Anyone can write a book, but not everyone can write an outstanding book or be an outstanding Entrepreneur Author. One might think the difference would lie in writing skills, eloquence, verbiage and flow. These are all important components but for the Entrepreneur Author, the key elements that contribute to a successful book product vary surprisingly from what you might expect.
On reason for this is that the goals are uniquely different. The Entrepreneur Author’s book is written to promote their business, build their subscriber list and establish themselves an expert in their area of expertise. If you are an aspiring Entrepreneur Author contemplating whether to finally write that book you’ve been thinking about for so long, here are three things to consider if you would like to be “outstanding” rather than just “OK”:
- Share case studies, client stories. By sharing case studies and client stories (with permission, of course!) you reader is able to identify with these narratives and see that there is a way to solve their problems. If the person in your book can do it, so can the reader! This provides proof to readers that what you offer worked for someone and it can work for them too.
- Include a relevant CTA. It drives me absolutely crazy when Entrepreneur Authors spend months or even years writing and publishing a book, believing that this one act will magically drive people to their website and bring droves of paying clients to their door.
Reality check: They aren’t coming to your door if they don’t have directions to your house in the first place! Show the reader how to get from your book to your website and give them a compelling reason to give you their contact information. Simply providing your website address is not good enough. On the other hand, proving a link where the reader can download a helpful checklist, an audio, or some other useful giveaway is compelling and a great lead generation tool. - Don’t be salesy. I’ve seen many great books get a bad reputation (and bad review!) because the author has included an opt-in link in every chapter of the book. Readers are pretty savvy these days and will almost always see this tactic for what it is – a ploy to get the reader to subscribe to the author’s list. Be strategic when placing opt-in links. It’s not about the number of opt-in opportunities, it’s about the quality of the offer.