Before you put pen to paper, finger to keyboard or before you fire up Siri to dictate your book, you need to answer one question.
Why?
So why do you want to write a book?
Is the book a means to an end or is the book an end in itself?
Is it a memoir, for example? And once you’ve done the book, the project is finished, that’s it.
Or is your book a means to an end – it’s to do something else, to achieve something else? Because there are many different things a book can achieve.
The things that I think we need to concentrate on, in the area of business, professional development and self-help, there are broadly speaking 8 reasons you might want to write a book.
And the first is to attract new clients.
1) Your book can attract new clients
If you think of Amazon, Kindle and all the other stores and directories as search engines then your clients and potential clients are searching there for something that will help them solve their problems. They’re raising their hand and saying I need help in this area.
When they find your book there then you’re demonstrating a number of things.
Firstly, that you have an answer to their problem.
And so they might click through and they might buy the book.
And then they’ll come and find you.
So writing a book is an amazing way to attract new clients. And I don’t know about you but in this era of social media, when everybody is carpet bombing my inbox with stuff – mindless platitudes, pictures, clickbait, dreadful stuff, wasting my time – if I’m actually looking for something on Amazon, then I’m predisposed to look at it if it promises to solve my problem.
So writing a book, getting it on Amazon or Kindle, or any of the other directories out there, is a great way to attract new clients.
2) Your book can inspire your community
The second thing you might think about is… well, having got new clients, they’re reading you – your words are in their head – and you are actually going to be able to inspire your community to take some form of action. You’re not just listing definitions or a variety of things, you’re actually taking them on a journey of persuasion.
So you can actually inspire your community to take some kind of action.
3) Your book as a platform for you and your business
Your book then becomes a kind of platform for you, for your business and for your expertise.
And it’s much better, frankly, than a business card or a brochure. Which will get thrown away at some point.
But a book will go on their shelf and they’ll see your name forever. And your name will forever be associated with the theme or topic as an expert in this area.
So your book can be a an amazing platform for you and for your business, selling and promoting your services 24/7.
4) A book can boost your credibility and authority
A book can also boost your credibility and authority. Think about that word for a moment… authority. You’re an authority in your arena, you’re the author of that expertise, the origin, the creator. You created it. You were first to encapsulate it this way.
So why not write a book that will give you true authority and credibility in your area.
Now don’t get me wrong, you’re already an expert otherwise you wouldn’t even be considering writing a book.
But. Having a book will add to your credibility significantly.
Look around at your competitors. At the other men and women who serve your community. Do they have books? If they don’t then having a book will set you apart from that crowd.
If they do have books then you may want to think about writing your own book. Because you don’t want to be left behind or positioned by your competitors as somehow less authoritative.
Just make sure you write a better book than your competitors!
5) Your book can generate significant profit
A book is also a fantastic way to generate significant revenues and profits. But not in the way you might think.
Don’t imagine for one minute that selling copies of your book is going to make you a great deal of money. Unless you happen to sell millions of copies. And that’s unlikely.
But if in the back of the book, in the appendices, you can list the services, or the products that you have, it’s a great way to generate revenue indirectly.
You attract someone’s attention, you demonstrate the things you can do, they get to the end of the book and they think ‘I like this model’, ‘I like this framework’, ‘I like this person’. A book is a brilliant way to encourage readers to know, like and trust you.
And there at the end of the book are the products or services that can help them if they’re interested.
You’re not ramming your products and services down your readers throats. You’re allowing them to choose you willingly and that’s a much better, much stronger relationship that you’re building with your clients and potential customers.
6) Your book can showcase or demonstrate your expertise
Your book is also a fantastic way to showcase or demonstrate your expertise in depth. To show that you know what you’re talking about. To challenge them to think differently. To challenge your potential clients to see the world a different way.
So showcase what you do, how you do it. Demonstrate through the case studies that you have – with your already successful clients – that you can actually achieve what you say you can achieve.
The implication is that you can also do this for the reader, for your potential new client.
7) Capturing your legacy
This is also a mechanism –a book – for capturing your story or different people’s stories. Which can become a legacy for you, for the profession that you serve, for the industry that you’re in, the region that you serve. Or even the family that you serve.
A book can be part of your legacy story.
So think carefully about this, but think how you can capture your legacy story so that other people might want to hear about?
If you’re in a non-profit, a philanthropy or a family foundation, for example, a book offers a great opportunity to capture the story of your legacy. And the story of your non-profit, your philanthropy, your charitable foundation will attract more people, who want to work with you. They may even want to fund you.
So think about writing a book as part of an ongoing legacy.
8) Raising your PROFILE
Ultimately writing a book is all about raising your profile. But by sharing who you are and what you stand for. A book is a fantastic way to share your values.
It raises your profile in a non-salesy way, through the stories that you tell.
Summary
So a book has many purposes, but these 8 seem to be the recurring reasons you should write a book.
1) Attracting new clients.
2) Inspiring your community with your vision.
3) Creating a platform for you and your business.
4) Showcasing your services.
5) Boosting your credibility and authority.
6) Generating revenue and profits for your business or practice
7) Beginning to capture your legacy, and
8) Raising your profile among the community you want to serve.
We’ll explain more about each of these in other podcasts and articles here at the Authors Channel.
But that’s a tremendous number of things that a book can achieve for you. What this means is you can stop doing random marketing and random networking activity (and even random sales activity), to focus all your attention on writing and publishing your book this year.
It is worth doing.
