What a book can do for your business

On the personal brand business roadmap, writing a book squarely sits in the authority layer. Nothing builds your professional authority like having written a book about something. Writing a book is proof to the world that you know what you are talking about.

Books don't have to be huge. Some of the most successful books written for the business audience over the last 50 years have been really small. Why is this? Well, business owners are often simply not big readers. I know you are probably used to seeing social media posts from book-advocating CEOs telling you how important their library is to their success, but the truth is - they are the outliers.

The books that tend to go viral are the ones that get to the point, speak to genuine impact, and allow the reader to extract the value and take action as quickly as possible.

Many people are put off writing a book out of fear that nobody would read it. Here's the thing... A book can be a life changing asset to your business even with a ver limited readership.

What makes a successful book?

If a book is read by thousands of people, then it can be considered a successful book. But does that successful book make you a successful business owner? For a book to be successful, it can impact your business in many ways, beyond simple book sales. Here are a few examples of how a book can make a massive impact:

1. Referralability

Everybody loves referrals - people recommending you. Nobody gets recommended more than those people we want to be associated with. If I know an author and somebody I know is looking for a new service provider that matches what that author provides, recommending that author increases my stature by association. Simply put, authors get referred much more often than non-authors.

2. Speaking

Growing your business through speaking at conferences and events is a tried and tested success tactic. Nobody gets invited to speak more often than authors. Building a simple strategy of presenting yourself to conference organizers as an enthusiastic speaker, who is also a knowledgeable expert who has written a book about the topic you'd like to present on, makes you very easy to say yes to.

3. Social Proof

Authors often feature blurbs from other authors on the front, back, and inside pages of their books, telling everyone how great the book is and, by extension, how authoritative the writer is. This happens because those writers want to be associated with this author, and they want visibility within the wrapper of this potentially successful book. The effect of this is that those authors and experts have gifted you their credibility. This is something that will support your career for a very long time.

4. Sales of Services

A book can directly impact your sales. You can use a book, especially a slimmer one which is cheaper to produce, as a replacement for a business card. Nobody ever throws out a book unless they're genuinely not interested in it, but then they were never going to be your client in the first place. I've heard books described as the silent salesman. They can generate sales for years, or even decades after you gave them out or sold them.

5. Guesting

Speaking on podcasts or virtual summits, where large audiences listen or watch, can be very competitive. Having written a book about the topic makes you much more likely for the host to welcome you onto the show. As a podcast host, I get pitched multiple times every day by people who want to come onto my podcast either directly or through agencies. I mostly disregard these, but if I see that the potential guest has written a book, I pay attention.

Similarly, virtual summits and other online events can have huge audiences, and again competition is quite fierce when pitching for this style of event. If you have written a book about a topic, then the likelihood of you being welcomed onto the platform is far higher. This gives you an opportunity to present and attract some of that audience over to your audience and, in time, nurture them towards becoming customers, advocates, or referral partners.

6. Association

Writing a book is the price ticket of entry into an exclusive club. Other authors know what it takes to write a book. It's not easy, but it's not impossible. Authors support each other, bringing opportunities and visibility. As business owners, we're often used to doing everything on our own, but the most successful ones are integrated into a community of high-performing business owners. Having written a book is one of the signals that you belong.

7. Magnetism - Confidence

Confidence sells, and writing a book signals that you are confident in your skills, ability, and knowledge. You may not feel that way in person, but the online world operates differently. To an extent, it might be called show business. While I'm not an advocate for faking it until you make it, I do believe in putting my best foot forward and creating a good impression. Having written a book is a strong signal to the world and one that will broadcast your confidence widely. This confidence will likely lead to support in many ways.

I've often described the way any community operates, especially a business community, is a bit like a pack of wolves. It sounds reductionist, but understanding this helps make sense of what we often see online. In a pack of wolves, the group often moves to support those animals they see as strong and shun or even kill those they see as weak. So writing a book is one of those signals of strength, and it can have a surprising impact in this regard.

Summary

So, I hope you can see that writing a book is not just about the words on the page. It's not just about having a bestseller on Amazon or thousands of raving fans, although that would be delightful. For me, it's much more about the doors that can open. Those doors have a far-reaching impact beyond what we assume authors are attracted to. A reasonably well-written and well-presented book is one of the most potent tools in your expert business armory. In terms of the ratio of effort to value, I don't think there's anything more impactful you can do for your business. Yes, it takes a lot of work and there's mental junk to deal with, but it's work well worth doing.