The Smart Author System
How to Write a Self-Funding Business-Building Book That GUARANTEES Your Readers Will Love the Content!
(Even if you're completely new to writing, unsure what to say, or you've already started, but aren't sure you're on the right track)
You know your expertise and experience can help people – but how do you turn your knowledge and wisdom into a book that people want to read, buy, and talk about?
If you’re a thought leader, business owner, coach, consultant, or expert, you already understand the power of sharing your insights. But when it comes to writing a book, you might feel:
The truth is, writing a book isn’t just about putting words on a page – it’s about creating something valuable, strategic, and aligned with your business.
I'm Karen Williams, The Book Mentor, and in 2020, I created the Smart Author System, a step-by-step programme that gives you the structure, guidance, and expert support to turn your knowledge into a business-building book, without getting lost in the process.
There are two ways to access the online programme, depending on the level of support you want:
Smart Author System - Self-study
Smart Author – Self-study is designed for independent learners who want a clear, structured plan to follow at their own pace. You’ll get all the training, materials, and templates needed to plan, write, publish, and launch your book, plus a 30-minute 121 clarity call to ensure you're on the right track.
Smart Author System - Community
Smart Author – Community includes everything in Self-study, plus exclusive access to the private Smart Author Facebook group, where you can ask questions, get support from fellow authors, and stay accountable. You'll also get a longer 60-minute mentoring call with me and additional expert interviews and resources inside the Smart Author Video Vault.
Whether you prefer to work independently or want additional support and connection, there’s an option for you. (And if you want ongoing accountability, coaching, and support for nine-months, check out our third option – Smart Author - Fast Track).
Here’s a breakdown of what you get in each version:
Smart Author System - Self-study
Six week programme: A comprehensive step-by-step system with videos, templates, and frameworks to help you write a self-funding book that captivates your future readers, fans, and clients.
Bonus 1: 30-Minute 121 ‘Book Clarity’ Call: Near the end of the programme, you’ll have a practical check-in with Karen or a member of her team (via Zoom or phone) to review your book’s direction, address any sticking points, and ensure you have a clear plan for moving forward. (Value: £200)
Bonus 2: Online Book Launch Blueprint: Get access to Karen’s proven Amazon #1 bestseller strategy delivered via an online programme, including the exact swipe file she and her clients have used to successfully launch their books and reach #1 on Amazon. (Value: £197)
Bonus 3: Book Publishing Cheat Sheet: A concise, essential guide covering everything you need to know to publish your book smoothly and successfully, helping you avoid costly mistakes and ensure you get your book into the hands of the right readers.
Get risk-free access to the SAS Self-study option and 3 bonuses for 3 monthly instalments of £177+VAT
Or £497+VAT in a single payment (saving £34)
Smart Author System - Community
Six week programme: A comprehensive step-by-step system with videos, templates, and frameworks to help you write a self-funding book that captivates your future readers, fans, and clients.
SAS Online Community: A private space where you can ask Karen and her team questions, access Karen’s little black book of contacts, and connect with fellow authors to share ideas, get feedback, and stay motivated.
SAS Exclusive Videos: Get 24/7 access to a growing library of recorded videos and lives where Karen answers key questions and provides extra support, available anytime in the private Smart Author Community.
SAS Video Vault: Get 24/7 access to an extensive library of recorded expert interviews, training videos, and past community sessions. With 25+ recordings, you’ll find insights on publishing, editing, LinkedIn strategies, monetising your book, and even creating a course from your content.
Bonus 1: 60-Minute 121 Book Mentoring Call – As you near the end of the programme, you’ll have a personal Book Mentoring session with Karen (via Zoom or phone) to review your progress, get answers to your questions, and refine your next steps so you can move forward with confidence. (Value: £400)
Bonus 2: Online Book Launch Blueprint: Get access to Karen’s proven Amazon #1 bestseller strategy delivered via an online programme, including the exact swipe file she and her clients have used to successfully launch their books and reach #1 on Amazon. (Value: £197)
Bonus 3: Book Publishing Cheat Sheet: A concise, essential guide covering everything you need to know to publish your book smoothly and successfully, helping you avoid costly mistakes and ensure you get your book into the hands of the right readers.
Get risk-free access to the SAS Community option for 5 monthly instalments of £177+VAT
Or £797+VAT in a single payment (saving £88)
What's included in the six-week Smart Author System Training.
Delivered over six weeks, you will get access to comprehensive videos, templates and frameworks where we’ve done most of the thinking for you. Drip-fed in a way that makes it easy for you to go through the programme at a sensible pace and get the best results, quickly and easily.
Week 1
In the first week, we’re going to start by looking at 'you' the author, your audience and how your book is going to build your wealth for many years to come.
This week’s content is important because it gives you the foundations for your book.
Authors who skip this critical stage usually end up writing a book that does little for their business… Or they find themselves going round in circles writing and rewriting their content because they don’t have a clear and proven direction to take.
In the first week, you're going to discover:
How to find your uniqueness – this is crucial because you don’t want to be another author churning out a book that no one wants to read
The difference between being an author and being an authority – a distinction that can determine whether your book makes a real impact or fades into obscurity
The key secret that makes writing your book easier—saving you time, money, and effort
The first of the seven key self-funding strategies, called the 'Authority Bump' – which will result in people having a clearer understanding of what you do and who you can help – plus you'll gain a list of future readers before you’ve even started writing
By the end of week one, you will have everything you need to put the foundations in place ready to start the second week.
Week 2
In the second week, we drill down into your book’s subject.
Many authors go wrong when they pick the subject they want to write about.
Often they try to shoehorn too many ideas into their book… Or they go to the other extreme of not having enough content to make it valuable… Or worse still, they pick the wrong subject for their audience and building their business.
So when you watch the second week’s videos, you will discover:
How to figure out what content your readers are most desperate to learn about
How to determine which of your ideas are going to benefit your business most
How a little known Japanese formula for happiness will enable you to bring what you love to do, your passions and your business together in your book
In addition, you will get:
The blueprint for creating a 'Future Reader Survey' that helped one of Karen's clients build a community and gain certainty that 132 people wanted to hear what she had to say
The 'Bob Method' of self-funding your book. While discovering exactly what your clients want to hear, this method is highly effective at gaining corporate or high-end business clients
By the end of week two, you will have everything you need to gain crystal clear clarity on which book you are writing first, what subjects will benefit you, and what your clients are most desperate to read about.
Week 3
In the third week, we find your magic.
The secret sauce.
The thing that makes you and your book unique, compared to every other book and author out there.
Authors tend to forget that they’ve got lots of competition, meaning they end up churning out yet another book on a subject that’s been done to death.
That doesn’t mean their books don’t contain great information… But if your readers think they’ve read something very similar before, and can’t see why yours is different or is going to finally give them the answer they are looking for, they are unlikely to buy it because it doesn’t hook them in.
And if they do buy it, they probably won’t finish it. Instead, they’ll post a review saying, ‘Don’t bother—read XYZ instead.’
In this week’s training, you will discover:
The secret resource that most authors don’t know about or, if they do, forget to use when finding their hook – which means they risk writing a book that potential readers will dismiss as ‘nothing new’
Why it doesn’t matter if someone else has a similar book, as long as you do one specific thing – meaning you can write a book on a common subject
The most important thing that you MUST leverage in order to create a book of authority. If you ignore this, you risk losing readers to competing books
In addition, you will get:
The five essential questions you need to ask yourself to check your ideas are strong enough to stand out in a crowded market
The exact 'build the plane as you fly it' formula I used to gain £16K just from planning my third book, Your Book is the Hook and how you can fund your book by doing the same
By the end of week three, you will have everything you need to be certain that your book will be seen as different, desirable and prove you are an authority in your area of interest.
Week 4
Let me ask you a question.
How many times have you given up on a book, because the author jumps around from one idea to another?
Books like this are difficult to read and come across as disjointed or rambling.
It happens because most authors jump straight into writing the content before they’ve adequately planned out their ideas. If your book is not well-structured, reader is likely to get frustrated and stop reading, thinking your book isn’t worth their time. Doing little to establish your authority as an author, thought leader, or credible business person.
Whereas the benefits of a well-structured and planned book are that it is far easier and quicker to write. It flows better and is a nicer experience for your readers. This will increase the likelihood that they will leave great reviews and want to work with you in the future.
The fourth week’s training is our favourite!
As you are going to see your book rapidly forming right in front of your eyes!
We are going to map it out as a big colourful plan using post-it notes. Clients always love this stage as they can see their dream turning into reality.
In this week’s training you will discover how to:
Structure your book in a way that your reader feels inspired and remembers the content using our unique post-it note planning method
Find your rhythm and voice to make it an easy read so that readers are unable to put it down
Spin your ideas out into talks, online programmes and live training for a future, and potentially massive income
Pitch your book to your clients or even a publisher if you’re determined to go down the traditional route
In addition, you will get:
Our Book Worksheet that makes it easy to go from the post-it note exercise to a concrete plan for all of the content
Our Book Template that gives you a template to use to write your book, so that you need to do nothing except add the content. Everything else is done for you. Plus we tell you what pieces of information you need, including your copyright page, acknowledgements, foreword and reviews, with guidance of what to include, so you don't miss out anything crucial
The Synopsis Framework and Blueprint, spelling out exactly how you put together an attention grabbing synopsis, so that you can pitch your book to a publisher or easily tell people what you’re doing and how they will benefit
The 'sponsorship' method of self-funding that enables you to cover all your costs and strengthen your credibility before you’ve finished it
The 'Crowdfunding' method of funding a book, which allows you to raise your profile, gain clients and build a following before you even start writing
By the end of week four, you will know everything you need to plan your book out and write it.
Week 5
In the fifth week, I give you the exact system I teach my high-end clients to make it easy to start putting together the content you’ve planned.
Many authors get stuck when it comes to the writing stage.
Often because they don’t know who they’re writing their book for, how it fits into their business or because they don’t have a structure or plan to follow. Though none of this will be a problem for you, because by the time we get to week five, you will have all you need to nail that… And validate that your future readers will want to buy your book because they’ve told you so.
Another reason authors struggle with writer's block or keep rewriting is that they feel overwhelmed when faced with a blank screen or recording device. But because I’ve written 10 books, and I’ve helped hundreds of clients write theirs, I’ve finely honed the process of pulling your content together quickly and turning it into a manuscript ready for publishing.
In this week’s training you will discover:
How to find your voice and the tone of your book and why it’s so important. Because if this is off, your readers will struggle to consume your book
A little trick that costs nothing, finds mistakes quickly and easily, and shows you how well the book flows
Which are the best writing methods and tools to use and their advantages and disadvantages – shortcutting the process, so you can just start writing rather than wasting time
Several little-known techniques that will help you to write your book quickly and easily in the realistic time you have available
By the end of week five, you will have everything you need to quickly and efficiently write your book, without having to keep going back and redraft or rewrite it time and time again.
Week 6
In the final week of this programme, we focus on how you turn your manuscript into a great looking book, ready to launch to a wider audience of people.
In this week's training you will get:
Our Book Planning tool that includes everything you need to include in your book, so that you can check everything off once you’ve done it
The Copyright Information Checklist, so that you avoid any heartache or stress because you’ve accidentally infringed someone else’s rights
The critical Back Cover Design Framework, so that you can maximise sales, have the greatest impact and build your authority
The 'Pre-Sell Content' self-funding method to make it easy to effectively fund your printing and publishing costs prior to launch, plus 10 further ways of monetising your book once you've been published
The exact strategies I’ve used to get amazing endorsements from people like Brian Tracy, Peter Thomson and Rachel Elnaugh for my books that, up until now, I’ve only ever shared with my high-end clients
By the time you’ve completed week six, you really have everything to go from 'not started' to being able to publish your self-funded and validated book that will build your authority, leverage your knowledge, monetise your IP, bring in clients and grow your community for many years to come.
Let me emphasise, everything I share in this six-week programme is based on 16 years of experience of writing my own books and 11 years of experience of supporting hundreds of clients to successfully write their books through my programmes, events and challenges.
And it's been distilled down to give you everything you need to write your self-funding, self-validating, authority and business-building book, without any jargon or fluff, and clearly laid out in an easy way for you to follow, so that you can finally turn your lifelong goal of writing a bestselling and well-received book into reality!
30 DAYS
Money Back Guarantee
Sign up now and you will get immediate access to the first week of the online study course. You can be watching the videos and starting to put the foundations in place in minutes.
However, if within the next 30 days of signing up, you are not completely happy with your purchase, simply get in contact with my team and I, and we will refund all of your money.
I can confidently offer you this guarantee because I know just how effective The Librotas Smart Author System is. But I want you to feel completely comfortable when you sign up.
What my other happy clients say about working with me and the techniques used in the Smart Author System...
Sally’s dream was to write a ‘coffee table’ book for reflexologists who want to learn her methodology for supporting those with cancer and other inflammatory and auto-immune conditions.
Containing well over 200 images, it’s a beautifully illustrated guide, with an RRP of £49.99.
Sally used the 'Pre-sell' self-funding method to gain 325 pre-orders before it was publicly available and had an offer to encourage people to buy it early.
That’s 325 copies of her book that she personally signed, beautifully packaged and lovingly posted once published.
And if you work the maths, that’s around 16K of income.
She recently said “[this] successful business model has enabled me to share my work with the world, and best of all the content is already making a difference to people’s lives from Alaska to New Zealand and many places in between. I’m proud to say that my book has been incredibly well received and the reviews are fantastic!”
Without a desire to become an Amazon bestseller, she accidentally rocketed to the top of the charts when she sold 591 copies online in June. To date, she’s sold around 2000 copies of her £49.99 book.
Sally is a great example of someone who focused on building her community and self-funding her book. Although the income from book sales wasn’t her motivation for writing her book, she wanted to reach more people and spread her message far and wide.
And when you have a plan to do this, book sales are automatically going to follow.
Sally Kay
Emma wrote How to be a Lady Who Leaves in 2017.
An incredibly successful book that not only reached number one in the Amazon bestseller charts, but gained her some amazing PR all around the world including making a quite a buzz in New York.
She only works 121 with high net individuals and she’s confident in her pricing because writing her book uncovered the value she provides. And now, whenever she has a discovery call with a prospective client, 90% have already read her book.
They know who she is, what she can do for them, and the value of how she can help them. And she told me that she converted every single discovery call last year bar one.
Which is incredible when you think about it!
So she has not only written a book that is building her business, but for every client she works with directly, she knows her book is helping many more women who are going through divorce, and needs the information only she can share with them.
Emma Heptonstall
Since Claire wrote her book, The Winning Mix has been in the top 10 in the Amazon charts most months in a relevant category and she has 51 glowing five-star reviews so far… And that number grows on a monthly basis. Plus she was a finalist in the Business Book Awards in 2019.
In a recent conversation, she told me her book has been pivotal in getting work across the world, and in her words “it has put her on the map as the go to person in her industry”.
Clients often read her book before they start working with her, and as she put her heart and soul into the book, it removes any barriers, meaning that they can instantly work closely together. She said, “it was life changing in so many ways”.
Claire Brumby
Lindsay was a member of the audience when I did my TedX talk in 2017. Within a month of us meeting for the first time, she’d already started using the techniques found in this six-week programme.
Prior to publishing, partly due to being an author in the making, she got her own TEDx talk.
Once published, Flybe chose her book for the ‘Editor’s Pick’ for their in-flight magazine. Since then the good publicity has continued in other amazing publications, and some major corporate clients have come directly from her book!
Lindsay Maclean
Steve Judge, a keynote speaker and former paratriathlete world champion, had a vision to reach more people and inspire them through his book.
Off the back of writing his memoir, he’s been engaged to deliver many more speaking gigs in the few months after publishing, gaining a five figure income in the process.
He’s also raised money for charity and organisations often bulk buy his book for their audience or teams.
Steve Judge
Sign up and join our community of Smart Authors today...
Smart Author System - Self-study
Six week programme: A comprehensive step-by-step system with videos, templates, and frameworks to help you write a self-funding book that captivates your future readers, fans, and clients.
Bonus 1: 30-Minute 121 ‘Book Clarity’ Call: Near the end of the programme, you’ll have a practical check-in with Karen or a member of her team (via Zoom or phone) to review your book’s direction, address any sticking points, and ensure you have a clear plan for moving forward. (Value: £200)
Bonus 2: Online Book Launch Blueprint: Get access to Karen’s proven Amazon #1 bestseller strategy delivered via an online programme, including the exact swipe file she and her clients have used to successfully launch their books and reach #1 on Amazon. (Value: £197)
Bonus 3: Book Publishing Cheat Sheet: A concise, essential guide covering everything you need to know to publish your book smoothly and successfully, helping you avoid costly mistakes and get your book into the hands of the right readers.
Get risk-free access to the SAS Self-study option and three bonuses for 3 monthly instalments of £177+VAT
Or £497+VAT in a single payment (saving £34)
Smart Author System - Community
Six week programme: A comprehensive step-by-step system with videos, templates, and frameworks to help you write a self-funding book that captivates your future readers, fans, and clients.
SAS Online Community: A private space where you can ask Karen and her team questions, access Karen’s little black book of contacts, and connect with fellow authors to share ideas, get feedback, and stay motivated.
SAS Exclusive Videos: Access a growing library of recorded videos and lives where Karen answers key questions and provides extra support, available anytime in the private Smart Author Community.
SAS Video Vault: Get 24/7 access to an extensive library of recorded expert interviews, training videos, and past community sessions. With 25+ recordings, you’ll find insights on publishing, editing, LinkedIn strategies, monetising your book, and even creating a course from your content.
Bonus 1: 60-Minute 121 Book Mentoring Call – As you near the end of the programme, you’ll have a personal Book Mentoring session with Karen (via Zoom or phone) to review your progress, get answers to your questions, and refine your next steps so you can move forward with confidence. (Value:£400)
Bonus 2: Online Book Launch Blueprint: Get access to Karen’s proven Amazon #1 bestseller strategy delivered via an online programme, including the exact swipe file she and her clients have used to successfully launch their books and reach #1 on Amazon. (Value: £197)
Bonus 3: Book Publishing Cheat Sheet: A concise, essential guide covering everything you need to know to publish your book smoothly and successfully, helping you avoid costly mistakes and get your book into the hands of the right readers.
Get risk-free access to the SAS Community option for 5 monthly instalments of £177+VAT
Or £797+VAT in a single payment (saving £88)
Click the sign-up button, and within a few short minutes, you will have access to the first week's content and taking your first step towards being a published and highly credible author!
Remember, this is 100% risk-free, so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
If you have any questions, email admin@librotas.com, and we’ll be happy to help. Else, see you inside!