“If you’re serious about writing a business book that matters, then look no further.” —Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of When, Drive, and To Sell Is Human
ENDORSED BY MORE THAN 50 SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS AUTHORS
Your brain burns with a powerful idea worth sharing. Could writing a business book spread that idea, create real change, and launch your career on the path to visibility and influence?
Definitely. But don’t start by piling up words. Instead focus on the story. What urgent problem does your reader face? How can they solve it? And what journey must your reader take as you guide them from confusion to understanding, action, and success?
Build a Better Business Book is the first accessible and comprehensive guide for authors who want to create impact. Josh Bernoff, a bestselling author, veteran editor, and insightful writing coach with decades of experience on 45 successful book projects, explains the systematic way to refine your idea and then research, write, publish, and promote a book that matters. Learn how to:
- Build your book not just from ideas but from people and their compelling stories — and how you can research and tell those stories.
- Write a first chapter that creates powerful motivation by emotionally connecting with readers.
- Select among the three major publishing models — traditional, self-publishing, and “hybrid” — on the axes of speed, cost, and influence.
- Plan your book as a project, then efficiently execute on that plan with a low-stress, high potency tool: the fat outline.
- Structure chapters that no reader can put down.
- Collaborate with coauthors, editors, and ghost writers without excessive bloodshed.
- Promote your book to maximize your sales, revenue, and influence.
Josh Bernoff’s book projects have generated over $20 million for their authors. This guide includes results of an extensive author survey and secrets from interviews with successful business authors like Jay Baer, Laura Gassner Otting, Phil M. Jones, Joe Pulizzi, and Scott Stratten.
Don’t waste valuable energy without accomplishing your goals. Construct your business book as a compelling story, and you won’t just get your words in print. You’ll create change in the minds of your readers. And that is the first step to making a meaningful impact on the world.
Josh Bernoff is the author, coauthor, or ghostwriter of eight business books. Book projects on which he has collaborated have generated over $20 million for their authors.
His most recent book is Build a Better Business Book: How to Plan, Write, and Promote a Book That Matters - A Comprehensive Guide (Amplify, 2023). He is also the author of Writing Without Bullshit: Boost Your Career by Saying What You Mean (HarperBusiness, 2016). Toronto's Globe and Mail called it "a Strunk and White for the modern knowledge worker." He was coauthor of Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies (Harvard Business Press, 2008), which was a BusinessWeek bestseller.
Josh writes a blog post on topics of interest to authors every weekday at His blog has generated 4 million views.
He lives with his wife, an artist, in Portland, Maine.
