Hello to all my Modern Authors!

Let me say the quiet part out loud: Most “builder” books don’t build systems for the authors who write them.

Last week I was talking to an entrepreneur and author who wanted her book to finally break her out of trading hours for dollars.

She’s built businesses. Smart, established, and had already written a book. But she was frustrated:

That’s the trap.

The reality? Most books by entrepreneurs, consultants, or creators don’t fail because the ideas are bad. They fail because the book is built to teach or inspire, not to build something people can actually use.

And here’s the hard truth: in today’s economy, the real leverage comes when your book births a system. Something others can pick up, apply, and get results from without you standing there next to them.

Look at Jen Marr. Her three books on connection and empathy aren’t just stories or calls to action... they feed directly into tools, workshops, and a repeatable model companies license from her.

Or Noah Kagan. He didn’t write a memoir about starting companies... he packaged decades of entrepreneurial lessons into Million Dollar Weekend, a book that doubles as a playbook people can run on their own, fueling his AppSumo brand and his product ecosystem.

Nicole Bianchi did it too: Small Brave Moves isn’t just a feel-good leadership read. It’s the spine of a framework leaders pay her to bring into their companies, over and over again.

If you own a business, a book can be a powerful flywheel.
But it can't be a memoir. It can't be a how to book. It has sell your system... otherwise it doesn't "create anything I could sell beyond me."

📖 Your book can be the hook.

🧠 But your system is the product.

💸 And the business model? That’s where the build happens.

Who is the Builder Author?

Builders see the world in terms of systems. And their books require a different approach to drive meaningful outcomes.

Where others see messy processes, they see an opportunity to create a product people can pick up, plug in, and start using immediately. Their instinct isn’t just to teach or inspire... it’s to codify.

Unlike the Teacher, whose focus is delivering knowledge in a way you can absorb, or the Coach, who guides you through transformation in real time, the Builder delivers a self-contained system. The value isn’t in their presence... it’s in the repeatable, scalable product they’ve built.

You're a systems entrepreneur... and your book details the magic of your system, and a series of products, tools, and resources help others implement it.

Builders thrive on productization. They ask, “How can this solution work without me in the room?”

Their books often act as the blueprint, but the real leverage comes from the tangible outputs they create alongside it:
• Templates that shortcut implementation
• Operating systems that organize workflows
• Kits with all the tools in one place
• Software that automates what they teach
• Media products that live on, delivering value 24/7

At their best, Builders create assets that outlive any single engagement. Once the system is built, it scales without additional effort... making their book not just a marketing tool, but a distribution channel for their intellectual property.

Can You Productize a Book? Lessons from Jen Marr & Showing Up

You can... but it requires intentional design.

When Jen Marr began her work on compassion resilience, she didn’t just set out to write a book. She set out to equip organizations with a practical way to respond to burnout, disconnection, and crisis fatigue.

When she spoke to our Modern Author community, she was honest that the alignment of the books to her products wasn't as intentional as it may look now. "There was quite a bit of trial and error," she admitted. But now, each of her three books serves as a foundation for products, services, trainings, and more.

Her recent book, Showing Up, laid the foundation for her framework, a way to address empathy and action in professional and community settings. But Jen didn’t stop at the message. She turned the concepts in her book into tangible, scalable tools that organizations could implement.

Through structured workshops, she taught teams the Showing Up model in action. Then, she productized the approach into kits and resources that could be deployed without her in the room:
• facilitator guides,
• training decks,
• trainer certifications, and
• ready-to-use exercises.

This evolution from book → workshop → scalable product meant she could impact far more people than she could reach one client at a time. Her offerings now serve corporations, healthcare providers, universities, and nonprofits, creating a lasting impact because the system lives on after the keynote or training ends.

The key takeaway from Jen’s story? She didn’t stop at publishing a powerful message. She built assets that allow her ideas to spread without her direct involvement: transforming her from just an author into the architect of a replicable, high-impact system.

Avoiding the Successful Builder Trap: Noah Kagan's Million Dollar Weekend (and Book)

Noah Kagan is best known as the founder of AppSumo, and for his irreverent, high-energy content about entrepreneurship (if you haven't heard his story about being fired as employee #30 at Facebook, and how it cost him a bazillion dollars, it's an awesome story). But underneath the humor and hustle is a sharp Builder mindset: start small, test fast, scale what works.

When he spoke to our Modern Author community, he said "I don't like hope or surprises." And as a result, he designed his book and it's launch to ensure it.

His career has been a series of product experiments... many of them launched with minimal resources and validated in real time. Whether it’s a $1 taco promotion or a new SaaS tool, Noah’s philosophy is to get something into people’s hands as quickly as possible, gather feedback, and iterate.

This approach directly applies to successful Builder-authors.

Rather than spending years perfecting a big idea before launching it, Builders like Noah use content as a testing ground, videos, blog posts, newsletters to see what resonates. The book, when it comes, is often the codified, proven version of an idea that’s already succeeded in the market.

With Million Dollar Weekend, Noah effectively packaged his playbook for rapid product launches. The book itself becomes both a blueprint for readers and a sales engine for related products, workshops, and tools. The brilliance is in how each component feeds the other: content tests the ideas, the book scales the reach, and the products deliver the result.

The lesson from Noah? Builders don’t just write books. They create repeatable systems and use their books to distribute those systems at scale... turning every reader into a potential user of their products.

How Builders Can Launch Successful Books

If you're an entrepreneur or business owner and are thinking about writing a book... know that book sales aren't going to be enough.

Scott Galloway has said that his books are the key to his entire business engine today.

But a key without an engine is just some shiny metal.

Step One: Stop Writing About Your Ideas or Successes... Start Building Your System

Most Builder books I see start like this:

“One day I realized my spreadsheets were helping people save hundreds of hours…”

That’s fine for a blog post. But if you’re just sharing clever tips, you’re writing an advice book, not a scalable system.

🛠️ Here’s what you should do instead:

1. Name Your System ​
• Systems sell because people remember them. The 5-Day Launch Kit. The 80/20 Sales OS. The SHOW Method.
• When you name it, you own it.

2. Break It Into Repeatable Steps
• Show the process from start to finish.
• Identify where users usually get stuck... and build tools to get them unstuck.

3. Make It Plug-and-Play ​
• Can someone pick up your system and use it today with minimal learning?
• The best Builder books are ready-to-run kits, not just inspiration.

4. Include Templates & Tools
• Turn every key concept into a downloadable asset... checklists, scripts, swipe files.

5. Prove It Works Without You
• Showcase stories, case studies, and metrics from people who implemented it without your direct involvement.

When your book becomes a toolkit, you’re no longer just telling people how to do something... you’re equipping them to succeed.

Step Two: Use the Book to Scale Beyond Yourself

Let’s get tactical.

Most Builders are natural problem-solvers, but their time is the bottleneck. A book flips that equation, turning your solution into something that works without you.

🔁 Here’s how to repurpose your book into scalable offers:

• Low-Ticket Systems
→ $49–$299 downloadable kits, templates, or operating systems.
→ Example: Justin Welsh’s Content OS or Manuscripts' Codex.

• Mid-Ticket Programs
→ $499–$2,000 cohort programs or workshops with your system at the core.
→ Example: Contrarian Thinking’s deal kits.

• Subscription or Licensing Models
→ Monthly/annual access to your system, templates, or content library.
→ Example: Nicole Bianchi’s tools for teams.

• Corporate Packages
→ Sell your system as a repeatable solution companies can deploy internally.

When you design the system first, the book becomes your scalable infrastructure. It’s not just read. It’s run.

The Builder Book Checklist: What We Look For

When we help Builders write their books in the Modern Author Accelerator, we focus on one ruthless filter:

🧠 Is it a product, or is it just a pile of advice?

Here’s our internal Builder book checklist:

✅ System is named, visualized, and clearly explained
✅ Steps are documented in a way anyone can follow
✅ Tools/templates/assets are embedded or linked
✅ Case studies prove the system works without the author
✅ Book opens loops for upsell/downsell paths
✅ Scalable offers are mapped before writing begins
✅ The final product can scale without the author’s daily involvement

Final Thoughts for Builders Considering a Book

I meet a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners (aka Builders) who'd like to write a book.
→ many had an amazing outcome and feel like it's their time to tell about how it happened
→ others had a terrible outcome and feel like they need to give some lessons to others and get the failure off their chest
→ some are doing something new and realize it could help them leverage their personal brands to launch faster

The main thing I tell them all:

A Builder’s book isn’t a memoir, nor is it a motivational pep talk... it’s a blueprint.

The key is making your system crystal-clear and easy for others to run without you in the room.

Start by structuring the book around replicable frameworks. Every key concept should be actionable and repeatable, not dependent on your personal charisma or deep one-on-one teaching.

Then, integrate tangible assets directly into the reading experience: worksheets, scripts, templates, checklists, flowcharts. Ideally, you offer these as downloadable resources through a companion site, creating a bridge from book to product.

Show readers proof of use. Case studies, data points, and testimonials prove the system works in the wild and make it easier for readers to see themselves applying it.

Finally, embed hooks for upsell/downsell paths... clear next steps that lead to deeper products, memberships, or licensing opportunities. For example, “If you loved the framework in Chapter 5, here’s where you can access the full kit with videos and editable templates.”

A great Builder book reads like a manual for success, while subtly guiding the reader toward a richer, paid experience that continues the transformation your book started.

Jen Marr didn’t just write about compassion resilience... she built tools that organizations now use across the country. Noah Kagan doesn’t just share marketing tips... he packages them into products, platforms, and repeatable playbooks that others can run on autopilot.

This is the Builder’s advantage: once the system exists, the book becomes both the invitation and the instruction manual for using it.

Happy Building (and Writing), y’all.

Eric

⸻

🟦 This is Part 6 of a 10-Part Series on The Profitable Author. In the coming weeks, we’ll be diving into the Guide, Speaker, and more, breaking down exactly how each persona uses their book as a profit engine and growth system.

📬 Subscribe at ModernAuthorGuide.com to get the rest.

🟩 Want help designing a book that teaches, scales, and multiplies your expertise?

Reply and let’s talk. Or grab 15-minutes... I'd love to chat: https://go.oncehub.com/ManuscriptsBookTopicChatf​