Updated May 2026 to reflect current data.

Richard Lowe, The Writing King, joined Business Innovators Network to talk about branding a business through a book, the credibility that authorship buys, and what the ghostwriting process actually asks of you. The most useful thread for a business owner weighing the idea is the plainest one: a book is an investment, with a real timeline and a real budget, and the smart question isn’t “how do I sell copies?” but “what will it do for the business?”

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In this episode

Why a business brands itself with a book

Most businesses never publish a book, which is exactly why the ones that do stand out. A book is a credibility instrument: it tells a prospect, the press, and an event organizer that you’re the expert in your field, in a way a website or a brochure can’t. It gives you something to hand across the table, something to talk about from a stage, and a reason for people to take you seriously before they’ve even worked with you. That’s the branding case Richard makes for authorship, it positions the business and the person behind it as the authority.

The timeline: months, not weeks

A serious book is measured in months. There’s an interview phase to pull the expertise out of your head, a drafting phase where the ghostwriter turns it into a real manuscript, rounds of revision to get it right, and then the publishing step. Richard is candid that this isn’t a weekend project or a quick content dump, and that setting honest expectations up front, about how long each stage takes, is part of doing it well. The payoff is a finished book you’re proud to put your name on, which is worth the wait.

The investment, and the return

Treating a book as an investment changes how you judge it. The point isn’t to recoup the cost in Amazon royalties, that rarely happens, and chasing it leads people astray. The return is business value: qualified leads, speaking engagements, press, and the standing that comes from being a published authority. Richard’s ghostwriting runs at his standard rate of a dollar a word, a real budget rather than a trivial one, and the way to evaluate it is against what the book unlocks for the business afterward, not against units sold.

How it works, at a glance

The owner doesn’t have to be a writer, that’s the whole point of hiring one. Richard interviews you to capture what only you know, researches around it, and writes the book, with revisions until it’s right. Your name goes on the cover; his doesn’t appear anywhere. As far as the world is concerned, you wrote it, and for a business owner short on time but long on expertise, that’s the cleanest path from idea to published authority.

Find Richard Lowe at TheWritingKing.com.

Common questions from this conversation

Why would a business publish a book?
Because authorship signals expertise and credibility that competitors usually lack. A book positions the business as the authority and becomes a tool for press, speaking engagements, and qualified leads.

How long does a ghostwritten book take?
Months, not weeks. There’s an interview phase, a drafting phase, rounds of revision, and then publishing. It’s a real project, not a quick content dump, and honest timelines are set at the start.

What does it cost, and is it worth it?
It’s an investment. Richard’s ghostwriting runs at a dollar a word, and the return is measured in business value, leads, speaking, and authority, rather than book royalties, which rarely cover the cost on their own.

Does the business owner have to write it?
No. The ghostwriter does the work from interviews and research. The owner supplies the expertise; the finished book carries the owner’s name, with the ghostwriter’s nowhere on it.

What’s the real payoff of authorship?
Being seen as the expert. The book works long after publication as a credibility tool across the whole business, from sales conversations to stages to press coverage.