4 magical ways a book brings you more business

You know a thing, and you know it well.

Maybe you have ideas about how to change something in your industry. Possibly you have the expertise to transform the way people solve a particular problem. Or it might be you have a vision that would right a wrong in the world that desperately needs fixing.

What’s more, you know that if more people knew about this thing, you’d attract more clients. More speaking opportunities. More business.

But how do you spread your knowledge far and wide? What’s the best way of getting as many people as possible to buy into your vision and ideas?

One answer is to write a book.

Why a book?

There are many ways a book can bring you more business. In my experience of working with numerous authors as a ghostwriter and book coach, there are four main ones.

Reach

Working with people one-to-one, or even in groups, gives you access to them in a powerful way. But your reach is limited. A book, on the other hand, is a low-risk entry point for thousands of readers to get to know you and your work, and is available worldwide.

If you do any speaking at all, you’ll know the value of standing in front of an audience, but imagine how many more rooms you’ll be in when everyone can read your words at home.

Authority

The experts and entrepreneurs who’ve ‘written the book on it’ are the ones who are listened to. They’re respected for their experience and get the biggest chance to implement their transformational ideas in the world. They’re also the ones who attract more clients, and who can therefore pick and choose who they work with.

If you want to be a difference-maker, you first need the authority that comes from being a published author. It’s only then that you command the respect that draws people to your vision.

Depth

Stand on a stage and you can deliver your message in minutes. Meet someone at a face-to-face networking event and you might keep their attention for a little more. Send out an email, or publish a blog post, and you can explain your ideas in a few paragraphs.

But none of these compares to the depth you can go into in a book.

It’s only when you have 50,000 words to play with that you’re able to grab people’s attention and walk them through your thinking in a way that wins them over to your side.

Choice

The big one. Becoming the author of an impactful book gives you the ability to charge more and work with who you want. It gives you options, so you can say ‘No’ to people you’re not interested in serving and ‘Yes’ to those who excite you and have the budget to pay you well.

What’s more, even before you’ve published your book, the thinking you’ve put into it allows your work to thrive in other ways. You find the words you’ve written coming to life with your clients and customers, and in whatever ways you choose to communicate your knowledge.

So how does a book really work?

Jason* was one of my ghostwriting clients. He’s an expert in business communication, helping people in corporations to resolve interpersonal issues by addressing underlying concerns rather than descending into conflict. A few years ago, he discovered a revolutionary way of doing this that was working incredibly well with his clients, and he worked with me to write a book to share it more widely.

After his book was published, he noticed an immediate uptick in enquiries, not only from his own country but from places he’d never been to. When he asked people how they’d heard of him, they told him it was by reading his book. This gave him an advantage, because not only did they come to the initial conversation informed about his ideas, but they’d also got to know him as a person.

In effect, they’d said ‘yes’ to working with him already.

As a result, Jason is now in far more demand than he was before and has doubled his consulting and training fees. He’s also invited to paid speaking events and is a regular podcast guest.

All this is enabling him to make so much more of an impact with his work than he would have done without his book.

What’s stopping you?

You may be wondering how you could write a book. Which is fair enough because it’s not the simplest of processes, is it?

First there’s the planning and outlining. Get that right and you’ll create a book that reaches the most important people and promotes your ideas. Skip this step and you can waste months of your life writing the wrong book.

Then there’s the small matter of crafting your work so it engages, inspires and educates your readers. Actually, let’s face it, there’s the small matter of writing it at all.

One way to make the process more straightforward is to read my award-winning book Your Business Your Book. Or, if you’re in the personal development space, my award-nominated book How to Write a Self-Help Book. Both will help you to write a great book.

The other (and believe me, it’s a lot easier) is to hire me to ghostwrite your book. I’ve ghostwritten multiple books for entrepreneurs, coaches, and consultants of all specialisms. These people are now the proud owners of shiny new books and equally shiny reputations.

Jason more than made back the return on his ghostwriting investment through the clients he gained and the increased exposure he achieved. This wasn’t unexpected given that independent research shows ghostwritten books achieve 5 times the revenue of non-ghosted books and 4 times the profit (even when the cost of the ghostwriter is taken into account).

If you’d like to talk to me about this, here’s how to get in touch.

Over to you!

*Name and some details changed to protect confidentiality