The March Miracle that Stunned Everyone, (Especially Me)...

What does it take to become a number one best selling author?  My executive editor in New York City tells his stable of authors, which includes people such as Ben Stein, Brian Tracy, and Larry Winget (Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life), that 25% of the work goes into writing a book, and 75% should go into promoting it.

One promoter I talked to (Michael Drew at www.promoteabook.com) requires that authors be willing to spend at least $100,000 and recommends up to $300,000 in promotional expenses before he'll take them on as a client. (And just in case you're wondering, no, you don't buy cases of your own book to rig the rankings).

You also don't make much money from royalties. The average paperback business book, called a trade paperback, sells about 5,000 copies in a lifetime. The author makes about $1 royalty off each book.

Over 3,000,000 new books are written every year, and only about 10% of those ever get published by a major publishing house. Less than 1/10 of 1% of any of those ever make any best seller list, and even fewer ever hit the highly coveted #1 spot.

The bottom line is that you'll give up about a year of your life just writing the book. You'll miss all your kids' ball games and your spouse won't remember what you look like, which could be a blessing since you'll likely gain about 50 pounds from constantly working until 3:00 in the morning and surviving on junk food.

So why would anybody sacrifice so much for so little? The official reason is because there are no greater credentials than to be known as the person who wrote the book on the subject.

But perhaps the real reason is because they're dreamers who are arrogant enough to think they have something so important to say, that the world needs to hear it from them.

They're fools who don't know any better than to dream so big that they never consider how much it will hurt when their dreams come crashing down on them in a crushing tidal wave of disappointment.

I know this all too well, because I am one of those dreamers who believed so passionately in my message that I was willing to sacrifice everything to get it out there.

I self published my first three books, and then the big New York publisher came calling in 2004.

It was John Wiley & Sons, the largest and most prestigious business book publisher in the world. Over 200 years old, they have published such literary legends as Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens, and Herman Melville.

While it was a dream come true, I don't mind telling you that it was also a bit intimidating, and very surreal.

But that was just the beginning. Remember, writing the book is only 25% of he work.

Wiley published my third and fourth books, which sold about average.

But my sixth book, How to Be the Employee Your Company Can't Live Without, was quite a different story.

I sent advance manuscripts to 68 CEOs requesting endorsements.

I was rejected or ignored by 62, from Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx (although I have to note that Mr. Smith's was the most polite decline I've ever received) to Bill Gates and Donald Trump (out of fairness, I have to note that Trump did endorse a book for a friend of mine, but was in the middle of shooting The Apprentice when I asked).

But what mattered most wasn't the 62 CEO's who said no; it was the 6 who said yes. The first three were the CEOs of  Office Depot, Cessna, Staples. The other three were men who were also dreamers, and founded Ruby Tuesday restaurants, 1-800 Flowers, and Famous Dave's Barbecue.

As we began pre-promoting the book, we asked various colleagues to contribute bonuses to give away to people who bought the book when it was first released. The first to contribute was Mark Victor Hansen, who co wrote Chicken Soup for the Soul (which has now sold over 100 million copies).

Our goal wasn't to hit #1 overall, because trade paperbacks never do.

We were only comparing apples to apples, which meant that we only wanted to top one of the three categories in which How to Be the Employee Your Company Can't Live Without had been placed. The categories were:

1. Self Realization

2. Career Development, and

3. Vocational Guidance.

We never thought we stood a chance at the broader category of Self Realization, because it included titles such as The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen Covey.

Out only goal was to hit #1 in the category of Career Development, which seemed like the one we had the best shot at hitting.  As long as you can say you wrote the #1 best selling book in your category, you gain more credibility, recognition, and respect in your field than any amount of money could ever buy.

My "best seller day" was carefully scheduled to be Tuesday, March 21, 2006. Nothing is left to chance, including the day of the week. Notice the next television commercial you see for a new DVD release, and it will always be on a Tuesday.

Everyone knew that I was stepping up to the plate to take my swing at bat, and I was a nervous wreck. All I was hoping for was to hit #1in the category of Career Development, which would have been #96,000 overall.

It seemed like the whole world was watching, and the last thing I wanted was to fall flat on my face, knowing that my publisher in New York, publicist in San Francisco, editor in Texas, and promoter in Ontario were watching. My publisher even had to coordinate with the head buyer at Barnes & Noble in New York City to stock up on the book.

Meanwhile, there was that little nagging voice inside me that kept saying, "Do you realize what a fool you're going to make out of yourself if no one buys this book? Do you realize how embarrassing it's going to be when the largest business book publisher in the world has to call the head buyer at the largest retail bookstore chain in the world and tell them no one wanted your book'?"

Yes, even when you make it this far, there's still self doubt and butterflies in your stomach.

I know one best selling author in Australia who was up around the clock for days watching the rankings during her best seller campaign.

But that was not to be the case for me.

By the time I woke up on my best seller day - emotionally drained and mentally exhausted - I had already number one in all three categories.

I don't know who or how, but people around the world were buying the book while I was sleeping.

This was beyond improbable. It had to be Divine intervention. But God thinks bigger than I could possibly dream., and this was only the beginning.

Then around 10:00 am, the impossible happened - it shot up all the way to #7 overall.

Now remember, we had only hoped to reach #96,000 overall.

Anything in the top 100 officially qualifies as a best seller; not just in category, but overall.

We took photos of the computer screen and half the people in my office cried, while the other half  yelled.

We had a pizza party to celebrate the fact the I had my first best seller, and that it was finally all over.

At least, that's what we thought.

Then at exactly 12:13 pm, one of my employees went to her office to take a call and then screamed, "Everyone come fast! You aren't going to believe this!"

By the grace if God and a whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooole lot of hard work, my sixth book had just hit #1 overall.

That meant that we beat out every book in print, in every genre, including huge names like Stephen Covey, John Grisham, Stephen King, Harry Potter, and even my favorite book ever, The Purpose Driven Life.

I had only wanted to be the biggest fish in a small pond. But in the end, I got to spend my 15 minutes in the spotlight as the biggest fish in the entire ocean.

Ironically, there are no words to describe what it feels like at a moment like that. Only pictures can tell the story.

So click on the cameras above to see what literally makes a grown man cry.

UPDATE

The same book went on to be translated into five languages, and published in Mexico, Russia, China, Bulgaria, and South Korea.