Entrepreneurs' books struggle to find success

Most successful entrepreneurs like rattling on about how they did it.

The bookshelves have never been more crowded with such exploits from consultants, real-estate moguls and retailers. And publishers say there are more on the way. With layoffs and cutbacks dominating the headlines, demand for advice books based on true-life stories is peaking.

"These books are hot, and will be even hotter," says Rick Wolff, executive editor of French media company Lagardere SCA's Grand Central Publishing and editorial director of its Business Plus business-books unit. "In this economy, everybody wants to be in command of their career and destiny."

Over the past six years, the number of books written by entrepreneurs or about entrepreneurship has risen steadily, to an estimated 312 in 2007 from 188 in 2002, according to Books in Print, which is owned by R.R. Bowker, a provider of bibliographic information.

"People always like to read about others who get rich," says Michael Norris, a senior analyst at media-research firm Simba Information in Stamford, Conn.

It's a category with a handful of proven celebrity stars - including Donald Trump and Jack Welch - whose advice books inevitably hit the national best-seller lists. There also have been some big successes from lesser-known entrepreneurs whose stories resonate with readers.

But most books by entrepreneurs quickly vanish - as, of course, do most books in general. Some of the most common problems of these titles are that they fail to provide new information or lack broad appeal.

In January, Walt Disney Co.'s Hyperion book unit published 37,000 copies of Gary Hirshberg's "Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World." But the title has sold only 5,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan. The book received few reviews, so potential readers may not have known it was available.

Hirshberg, who runs Danone SA's Stonyfield Farm, a maker of organic yogurt based in Londonderry, N.H., says his publisher has done little advertising, which is common in the publishing business. But he is aggressively promoting the book on the lecture circuit. While he normally gives 50 speeches a year, he's now on track to give 150 in 2008.

Hirshberg says his company has purchased 4,000 copies, and at least another 4,000 copies have sold through channels not counted by BookScan. "This year, I've probably given 60 or 70 speeches since the book was published," he says, so "the title is still selling."

Will Balliett, editor in chief of Hyperion, says a paperback edition will be issued next April under a new title, "Green Your Business: How to Turn Conventional Wisdom on Its Head, Make Money, and Save the World." "The sales feedback that we got indicated that the original title was clever but not descriptive enough," he says.

So what does it take to succeed?

"Pragmatic advice, (a book written by) somebody with a fairly high public profile, and a person who can hit the lecture circuit after the first rush of publicity and keep the book selling," says Grand Central's Wolff.

Those factors have contributed to the staying power of restaurateur Danny Meyer's book, "Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business."

News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers first published 30,000 copies in October 2006. (News Corp. also publishes The Wall Street Journal.) Meyer's work, chatty personal anecdotes wrapped around a core message that emphasizes hospitality as the key to creating satisfied customers, proved a hit.

There are now 90,000 copies in print after 14 printings. And the book has been sold to eight countries. Demand for the hardcover remained so strong that the paperback edition wasn't issued until this past January.

Dave Hathaway, a business-books buyer for Barnes & Noble Inc., the nation's largest bookstore chain measured by sales, says Meyer's book sold well nationwide in part because of its focus on managing people and providing hospitality. "The ideas Danny presented in the book resonated," he says.

Although Meyer, 50, is well known in New York for launching such restaurants as the Union Square Cafe and Blue Smoke, he had a lower profile nationally. But he focused on his message, and then used his public-speaking skills to keep interest in the book alive. After the first blitz of publicity was over, he went on the lecture circuit - making dozens of speeches, including appearances at leading business schools, airline companies and financial-investment houses.

"The most surprising thing was the interest from the hospital community," Meyer says. "That's an industry in turmoil based on the absence of hospitality. They over-focus on the metrics of stays and cure rates rather than how they make people feel."

Meyer says because of the book's success, his company, Union Square Hospitality Group, receives more job applicants at every level. And it has given a bump to his restaurants as readers visit in order to road-test the concepts in the book.

"For the first three months after it was published, I received more complaint letters than ever before," he says. "People would say: 'Gotcha, you aren't doing what you wrote about on page 32.' The restaurants really had to sharpen their acts as a result."

Some entrepreneurial titles are written - and resonate with readers - for more personal reasons.

Paul Orfalea, the founder of Kinko's, says he wrote his book, "Copy This!: Lessons from a Hyperactive Dyslexic Who Turned a Bright Idea Into One of America's Best Companies," because he wanted parents of kids with dyslexia to know that their children could succeed in life.

Workman Publishing, an independent publisher based in New York, initially printed 35,000 copies in 2005. Today, after two additional printings, there are 50,000 hardcovers in print. A paperback edition was published in March 2007, with a reworked title.

"Business and life are intertwined," says Orfalea. "If you only know how to work, you can't lead people. People won't follow if you are tired and haggard."

He founded Kinko's in 1970 to provide copy services to college students. FedEx Corp. acquired Kinko's in 2004.

The book, co-written with Ann Marsh, had several messages, Orfalea says. One was that happy workers were good for the company. So, he provided a solid benefits package. This also enabled him to keep talented employees who could have opened rival copying businesses across the street. "I had to make people feel good and build a culture," he says.

Second, Orfalea urged people not to take themselves so seriously. "Kinko's only needed one person like myself," he says. "I'm a great owner, not a good manager. A good owner holds people accountable, which they like, and challenges them to move where they don't want to go."

His third, and strongest, message: Make do with what you have. He says that after being expelled from a junior high school, the principal told his mother that if Orfalea worked really hard, he could aspire to one day laying carpet.

"I made lemonade from a lemon," he says. "I had to stay on top of things because I was incompetent. I couldn't read and I couldn't sit still. But I had a better view."