Why Business Owners Should Write a Book

Every business needs more sales. Regardless of what industry you’re in, no matter how big or small your company is, and no matter how long you have been in the market for, every business needs attention and sales, or else they will collapse. 

The problem today is that there are only so many ways that a business owner can increase the revenue sources of his or her own business. After you increase prices, or tweak your product/marketing, there is only so much you can do before you end up moving your product/brand into a completely new market altogether. 

That’s when you truly need to separate yourself from the competition, and the best way to do that? Write a book. That’s right. Even if you have only been in business for a few years, or if you aren’t as experienced as the business owners in your industry, publishing a book with your own name on it can open up avenues of growth in the future that you could never have even dreamed of. Even if you’re busy, of course, writing a book can be a daunting and intimidating task, but as past examples show, it can be one of the most unconventional, yet extremely effective methods to grow your own business, and personal brand. 

We aren’t talking about producing a New York Times bestseller that will fly off bookshelf stores all across the country on launch day. We mean a book that is laser-targeted to your own client list that shares your own experiences. A book that offers immense value and insights to customers, in order to build yourself a reputation of credibility, as well as increasing your authority in the industry. 

The true benefits of writing a book are often ignored by many entrepreneurs and business owners. The immense return in investment of this action should not be ignored by business owners today. Here are some of the most valuable reasons why business owners must consider writing their own book. 

1. The Lifetime Value of a Book Customer 

One extremely profitable way you can leverage a book, is to use it to introduce customers to you and your company, leading them to a higher-priced product. These products may be a physical product, a video course or another informational product. For example, take a look on Amazon for “Paleo” books. If you read through some of these books, you would clearly find that they are nothing more than a promoting tool for the rest of their business. 

Because you and I both know, that people won’t just land on your website and give you their money, they want something valuable in exchange for their cash first. A book is an effective way to introduce the customer to your brand, and allow them to see what you have to offer them. If you nurture this lead correctly, it will almost certainly pay off later once they are fully introduced to your brand. 

Mark Sisson is a prime example. He has many books available on Amazon on the Paleo diet. He sells his own range of supplements in his business website, “Primal Blueprint”. He knows that customers are unlikely to respond to a pop-up ad to buy his supplements. 

However, if he could teach potential customers about the benefits of these supplements, and explain how easy they are to take, they are more likely to buy his own product. Mark Sisson is aware that the value of acquiring a customer on a $15 book, could offer huge rewards in years to come. 

2. Builds Credibility and Authority

When you want to build your own personal brand, a written book is an excellent way to demonstrate your own expertise and credibility. In fact, today’s society largely views a written book as a stamp of credibility in your working career. When you do write a book, you are far more likely to be perceived as an expert by other entrepreneurs and business people in your industry. You will see more respect for your own opinions and begin to be recognized as a thought leader in your field. 

It is a symbol that you have worked hard to achieve something. Writing a book is not easy per se, (even though you can use many strategies to reduce your workload, but we’ll get to that later.). That’s exactly why you can receive so much credit, and command huge amounts of respect in your industry from writing a book. 

While it does require you to have sophisticated knowledge of your own industry, writing a book that is of high quality and valuable to readers can give you the opportunity to demonstrate your vast knowledge and gain an advantage in the business world. 

3. Generates attention & builds prospect list

Like mentioned in the introduction above. Every business needs sales to survive. And what is the root cause of every sale ever made? Attention. When you publish a book on a relevant topic, both you and your own brand are more likely to invite more attention from the media. The media are always looking for the latest content to direct attention towards. You could be a guest speaker on a radio show, on a podcast, or even find yourself invited to speak at events when your book performs well. 

It’s about more than just attention. When people are looking for information about products and brands, they immediately turn to experts and authority figures. When they’re searching for authority figures, who do they approach first? Of course, they approach the person who wrote the book on the topic first. 

Having a book that is popular and offers value to readers is perhaps the greatest mass marketing tool you could use not just to promote your own brand, but to attract clients who are interested in what you have to offer, and already trust you, thanks to the credibility from your book. 

4. A good book will get people talking about you

All business owners will know that there is no marketing better than word-of-mouth marketing. When somebody you trust tells you about their own experience, and recommends a service to you, you are much more likely to listen to what they say, and thus buy it. Any tool that enables other people to talk about your business and you as an entrepreneur is simply invaluable. And what is the very best tool to enable this form of marketing for your brand? Writing a book. 

The reason a book can be so influential, is because when people discuss your book, they will recite your exact frame of opinion, they will support your arguments and use your own quotes to prove the point you were trying to make. They will end up saying exactly what you want them to say. 

Here is a little idea you can use to help you understand this point better. 

Imagine a cocktail party. Two people are discussing your book. What exactly would you want them to say? Imagine them conversing about your book exactly the way you want them to. Once you can understand that, you can construct the entire positioning and narrative of your own book, based solely off that one conversation. 

This proves that writing a good book that proves popular in your industry, is the most prominent way to trigger word-of-mouth marketing, which has proven time and time again, to be the most effective method of marketing. 

5. Personal Development and Self Esteem boost

Like alluded to earlier, when you write an entire book yourself, it takes time and dedication. Regardless of the topic or length of the book. There will be days you will wake up and not feel like writing, yet you will still do it anyway. The only way in which one can sit down and write an entire book from start to finish is by pushing through “writer’s block” and consistently writing on a daily basis. The kinds of habits this ambition can develop are immeasurable, and can offer huge rewards later in both your business and personal lives. 

This formation of new habits is also highly likely to boost your own self worth and self esteem. The satisfaction and personal pleasure that comes with the experience of starting & finishing a whole book should not be overlooked. 

For many entrepreneurs/writers, this is the reason why they launched their own collection of book series after their first launch. Once you put the book out on the market, you will feel good about yourself. If the book is received well by the public, these positive emotions of self worth and esteem will only amplify. 

6. It’s not as difficult as you might think

While it may contradict the point mentioned above, writing a book may actually not be as difficult as you think. If you can ensure that you are writing about a topic which you have deep knowledge on, and that it is a topic which you find yourself passionate about, researching the task and writing the book can actually be a pleasurable experience, not to mention the fact that it can uncover new insights for you to apply into your own business and life. 

Even if you were to start small, with just 350 Words a day, it will eventually add up to a substantial length within a couple of months. You won’t need to take months away from working at your own business to focus now writing, nor do you even need a publisher anymore. Today, writing a book has never been easier or accessible for anyone. 

It is important however, that you are writing something that you are interested in, if you can’t pick a topic or niche that really interests you; you are setting yourself up for an uphill battle. You will have to motivate yourself to find the extra willpower to stick to the project, and actually continue writing on a consistent basis. If you aren’t careful, this may not only deter you from the book you are currently working on, but the idea of ever writing a book in the future. 

Of course, the alternative option is, if you’re extremely busy, is to have the book ghostwritten. A Ghostwriter, by definition, is somebody who writes texts that are officially credited to another author; it almost always involves a legal agreement of confidentiality, where the ghostwriter must remain anonymous. The advantage of this is simple, that it means you can get content created for you completely by someone else, meaning you could focus your efforts into the marketing/promotion of the book itself, or elsewhere on your own business. 

SEE BELOW 

All you need to do, is make sure that the ghostwriter you are hiring is skilled, qualified and has industry knowledge themselves, in order to allow them to create a book that closely resembles your own idea. 

7. A book can attract new employees

This is another fantastic reason to write a book as a business owner. There is truly no other way to attract young, talented people to your own company, than laying out your own company’s vision and culture in a book. 

Perhaps the most influential example of this was Tony Shieh, and his book, “Delivering Happiness.” Shieh is the CEO of Zappos. Not only did he write a personal book on his entrepreneurial journey, which gave him credibility in the industry. But he also created a separate book on the culture at Zappos. A copy of this book is given away as a means to recruit people to work for them. Even today, this book still remains the greatest lead generation for recruitment at Zappos. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion then, it seems that the advantages and benefits that a book can bring not only to your business life, but to your own satisfaction and personal growth, are immense. 

Whilst it may seem like a daunting task, especially if you’re starting from scratch, the return on investment and end results are immeasurable. Remember, just take it one step at a time, and you may find it becoming the best investment you ever made.     

You can have your book ghostwritten by Dr. Myles H. Bader at a reasonable price who has ghostwritten multiple books for authors. He is also an author who has sold over 8 million of his own books in PRINT. He is a six time bestselling author. Feel free to contact us for more information.