Q&A on the process of writing my new book

It has been an exciting past few week as my new book, The CFO’s Guide to Good Corporate Governance, finally crossed the finish line. It is now for sale on CreateSpace, an Amazon sister company and Amazon.com and ITunes. An E-version for Kindle will be out very soon. I also have a pdf version that will work on computers, tablets and phones. I will sell that directly on the site at some point.

There is a general bewilderment when I talk with friends and colleagues about the project. The most common comment is, “I can’t believe you are a published writer. That is awesome!”

It is awesome, but it is a pretty easy process these days. I thought I would explain the process and a bit more behind the book. It will take the form of a Q&A; some actual questions I have received and some questions made up.

Why did you decide to write a book?

I had just wrapped up working with Waseca Energy, a junior oil company that was sold on November 1, 2012. As the CFO of Waseca, I was not part of the team that continued on. My family and I decided that we would spend January and February in the Cayman Islands (my wife’s birthplace).

I knew that I would not be able to take on a new role until the spring. I also knew that I wanted to get back into consulting. Writing a book was a good way to formalize my thoughts on the topic I wished to consult upon. I also thought it would be a useful marketing tool.

What is the book about?

It is about corporate governance from the perspective of the Chief Financial Officer. I write about a number of topics that will make for a better managed business. The goal is to make better decisions which should make for a more profitable business. You can read more about the book here.

The tone of the book was an interesting decision early in the writing process. I decided against an all-encompassing opus on the topic and instead wanted it to read like a three or four hour conversation with me. I take a lot of pride in running a really tight ship and want to help others improve their businesses.

With that decision made, I opted against writing on any topics that required extensive research. If I did not know the topic well enough to write about it in my own voice, I left it out of the book. The result is a book that is an easy read, coming in under 150 pages and around 25,000 words. Every suggestion in the book is easy to implement and something that I personally have done in my career.

How long did it take to write?

I decided to write the book last December. I had a pretty poor outline of chapter ideas by early January. I then got serious, came up with 15-20 chapter ideas and started writing. The first couple of weeks were a struggle. Some days were productive with a couple thousand words written. Most days I was not at all happy with what I had written.

I eventually came up with a reasonable list of topics that I knew extremely well and an order that basically covered the topic in a way that I thought added up to a book. The goal was to get a first draft done by the end of February. That really focused my work and most days became quite productive.

I completed a second draft by the third week of March and then had it professionally proof-read into a third draft. I then circulated it to a few colleagues for feedback. I received that feedback in April and turned around a fourth draft. I gave the book to another couple individuals to read and worked on a final fifth draft.

The book was essentially done by the end of May. In early June I hired a company to design the book and create the paperback and e-versions. That was a bit of a slow process that wrapped at the end of August.

How did you go about publishing the book? 

My plan from the start was to self-publish. I wanted complete control over the content and the distribution of the book. I make more on each book sold and I can work on new and exciting ways to sell the book, such as licensing it.

The first step was to hire someone to design the book. I looked at Lulu, who is probably the biggest player in the self-publishing market. I turned them down as they would control distribution and set the price of the book. They would also take a royalty on each sale in addition to charging me for design and distribution.

So I went with a smaller company, Shift Fwd, who designed the book and gave me the files to distribute as I wanted for a fixed fee. They provided really good service and a willingness to turn around draft after draft until I was happy with the final product.

In June, I also started the process of opening accounts with ITunes and CreateSpace to sell the book. CreateSpace creates the paperback version on demand, which saves me having to place bulk orders. They also put the book on Amazon.com and help sell the Kindle version.

Two hurdles came up in conjunction with selling the book through these channels. One, the paperback and e-versions needed ISBNs and the barcode that goes on the back of the book. If you are in Canada, you can request them for free from this government agency. It can be done by email and takes a few days. The ISBN works for worldwide distribution.

The second was the need for a United States tax number. Despite my wish to sell on the ITunes Canada bookstore and Amazon.ca, both companies appear to be organized to sell through the States. The options are a TIN or EIN. I did a bit of research and was told to apply for an EIN as it is significantly quicker to obtain.

My recommendation is to apply over the phone as there are a couple of mandatory boxes on the online form that Canadian’s will not be able to complete, thus you will get stuck.

It is probably a half hour call and you will have the EIN before you hang up. It is then 3-4 weeks to get the letter from the IRS confirming all the details. I would recommend waiting until you get the letter before opening up the ITunes account. The EIN does not get in the IRS system immediately, so your application to ITunes may be rejected with reasons unclear. I was rejected and then waited for the letter. I submitted the information again and it worked just fine.

To sell the book through Amazon and ITunes, I needed to sign a few contracts which included entering my tax information. There is a bit of a lag to process, so I would recommend getting started about a month before your book is finalized.

Any tips on writing?

I read a few books on writing and collected online tips on a spreadsheet whenever I came across a good article. I tend to read those tips once a week to help focus my writing. From there, practice makes slightly better!

The one thing I keyed in on was to write in the active voice. I find my writing long winded when I write in the passive voice. Writing in the active voice results in shorter, clearer prose. The book is easier to read as a result.*

* The first two sentences above are in the passive voice. Second two are in active voice. I will write the same paragraph below switching it around.

Writing in the active voice was a key. The passive voice results in long winded writing. My writing is shorter and clearer when I write in the active voice. The result is an easier to read book.

Writing in the active voice was a key. The passive voice results in long winded writing. Writing in the active voice results in shorter, clearer prose. The book is easier to read as a result.

The above paragraph is a bit choppy to read. The tip I suppose is to primarily write in the active voice. I naturally write in the passive voice, so much of the second draft edits was fixing this.

A second tip is to be ruthless in cutting out everything that is not absolutely necessary to advancing the topic. You might guess that the book gets longer from the first draft to the final draft, but the opposite is true. I cut almost every anecdote in the book unless it was needed to enhance comprehension. Every sentence that was not necessary was cut. Almost every adverb and most adjectives also disappeared as I progressed.

I think it was Mark Twain who wrote, “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” It is easy to write a long, rambling piece of prose (as evidenced by most of the blog posts on this site). It takes time to trim all the fat and leave just the necessary words. That is what I tried to do with this book. I hope you enjoy reading it.