The Book is the New Business Card

Look at your business card. It has your name and title, contact information, probably a logo and maybe a pithy quote. It may even be glossy and metallic. When you hand it out, you most likely have a one minute elevator pitch that you deliver and then pray the message sticks. The person takes it, graciously looks at both sides and thanks you. The card may end up in a rolodex, but most often it will find itself stained with coffee or in the trash. 

Now, consider handing someone a book that you’ve written about your business. It will have all the same information, but it provides a much more powerful and lasting effect. The book will show why your work will provide the best possible solution to a potential customer’s problem. Moreover, your message will be conveyed through storytelling (if you do it right), which is the most impactful way of making a sale.  

Giving someone a book, especially when it’s signed with a personal note, is a gesture that makes an immediate and intimate connection. You’ve just given someone a gift (yes, it’s a gift and I’ll get to that later). Most people will take it and—at least—look at your bio on the back and the book’s description. If it interests them, they may skim over it and, depending how well you tell the story, they will read it.

The book will almost always stimulate a conversation. If for nothing else because you just gave the person a gift; that’s the polite thing to do, after all. The discussion may not have anything to do with the contents of the book and that’s okay. You will have the opportunity to explain why you wrote it, the experience of writing, and the passion for your work that compelled you to put pen to paper.

It is unlikely that anyone will toss the book in the garbage or use it as a coffee coaster. It may be placed on a book shelf, or an office table, or on the potential customer’s desk. In the ideal case, and when the message is powerful, they will show it to the members of their staff and employees and say, “Look what I got! This person has some interesting things to say. Check it out and tell me what you think. They even signed it.” The executive may even share it with colleagues in other businesses.

However, the thing about using a book as your business card is that you have to write and publish it. I will show you that it is not as daunting a task as you may think and it’s not much more expensive than what you pay Office Depot or a graphic designer for 500 multi-colored metallic glossies. 

A book about your business doesn’t have to be more than 100 pages. You definitely don’t want to hand someone War and Peace. It needs to be something they can read on a two to three hour plane flight. A 100 page book is about 25,000 words. So, if you write 250 words every day for three months, you will have the initial draft of your book’s manuscript.

250 words is really not a lot. It’s about half a page. However, it is what you say in those 250 words that matters. It could take 30 minutes or two hours, depending on the subject matter and the stories you want to tell. Nonetheless, what is most important with your initial draft is that you get words on paper. Don’t worry about grammar, sentence structure or even spelling. That will come later.

If this already seems overwhelming, here’s the thing: If you can’t write 100 pages about your business, why it is important, and what inspired you to create this service for a customer, then you may want to think hard whether your business really matters.

Regardless, the most important thing about your book is—you and your story. 

You should weave stories about your life and other anecdotes into the reading. They should show why your work is so important to you and how your experiences shaped your passion for the service you provide. Once you get started tying your life’s story to your work, the pages will start flying. It will really be fun and you’ll be surprised what you learn about yourself and why you started your business.

Once you get the first draft finished, the real work starts with editing and rewrites. The initial editing phase could take a while, depending how well you write. I recommend picking up a copy of Strunk and Whites The Elements of Style and Stephen King’s On Writing. Both books will help you with the art and science of writing. I keep a copy of Strunk and White in my backpack so I always have their sage wisdom at my disposal.

You should also solicit the help of a trusted circle of people to serve on your editor review board. The review board should provide feedback on the substance of the book and not so much grammar and spelling. Provide them a list of questions about the book and ask them to respond. For example, “Do my stories help or hinder my message. Which stories work and which ones distract from the purpose?” This is a volunteer service and they should expect no more compensation than a mention in the acknowledgments and the satisfaction of helping create a book.

As you go through the editing process, you will also do some re-writing and that’s okay. In fact, the writer’s creed is to write and rewrite. Most assuredly you will have to do re-writes after you get feedback from the editor review board.

Once you get the book to where you want it, you have your first financial decision point—do you pay an editor to review it. I have paid editors with both my books, because I wanted a professional eye to look at it and catch whatever I missed. A good editor costs between $30-60 an hour. A 100 page book will normally take 6 hours for the editor to do their magic. This not a mandatory expense, but I do recommend it.

You have your book ready to be published, so now what do you do? There is another financial decision point:

1)     You can pitch your book to a literary agent and they will help you get published for a fee.

2)     You can pay a publishing company (sometimes up to $6000) to do it for you.

3)     You can self-publish for $125, plus another $150 if you choose to get it copyrighted (recommended). 

I tried #1 and got no bites. I used #2 on my first book and I used #3 on my second book. Personally, I will only self-publish in the future. For me, there was simply no return on investment going through a publishing company. Publishing companies do have editors, graphic designers, marketers and other resources that will make your book look good and may even improve the content. However, you will pay for those services and there’s absolutely no guarantee you’ll ever get the money back.

Anyway, don't go into this endeavor thinking you'll be the next John Grisham. It’s not the reason for doing it anyway. The book is your business card. However, if you self-publish I can almost assure you that you’ll at least get your money back and probably make some sort of a profit.

I self-published using Create Space on Amazon. It was, by far, the easiest part of the writing/publishing process. It can take as short as a week for your manuscript to become a book that is ready for purchase on Amazon. The only cost is $125 for an International Standard Business Number (ISBN), which is required for every book. Create Space does offer a free ISBN, but I don’t recommend it because it will limit your distribution platforms. 

The other advantage of Create Space is that you have a dashboard that provides details on sales, royalties and provides the means to order hard copies of the book to be shipped to your location. You are in complete control of your book.

I chose to sell my book for $14.95 and I get $6.95 in royalties from each sale through Amazon. You can also have bulk paperback copies shipped to your location for around $3.00 a book, not including shipping. You can sell them directly to the public, where you make the most profit ($11.95 in my case). I order in blocks of 50 unless I have a signing or speaking event. You always need to have copies on hand, but don’t over purchase (and fill your basement with boxes books). It only takes 10 days to get books delivered from Amazon.

It will not take long to get a return on investment on your books. I got my money back in a week on my last book but I’m still digging out of the hole with the book I did through the publishing company. 

Self-publish, y’all.

You should also start looking for speaking engagements to talk about your book, do signings and make direct sales (invest in a Square, a small, but professional sign of your book's image and some good thin Sharpie pens). Work to get interviews in the local media. Tell the story wherever and whenever you can and do it for free. If you’re a good presenter, paid speaking gigs may follow.

So, as you’re making your money back from the books that you are selling to the public and on Amazon (20 or so books sold to break even), it’s time to set books aside to give to potential clients as your business card. 

Since the book is only 100 pages or so, you can carry a dozen or so copies in your back pack or brief case. When you meet someone who has the strong potential to be a client, hand them your book and ask if you can sign it. Tell them your contact information is in the back with your bio. 

More often than not, they will want to linger and talk. Not too many people know a published author, especially one with a story that will make their business better.

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