Unlock Authority: Propel Your Business with a Book

Over 90% of business book authors reported that their book generated more speaking engagements, more leads that converted into more clients, and an overall improvement in the perception of their brand^[1]. But why? What is it that sets business book authors apart from other entrepreneurs?

The Authority of the Author

The answer is rooted in something I refer to as Education Bias. The byproduct of the fact that throughout Western formal education systems, we are taught from a very young age that we should rely on books as a source of credible information. Whenever we need to learn something new, we are instructed by our respected educational institutions that we should start by reading. It’s the reason why most schools, colleges and universities have carefully curated libraries and why enrolment in any major diploma, doctorate, and qualification comes with a recommended reading list.

This ingrained behaviour stays with us into adulthood and has a tremendous effect on our perception of business authors. We automatically elevate the author of a business book as being an expert on that subject; someone to be trusted whose opinions are credible and worthy of our attention. A well-written book can literally transform your profile overnight.

Take Simon Sinek, for example. Simon started out as a fairly successful cultural analyst working for major ad agencies in New York before launching his own business. In 2009 he published the book “Start With Why” and shortly after adapted the book into the TED Talk “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”, one of the most-viewed TED talks of all time. The rest as they say is history… Simon has gone on to speak at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit and is a multiple Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestselling author. All of that success Simon has attributed several times to that first book.

The Misconception of Effort

If all of this is no secret, then why do so few business owners undertake the challenge of writing a book? The answer is in the idea that it is a ‘challenge’, that it takes considerable time, money and effort, and that you need to have attained a certain level of success before you can be an author. There is also an outdated belief that business growth is dependent on conventional marketing strategies and that a book is a completely different thing – neither having any impact on the other.

I can categorically say that neither of those preconceptions is true. Modern self-publishing has opened the door of business authorship to everyone who has valuable information and insight to share with their market. You already have the knowledge to share, technology now allows you to share it in an accessible, affordable and impactful way.

Sure, that is easy for me to say as an already published author of multiple business books, but many of my clients have commented that the writing part of the project actually ended up being the easy part.

There is Only One Way to Eat an Elephant

Once you believe that writing and publishing a book can have a positive impact on your profile and your business, where do you start? After all, a book is a big project to undertake.

I am reminded of a quote by Desmond Tutu: “There is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time.” A book is no different; start small and start at the beginning. For example, when I begin a new book, I always start with:

Identifying a unique problem or pain my audience has that I can solve
Research my target audience and generate an ideal reader avatar
Brainstorm what information I want to share with that audience that will solve their problem or pain. I will generally start with a topic (what my book will be about). I’ll then break that down into 8–12 headings (these become my chapters). Under each heading, I’ll add 4-6 subheadings which will become the headings within each chapter

Once you have those basic questions answered, the process of actually writing the book becomes much easier. Your brainstorming session translates into a table of contents for your book which means each day when you sit down to write, you are not faced with a blank page trying to think about what you are going to write; you are simply filling in the blanks.

It is also very important to consider how your book is going to integrate into your wider business. How are you going to use your book as part of your sales process and your marketing strategy? What goals are you going to put in place around your book that is going to help drive your business forward?

Resistance is Normal

It’s very common to still feel some resistance at this stage. I often hear objections to writing a book such as “I just don’t have the time, I’m busy enough running my business!”, or “I’m not a writer, I barely passed English in school!”, or “Isn’t publishing a book on your own really expensive?” But I can honestly say that none of those objections are large enough that they cannot be overcome and the benefit that you will get from publishing a book will far exceed any effort or expense to overcome those issues.

Don’t have enough time – I have a writing strategy that I share here which means you only need to find 30 minutes a day. And if you genuinely can’t find 30 minutes a day to yourself, there is always the option of hiring a ghostwriter.
I’m not a writer – Your writing does not need to be perfect; it just needs to be directionally correct. You hire an editor to help polish your writing to make it better. And if you really struggle with the process of getting words onto paper, you can always dictate your book and have it transcribed using a service like Otter.io or Dragon NaturallySpreaking.
Self-publishing is expensive – Modern self-publishing technology has greatly reduced the cost it takes to get a book published and distributed worldwide. There are also self-publishing consultants (like myself :D) who can bring together all of the services you need to publish professionally for a single flat fee.

There are lots of other potential roadblocks that you can face as an author, but there are solutions for overcoming every single one of them. Remember, growth lies just the other side of discomfort.

The Reasons are Endless

There are far more reasons to publish a book to support your business than to not. Writing and publishing a good quality business book can transform your business in ways you can only dream of otherwise.

It instantly adds a level of authority to you as an author.
It can increase client trust in both you and your business.
It can expand your market reach beyond those who already know and trust you and open up new markets that you are unable to reach on your own.
It gives you an entirely new marketing avenue to explore and delivers new exciting content for your existing marketing channels.
Being an author raises your profile within your industry and opens up opportunities for PR, public speaking, and media coverage.
Not to mention it adds an additional passive revenue stream to boost your bottom line!

When you add all of the benefits together, it’s more costly NOT to write a book so what are you waiting for?

Next Steps

I encourage you to consider the possibilities that becoming an author can afford you as a business owner. It completely revolutionised my business when I published “Stress-Free Self-Publishing” back in 2019, as it has done for hundreds of my clients.

As a first step, I invite you to explore our Ink 2 Influence Publishing Packages. They include everything you need to take your book from raw manuscript to professionally published worldwide in print and eBook, all whilst maintaining 100% of your rights, royalties and author platform ownership. See how easy it is to make your publishing dream a reality.

If you have any thoughts or concerns about starting your own authoring journey, please let me know in the comments. And if you have already experienced the benefits of publishing a book to support your business, please share your insights as motivation for those who are unsure.

^[1] https://wordarchitect.com/book/how-to-write-a-book-in-33-days-establish-yourself-as-an-expert-develop-your-brand-protect-your-intellectual-property-make-more-money/ accessed 3/11/3023

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