Why Every Entrepreneur Should Write A Book

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If you’re an entrepreneur, you’ve probably been fed the gamut of marketing strategies to fuel your business growth. From influencer networks to advertising tricks, there are certainly a few popular angles that you’ll see repeated on the blogosphere over and over again. 

But that means that many deserving marketing techniques get drowned in this sea of articles — one of which is the evergreen approach of writing a book. If you think that books are only good for the scholarly crowd, think again. A book can benefit entrepreneurs and their businesses in more ways than one. This post will cover why every entrepreneur should consider writing a book — and just how that’ll guide you towards more sales and attention. 

1. A Book Will Position You As An Expert In Your Field 

If you skim any niche out there — whether it’s digital marketing or the practice of veganism — you’ll almost certainly find yourself overwhelmed by articles from self-proclaimed authorities on said subject. These “experts” and “specialists” will all be telling you the same thing: that theirs is the only advice worth taking. Which makes it tough, in today’s overcrowded world of voices, to convince people that you’re the real deal. 

That’s when your book comes into the picture. To this day, a book still carries prestige in the eyes of the public, and nonfiction authors are regarded as actual authorities on their topics. Just think about Sheryl Sandberg, who became the go-to voice for working women when she published Lean In in 2013. Or Neil Patel’s Hustle, which cemented Patel’s status as a top entrepreneur in the digital marketing world. Similarly, you can establish your expertise that much easier if you’ve got a book to offer to your audience. And your potential customers are going to be that much more prone to believe you — and, by proxy, believe in your business. 

Since a book can run anywhere between 100 to 300 pages, you also really need to know your stuff in order to wrestle with your thoughts, get them onto the page, and then structure them in a compelling way to teach your audience something about your topic. (Fortunately, if you’re not confident when it comes to your writing chops, there are plenty of good ghostwriters out there to step in and translate your ideas onto paper for you). 

You can’t just bluff your way through a book — and the public is well aware of that. That’s why, if you complete this book, you would actually deserve all of the credibility you receive. 

2. It Will Get You PR Opportunities 

One of the oldest tricks in the marketing textbook remains the best for entrepreneurs: word-of- mouth marketing is still an extremely effective way to grow your business. And a good book can definitely trigger good word-of-mouth

Jason Fried and David Hansson, co-founders of the project management platform Basecamp, also raised the profile of their business by becoming well-known authors. In 2010, they published Rework: Change the Way You Work Forever — a book about reworking the very concept of work, a topic that’s closely related to Basecamp itself and its ideals. The book took off, making Jason Fried and David Hansson prominent voices in the entrepreneurship world. 

However, more than that, it was a word-of-mouth windmill that introduced tons of new people to Basecamp. The co-founders went on to author two more books (Remote: Office Not Required and It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work), which also ended up squarely spotlighting Basecamp and building it as a brand. 

And the marketing doesn’t just stop at word-of-mouth. Returning to the Sheryl Sandberg example, you can see that a book can trigger many other new PR opportunities. Her profile rose astronomically when she published Lean In — up to the point where she was booking speaking engagements left and right. 

Of course, your book might not be quite as successful as Lean In or Rework. But it can nevertheless open up tons of PR avenues that otherwise wouldn’t be available to you, from media outlets to book review blogs and “Best Business Books of 2020” posts on other blogs. And every single PR opportunity for your book will get more eyes on you — and consequently on your business. 

3. Books Make Excellent Lead Magnets 

Lead magnets are incentives or “perks” that you can offer for free to readers who come to your website, in exchange for their email addresses. That makes it a win-win for both parties. The reader gets something valuable for free, while you get a subscriber, which grows one of your most important marketing assets: your mailing list. In short, these magnets are vitally important and should be in every entrepreneur’s toolkit. 

So what form can a lead magnet take? They can be anything from a downloadable checklist to an infographic, a whitepaper, a video — or a book. 

In fact, books make some of the best magnets out there, simply by virtue of the value that they offer the user. Users will be inclined to sign up in order to download your free book — and once you capture their contact information, you’ll be able to reach out to them, introduce them to your business, and convert them into a paying customer in the future. And it’s not just that: once a user reads your book, it will automatically build trust with them. They’ll be made more aware of your work and your ‘brand’ — which further increases the chances of that person buying your product in the future. 

Set Realistic Expectations For Your Book

That all being said, don’t get too excited right away. Be prepared for the probable reality that your book won’t become the next Think and Grow Rich or Lean In. Instead, understand that your book will play an important role in your long game. Sure, you might not be able to make a king’s ransom off of it. But by positioning it at the top of your sales funnel, you’ve got the opportunity to get many, many more eyes on your business product. Combine that with the trust that you’ll be building through this book and the PR opportunities that it will provide, and you’ve got a recipe for business success in the future. 

Desiree Villena is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors and publishers with the world's best freelance editors, designers, and marketers.

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