Opinion
Hoehn: Traditional publishing prevents authors from iterating on their books
“One of the reasons that I am reluctant to advocate for the traditional publishing process is, Like, your book is set in stone there. You might, if you're lucky, get a ten-year update, you know, the ten-year anniversary, but you're not going to touch that book …”
Insight
Authors Should Reject Traditional Publishing Deals Under $100,000
“If you can get a publisher to give you a 100,000 dollar advance or more, you should probably do it. I mean, if you have millions of followers, a hundred thousand's not enough, but, like, you get the general concept. You want them to have enough skin in the gam…”
Disclosure
Why Over 95% of Authors Should Avoid Traditional Publishing Deals
“For 95 plus percent of authors I talk to, I tell them, it doesn't really make sense for you to do that.”
What-if
James Clear Lost Roughly 3x Per Copy Traditionally Publishing 'Atomic Habits'
“I remember talking to James Clear and we were talking about how much he would have made had he gone the self-publishing route with Atomic Habits, and I did the math, and it was like, ah, it's about three X more per copy.”
Insight
Hoehn: Inexperienced first-time authors face higher risks self-publishing
“If it's your first go-round as an author and you don't know what you're doing, the likelihood that you'll step on a landmine that hurts your book during the self-publishing process is even higher than if you're working with a traditional publisher.”
Insight
Hoehn: Cheap Generalist Designers Always Produce Unremarkable Book Covers
“A lot of self-published authors are like, I'll go to Upwork, or I'll hit up my designer friend who puts together PowerPoints, and I'll pay them 500 bucks. And it always results in something unremarkable. You have to pay an artist, a book-covered designer speci…”
Insight
Hoehn: Authors should not write prose before solidifying table of contents
“You should not write a word Until you have solidified your table of contents. And your table of contents is the thing. It is the structure, the makeup, the foundation of your book.”
Insight
Hoehn: NYT bestseller ROI comes from marketing effort, not the credential
“And I will say to people who hit the list, like congrats, it's hard to do. And you're probably going to make whatever investment you made into hitting that list back, but it won't be because of the list. It will not be because of the New York, it will be corre…”
Assertion Supported
Reader Retention Drops by 50% the Moment They Detect AI Writing
“And the data on this is readers will, as soon as they detect it's AI, it Their retention drops in half.”
Insight
Charlie Hoehn: The Best Books Are Written for One or Two People
“The best books are written for one or two real people on the other end, and a lot of authors write as though they're speaking to a huge general audience or to their perceived fan base, the entire fan base. It's the fastest way, in my opinion, to kill a book be…”
Insight
Charlie Hoehn: Authors Must Embody Their Subject Before Writing
“You have to become the embodiment of the book First. So you can't really write it as though you're that person that you haven't become yet, or the person that you're becoming. You kind of have to write it from a place of, I've already become this. I've already…”
Insight
Hoehn: Authors Must Write for Readers Below Their Expertise Level
“If you think of the author, their expertise is a ladder, right? And so they've climbed so many rungs to where they are. If they're trying to write for people on their rung or above, it will not be a good book. They need to write for the people below them And a…”
Insight
Hoehn: Authors should validate their framework with three people before writing
“The method I encourage is teach it in real time first. And ideally, you're somebody who's already transformed numerous people, at least three, with the transformation that you're trying to codify into a book. So generally speaking, you ought to have coached, c…”
Assertion Contradicted
Hoehn: At least 80% of book purchases happen on Amazon
“I believe it's at minimum of 80% of books, book purchases are through Amazon online.”
Insight
Hoehn: The Right Cover or Thumbnail Outperforms Mediocre Designs 1,000x
“The right thumbnail versus a average, mediocre thumbnail that's clearly been created In Canva by the producer of the video, the right thumbnail will outperform a thousand X.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hoehn: Virtually all books selling over 10,000 copies rely on word-of-mouth
“Virtually all books that sell more than 10,000 copies are driven by word of mouth.”
Insight
The Five-Beat Formula for Writing Engaging Nonfiction Book Chapters
“Yes, you should lean into a formulaic structure for chapters when you're writing it, and I want to differentiate, differentiate between writing and editing. Writing is getting the clay on the table. Editing is shaping it into the sculpture, right? And so when …”
Insight
Hoehn: Authors Must Front-Load Editing Time Due to Reader Retention Drop-Off
“Up front. A hundred percent. You are correct. It's the YouTube hook. It's the retention graph. It's the exact same with books.”
Insight
Hoehn: A Nonfiction Introduction's Sole Purpose Is Serving as a Sales Page
“The whole purpose of the introduction is just to sell you on reading the book. That is, it's the sales page. Convincing you this will be worth my time, which is you've got smart readers. The thing that they're going to value the most is, is this worth my time?”
Insight
Hoehn: Authors Make a Mistake Starting With History Instead of Best Material
“A lot of authors make the mistake, both self-published and traditional, They'll bury the best stuff in the back of the book, and it's like, what percentage of your readers are even getting to that? You know, they'll, they'll start with theory of like, here's h…”
Assertion Supported
Hoehn: The average book sells fewer than 1,000 lifetime copies
“The average book sells less than a thousand copies over the course of its lifetime”
Assertion Partly supported
Only 20 of the 500,000 Books Published Annually Sell a Million Copies
“There's 500,000 books published. Plus, published every year. 20 of them sell a million copies, and most of those are fiction.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Authors Need 15,000 First-Week Sales to Hit The New York Times List
“You have to sell if you, if you're going, like, in an average time of year, anywhere between probably 10 to 20,000 copies. A safe, Place to bet is 15,000 copies. So you have to sell 15,000 copies right out of the gate.”
Insight
Hoehn: Pre-Launch and Launch Announcements Have Highest Book Sales Conversion Rates
“These are the two windows where sales will spike. So the announcement of the book, basically, that it's up for sale, and then the announcement that it's officially live. Those have the two highest conversion rates for sales”
