By Don Schmidt, The Book Kahuna
Part 1 of 3
Call to Action:
If you are serious about building income from your knowledge, your experience, and your book, I invite you to follow my blog at TheBookKahuna.wordpress.com, where I share real-world strategies for authors who want results, not theory.
I have spent more than forty years in the book publishing industry. I hold a Master’s degree in Publishing Science from Pace University. I have worked with authors at every level, from first-time writers staring at a blank page to seasoned professionals negotiating six-figure contracts. I have seen dreams fulfilled, and I have seen dreams quietly die because of one brutal truth:
Most authors are underpaid, underconfident, and under-positioned.
Recently, I asked aspiring first-time authors to answer a survey about what worries them most. Their answers were revealing, but not surprising:
- “I do not know how I will make money while I am writing.”
- “I am afraid my book will not sell.”
- “I do not know how to build an audience.”
- “I do not think anyone would pay me for my knowledge yet.”
- “I need income now, not two years from now.”
Let me be blunt, in true Book Kahuna fashion.
You do not need another year of preparation to start earning.
You do not need a finished book to start earning.
You do not need a massive email list to start earning.
You do not need permission from a publisher to start earning.
What you need is positioning, packaging, and the courage to charge.
That is why coaching is the fastest, cleanest, and most powerful way for an author to create a $500 offer in a single weekend.
Not a $29 e-book.
Not a $97 course.
Not a desperate discount bundle.
A real $500 offer.
One client.
One transformation.
One weekend to build it.
Why Coaching Is the Perfect First High-Ticket Offer
Coaching requires three things:
- Knowledge you already have
- A problem you can help solve
- A structured way to guide someone to a result
Every author already possesses these, whether they realize it or not.
If you are writing a nonfiction book, you are already positioning yourself as a guide.
If you are writing fiction, you understand story, creativity, discipline, and craft.
If you have survived something, learned something, or built something, you have experience that others will pay to shortcut.
The mistake most authors make is thinking:
“I will coach after my book is successful.”
The professionals understand:
“My coaching will help make my book successful, and my book will help scale my coaching.”
This is the authority loop. This is how real publishing brands are built.
The $500 Price Point Is Psychological Power
Five hundred dollars is not casual money.
It is also not unreachable money.
It signals:
- Serious commitment
- Serious transformation
- Serious positioning
It filters out dabblers and attracts decision-makers.
When someone pays $500, they show up.
When someone pays $500, they implement.
When someone pays $500, they respect your time and your expertise.
And from your side, when you charge $500, you step into a different identity. You are no longer “hoping” to help. You are professionally responsible for delivering results.
That shift alone changes everything.
The Weekend Mental Framework
You are not “creating a coaching business” in one weekend.
You are creating one premium offer and enrolling one client.
That is the entire objective.
Not funnels.
Not logos.
Not websites.
Not complicated platforms.
One offer.
One problem.
One promise.
One person willing to pay $500 for help.
This is how all real businesses start, even when they later become big.
Step One: Claim Your Expert Ground
Every author must answer one question:
“What do people already ask me for help with?”
It might be:
- Writing their first chapter
- Organizing their nonfiction idea
- Understanding publishing options
- Marketing without feeling overwhelmed
- Building confidence to call themselves an author
- Structuring a memoir
- Self-publishing correctly the first time
- Avoiding scams and bad service providers
Your survey already showed what first-time authors fear. Fear is simply unstructured desire for safety and progress. Where there is fear, there is demand for guidance.
Your coaching offer must sit directly on top of one urgent fear and one clear outcome.
Step Two: The Transformation Statement
A $500 coaching offer must be framed as a transformation, not as time.
Not:
“Four one-hour coaching sessions.”
But:
“In thirty days, you will go from confused and stuck to clear, confident, and moving forward with a real publishing plan.”
People do not buy hours.
They buy relief, clarity, confidence, and momentum.
Your offer must answer:
- Where are they now?
- Where will they be after working with you?
- What pain disappears?
- What capability appears?
That becomes your promise.
Step Three: Why One Weekend Is Enough
You are not inventing expertise.
You are organizing it.
You already know more than your future client.
You have already walked a path they are just beginning.
You already see mistakes they cannot yet see.
Your weekend is used to:
- Define one specific client type
- Define one specific painful problem
- Define one clear result
- Package your guidance into a simple structure
No overthinking. No perfectionism. No academic delay.
The Book Kahuna rule is simple:
Progress creates confidence.
Confidence creates authority.
Authority creates income.
In Part 2, I will show you exactly how to:
- Package your $500 coaching offer
- Structure the sessions
- Write the positioning statement
- Anchor the value so the price feels obvious
- Design the “weekend build” blueprint step by step
In Part 3, I will show you:
- How to sell it without sounding salesy
- How to invite the first client
- How to have the enrollment conversation
- How to close ethically and confidently
- How to turn one $500 client into recurring income
This is not theory.
This is not motivational fluff.
This is how authors become paid authorities instead of unpaid dreamers.
Part 2 is coming next.
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