Authors Are In the Shark Tank.

Over the years, I’ve watched a lot of different shows at lunchtime.

Scandal. Selling Sunset. Grey’s Anatomy. Million Dollar Listing New York. House Hunters.

But in the last year, I’ve landed on a favorite.

Shark Tank.

Not only is this show great for entrepreneurs — you learn all sorts of things, particularly about how successful products and product-based businesses operate — but it’s also a great metaphor for the publishing industry.

As venture capitalists, the “sharks” are looking for investments that will 10x their money.

Which is exactly what publishers are looking for.

In a lot of ways, the people who hold the purse strings at a major publisher think exactly like Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner. (My favorite Sharks.) In multiple episodes I’ve watched, Mark and Lori have told entrepreneurs that their intention with every deal is to get an exponential return on their money within a few years.

Which is exactly how traditional publishing works.

For the books I work on — how-to nonfiction, commonly known as prescriptive or as self-help — publishers act like venture capitalists.

That’s because how-to books tend to rely on the same things that a product-based business…