ZZ25042 Future of Books V01 190925

 Why books are the new disruptor

You can learn by reading them and also leverage expertise through writing them.

Jane Hamilton reports

Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, famously reads 50 books a year, while the investor Warren Buffett claims to digest 500 pages every day to build up his formidable financial knowledge.

With most business now conducted online, burying your head in a book may seem counterintuitive, but the challenging economic landscape means business books are booming.

Industry experts are looking to print as the new disruptor, commanding attention and deep learning over digital “doomscrolling”.

“What is clear is that books are selling well and business people are still writing books that help us learn, upskill, lead and grow in awareness,” Jacq Burns, founder of the London Writers’ Clubs and head judge at the Business Book Awards, said.

While less than 5 per cent of business books published annually achieve significant financial success, mid-tier titles can still generate £10,000 to £100,000 a year for authors.

Perhaps more significantly, writing an acclaimed business title can help amplify your authority and open doors to opportunities including consultancy, public speaking and training.

“The value of a business book isn’t in sales, it’s in how it helps you attract opportunities,” Ella Davidson explains. As the founder of the Book Publicist, a specialist non-fiction PR agency, Davidson has helped promote thousands of authors over a 20-year period.

So what is selling in the world of business books this year? Here is the expert advice from the 2025 Business Book Award winners.

Graham Allcott, author of Kind
Lean into your kindness, it gets results. Kindness drives empathy and creates the trust that speeds up innovation and productivity. But kindness and being nice are very different. Nice is about telling people what they want to hear, but kind is about telling people what they need to hear. Kindness means delivering the hard truths that great work needs.

Emily Austen, author of Smarter 
Multi-tasking is a myth. Switching between tasks drains focus and slows you down. Choose mono-tasking: one priority to be completed before moving on. Also, cut performative work. Lengthy slide decks and late-night Slack messages may look impressive but often achieve little.

Terence Mauri, author of The Upside of Disruption 
Have a “no” strategy. Data isn’t the new oil. Attention is the new oil. Overcommitment erodes attention and doubles the risk of low-contribution shallow work versus high-contribution deep work.

David and Chris Sinkinson, authors of Startup Different
Your product or service isn’t the core function of your business. The core function of all companies is to sell their product or service. Everything else must come second.

Tony Lewis, author of Brand Momentum You don’t need to be that different; you simply need more energy. While many brands focus on what makes them unique or different, the best brands focus on evoking emotions.