How to sell your services through your non-fiction book

One of the most important benefits of writing your business book is that it pre-sells you and your services to your ideal clients – the ones who can most benefit from your services and will be willing and able to pay your top rates.

But you have to go about this the right way. If your book is one long advert for your services, your ideal clients will never finish reading it. On the other hand, if your ideal client can read your book but then put it down with no idea of how to contact you about your services, it’s a wasted opportunity.

In this post we’ll go over how to plan and write the book that sells your services; and how to fit your book into your overall marketing strategy, so your ideal clients contact you once they’ve read it.

Position your services within the book planning and writing process

You need to consider how to sell your services in your book from the very early stages of planning… not as an afterthought. Here’s how:

During the planning process

If your book is going to bring in clients, you need to start thinking about those clients well before you start to write. That’s how you decide on the book you’re going to write: it’s the book that your ideal client needs to read.

Think about the 3 Ps of Position: the Person, the Pain and the Promise.

• Person: who is your ideal client? What industry do they work in, and what’s their role in it? What’s their income or turnover? What might be their motivation(s) for using your services?
• Pain: what is the central question or problem you solve for your clients?
• Promise: what solution will your readers find in this book, and how will it make them want to come to you for more?

The answers to these questions will help you define the book you need to write, and to understand how it ties in with the services you offer. Book Magic AI gives you a framework to follow using the 3 Ps to effectively plan your book.

Once you’re a little further on in planning your book, you can think about opportunities to create additional content you can link to in the book and thus use as a lead magnet. This could be something interactive, maybe even a little fun.

For example, if one of the chapters of your book details the 3 different types of business leaders, think about linking to an online survey that tells you which kind of business leader you are.

If your book outlines a process your reader should work through, you could link to an online workbook.

Top tip: Avoid putting this sort of content in the book itself: if your reader has a physical copy of your book they won’t want to scribble on it, and most ebook formats don’t lend themselves to interactivity.

During the writing process

Think of your book as your undercover sales agent – with an emphasis on the undercover part. It’s not a marketing brochure.

DO

Write your book with your ideal client in mind

Include case studies

Outline your unique process(es)

Include links to additional free content

Include contact details, social media profile links etc at the very end of the book to encourage your readers to continue the conversation

BUT DON'T

Ignore other readers

Include direct testimonials

Openly pitch your products or services

Use terms like ‘free resource’ or ‘free download’ that flag these as lead magnets

Include these in the body of the book - it’s going to feel unnatural and too sales-y

When you’re writing your book, think: If someone reads this and never has any other interaction with me – never becomes a client, never visits my website or joins my mailing list – will they still get value from this book?

The value is in the knowledge you share, and the case studies that bring your processes to life. These are also what will turn readers into potential clients. Book Magic AI can help you format the perfect, compelling case study.

Lead magnets, like the surveys and workbooks we mentioned above, help turn those potential clients into warm leads. But these resources should:

• Add real value
• Be genuinely, organically related to the content of the book
• Use unique links, so that you’re not directing your readers to the part of your website where you sell your services.

Including your book in your overall marketing strategy to sell your services

Your book is just one very powerful aspect of your overall marketing strategy: a tool to showcase your expertise and interest readers in your services (not advertise them!). Bear this in mind when you’re writing it.

Yes, the reason you’re writing the book is to reach more clients and sell your services. But if your book is one long sales pitch, it’s not going to complement your marketing strategy at all – in fact, it’s going to hinder it. You’ll get one-star reviews on Amazon and negative comments from people who parted with good money for your book. People are expecting to read something of value and will have been understandably peeved to discover they’d paid for a brochure.

So once you’ve written a book that can form an effective part of your marketing strategy because it delivers real value, how do you get people to read it? Here are a few proven strategies:

Give away free copies of your book

It sounds counterintuitive, but it’s THE best way to get more eyes on your business. When you meet someone – a prospect; someone who could refer you to your ideal client; a potential partner or employee; a journalist; someone whose podcast you want to appear on – give them a copy of your book.

Give your existing clients copies of your book to give to friends. Find new ways to give away books. Offer free copies on social media or give away a free ebook at the end of the online questionnaire on your website.

It’s the best business card there is: no one throws away a book. They display it, review it, discuss it, pass it on, and talk about it. If you do it right, giving books away will net you far more income than you’ll ever get from selling them on Amazon.

Create a lead magnet to promote your book

We’ve discussed lead magnets to help convert people once they’ve read your book, but you can also use them to find readers in the first place. Create and share any or all of these to get people on your mailing list:

• An interactive quiz, such as ScoreApp
• A checklist – for example, if your book and your business are about event marketing, you could share a checklist of everything you need to include in an email promoting your event
• A workbook that reproduces a tiny part of your book in an interactive way
• A template – to use the example above, you could create a fill-in-the-blanks template for the perfect email to promote an event
• A free chapter of your book
• A video explaining one of the concepts described in more detail in your book.

Promote your book while speaking or hosting a webinar

If you’re doing a speaking gig or running a workshop in person, take along copies of your book to give away. If you’re being paid, include the price of a copy of your book for every audience member in your fee.

For webinars and other online events, offer participants a link and code to download your book for free or at a discount. Whatever the event, upsell your book at the end – that gets your book in front of people who are already interested in what you do and who know they have a problem you may be able to help them solve.

With Book Magic AI, promoting your book is as simple as copy and paste: content for social media is generated weekly and monthly, based on the themes within your book, and potential clients can make enquiries from your book’s landing page.

Position yourself as an authority in your industry

Writing a book is one of the best ways you can demonstrate your in-depth knowledge and effective processes to bring in clients. Planning, writing, and promoting a book for the first time is daunting – but with new technology and Book Magic AI, it’s never been easier.

This revolutionary software will guide you seamlessly through each essential step. Book Magic AI’s customer avatars are ideal for audience targeting and developing your marketing strategies, allowing you to focus on what you do best – sharing your knowledge and insights with the world. Try it here for free to see for yourself!