Besides personal branding, a book can be a great asset to your business. It can be used to generate income and improve the credibility of your business in its area of specialty. Authors attest to many other benefits of writing their books and the greatest of them is that you do the work once but the advantages follow many years later.
We asked entrepreneurs and business owners who have authored a book how they use the books for business. Here's what they had to say;
#1- Demonstrate that our workforce trainings provide exactly what employers need and want
The research that I did in preparation for writing The New Collar Workforce has given a data-verified confirmation to the anecdotal information in our work’s importance. 200 executives from manufacturing companies explain the skills they need for operators and technicians in the digital factory. With solid data from a statistically significantly sample, we are now able to demonstrate that our workforce Digital Badge trainings for 3D Printing operators, CAD designers and other New Collar Jobs provide exactly what employers around the nation need and want. Customers are not just taking my word for it, I have the data to back up our thesis.
Thanks to Sarah Boisvert, Fab Lab Hub!
#2- It has provided the best marketing tool
Our first book, If You Only Knew (Griffin Publishing) came out in 1997. It provided an unfair level playing field for my competition. They would hand-out a business card and I would provide a signed copy of the book to attorneys, corporate executives and insurance company personnel when interviewing for contracts. We won over 70% domestically. Internationally, it was even easier closing 90% of our interviews. Many of the foreign nationals, both in the U.S. and overseas, never read the book but their culture told them automatically that the author must be dedicated, knowledgeable and disciplined. In the early 2000's, one of my investigators suggested we put the book online for free. For a decade and one-half, it has provided the best marketing tool we ever tried. People see our site at and this provided confidence and instant credibility to those searching for a private investigator.
Thanks to Thomas G. Martin, Martin Investigative Services!
#3- Three specific uses
First, a book makes referrals infinitely more simple for your existing clients. Instead of explaining what you do, they hand their friends and family a book. They tell their friends that their advisor is an author or best seller. I’ve had families call me after receiving my book from another family. MOST IMPORTANTLY, this is the best way to ASK for referrals. You hand a couple copies of your book to an existing client and ask them to give the books to a friend that may benefit from reading it. Second, this is the single best piece you could ever give away at a professional conference. People value books. Giving people a signed book is something that they remember and sets you apart from the competition at the booths. Finally, the process of writing the book made me a much better communicator. Nothing congeals your thoughts like writing a book. Being a better communicator has improved my closing ratio by nearly 15%. I went from closing 54% of my leads to closing 69% of my leads. I don’t know if it was the communication or the power of being a published author, but it helped tremendously.
Thanks to Scott G. Eichler, Newport Wealth Advisors!
#4- Sales tool
My first book, Grow! Inbound Marketing System, is really a how-to guide on the important lessons I've learned growing my company quickly and profitably using online marketing. My second book, Build, is all about creating a high-quality team for your service company. One of the things we've learned in sharing our marketing strategies with clients is that there are a few factors outside of our control that really have an impact on overall success. A lot of service industry business owners get stuck in a rut if they don't have a team they can trust to get the job done, so this was our answer for that. My experience marketing and growing Triangle Pest Control was really the baseline from which we built our service offerings at Coalmarch – our digital agency that specializes in pest control marketing. So these books have been a valuable sales tool, as well as a great resource for our current client base in explaining the fundamentals of our service and why what we focus on is important for business owners in service industries.
Thanks to Donnie Shelton, Coalmarch Productions!
#4- Share methods and codify it for myself
I've written a number of books for my field including Blues Improvisation for Beginners…and Piano Teachers. I created these books so teachers could apply my unique method of teaching improvisation to their own students. I've also created several videos to share the knowledge: My goal in writing the books was both to share the method, and also to codify it for myself. This is also true for the other books I've written in my field.
Thanks to Adam Cole, Adam Cole Works, LLC!
#5- For credibility
I wrote Leadership for Introverts for several reasons, not the least of which is to show my expertise in both the field of leadership and being an introvert leader. I coach several introverts and many in leadership tracks, so the book helps with my credibility. But writing the book may have helped me more than it helps those who read it. I did a great deal of research in order to give good content and I have learned a lot more about both leadership and introverts as a result. Writing that book helped me be a better coach for my clients.
Thanks to Dr. Ty Belknap, Leadership for Introverts!
#6- Different purposes
I use it primarily for sales at the back of the room when I am doing presentations, however I sometimes gives it away if appropriate, I sell it on my website, and use it in my TV appearances. However I have 5 different books so I use them for different purposes and switch them up depending on the event.
Thanks to Dr. Gayle Carson, Spunky Old Broad!
#7- Put the lessons into practical use daily
The advice and business lessons I offer in my books is put into practical use daily in my office. First, WACTEO: We Are Customers To Each Other. Treat each employee as if they were our most important customer. Next, Five Forbidden Phrases: in my book, I’ve identified five commonly used phrases that prohibit positive communication. It’s a condition of employment and grounds for termination if an employee violates. Third is keeping a positive mental attitude. That’s a must in my office. No negativity is allowed. Ever. Finally, my books offer dozens of tips on how to properly answer a phone call. All my employees are trained in how to not only answer a call, but how to help the caller with whatever they need.
Thanks to Nancy Friedman, The Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training Inc.!
#8- Help my clients and people
The whole purpose of the book I wrote, Life Transitions: Personal Stories of Hope Through Life's Most Difficult Challenges and Changes, is to help my clients (and people in general) through major life changes in their lives. Grief and loss are usually at the heart of life transitions that we do not have any control over (such as the loss of a loved one), so it can be helpful to hear other people’s stories about how they navigated these difficult times in their lives. I’ve reached a lot of people through amazon with the kindle version of my book, and I also just made it into an audio book as well, as so much of our digital world is now entering the auditory space. I’m hoping to be able to reach even more people with the helpful information in my book through this new avenue.
Thanks to Heidi McBain
#9- Several purposes
I have written many books on a variety of product development topics being a product development professional representing a product development organization. Each of the books highlights a dimension of capability within Value Transformation. Each of these areas are topics that we consult or teach and more importantly, demonstrates how we can see the interactions of all these topic areas in the product development environment. We consult and teach on these topics (I teach at technical schools, community colleges, universities and Business-to-Business) and the books help open up those doors. Some education providers use the books as part of their training, which increases book sales, and introduces more people to Value Transformation albeit in the early stages of the career development cycle. In fact, one of our books is used at a University in the Philippines, a technical university in Monterrey, and recently a University in Eindhoven is working on a course based upon one of our latest books. The latter, is is opening doors for guest lectures and introduction to the local technical businesses that are interested in the course development and ultimately the improvement of their respective organizations. The professor that is developing the course work in Eindhoven, is to introduce us to those companies that are requesting the course work to be developed. In addition to these events, the books are fodder for other products developed by Value Transformation, such as our own training packages for businesses both through distance learning and directly. In essence, books open doors for conversations to start relatively quickly. Books make it easier to land articles in key magazines that provide more exposure for the organization, we have articles in nearly 40 different product and project management magazines and blogs. Books provide a marketing element that demonstrates capabilities that can get potential clients to seek you out rather than requiring the organization to hunt for every client. Books provide spring boards for additional products (in this case training, speaking a consulting) that are built from those books.
Thanks to Jon M Quigley, Value Transformation LLC!
#10- Income and credibility
I have written six paperback books, which have done very well on Amazon. Along with generating income, they have helped my business and credibility tremendously. I wrote a book on buying houses, and since I run a real estate brokerage we can give that book to potential or current clients. Being able to give them a book that I personally wrote is huge. I also have a book on rentals, and flipping houses. Many of my books drive people to my website Investfourmore.com, which brings in revenue through a number of sources. The books create a much higher conversion rate among customers, because they know I offer valuable content.
Thanks to Mark Ferguson, Investfourmore!
#11- Foundation of our business
The book, Slicing Pie, is the foundation of our business. The concept, a perfectly fair equity split, represents a significant departure from conventional wisdom and, therefore, we needed to educate the market before we could expect them to purchase any related software or services. For the first few years we promoted the concept through the book, speaking events and webinars. During that time, secured publishing and translation partnerships in eight other languages. By the time we launched our online equity calculator we had a large following who understood how the model worked and appreciated the value offered by the program.
Thanks to Mike Moyer, Slicing Pie (Fair and Square Ventures, LLC)!
#12- Promote my coaching practice and generate clients
As a Health and Well-being (Life) Coach and Speaker, I primarily use my self-published book to promote my coaching practice and generate clients. I wrote the non-fiction book intending to sell it as a self-help guide, and I also planned to use it to help expand and grow my business. I sell copies of my book at speaking engagements as well as occasionally sending free copies to prospects to secure additional engagements. The subject matter of my book directly correlates to my Keynote speaking topic. My book also resonates with my target market for coaching clients and is usually the focus of the coaching I provide.
Thanks to Nate Battle
#13- Connect
Someone told me a long time ago that writing a book is the best business card. This couldn't be truer in my case. Since writing You Ain't Hungry Until I'm Starving, I have started my own publishing company 4-U-Nique Publishing. I am able to connect with inspiring and experienced authors through to my experience in writing a book and having a best-selling book. I have been able to sign authors to 4-U-Nique Publishing, because they now have someone who actually knows the publishing process and can walk them through it. They see me not as a businessman who is trying to make a profit off of them; they see me as a fellow author who has their best interest in mind, which is true. The books I've written also helped my business in getting my businesses and me more exposure. We have been featured in several publications. We have been taken part in many podcasts, radio and TV talk shows, and I have gained numerous speaking engagements due to my books and their success. I would say that writing a book has made me and every other author an expert on a certain topic as far as popular opinion goes. Writing a book makes you a public figure (no matter how big or small), and with more popularity comes more exposure.
Thanks to Vid Lamonte' Buggs Jr, 4-U-Nique Publishing!