As a professional speaker, coach, consultant, or entrepreneur, writing a book has become almost as necessary as having a business card or a website. This is because, as a published author, your book provides instant credibility and influence as an expert in your field of specialty.
Traditional publishing can take months or even years to complete. With electronic retailers or “e-tailers” as they are often called, such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple iBookstore, many authors are now turning to self-publishing as an easier and more convenient way to fast-track the publishing of their book.
Book authoring is the NEW COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE for today’s entrepreneur and is the easiest and the quickest way to build credibility as a speaker or expert.
Let’s face it. There are droves of people in the world all claiming to be experts in their chosen field of specialty and the competition is fierce, particularly for those hoping to succeed as coaches or consultants. All you need to do is conduct a web search on “permanent weight loss”, “how to find lasting love”, “how to grow your business”, etc. to understand how stiff the competition is.
For example, at the time of this book’s publication, there are 27,900,000 Google search results for “permanent weight loss”, 32,000,000 Google search results for “how to find lasting love”, and 190,000,000 Google search results for “how to grow your business”!
However an Amazon search using the same keys word phrases provides some astounding information: 256 results for “permanent weight loss”, 32 results for “how to find lasting love”, 5,852 results for “career coach”, and only 850 results for “how to grow your business”.
Think about your own habits when seeking information or resources when faced with a particular challenge. The reality is that Google is generally where people go to search for information, whereas Amazon is where people go to buy.
Creating your own book can open up a vast array of new opportunities for any entrepreneur such as receiving more speaking invitations, the ability to command higher speaking and consulting fees, and can result in requests for media interviews with radio, newspaper, and television too.
Speaking Opportunities
Published authors are actually more sought after as speakers because they are typically viewed as experts in their field. It is very common for event planners to search Amazon using keywords to identify expert authors when they are in need of a speaker for a function or conference. Your book is then able to function as a calling card, advertising your ability and desire to provide such speaking services.
So, write and self-publish your own expert book, set up an Amazon Author Profile Page and you will likely see an increase in well-paying speaking and consulting opportunities.
List Building
Books also create a unique opt-in opportunity when they’re structured and formatted specifically for list-building and lead-generation. This can be as simple as including a link within your book that brings the reader directly to an opt-in form on your website..
The trick to this is not being to salesy or blatantly self-promotional within the book. Readers will see right through this and it could result in negative reviews being posted about you and your book. Use care when determining the best location and positioning for your opt-in offer.
Expert Recognition & Global Visibility
Publishing your own book creates a mind-blowing, global platform allowing you to touch the lives of more people the instant your book is published and available online.
By publishing on Amazon, once you publish your book, it will be available to over 3 billion readers in close to 200 countries for instant delivery. Just think of your book as a virtual billboard for your business that is working 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to promote your book and your business to readers looking for the exact information you’ve published using your experience or knowledge or message that you have shared. Your dream book will be present on all the top book retailer shelves, and readers will discover it through online merchandising systems, search engines, reader reviews, and social media. By leveraging technology and platforms like Amazon, your book and your business becomes searchable and findable all over the world – FOREVER! Not just until you reach your advertising budget limit for the week and your ad disappears.
So, as you see, each day that your book sits unfinished, you’re undoubtedly losing money, speaking opportunities, publicity and the ability to impact more lives. Just think about that for a minute. How much money are you losing every single day your book isn’t available? What’s stopping you right now? Is it the fear that writing a book is too complicated or takes too much time. Or maybe you just don’t know where to start? Well, if any of these reasons resonates with you, then that’s an easy fix.
Simply put, publishing your own book provides social proof and credibility to potential clients. It increases visibility for your brand, establishes your expertise and creates trust because you’re presenting your message and your value to the market in a tangible format.