Everybody has (at least one) story to tell or lesson to teach. In fact, most of us have many.
And that’s exactly why highly-motivated entrepreneurs, CEOs, content creators and marketers invest time into writing and publishing their own book.
A book presents opportunities that no other form of content offers. In the next 5-10 minutes I’ll be explaining why it’s in your interest to put pen to paper and start work on your own.
But before we get into that, you need to know what it takes to write your own business book.
Here’s what you should prepare yourself for:
Writing a Business Book as an Entrepreneur
If you’re going to complete this (somewhat) daunting task, you need to have your expectations dialled appropriately.
That’s why you need to understand what it takes to not just start, but see this book writing thing through to the end.
Here’s a few things that you’ll need in abundance:
- Commitment (in time and energy): If you’re going to author your own business book, you must commit to it. For a lot of entrepreneurs this means establishing a set time that they reserve for writing (every day). Whatever happens, don’t make excuses, commit to your schedule.
- Perseverance: Writing a book takes time, and this means you’re going to experience highs and lows. Some days will be easy, whilst others will be tough going. You might have a few moments when you’re ready to throw the towel in – don’t let these get on top of you. Never say die. Persevere, it’ll be worth it.
- Passion: There’s simply too much involved in writing a book for you to write (a good) one about something that you don’t care about. If you care about the subject/topic, go for it. If not, quit now.
- Knowledge: Similarly to passion, you must really know what you’re writing about to complete a successful business book. The less you know, the more background work you’ll have to put in.
- Bravery: Writing a book takes guts. Millions of books have failed before they’ve even begun because their authors have lacked bravery. Don’t let fear get the better of you.
- Reading: To truly learn how to write a great book, you need to read a few for yourself! Check out some of the bestsellers in your industry or revisit the favourites from your reading history.
BTW: Check out my latest book on Amazon.
Why You Should Write a Business Book
If you’re willing to tick off those 6 points (above) and you’re still curious about the power of authoring your own book, it’s time we talked about the effects a business book can have on your marketing, branding and personal development.
Doing things like writing consistent blogs, publishing videos, running ads, recording podcasts and posting on your social media pages, is great and will have a massive effect on the success of your marketing (because content is everything right now)…
…but a book can provide you with positives that even the most consistent and long-running content marketing campaigns struggle to generate.
Let’s get stuck into a few of them:
Authority
Positioning is crucial to success.
Authority refers to the amount of clout, power and respect you have in an industry. And the greater your authority on a subject, the more success you stand to gain.
I direct the content marketing efforts of Einstein Marketer, and have achieved some cool results in this space (even if I do say so myself), including:
- Thousands of fresh leads every month
- More than 100,000 social shares last year
- A huge increase in traffic (10x growth from previous year).
This means that I have a high level of authority on this subject (especially to our regular followers/visitors/clients/subscribers) and was already well positioned to author a book.
However, this isn’t transferrable. For example, if I was to create content about fashion, people would wonder what the hell I was doing and barely anyone would take serious notice.
But if I was serious about my love for fashion and wanted to change the direction of my career, a great way to demonstrate my knowledge and boost my authority on the subject instantly would be to write an awesome book.
BTW: Don’t worry, I’m not planning on changing industries.
If you’re already creating content on your subject, look at a book like tons of small pieces of content pushed together, tied up by one over arcing theme and formed over a consolidated period of time
Credibility
How many times have you heard somebody say, ‘that guy’s written an awesome book about his niche but I don’t trust his knowledge on the subject’?
OK, it’s a pretty odd sentence (and incredibly specific), but its purpose is clear and the sentiment is (hopefully) understood.
By writing a business book about your niche, you increase your credibility and as a result, your trustworthiness, believability and validity as an authority in your industry.
The boundaries to publishing a book may have been reduced, but if anything, this has made the skills required to write (and publish) a successful book even higher.
By publishing a book in your industry, you share your knowledge and open yourself up to be judged.
If you write a good book, or even one that can be perceived as good (to non-readers) you immediately become a more trusted figure in your industry.
Most people are not willing to take the risk, some are scared of writing, others are daunted by the commitment of writing a book and many are fearful that their knowledge won’t be enough.
When you write a successful business book, you leapfrog these people in terms of credibility.
Expertise
A business book gives you the opportunity to really show off your expertise on a subject.
Writing a non-fiction book about your industry takes knowledge and (usually) years of experience and hard-work.
There are no shortcuts to knowledge like this, and if you think that rehashing, copying or regurgitating somebody else’s book content will go unnoticed, you’re wrong.
Every space has its own ardent readers, who’re always looking to up their knowledge and skills, and broaden their career prospects.
Expertise is not something that can be copied, cheated or faked. It’s genuine knowledge that an individual has gained through their own experience, and it’s incredibly specific to each person.
Whatever role you fill, business you run or industry you work in, you possess a very specific expertise that others would like to learn more about, especially in a long form piece of content like a non-fiction business book.
Visibility
The most used search engine in the world is Google, the second highest is YouTube and the third belongs to the giants of the book retailing world, Amazon.
As a marketer, business person or brand, you’ll understand the importance of exposure, and by publishing a book, you give yourself another route to new audiences.
The world is full of readers looking for new awesome insights and lessons, book reviewers (or bloggers) who’re seeking new books to produce content about, and PR/media outlets who will be more than happy to share your book (if it’s good obv).
A book gives you exposure that you simply would not be able to gain any other way. By creating a long-form piece of content (like a non-fiction business book) you effectively tap into a new audience that would be otherwise very hard to reach.
Demand
A successful book can have a big financial impact on your career and business, but not necessarily in the way that you might expect.
Many aspirational authors put pen to paper on a book hoping to write a bestseller and make a small fortune. Unfortunately, in most cases, this just isn’t going to happen.
However, that’s not to say that a book can’t have a financial impact for you.
When you create something as valuable as a book in your industry, and it demonstrates expertise, authority, credibility and helps you become more visible, the demand for your services, products and knowledge will increase.
When demand increases significantly, an entrepreneur can do one of two things:
- Sell in greater volume
- Increase prices
BTW: If you’re an individual who doesn’t have a ‘product’, you can increase the value of your time (in terms of price).
A successful non-fiction business book will give you the platform to generate more leads and earn more customers, and if you ever decide to write and publish another book, you will be much better placed to earn money from it (because you’ve already established yourself as a good writer from the first book!)
Conclusion: Should You Write a Business Book?
As long as you have the stomach, motivation and knowledge to write a business book in your niche, there’s no reason that you shouldn’t.
If you’ve got the specialism, skills and experience, start thinking about the best angle to tackle in your industry.
Set aside some time and put pen to paper…
…and before you use the old ‘I don’t have time’ excuse, know that I woke up 2 hours earlier every day to write mine (giving me the opportunity to shamelessly plug it one more time – get it here!).
