Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS

Disclosure: Some of the links in the podcast show notes and transcripts are affiliate links (indicated with [Affiliate] in front). If you choose to make a purchase through these links GradBlogger will earn a commission from that purchase at no extra cost to you.

Dr. Norman Eng is an adjunct professor at The City College of New York for the CUNY system. He also runs his own company, EducationXDesign, and has self-published three books aimed at professors who want to succeed as teachers.

Although he loves to teach and do research, he was always bothered by the fact that success in academia was largely controlled by ‘gatekeepers’ like journal editors, the hiring committee, the book editors, grant proposal committees, and conference proposal committees.

Taking a cue from James Altucher, Norman finally decided to stop waiting to be chosen and choose himself instead.

Choose Yourself

“It completely changed the way I thought about my career from being passive and doing all my hard work to taking control of my professional direction,” he says. “Once I realized this idea of choosing yourself, I was determined not to follow this conventional path. We’re actually fortunate in this day and age. We live in a time when not accepting the status quo is an easier decision than ever to make.”

He acknowledged that part of him wanted to prove to himself (and others) that the traditional academic route of getting your PhD, doing your research, and getting the tenure is not the only way to succeed. He therefore decided to use his skills and resources to create his own success.

Norman had a background in marketing, having worked in advertising for five or six years before moving into academia. He had also been blogging casually since 2009 and quickly appreciated how writing online could help him make his work available to the public.

“So all of those things just came together to push me to think about how I can’t just continue toiling away,” he says. “How can I leverage all this knowledge that I had about marketing and education into something where I could impact a larger audience beyond the scholarly community and that’s when I hit upon self-publishing.”

To date, Norman has written three books:

• Teaching College: The Ultimate Guide to Lecturing, Presenting and Engaging Students
• Presenting: the Professor’s Guide to Powerful Communication
• Create an Engaging Syllabus (a smaller ebook that he often uses as a free lead magnet)

His website offers a free downloadable cheat sheet called 7 Steps to Self-Publishing a Profitable Book in 6 Months. Below is an overview of these steps and why they are essential for writing and selling a profitable book.

• Step 1: Identify your knowledge areas or skills that might be considered valuable to others.
• Step 2: Find out what resonates with your readers. What do they care about?
• Step 3: Map out the book by creating an outline.
• Step 4: Write the book.
• Step 5: Edit the manuscript (use a professional if necessary) and format it for your chosen publishing platform. This includes hiring a book cover designer. 
• Step 6: Plan your marketing. This is where you decide on a book title and price, write out a description, and identify the right keywords and categories.
• Step 7: Upload the book to Amazon or whatever platform you have selected.

Norman said that he published this sheet because, as he put it, “the number one reason why people don’t self-publish is just that they lack clarity. It’s as simple as that. They lack clarity about what I should do first, what should I do second, what should I do third and fourth? So having a seven step guide is a very helpful tool.”

Market before as well as after

Norman explained that marketing is generally thought of as something that is done after the product is launched. While this is undeniably important, a book needs to be positioned in a certain way if it is to sell and succeed.

Unlike academic publishing, self-publishing requires the author to think about their audience. Why should the customer buy their book instead of others on the same subject? This is what positioning is about. There must be a distinct angle that separates your book from the competition. 

Norman’s book, Teaching College, had a lot of competition. There were so many books out there about how to teach, but his was arguably the only one that compared teaching to marketing and selling. By broadening that topic of teaching beyond the field of education and into the business realm, he made the topic much more meaningful to readers. 

Norman recommended that aspiring authors choose a topic that other people have written about, as there is a ready-made audience for the subject. Do a Google search or check Amazon. Norman added that if the subject is especially popular and well-covered, a niche approach is recommended.

After the book is published, reviews are important, but they’re hard to get organically because not all readers take time to review a book they just read.

“I’ll create a spreadsheet of people that I want to review my book,” Norman says. “I will create a little launch team, so to speak, composed of colleagues, influencers and I guess friends or whatever.”

He said that in his experience after a book receives around 20 reviews on Amazon, the site’s algorithms may take notice and start promoting it to customers who have shown interest in the same subject matter.

“That’s where it will multiply or have that snowball effect,” he says. “So like I said, reviews are hugely, hugely important.”

Own your audience

Norman maintains an email subscriber list that lets him communicate with readers and fans of his subject matter. There is a free audiobook version of Teaching College, and to get it, people have to input their email address.

“Building that list is probably the most valuable asset you can have because you’ll find that in your customers, there’s a whole 80-20 deal going on, meaning 20% will comprise 80% of your purchases and all that stuff,” he says. “So building that list is probably the most important asset that you hold as an entrepreneur, as an online business person.”

He recommended backing it up regularly. Platforms can change or go out of business, so maintaining a local copy ensures that you can always stay in touch with your audience, no matter where you publish.

Ready to self-publish?

If you have any questions about self-publishing as an academic, you can reach Dr. Norman Eng on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Norman has also put together a Beta Group Coaching Program for self-published authors, which you are free to check out.

Have you self-published a book? If so, what was your experience? Please leave us a comment below!