What do you want to be remembered for? Is there a legacy you want to leave behind, a footprint of your passion and purpose, which could influence a part of someone else’s life, at some level?
Writing and publishing a book is one way that you can leave a legacy and build your personal brand. Becoming a published author is life changing.
Some of my best business decisions have come from putting pen to paper and just writing what’s on my mind and letting my subconscious roam free. There is a lovely quote by William Faulkner:
[quote]I never know what I think about something until I read what I’ve written on it.[/quote]
It is so true.
Writing gives birth to ideas
Writing enables us to tell our story and connect to our readers (stakeholders) in a way that goes beyond traditional marketing.
By organizing your thoughts into a book, you now have the opportunity to examine what you, your business and your personal brand stand for.
It takes approximately seven seconds to form an impression. Your book gives you instant credibility. A beautifully crafted book will help you to stand out, captivate your readers, put you miles ahead of your competitors, open up new opportunities for alliances, speaking gigs and the creation of new products and services.
Imagine your perfect prospect visiting your website to pre qualify you and there they discover your book. The title and the book cover speak volumes about you and your brand, in that moment. That alone will motivate them to explore further.
But before you rush off to pen your best-selling brand build business book…
Let’s take a reality check
A book is part of your overall business strategy, it is not the strategy. When working with my clients the conversation is about the vision for their personal brand and business and then considering how their book will help to bring that alive. Your book is a combination of business strategy, your reader and the content.
Authors rarely make money from books alone. The key is to see your book as a product and not a creative outlet. You need to use your entrepreneurial mindset to visualize it as a product, which you have designed to open up opportunities. If one of your business objectives is to become an after dinner speaker, your book could lead the way to your first engagement.
Chicken Soup for the Soul is much more than ‘just’ a series of books. The creators turned their speaking careers into books and then built a personal development community around them. Over 122 million copies of the books have been sold and now there are greetings cards, flowers and even pet food.
The nature of publishing is changing and it is far easier to self publish today with print on demand from CreateSpace and digital books from Kindle Direct Publishing which are both part of Amazon. According to Bowker (www.bowker.com) self published book sales are up 287 percent since 2006 and now total over 347,178 titles.
Book sales are just one small piece of your marketing armory
Many authors don’t usually rely on book sales as source of income, preferring instead, to give away copies of their books at their events. They use the books as marketing tools to bring in other benefits and income. They invest in producing the best possible book, with the intention of exploiting that book to create business opportunities which will bring in additional income.
To get started think about what you are passionate about and how you can turn that into opportunities for you to speak or run more workshops. The key is to know your outcome.
Set aside time to develop the idea, plan and outline your book and then get writing. Write and self edit to final draft, then outsource the final proofing, editing, formatting and cover design. Upload to Kindle or CreateSpace and start marketing.
You can create a Kindle or print book on pretty much any topic from personal memoir, self improvement, self help, fiction as long as it is original, you can do it. Kindle and print on demand is exciting because it isn’t limited, use your imagination and you will become a published author. And finally remember it’s about quality not quantity. If you wouldn’t want to read it why would anyone else? Put in the time and effort and you will be rewarded.
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Author: Jacqui Malpass works with her clients to help them to write and publish their books, either non fiction or memoir and to build their personal brand around their book. Follow Jacqui on Twitter @jacquimalpass
Smart tips here, Jacqui. I totally agree with all the things you put in here. Although a book is an important part to establish your authority in your business, it is only a part of the business strategy. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing your idea, i think book writing must be come out of passion then only it can serve the purpose and for making a living and professional writing we should use blog and other content writing service to make our writing skill reach to the people then it would be prove some reader to our book also.
“writing what’s on my mind and letting my subconscious roam free.” I like this. This is very true. Most of successful businesses are accidental or just came out as that ‘light bulb’. Nicely explained, anyway.
Hi Jacqui – great blog. It is true the book is only part of your overall business strategy. It is there to promote yourself as a thought leader and then people can understand your expertise.
When looking at the marketing of your book, it is important to look at the big picture around making the scope of your book last for months, or years. PR is a fantastic way to aid this and should not be overlooked.
Charlie
Hi and thank you for your comments. I think PR is brilliant and always recommend it as a part of the strategy. So we are on the same page.
Jacqui