How advisors use a book to grow a practice Trust, earned before the meeting.
A book does not close a prospect; it introduces how you think before the first meeting, so the conversation starts further along. This page explains how advisors use one, what a few reported it returned, and when a book is the wrong move.
Advisors use a book to earn a prospect's trust before the meeting, so it starts with the plan instead of with who you are.
Four things to know: how the mechanism works, what advisors reported it returned, why compliance is not the obstacle it sounds like, and when a book is the wrong move.
The mechanism. Jake Falcon runs a Kansas City wealth advisory firm with about a billion dollars under management, and he hands a copy of Retiring Right to every prospect at a first meeting. One prospect found his audiobook on Spotify with no advertising behind it and arrived already knowing his philosophy. The conversation skipped the introduction and went straight to the plan.
The return. Chad Willardson of Pacific Capital published Stress-Free Money. Within six months new clients came from Virginia, Florida, New Jersey, Guatemala and Switzerland, and within ten months the book had returned more than three times its cost to his firm in new-client revenue, his figure. Mark Baird, a Certified Financial Planner, doubled what his firm manages since Rules to Riches and now speaks about once a month.
Compliance. The books that work for advisors are education, not advice. Falcon wrote a plain-English guide to the questions people should ask as they approach retirement, not a pitch. Harris Nydick's premise is that anyone who cannot explain investing in plain English does not understand it. Nothing goes to print until you have approved every line, so your compliance reviewer can read every page first.
When this is the wrong move. If you want to sell copies as the business, do not buy a professional book. With no practice or platform to feed it into, the same. A smaller practice is usually better served by Scribe Professional, $4,667 a month for twelve months, $56,000 total. Elite, $9,000 a month for fifteen months, $135,000 total, fits a firm with a platform already working for it.
What does a book change, day to day, in an advisory practice?
Harris Nydick says prospects sometimes show up to discovery calls having already bought and read Common Financial Sense, treating it as their due diligence on his firm. New 401(k) plan acquisitions accelerated after the book.
Chad Willardson sold 1,000 copies in under three months, and that is not the number he counts. He counts the clients who came from five new regions and the revenue they brought his firm.
Mark Aho's Building Wealth and Living in Faith aligned his whole firm on one philosophy, and he buys 100 copies at a time to hand to clients. The book became his edge in winning client trust.
Mario Simonyan on why a book is the business card nobody throws away.
What a book did for advisors who asked the same question
Every number below comes from a published success story on scribemedia.com, and each one links to the page it came from.
These are the best documented results among authors who told us. Every one of them had a business or a stage the book could feed. Most authors do not track a number, and a book without a business behind it should not be bought for a financial return.
Chad Willardson set out to write a book that would set his firm apart and bring in new clients. Stress-Free Money sold 1,000 copies in under three months, new clients came from five regions including Guatemala and Switzerland, and within ten months the book had returned more than three times what his firm invested in it.
Speaking engagements went from none to about one a month, and he is recognized on the street in his hometown.
Read the story →A prospect found the audiobook on Spotify with no advertising behind it and arrived already knowing his philosophy.
Read the story →You would be in good company
From first-time authors to number-one bestsellers, these are books our teams helped create.
What advisors ask us next
Sometimes, and we will not promise it. Chad Willardson reports that Stress-Free Money returned more than three times its cost to his firm in new-client revenue within ten months. Mark Baird doubled what his firm manages since his book. Most authors do not track a number, and Jake Falcon says plainly that making money is the wrong reason to write one. Elite is $9,000 a month for fifteen months, $135,000 total. Buy it if your practice can feed a book prospects; do not buy it as an investment.
It does not need to be, if the book is education rather than advice. Jake Falcon wrote Retiring Right as a plain-English guide to the questions people should ask before retirement, not a pitch, and he hands it to every first-meeting prospect. You control every word: the manuscript is revised in four sections, line by line, and nothing prints until you approve it, so your compliance reviewer can read every page before it does. Twenty in-depth interviews give your writer the material; you and your firm decide what is said.
It depends on the practice, not on ambition. Scribe Professional is $4,667 a month for twelve months, $56,000 total: a senior Scribe writer turns about twenty hours of interviews into your book. That is usually right for a solo advisor or a small partner-led firm. Elite is $9,000 a month for fifteen months, $135,000 total: a premier ghostwriter, twenty hours of research, ten revision calls, up to three days in person, a $25,000 launch budget. It fits a firm with a platform or media presence already working for it.
You do not write it. Your writer draws the book out of you in twenty in-depth interviews, and up to three days in person if you want them. Ten revision calls follow, and you approve every line. Many senior Scribe writers have been with Scribe five to ten years, and many have traditional publishing credits. The project has a Publishing Manager from day one through launch, and the whole process runs nine to twelve months by design.
That is the craft, and it is checked before a full draft exists. You answer pairing questions about your voice and working style, three senior writers are hand-selected, and you interview all three and choose. After the first interviews you see preview pages, and there is a midpoint voice check; nothing proceeds until you approve the voice. The draft is then revised line by line. One advisor author says the compliment he hears most is that reading his book felt like having a conversation with him.
No. Copies sold are not how the advisors on this page measure the book. Mario Simonyan has put more than 10,000 copies of his book into prospects' hands without running a single ad, and tracks distribution rather than sales. Jake Falcon gives Retiring Right away at first meetings. Mark Aho buys 100 copies at a time to hand out. The book is a fee-for-service asset you own outright: Scribe takes no royalty and you keep 100% of the rights, so every copy you give away is yours to give.
When Scribe is the wrong choice
We would rather say this here than on a call.
- You want to sell copies as the business. Royalties rarely repay a professional book; the advisors here measure it in clients, speaking and trust. If copies are the goal, write it yourself with the free Scribe Method and publish on your own.
- You have no practice or platform to feed the book into, and this is personal money. Start with the free Scribe Method or the North Star tool, or bring a finished draft to Publishing at $4,833 a month for six months, $29,000 total.
- You need the book in under nine months, for a conference or a launch date. Scribe runs nine to twelve months from first call to launch and does not cut that short.
The real numbers, before you talk to anyone
Every package is one price, paid monthly, with a $1,000 deposit at signing that comes off the first payment. You own every right and every dollar of royalties. The monthly figure and the total are both here, before any call.
A premier ghostwriter and a dedicated team, built to the standard of a major-house book: twenty in-depth interviews, research, ten revision calls, and a $25,000 launch budget.
If you want to start smaller, Compass is $5,000, five coaching calls, and the full amount is credited toward Elite. How Compass works.
A private conversation about the book
Elite is $9,000 a month for fifteen months, $135,000 total, with a $1,000 deposit at signing that comes off the first payment. It is a sales conversation: we tell you whether Elite fits your firm, and if Professional at $4,667 a month ($56,000 total) is the better lane, we will say so. Someone senior calls during business hours, usually the same day.
Read this before you decide
Advisory is a trust business, and trust is usually built one meeting at a time. The advisors on this page found a way to build some of it before the meeting. Jake Falcon's philosophy on retirement is in black and white, so he does not reintroduce himself to every prospect. Harris Nydick's prospects sometimes arrive at a discovery call having already read his book as their due diligence on the firm. Chad Willardson, based in Southern California, gained clients from Virginia, Florida, New Jersey, Guatemala and Switzerland within six months of the book's release. None were written to be sold; they were written to be handed over.
The number advisors ask about is the return, so here it is plainly. Willardson's firm made back more than three times what it invested in Stress-Free Money within ten months, in new-client revenue, by his own figure. Mark Baird doubled what his firm manages since Rules to Riches and went from no speaking engagements to about one a month. Those are the best documented results among advisors who told us, and every one of them had a practice the book could feed. Most authors do not track a number, and Jake Falcon says that writing a book only to make money is the wrong reason.
Elite is built to the standard of a major-house book: a premier ghostwriter, twenty in-depth interviews, twenty hours of research, ten revision calls, up to three days in person, and a $25,000 launch budget, at $9,000 a month for fifteen months, $135,000 total. It fits a firm with a platform or media presence already working for it. A smaller practice is usually better served by Scribe Professional at $4,667 a month for twelve months, $56,000 total, and we will say so. The next step is a private conversation about the firm and the book; someone senior calls during business hours, usually the same day.