Can a Book Boost Your Business?
If you’re an entrepreneur, you’ve probably wondered if publishing a book could boost your business. I’ve been in a number of business groups since I launched my own business a few years ago, and I’ve learned a lot from these groups and from my fellow entrepreneurs.
But, there’s one trap I’ve noticed a number of entrepreneurs falling into that I think keeps them from understanding how powerful a book could be for them. Today I’m going to talk about that trap, and how writing a book can be a great marketing move.
To start, you should know I’m an introvert, along with 25-40% of the population.
This doesn’t mean I don’t want to come to your party or meet you for dinner! I actually love being social. But I draw my energy from being alone at least some of the time—I limit my interactions so that I can have plenty of alone time, because that’s how I feel best: energized, calm, not anxious, etc.
I also feel like I understand introverts well because I work with writers through the writing program I lead. And writers, for the most part, fall into the category of introvert. Yes, this is a gross generalization, and it is certainly not true of every writer or every writer with whom I work. Writers are often readers, and serious readers are introverts, so many writers categorize themselves as introverts.
Again, I don’t mean that we aren’t social or that we don’t like a good night out with friends. But I do mean that at a certain point every day, we need to be alone in order to replenish our energy. I also mean that we will often limit the number of times in a day we have to interact with other people in order to preserve our energy and feel good.
What does this have to do with you writing a book to boost your business? I’ll tell you.
Let me paint an imaginary scenario for you. As an introvert I go to your website or find myself there, because I am interested in the service or product that you offer. I’m eager to learn more about it but I see that in order to do so, I have to interact with someone… Book a call, schedule a meeting, even reach out via a form so that you can get back in touch with me.
I don’t know that I want you to get back in touch with me yet. I know that to extroverts, this seems like an extremely user-friendly offer. They get to talk to someone and learn more from a real human! Amazing.
But to an introvert, I may actually leave your site solely because one more interaction isn’t some thing I am up for scheduling into my life right now.
So what, Mary? you may be thinking, should I send you a series of emails? Blog posts? Start a podcast?
I mean, sure. You could do any of those things.
But frankly, as a fellow entrepreneur, I know you’re not putting your best stuff in your email sequences or in any specific blog post or podcast episode. And I’m not in a position to want to strategize around which posts or episode I should read or listen to in order to assemble in my own mind a complete understanding of your framework and what you have to teach me.
But a book? Sign, me, up! If I am interested in what you are selling at all, and you have a book, I’m down.
First, I don’t have to interact with anyone except for my Kindle.
Second, because it’s a book, I trust that you have really put thought into it in that it’s not just a marketing email that I’m going to open hoping for helpful contact… and even then, since it’s only one email, it would be only one small piece of content and I would have to open a series of them over a long time in order to assemble a full understanding. Again, something I don’t have time or desire to do.
Third, because I have paid for it, all the more reason I expect it to have legitimate content inside. I don’t care whether it’s self-published or traditionally published. Either way I know that it’s not out there being sold to people unless it’s going to have some of your really good stuff inside. Because I trust you at this point not to be just duping people, which obviously would be dumb.
This scenario should give you a sense of why I think writing and publishing a book can be a brilliant decision for a business owner or entrepreneur. But there’s an even deeper reason, too.
When I have worked with authors who are experts on writing books to share their expertise, I have seen how it has caused them to grow as people and as the experts that they are.
The exercise of distilling their knowledge into an organized set of teaching points, and supporting those teaching points with true anecdotes from their life or from the lives of their clients, leads them to understand their own work differently.
They discover new insights, they reach new understandings of material they thought they already knew backwards and forwards, and they refine their storytelling chops, which frankly is the kind of skill that ripples into all areas of business leadership.
Here’s my confession: I used to ghostwrite and ghost edit on occasion for academics and business executives. I do not do this work anymore, so please do not ask me.
Now, when I am not writing myself, I am coaching writers to bring their own books to life. So I would love to work with you in that capacity, but I will not be ghost writing for you.
Sometimes, when I was working with one of these clients, I would ask a clarifying question about a point they were making, and in answering it, they would connect a dot that they had never connected before.
I’m not saying that I’m a genius or that I saw some thing they did not. I truly was just trying to understand something better, I had no foresight, I wasn’t asking a leading question because I knew it would help them discover something.
It’s just that in being forced to simply lay out principles and lessons, we sometimes discover new ones.
Ready to write your book?
If you made it this far, I’m guessing that you are writing a book, or want to write a book. If so, I want to talk to you.
When I’m not writing, my mission in life is to help talented writers write their dream books. I love it. I live for it.
Because before I published my novels, I first had to figure out how to write one. It wasn't easy because none of the writing classes I was taking showed me how to actually write a novel.
Not until I had a newborn and only a couple of hours to write did I come up with a process. The process worked. I wrote my entire novel during my 8-week maternity leave. Now, I teach it in my program the Book Incubator and it works for dozens of other writers.
If you're curious to know more, I have a free video walking you through my exact process for writing a book.You can get it by clicking below and answering two questions to apply to the program. You get the video whether you join or not—no pressure to enroll.
Just click below to tell me a little bit about you and your book—you can fill out a form online. I’m so excited to hear from you!
