey toward learning more about the 18 streams of income that are possible as a publishing author.

Have you listened to an audiobook lately? If so, what do you love about this book format that other formats don’t offer? We’d love to hear from you!

Kary Oberbrunner is an author, coach, and speaker who helps individuals and organizations clarify who they are, why they’re here, and where they’re going so they can become souls on fire, experience unhackability, and share their message with the world. Connect at KaryOberbrunner.com.