How should I publish my business book?

So, you’ve written your business book. Perhaps it was your COVID/lockdown project.

Or, you might be thinking that there’s four months left in 2021 and you haven’t written your book, yet.

But NOW, it’s time.

Quickly your mind jumps to how you’re going to publish it. This could be because it's a great way to defer the whole business book writing project altogether because you’ve got no idea how to publish it, OR you’re genuinely not sure how to get your precious book out into the world.

If this is you, I’m here to help. Here’s a quick guide to the business book publishing universe (and, no, the answer is not 42).

1.??Work out why you are writing and publishing your book

This may sound like an odd comment but it’s pivotal to every other decision you’ll make about your book.

If you want to use your book as a way to develop a higher profile, be regarded as an expert in your field, secure media and industry exposure and through this secure new business, don’t use Amazon, IngramSpark or other Print on Demand services.

Why? Because you won’t know whose bought your book so you can’t leverage the purchase as a way to start a deeper relationship. These and other platforms don’t provide ANY information about who has purchased your book.

If this is your goal, make your book available via your website. Create a landing page/s, set up a shop, create lead magnets through a ‘free chapter’, summaries etc so you can capture emails.

Your book sales are not merely a book sale transaction, they’re potentially the start of an ongoing engagement.

This said, you can have your book available via Amazon, IngramSpark and other platforms but understand that this is for accessibility NOT engagement.

2.????Print book v eBook v Audio book

I LOVE printed books. I write, publish, buy and read them. I don’t have a Kindle, have only just started reading the occasional eBook (a book club I helped start in lockdown 2020 was the prompt). This said I completely understand and now embrace the new world of knowledge sharing.

A couple of years back one of my clients passed on Kevin Kelly’s book, The Inevitable, Understanding the 12 technological forces that will shape our future. It was a revelation for a book luddite like me. Chapter 3 opened my mind and my world to the future of knowledge. Titled Flowing, I’ve post-it-noted literally every page of this chapter.

The concept that captured my attention was that:

‘. . .today, the prime units are flows and streams’. That ‘the axis has flipped. Rivers of free copies have undermined the established order. In this new, supersaturated digital universe of infinite free duplication, the only things that are truly valuable are those that cannot be copied. When copies are free, you need to sell things that cannot be copied.

?‘What can’t be copied? Trust.’

Why is this relevant here? Well, HOW you share your book, print, eBook, audio book depends very much on WHY you want to share it and how much trust you have in you/your brand.

What you put in your printed book, eBook, audio book has to be a well thought out conscious decision about what you’re trying to achieve with your book.

I’ve long said you can’t and neither should you put everything you know in your business book. It’s about understanding what tiers/level of information you can/should share in your printed book v eBook v audio book, how these relate to each other, your website, your business lead funnel.

You business book does not and should not exist in isolation.

Don’t get me wrong, your printed and/or eBook should sell well (whatever that looks like for you), but it’s perhaps not the main game.

3.????Build your business/brand marketing strategy, your book is part of this NOT it.

Many of my clients start working with me as they’re starting or on their business book writing journey. Very quickly we start talking about how their book is going to fit in to their branding and marketing strategy.

A business book is one of the many tools to position and market you/your business.?It needs to be integrated into your existing marketing/branding strategy/plan or be the tool that prompts you to create one.

A business book is not simply ‘a book’. It’s certainly not a glorified business card.

Understanding how you can leverage your business book before, during and after the launch will deliver way more than book sales.

If you’d like to know more about how to leverage your business book to increase your industry/sector leadership and/or brand recognition contact me.