What Does A Book Do For You? 8 Powerful Reasons to write a book-with infographic!
Have you thought about writing your own book, whether it be the great American novel, a collection of poetry, a self-help book, or a non-fiction volume about a subject to help create credibility. But what does a book do for you? Especially a self-published book explaining your expertise in a field.
Every entrepreneur should self-publish a book, because having a book is the new business card. If you want to stand out, you need to show your expertise. Publishing a book is not just putting your thoughts on a blog post. It’s an event. It shows your best curated thoughts and it shows customers, clients, investors, friends and lovers what the most important things on your mind are right now. –
James Altucher, Why Every Entrepreneur Should Self-Publish a Book
Why should you, an entrepreneur, write a book? To elevate your business and your reputation far above the rest of the pack. By writing a book, you plant your stake into the ground, effectively saying, “I know what I’m doing, and this book is the proof!”
Authors are among the most respected people in the world. Publishing a book establishes your credibility about the subject at hand. Of course, this assumes the book is well written – a poorly written book will have the opposite effect!
I wrote my own book, Focus on LinkedIn, which gave me tremendous credibility on that subject. The book even became an Amazon Kindle bestseller, rising to #54 of of all Kindle books for a day, which gave me even more credibility. At a recent trade show, people I’ve never met introduced me as “a bestselling author of a book about LinkedIn.” This helps increase sales on my freelance consulting services, and firmly established me as a serious LinkedIn Branding Expert.
Establishes Your Credibility
Establish your credibility by writing a book. By being the author of an entire book about your subject, you explicitly say, “I know my stuff so well that I literally wrote this book about it.” Ensure you provide useful information – background, history, your story and so on.
To further establish your credibility, include references to other materials, not written by you, to back up your claims and substantiate your information. Make sure these references are in themselves credible and primary sources. Do not reference weak sources such as Wikipedia or other Wiki-type sites. They are widely regarded as unreliable sources.
Makes You the Authority
By the mere fact of having written and published a book, you establish that you are an authority on the subject. Authors are perceived as experts, and this creates opportunities for speaking, interviews, and so on.
Establishes you as the expert
This goes right along with credibility and authority. You wrote a book, so you are the expert. Let’s say you have five companies offering coaching services in the same niche or market. Your book gives you an advantage over the others competing against you.
Let’s you tell your story
You’ve got a story to tell. How did you get to where you are today? When and how did you start your business? What barriers did you overcome? Your customers, prospects, suppliers and others will all be interested in finding out how you became so important that you wrote a book.
Makes it easier to get media coverage
When you ask for coverage from the media, you can add that you are the author of a book about your subject. This helps getting interviews, makes press releases more powerful and helps land you mentions in the various news outlets such as HARO.
Gives people something to talk about – Leave your book around your office, in your lobby, and bring it with you to speaking events, networking events and so on. You’ll find it becomes a conversation piece. Use it to get people talking about your book.
- Explain why you wrote it
- Tell them why you are the expert
- Explain what it is about
And you can give them a copy, making a great show of signing it with a personal note. You can bet that book will be saved, and as you get more famous they will show it off to their friends and coworkers.
Basis for other services and products
Many books are used as the basis for selling other services and products. With a book, you can easily coach people on the same subject, teach classes in your local university, college or other school, give speeches at networking and other events, and so on. You can also use it to establish your credibility for recommending products, or even creating your own.
Gets you speaking engagements
Once you write and publish a book, and even when it’s in process, you can use it to get speaking engagements, interviews and appearances on podcasts. When you ask to appear, mention you are the author of your book. This gives you instant credibility and immediately makes you an authority on your subject. You’ll find that having a book of your own makes it far more likely that you’ll get accepted whenever you ask. You may even find yourself being asked to appear as well.
Might Help with taxes
Since you created your book for business purposes, remember that you may be able to write off the entire expense (check with your accountant). Every penny that you spend could be tax deductible. Check with your accountant to be sure.
- Ghostwriting services
- Travel expenses
- Research expenses
- Costs of making illustrations
- Costs of book covers, proofreading and anything else related to your book
Just remember to get a W4 form (or the equivalent if your business is outside the United States) from anyone you work with and pay $600 or more. Those W4’s should all be sent to your accountant, along with the amount spent, when you do your taxes.
What Does a Book Do for You?
One caution though: generally, you will not make more than a small amount from selling your book on Amazon or even in bookstores. You will almost certainly not make back anywhere close to your investment from book sales alone.
But that’s not the reason to write a book. Your book is your brand, your credibility and your authority. Any sales of the book are like frosting on the cake.
Can’t write a book yourself because you’re not a writer or don’t have the time?
Hire a ghostwriter to do it for you! Contact The Writing King for a free consultation today.
What Does a Book Do for Your Infographic
Richard is the Owner and Senior Writer for The Writing King, a bestselling author, and ghostwriter. He’s written and published 63 books, ghostwritten 40+ books, as well as hundreds of blog articles.
