How Writing a Book Helps Agency Owners Attract Right-Fit Clients (Without “Selling”)
Behind the Agency Podcast with Henry DeVries, Head of Indie Books International
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Prefer the highlights? Key takeaways and summary below.
TL;DR – Key Takeaways
Henry’s core belief: he’s not in the “book business” — he’s in the authority-making business.
Most agencies don’t have a lead problem. They have a right-fit client problem (he says ~2 out of 3).
Books work best when they’re built around a super niche + specific problem (general books don’t pay off the same).
Three book formats that work: proprietary process, essay collection, or a story/fable (because brains love stories).
His 4-phase process: Plan → Prep (write) → Publish → Promote (and promotion is the real game).
“Publishing is the starting line.” If you don’t promote, the book “escapes” and nothing happens.
Biggest roadblocks: time, money, and not knowing the process. His workaround is interviewing you (you talk 10x faster than you type).
Contrarian take: Giving away the “secret sauce” attracts buyers. Most “secret sauce” isn’t secret anyway.
Meet the Guest
Henry DeVries is the head of Indie Books International, where he helps agency owners write and publish nonfiction business books that build authority and bring in better clients.
He and his team have helped publish 170+ books, and he’s built a repeatable process designed for busy founders who feel like they don’t have time to do “one more thing” for business development.
Episode Summary
1. The real reason to write a book
Henry comes in hot with a line I loved:
He’s not selling books. He’s helping agency owners become the obvious authority in a niche.
The logic is simple: if you’re known as “the person” for a specific problem, you stop chasing random leads and start attracting right-fit prospects.
2. The trap most agency owners fall into
Henry calls out the most common trap: agency owners say they’re experts… but don’t publish anything that proves it.
He tells a story: he once asked a room of 50 people who considered themselves experts. Every hand went up.
Then he asked who publishes a helpful article at least monthly.
Only a few hands stayed up.
That gap is where most agencies lose.
“You say you’re an expert, but you don’t have any proof that you’re an expert.”
3. Their unique way of solving it: “Authority-making” through books
Henry’s angle isn’t “write a book because you should.”
It’s: write a book because it becomes a credibility engine you can use to get interviews, podcasts, stages, and conversations with the right people.
And he’s clear: the goal isn’t to get everyone to read your book cover-to-cover.
It’s to get them to say: “Okay… this person gets it. We should talk.”
4. Framework, method, or mental model
Henry laid out two key frameworks:
A) The 4-Phase Book Process
Plan: decide what the book is (proprietary process vs essays vs fable), outline it, and create the “sloppy first copy” via interviews + transcription
Prep (Writing): take it through drafts until the author is proud of it
Publish: editing, cover/interior design, production, Amazon + ebook distribution
Promote: send books out monthly, do showcase talks, get on stages/podcasts/TV, and create “non-selling zones” where people experience your expertise
He repeated a mantra that’s worth stealing:
Publishing is the starting line, not the finish line.
B) The “Educating Expert” Model
An authority is an educator.
You educate by:
Typing (articles, blogs, newsletters)
Talking (interviews, Q&As, live sessions)
And the weird part (that a lot of founders resist):
The more helpful you are, the more opportunities show up.
5. Common mistake or ‘cringe’ moment
Henry went straight at the “spray-and-pray” outreach habit:
fake personalization
bot messages
“let’s network” pitches
“20-minute discovery call?” from strangers
He’s basically saying: that stuff makes people’s skin crawl.
His alternative: be useful in public, consistently, and let people come to you.
He also had a line I laughed at because it’s true:
Most “secret sauce” is just ketchup + mayo.
Meaning: don’t hoard your knowledge. Giving it away is part of what makes you trusted.
6. Where the founder/leader still belongs
Founders shouldn’t be stuck doing everything… but they do need to be the source of the ideas and expertise.
Henry’s hack for time-strapped founders:
Instead of writing, talk.
He interviews them because founders can speak at ~250 words per minute vs writing at ~25 words per minute.
That’s how you “buy time back” and still ship something real.
7. Hiring, scaling, or process lessons
Henry touched a nerve that a lot of agency owners need to hear:
It’s basically malpractice for a founder to spend time doing something a $20/hour person could do.
He also mentioned offshoring as a legit lever if you want to lower cost and increase efficiency — not as a gimmick, but as a practical way to get more done without burning out.
Notable Quotes
“I’m not in the book business. I’m in the authority-making business.”
“Publishing the book is the starting line, not the finish line.”
“An authority is an educator.”
“The more helpful I am, the luckier I get in business development.”
Learn More / Get in Touch
Visit → Indie Books International (Events + Book Chat options)
Email → henry@indiebooksintl.com
Monthly Q&A → Usually first Tuesday of the month (free)
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