Why Should I Write A Book Now?

Have you noticed that the high performing individuals in every industry are making it big with their books?

Well, there’s a catch. If there’s one thing people need, it’s motivation for their ambition. When you publish your nonfiction story and share what you’ve been through, your struggles, what you’ve learned, or what you’ve overcome, you become the voice of people’s hope and support.

Additionally, what do people want more, especially for their business or career?

Attention.

One of the two most important things everyone need is trust. Gaining the confidence of people in today’s world is tough.

Let me give you an example.

Do you need to sell more products or services? Start with seizing people’s attention. You convince them that your product/service benefits them and then they buy it.

Do you want to attract the best talent to your company? You have to grab their attention and show them why they should join your company.

Do you want to raise money? You have got to get attention from VC’s, angels, and PE funds to pitch them.

Do you want to speak at conferences or create authority for your program, product or company? How will anyone know they should listen to you if you haven’t gotten their attention yet?

In my experience, writing and publishing a book is not only one of the best ways to attract attention, but it’s also one of the most underrated strategies used by people.

A book is a great marketing tool which can we use to secure attention and trust because it creates awareness through a trustworthy medium that you can turn into almost anything else you want; sales, media, word of mouth, authority, etc.

However, essentially how does a book grab your attention?

There are four main ways:

1. A Book Gives You Authority, Credibility and Expertise

Many people like to say that “a book is the new business card.” I cannot entirely agree because everyone has a business card. You can go to a print shop and get business cards, but you can’t just author a book at a print shop.

What I like to say is that “a book is the new college degree.” It used to be, about forty years ago, only about 10% of the people had college degrees. If you had one, it was a significant signal of credibility and authority. It meant something. However, now that everyone goes to college, it doesn’t signal as much credibility as it used to.

So what is a signal of credibility and authority now, one that’s reliable and rare?

Writing and publishing a book.

A book also sets you up to be judged. It’s easy to start by getting a college degree. You can’t fake your way into writing a good book. Either you know what you’re talking about or you don’t.

Moreover, a book shows you can commit to something and follow through. It shows you get things done. Things that are hard to keep up with and prestigious and require many skills.

Most people are NOT willing to take that risk, set themselves up to be judged, and show the world what they know.

At my book publishing company, this is why we refuse to work with people who think they can buy us with money and get their content published even if it is not worthy to be released. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, you can’t just vomit out nonsense, call it a book, and get all the benefits. You have to write a GOOD BOOK to gain credibility and authority, and a good book is defined by how exciting it is for the reader and valuable other people find it.

1. A Book Raises Your Visibility And Gets Media Coverage

Whom do the media outlets approach, when they want a comment on something? The expert, right? How do they know someone is an expert? Because they wrote a book!

The experts are the ones who wrote books. Commentators write blog posts.

Once you have a book, media coverage is 10x more comfortable to get. Moreover, this isn’t just for the media. “Has written a new book” is a standard, and often required, box to tick for the gatekeepers who control access to the areas you most want to enter: lecture halls, television studios, boardrooms, media pages, special events, most importantly people’s minds.

In your field, how many people have you seen getting attention just because they wrote a book? Even if you knew more than them, they got the attention that you didn’t, only because of the book.

If you want visibility in your field and media coverage, being an authority and an expert is a key to this, and the way you do that is to write a book.

1. A Book Helps People Find You

The #1 search engine is Google. #2 is YouTube. Do you know what #3 is? It’s Amazon. Why is it relevant to you? That is because of the #1 search engine would help you in looking for products and services. It goes beyond just attention. An ad can get attention, but no one goes searching for ads to decide between buying a product or a service.

When people look for buying information, they turn to experts or authorities. So what’s the first thing they think about to find information from an expert? Same as the media–they look at the person who literally “wrote the book” on the topic.

Having a great book brings people to you, let’s people know who you are, and shows them how you can help them. It’s the best marketing tool you could ever use not just to build your brand, but actually, attract clients.

1. A Book Helps People Talk About You

There is no better marketing than word of mouth. When someone you trust tells you to use something, you listen and then you use it.

Anything that helps other people talk about you and your business is the best marketing tool, and a book enables word of mouth better than almost anything else.

It is because a book puts your story into people’s mouths in your words, so when they talk about you, they’re just saying what you want them to say. A good book causes people to repeat your terms, phrases, and ideas to other people.

We use this idea to help our authors position and frame their books. We say, “Imagine someone at a cocktail party who read your book, talking to someone else who is your potential audience. What would they say? Imagine what you want them to speak to the other person.”

Once you understand that, it comes alive in your head where a conversation is naturally happening between two people, you can construct the positioning and narrative of your book from that conversation.

If you can write a book that is valuable to people, they will WANT to talk about your book to someone else who has that problem. That’s how word of mouth works.