4 Ways Writing A Book Can Grow Your Business

Believe it or not, writing a book to grow your business has little  to do with book sales.

Here are four tactics you can use to make your book work for YOU.

As a strategic book development and writing coach, I not only help my clients complete their books, I also help them determine precisely how they can use their books to grow their businesses — whether they’re coaches, consultants, or company owners. And while every client’s strategy is different, I’ve found that there are four key value-adds that keep paying off again and again.

1. Sales

Now let’s be clear. I’m not talking about book sales here. In fact, while many of my clients begin the writing process with the intention to pursue book sales as a revenue stream, I’ve found that chasing book sales is one of the least profitable, least expeditious ways to grow your business.

You’re much better off looking at how you can use your book to assist in making big ticket sales.

Crafted properly, your book can simultaneously articulate your philosophy, demonstrate your expertise, and give readers insight into what it might be like to work with you. Your book will sing your praises — regardless of whether you’re in the room. And the reader will never feel like they’re being “sold to.”

I released my book, How To Write A Book That Sells YOU, in 2013. More and more, I find that when I get on the phone to have a sales conversation, the person on the other line has already read it. That means that they’ve already been introduced to my philosophy of writing. They have a feel for who I am and what I’m like. Since they’ve decided to set up a call with me, I already know that they’ve bought into my ideas. I’ve found that when I invite these readers into my strategic book development and writing programs, it’s a way easier path to yes.

2. Marketing

The writing process is all about honing your message and developing the tools and language to articulate it. But the content that you create during that process doesn’t have to stay trapped between the front and back covers of your book. You can repurpose that material as marketing collateral right away! For instance, I developed an author personality test for my book and later transformed it into a PlayBuzz quiz that culminates with an opt-in opportunity. It’s become a fun, effective way to generate leads. Here are a few other things for which you can repurpose book content:

• Workshops
• Breakout sessions
• Tweets
• Blog articles
• Keynotes
• Surveys, questionnaires, and other assessment tools

3. Delivery of Service

So far, we’ve looked at ways that your book can help you onboard new clients. But many authors — myself included — have found that writing a book can also help you improve the service that you deliver to your clients.

If you’re a coach, then you know that your client conversations usually fall into one of two categories: they’re either training conversations or coaching conversations. During a training conversation, you explain how to do something. During a coaching conversation you help your client navigate and overcome the specific roadblocks particular to their situation.

Coaching conversations deliver the most value to clients: that’s where they find specific solutions and get clear on next actions. By contrast, training conversations add less value — they cover general material that clients could probably learn from a book.

Your book, even.

In your book, you can provide most of that training. So if a client comes to you and they’ve already read your book, you can cut straight to the coaching. And since those coaching conversations add more value, you can charge more for your time.

Which brings us back to the fourth way writing a book grows your business.

4. Development of Products and Services

Writing a book doesn’t just help you deliver existing products and services, it can also help you develop new ones.

As I wrote my book, I realized that I could offer an online training, taking people through the steps as I fleshed them out. I did, and I put about 20 people through that program. Some of those turned into private clients. Because I did that, I earned $56,000 in six weeks before I finished my first draft!*

A few years after the book came out, I expanded and augmented some of the same content and turned that material into an intensive two-day, in-person course.

Then I discovered that some clients preferred to explore a middle ground: they wanted to continue beyond the material covered in the book, but weren’t ready for the depth and intensity of the two-day program. So I developed an 8-week online course to bridge the gap.

From bringing in new clients to transforming your offerings, writing a book can catalyze radical revolutions in your business.

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*Results are atypical and require a proven concept, strategy, action, and follow through. I am not a psychic, and I don’t know you or your business.   I cannot
guarantee that you would achieve similar results.