The Hidden Mistake Smart Authors Make When Creating Courses

The Worst Person to Design Your Course Might Be… You

Here’s why that’s not an insult—but a crucial insight that could save you months of frustration (and missed sales).

You’ve spent months, even years, writing your book.
You know your topic inside and out.
You’ve lived it, breathed it, maybe even bled for it.

So when it’s time to create your course, you do what feels natural:
You start teaching what you know best.

And that 'is' the trap!

Most authors create courses from their expert lens, not from the learner’s journey.

They fill their course with valuable, hard-won knowledge, because they care.
But here’s the thing:

Your readers aren’t looking for more information.
They’re looking for transformation.

They don’t need the full story, they need the right steps.
They don’t want to understand everything, you need to help them do something.
They need clarity, not complexity.
They need a map, not a memoir.

A Real Story: How One Author Went from Frustrated to Fully Booked

Meet Sarah.

Sarah is a leadership coach who wrote a brilliant book packed with insight, humour, and depth. Her readers loved it.

So she thought, “I’ll turn this into a course!”

She did what most smart authors do, she took the chapters and built lessons around each one. Logical, right?

Except…it flopped.

People bought the course, but no one finished it. Engagement dropped off after Lesson 2. Her audience said things like “it’s too much,” “I got lost,” or worse “I’ll come back to it later.”

(They never did.)

Sarah reached out to us, frustrated. She wasn’t sure what went wrong.

Here’s what we discovered:

• Her content was gold, but it was structured like a book, not a journey.

• She was teaching from her head, not building from their struggles.

• There were no wins early on, just theory.

Together, we restructured her course:

1. We flipped her content around learner outcomes, not author logic.
2. We introduced interactive activities and progress markers.
3. We trimmed the fat, cutting 40% of the original material that added insight but didn’t move the needle.
4. We built it like a transformation machine, not an audiobook.

The result?

Sarah’s course now has a 78% completion rate.
She launched with a small list, and hit 5 figures in her first run.
More importantly, her students were raving about actual results, not just “great content.”

Here’s the Hard Truth:

• Your knowledge is deep - but that depth can overwhelm.

• Your content is structured for reading - but courses are for doing.

• Your logic makes sense to you - but your students need a simpler map.

So…how do you fix this?

5 Practical Steps to Shift From Author to Architect:

1. Interview Your Audience
Ask: “What’s your biggest frustration with [your topic]?”
Their pain points are the starting point, not your chapter one.

2. Map the Transformation
Define a crystal-clear "Before" and "After."
What will your learners be able to do by the end?

3. Trim the Fat
Keep only what moves the learner toward the transformation.
Everything else? Bonus, blog, or book club.

4. Build for Momentum
Give early wins. Get your students feeling successful in the first 15 minutes.
Confidence is a better motivator than content.

5. Design for Action, Not Attention
This isn’t Netflix - it’s a learning experience.
Use checklists, reflection prompts, and mini-tasks to help them apply as they go.

Final Thought

When you stop being the “author” and start being the “architect of outcomes,”
that’s when your course becomes not just informative, but irresistible.

Thinking of turning your book into a course?

Don’t do it alone, and definitely not from the author’s seat.

We help business book authors design learner-first, high-converting digital products that actually get finished (and make you money while you sleep).

Let’s make it simple, strategic, and profitable.

Book a free discovery call and let’s talk about your course idea before you build something they won’t finish.