“I would love to publish a book, but I don’t have the time!”
This is one of the most reoccurring comments that I hear. While I believe that everyone on the planet could benefit from writing a book, entrepreneurs have the most to gain. Many of them wonder if they should shift focus away from their business enough to dedicate the time to writing and publishing a book. Is it worth it in the long run?
Let me answer that question with a question of my own. How many highly successful entrepreneurs have not published a book?
NONE!
That fact alone should tell you that it’s most definitely worth it. In fact, you can’t afford not to publish a book.
If you’re still not convinced, here are four incredible reasons why you should follow the example set by highly successful entrepreneurs.
A Book Generates a Massive Amount of Leads
A book promotes you as an authority in your field. After all, you don’t see experts go onto a Late Night Show without having published a book. This is your chance to share your professional knowledge with an audience. That audience can then be converted into leads if you set up the book properly. By “properly,” I mean that a book should solve a very specific problem that is related to your business and then end with a call to action. If you solve a person’s problem, they will start to trust you. They will want more. So these people will hunt for more information, which turns them into hot leads.
Writing a book is one of the few ways that you can actually earn revenue while attracting a large number of leads.
A Book Boosts Your Credibility
Not everyone has the perseverance to follow through with their book. 90% of people who start writing a book do not finish it. That means those who do finish gain a lot of credibility. Of course, this is only true for those who publish a well-written book. Poor quality books will have the opposite impact.
Another aspect of publishing a book is that it will impress peers within your industry, which further boosts your credibility. You will emerge as a leading expert in the field, opening the door for opportunities like paid appearances, speaking engagements, and requests for collaboration. Two of the key foundations of trust are credibility and reputation – both are enhanced by writing and publishing a book.
Welcomes Collaboration
We briefly mentioned this in the previous benefit but this definitely deserves more of a spotlight. What better way is there to convince a potential partner that you’re an expert than letting them read a book that you’ve put your heart and soul into? A book serves as a mini-guide to letting them get to know you. A well-written book will help them determine whether collaboration is a good idea. If you have taken the time to write a book, then you’re going to make a good first impression.
Partnerships are important to small business owners because it gives them an entirely new network to pull leads from. Furthermore, publishing on Amazon exposes you to a huge audience of potential partners.
It Helps Generate Ideas
You can plan future content based on the response to your book. You will be given the opportunity to gauge what your target market might be interested in or whether there might be a whole new market that you have not tapped into.
For example, let’s say that a life coach writes a book on their overall experience. They notice a lot of readers are leaving comments about the “marriage counseling” section, asking for more advice. As a result, this life coach develops another product based on the marriage counseling niche.
There is no better way to test a business idea than by exposing your audience to that idea in written form and then receiving feedback.
The goal behind writing and publishing a book should be focused on solving a problem. When you help others, they will become advocates for your business. All entrepreneurs should publish a book in today’s world.