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5 Reasons To Write a Book: Entrepreneurs, Coaches, Everyone

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5 Reasons to Write a Book – Yes, You Must Become an Author!

When I decided to share this post, I thought about the 5 reasons to write a book and what that would mean to you. Are you struggling to build an online business or sign more clients? Not sure what to do next in your marketing plan? There’s one simple answer you probably haven’t yet considered:

Write a book.

It’s true. This one thing—especially if it’s an actual printed book rather than a Kindle or eBook—has the power to grow your business beyond your expectations. You’ll experience a whole new world of opportunities simply by having your name on the cover of a book. Here are 5 reasons to write a book:

Authority

Imagine you’re at a workshop or a conference or local networking group and you meet two people who both specialize in business branding—something you know you need help with.

One person says all the right things. She’s been in business for years and worked with some top-notch business owners. She has great ideas for how she can help you solidify your branding.

The other has a similar history and story, with one added bonus: she’s just handed you a copy of her latest book. It’s a professionally printed, substantial publication that practically exudes confidence.

Which person do you think shows more authority in her field? The one with the book, of course. There really is nothing better when it comes to establishing your authority in any niche than having a book with your name on it.

Expertise

So why does a book speak so highly of you and establish your authority so well? Because it gives you a platform to show off your expertise. It’s like being invited to present on any topic you choose on the world’s largest stage.

Not only that, but your readers are a captive audience. They’re listening—in that moment—only to you. That’s a powerful position to be in, and one that gives you an opportunity to really show off your stuff.

Market Reach

No matter how many readers Google sends your way, no matter how much traffic your YouTube channel receives, nothing will ever compare to the number of potential readers Amazon and other online booksellers can bring your way.

Positioned correctly, your book can reach millions of new readers, and thousands of potential clients. Combine that with the expertise and authority we know comes with being a published author, and that’s a recipe for success that can’t be beat.

Better Than a Business Card

If you’ve ever been to a conference, you have no doubt collected a stack of business cards. You get home and toss them in a drawer, and six months later you throw them out, without ever having contacted the people who gave them to you.

But if one of those people handed you a book instead, what happened? You’ve likely read it (or at least leafed through it). You almost certainly didn’t throw it away. And you remember it—and the person who wrote it.

Press Opportunities

Turn on your television to any interview show, browse through Huffington Post or Forbes, or listen to any of a number of popular podcasts, and you’ll quickly see that most of the guest speakers and interviewees have written a book.

The fact is, interview shows depend on interesting, insightful guests to keep their audiences listening, and there’s no better applicant than an author. Writing a book will open up many, many opportunities for appearances that you may never have without your name on that cover.

Do you have to write a book to be successful? No. But there’s no denying the fact that a published author will find she has a much easier time growing her business than the person who keeps putting it off until later.

I certainly hope these 5 reasons to write a book have been helpful to you. I wrote and published my first book in 2010 and am currently finishing my fifteenth. It’s still difficult for me to believe I have written so many bestsellers, and my business would not be where it is today had I not chosen to become a published author.

I’m Connie Ragen Green and I work with new online entrepreneurs to help them get into profit as quickly as possible with information products, affiliate marketing, marketing for small businesses, blogging, authorship, and more. Download your Online Entrepreneur Blueprint and get started right away.

Your Book As An Info Product

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My first book was published in 2010 and I have since written more than a dozen books of the topic of entrepreneurship and online marketing. At first I saw this as a way to become more credible and visible as an author. Then it became a way for me to become a public speaker. But soon it made perfect sense that each of my books was actually a new information topic on one aspect of my overall topic of online entrepreneurship. Are you thinking of creating a book as an info product?

Thinking of the books you have written or will write as serving this purpose in your business will serve you well over time. Let’s take a closer look at this strategy and how you can make it work for you, no matter what your experience or which niche you have chosen to work in as an online entrepreneur.

When I think about a topic for a new book I am really thinking about how I can serve my target audience by providing information that will help them to achieve their goals. For example, my first book was on the topic of how to make huge profits with a tiny list. This was actually an answer to the question of that time when people thought you have to have at least ten thousand names on your list before you could earn a worthwhile income on the internet. In my book I shared my personal experience of how I was able to reach six figures with fewer than a thousand names on my email list. Then I went on to explain how the reader could do the exact same thing using my steps and methods.

Along with writing the book on this topic I had created a popular blog, a free giveaway, a short report, a live presentation, and finally an online course on how to make huge profits with a tiny list. By following through with everything necessary to take the reader from beginning to end in a step by step manner, this book became a part of my information product funnel using my “book as an info product” business model. And because I continue to discuss this topic on a regular basis, this lucrative and proven “book as an info product” business model continues to earn me income and to brand me as a successful online entrepreneur who is willing to share exactly what is working today.

I have since used the strategy I am sharing here to create a book as an info product in the areas of using a book, your blog, and your podcast as an effective strategy, time management and productivity for entrepreneurs, developing the concept of being a “weekend marketer” until you go full time, and several others.

I highly recommend that you write a book as an info product based on your area of knowledge, interest, and expertise. Teaching others how to be successful is a noble endeavor that is worth your time and effort. Look at the topics you have been blogging about to see what you can put together as a free giveaway and as a short report. This will be the beginning of creating a book as an info product that can be an important piece in your funnel. And be sure to take a look at all of my books to see what I have been able to achieve that you may wish to emulate.

I’m Connie Ragen Green and I’ve been an online entrepreneur since 2006. If you are ready to get started on your journey to multiple streams of online income, visit my site at Online Entrepreneur Blueprint and download your complimentary training to get started today.

Self-Publishing Your Book to Increase Credibility

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Self-Publishing Your Book

Once you’ve finished writing your manuscript, then you’ll need to figure out the different ways you plan to publish your book. You can publish your manuscript in multiple ways. You can publish digitally or you can put it in print, or do both. I like to release the paperback version of my book first, take it to bestseller status, and then release the Kindle version about six months later. Plus, you can do all this via self-publishing or traditional publishing. Self-publishing your book is a lot faster, but if you already have a huge following that you know will buy your book in large quantities, and you want to publish traditionally, it won’t hurt to give it a try.

PDF / Digital – You can make a PDF book (also known as an eBook) easily using Adobe Pro, Pages (MAC), or MS Word. If the book will be downloaded from your own website and you’ll be handling distribution or using Clickbank.net or JVZOO.com or one of these systems, then you’re in charge of how your book looks and is formatted. The trick here is to make an attractive, readable, organized book with plenty of whitespace and images so that it’s a pleasure to read and it all makes sense. Jim Edwards continues to have the very best training on exactly how to write, publish, and market your eBook professionally and profitably here.

Kindle – This is also a fast and free way to get published. But, you do have to follow the terms of service and the rules of formatting to ensure that your book looks good. You can turn your edited manuscript over to someone else to format your Kindle book or you can follow the easy directions here. Pay special attention to how to format images if your book has any. And remember that if you sign up for the Kindle Select program you will not be able to offer your book for sale on any other websites, including your own, during that period of time.

Print – Using Amazon’s Create Space you can self-publish your manuscript. Like Kindle, you’ll need to follow very specific formatting rules to ensure that your book looks good. Or you can turn your finished manuscript over to an expert to help you format it and get it ready for publishing.

No matter how you publish, it’s very important to have a professional cover created for your book. Look at other books to find out the type of things they put inside the book, too. You want your book to look completely professional and for no one to be able to pick it out of the crowd as done by an amateur. You can accomplish that by yourself or you can hire help.

Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing

Let’s talk a moment about self-publishing your book vs. traditional publishing. There are a lot of misconceptions about both. First, people assume that with traditional publishing you’ll get a ton of help with marketing your book. But, you won’t. This only happens if you’re super famous already. So, put it out of your mind that you won’t have to work as hard if you find a traditional publisher.

Secondly, the idea of growing a captive audience with your own published book doesn’t require that you find a traditional publisher. It will work with self-publishing and it will be many times faster and frankly, a sure thing. If you write a good book, self-publishing is going to be a great choice. If you don’t write a great book you wouldn’t be able to publish traditionally anyway. So remember, a good book is more important than how you publish.

Thirdly, when you self-publish, if you market and promote your book properly after having built up an audience for your book, you’re going to earn more money in the long run. When you publish traditionally, you will usually make less per book. Often, the money is not even made in the sale of the book, but rather in the connections you make due to the book with your audience and others who then buy your other products and services based on how much they trust you.

Self-publishing your book will increase your credibility almost overnight. It may lead to speaking engagements, joint ventures, and other opportunities. What other questions do you have for me on this topic?

I’m Connie Ragen Green, online marketing strategist, bestselling author, and international speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and inner game mind shifts. Let’s connect to see how I may best serve you in the near future. And be sure to check out my writing and publishing training program at Write. Publish. Prosper.

Self Publishing a Book and Building Your List

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Self-Publishing a Book and Building a List: Why This Is So Important

You have a great deal of knowledge to share, and one of the very best ways to share that is with a book. I’ve now written and published more than a dozen bestselling books and am writing here from my experiences. Self publishing a book gives you:

Instant expert status
Opportunities to speak and present to others
Access to an audience you might not otherwise reach
The opportunity to fill your sales funnel with interested, engaged readers

Here’s how:

Start by publishing on Kindle. If you’ve been blogging or creating other content for more than a few weeks, you likely already have everything you need to “write” your book. Simply gather your content, organize it in logical book format, do some light editing to make it flow well, and you’re done! Right now, take some time to see what content you have already created that could be repurposed and used to create your first, or next book.

But before you hit the “publish” button, create an offer just for Kindle readers. This can be a landing page with an opt-in offer of a related checklist, an additional resource guide, or even an audio version of your book. You’ll want to be sure it’s closely related, so downloading it is a true “no brainer” for all your book buyers, and follow up with a relevant autoresponder series.

I highly recommend using Aweber for this, as this service is inexpensive and fairly self explanatory to set up. Their customer service is very good and I am also more than happy to answer questions for you about doing this part successfully.

Pro tip: Add a link to your landing page in the front of your book, so that those who are browsing on Amazon will see it, even if they don’t buy.

Once your landing page is finished and your book is published, you can offer it for free through Kindle’s KDP Select program. Promote it heavily on social media and to your mailing list. The more downloads you generate, the higher your book will climb in the rankings (if temporarily), driving more traffic to your book—and your landing page.

Follow up with a second (and third, and fourth) book to keep the momentum and your list building going strong for years to come.

Blog Your Book: A Concept That Works

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How and Why to Blog Your Book

There is something you may not know about me. Even though I have now written and published more than a dozen books, co-authored two books, and contributed to many others, writing did not come easily or naturally to me in the beginning. In fact, I actually blogged much of my very first book, Huge Profits with a Tiny List: 50 Ways to use Relationship Marketing to Increase Your Bottom Line. Should you blog your book, too?

My blog to book experience occurred purely by chance. I had created a new giveaway for my Huge Profits Tiny List blog where I included ten ways to make huge profits with a tiny list. I then wrote a detailed blog post for each of these. Then I expanded it to twenty-one ways and wrote the additional posts for them as well. Once I decided to write the book it seemed to make perfect sense to increase it to fifty ways, and then to use these fifty blog posts as the main part of my book. The idea was a good one, my book was published in June of 2010, and I became a bestselling author that summer.

I was just reading a post over at Smart Blogger by author Cathy Presland on this topic of whether or not you should blog your book and why bloggers are in the perfect position to become published authors. Cathy says:

I meet so many people who have been thinking about their books for months, sometimes years. Yet they’re not taking action.

You, on the other hand, are blogging, which means you are writing. And that simple fact gives you three advantages over every other wannabe author.

You have content. Your blog is a library of content you can analyze and reuse. Even if you don’t recycle your posts word for word, you already have a valuable source of ideas. Your content is what defines you as a blogger. Own it.
You have a writing habit. More valuable than your existing content is the writing practice you’re developing. If you have a schedule, a process, and a commitment to your work, writing the book will be much easier.
You have an audience (no matter how small). You have readers, email subscribers, and a social media following. It doesn’t matter whether that’s two people or 2,000. An audience is the key asset that many would-be authors don’t have when they start to write. You, however, have a testing ground — a place to share your work safely, and get feedback.

On top of these advantages, being a blogger also means you have gumption.

Now you may be reading this and thinking that if you are not already blogging on a regular schedule this will not apply to you. To that thinking I say get into the writing habit. I was not a writer until I came online in 2006. When I realized just how important it would be to develop this skill, I got to work every day by writing a two hundred fifty word article to submit to the article directory sites. At this point in my life I can’t not write every day. This skill has changed my life in amazing way. Start blogging, think about the book you’d like to write, and then blog your book over a period of time. You’ll be so glad you did.

Some Excellent Reasons to Publish a Book

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Reasons to Publish a Book

When I published my first book in 2010 my business changed completely. But that wasn’t the only of many reason to publish a book that came soon after my book was available. My confidence was renewed and I was perceived in a different way.

I’d like to share an excerpt from a post by copywriter and content marketing strategist KeriLynn Engel on the 5 Reasons Bloggers Should Self-Publish a Book…

“Establish Yourself As An Expert

The publishing industry is in upheaval thanks to the self-publishing boom. That’s great news for bloggers who want to write a book!

Even just 5 or 10 years ago, self-publishing was still looked upon as “vanity” publishing; the last resort of a talentless writer sick of rejection letters. For a long time, authors couldn’t be taken seriously if they didn’t have the backing of a big publishing company.

Successful self-published authors like Amanda Hocking changed the industry forever.

But thanks to some highly publicized success stories, the public is now more aware of the possibilities of self-publishing:

Amanda Hocking famously earned millions of dollars from her paranormal romance novels before being approached by the publisher St. Martin’s Press.

John Locke was the first self-published author to sell over 1 million e-books on Amazon.

And now, even established professional authors have begun to experiment with a mix of traditional and self-publishing, such as famous New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who blogs about the industry at KrisWrites.com.

Today, self-publishing is respected, even admired and applauded.

By authoring and self-publishing a book on your niche topic, you can position yourself to be recognized as an expert on that topic. When you’re a top author in your niche, that’s a huge differentiator so you can stand out from other bloggers.

This is not only a nice ego-boost, but it’ll also help you to grow your blog’s audience and power your other monetization efforts, such as if you sell products or services from your blog. Being seen as the expert in your niche can enable you to set higher prices for those product and services, and be more in demand.

There’s a reason for the idiom “wrote the book on it” – it means you’re the go-to expert on the topic: Positioning yourself as an expert can also lead to other opportunities such as speaking engagements, interviews, media appearances and more.”

KeriLynn makes some excellent points here and encourages us to self-publish a book. In her post she also shares how we can grow our list, generate passive income, and publicize our blogs by becoming a published author. I have done this more than a dozen times now, and my Hunter’s Moon Publishing company has helped many entrepreneurs to get their message out to the world in the form of a book.

My Write.Publish.Prosper. training course takes you step by step through the process of outlining and writing your book, and I will also provide you wish an ISBN number from my publishing house when you are ready to publish.

What other questions do you have on this topic?

Book Signing Tips: Before Your Book is Published

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Book Signing Tips

So you’ve written a book? Excellent! Now is when the real work begins. I’ve put together this post to give you some effective and doable book signing tips. And it all begins before your book is published.

Your new job – as you may have already discovered – is as book promoter. You’ll be coordinating interviews, writing guest blogs, and doing a host of other activities designed to get the word out about your new book.

And the best way to create a buzz and get people excited about your book? A good old-fashioned book signing. Imagine a crowd of eager fans all waiting for you to appear, read a bit from your latest bestseller, and answer questions. It’s the scene that’s filled many would-be authors’ daydreams, and now that you have a book, it can become your reality.

All it takes is a little planning and organization.

Here’s the thing: When your reader steps up to your table to buy a copy of your book, you want to ensure she has the absolute best first impression you can give her. That means top-quality writing, editing, and printing.

Sure, you can do it all yourself. Amazon and others make it easy and cost-effective to write and print a book, but will it portray the image you want? Or will it scream “amateur”?

So before you even think about scheduling your first signing event, let’s make sure your book is ready for the big leagues.

Book Signing Tips: Writing and Editing Your Book

You very likely already have your book completed, and as you may have discovered, it can be nearly impossible to edit your own work. You’re simply too close to it to be objective.

Instead, it’s a good idea to put your book to the test by:

Sending it out to a select list of beta-readers for feedback
Hiring a professional editor to suggest changes to content flow
Hiring a professional proofreader to edit for grammar and punctuation

Here’s a tip: no one person will be good at all three jobs. Creating a book worthy of a rock-star book signing is truly a group effort, and well worth the time and cost as well. Remember, your book will very often be the first impression someone has of you. If it’s riddled with spelling errors (or even one or two, for that matter) they will automatically think less of your expertise.

Make sure your book-signing event creates the very best impression you can by starting off with a professionally written and edited book. Then find your “Beta” readers.

Choose five to ten friends and colleagues to read through your book and offer constructive feedback. You want to avoid those who think everything you do is wonderful (so mom can’t be a beta reader) and instead ask those who you trust to offer real, actionable advice.

Next, find and interview editors and proofreaders.

While you’re waiting for your beta readers to respond with their thoughts, it’s time to begin looking for your editor and proofreader. The best way to find these people is to contact friends and colleagues whose books you’ve read and enjoyed, and ask them for referrals.

Book Signing Tips: You Can Judge a Book by Its Cover

It’s true. Sometimes the only chance you get to make the sale is in the three seconds a visitor takes to glance at your book’s cover. Make sure it gives the right impression with:

Easy-to-read fonts
Eye-catching (not headache-inducing) colors
Complementary graphics that don’t distract from the title

Keep in mind that bold colors and large fonts are a popular choice for better readability at any size from thumbnails on Amazon to poster-size event decorations.

For printed books, the cover is even more important. Remember, your readers will be holding this book in their hands for days, maybe even weeks. You want it to look as good as possible, because that’s what will make YOU look good.

Not only that, but your book’s cover needs to be easily reproduced in large format for posters, banners and other print materials you’ll use to decorate your signing table.

Don’t be afraid to outsource the things you are not good at, such as cover creation and sales copy, so that you can instead concentrate on writing the best book you can.

Now it’s time to research cover designs.

Before you hire a designer, it’s a good idea to know what you’re really looking for in a cover. Start by finding several books whose covers you like. These can be in any niche, so don’t be afraid to look on the fiction, self-help, and even reference shelves. The key is that they be eye catching and well-branded.

You’ll want to give this list to your designer, so he or she can see what appeals to you. Be as specific as possible, and include things like “I love the font, but the background image makes it difficult to read” or “The colors really make it stand out on the shelf.”

I certainly hope these book signing tips are helpful to you. You can see that the process begins long before your book is in print and ready for you to sign at your local library, book store, or other event. And if you’d like recommendations for people whom I have used for editing, proofreading, cover design, and formatting, please leave a comment below and I will reach out to you personally.

How to Host a Book Signing Event

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When you think of a book signing, do you picture a bespectacled author sitting at a table in the back of a bookstore, patiently waiting for customers to notice her?

That’s what a lot of us think of when we consider a signing event, and while that used to be the norm, today’s book signings look very different. Your event can be anything you want it to be, because you have complete control (unless your publisher is footing the bill, in which case, follow their lead). Here are some book signing event ideas.

Your event can be:

Casual or formal – you set the tone
Indoors or out – imagine a book about healthy living with a reading in the local park
Structured or not – free form readings and Q&A sessions can be more inviting than a strictly scheduled event

As you can see, your book signing can be whatever you choose to make of it. Bookstores are just one option, but there are many others, depending on where your market likes to hang out and the specific topic of your book.

For example, if you’ve written a book about your life as a pro golfer, book-signing events on a driving range or in the clubhouse are a natural fit. If your subject is how to build an online business and live the laptop lifestyle, consider a beachside signing instead.

Here’s something else to consider: where is your audience? Ideally, you’ll want to host your book signing where it’s convenient and comfortable for them. Some popular options include:

Book stores
Libraries
Boutique markets
Industry conferences
Festivals

You may find that you have better luck booking events in off-the-wall locations. The reason is that big bookstores often have deals with publishers in which they get paid to host events. If you’re not willing to pay – and the cost can be steep – you likely won’t get large booksellers to host you. There are two ways around this:

Opt for smaller venues. Approach independent book stores instead, since they’re less likely to have prior agreements with big publishing houses.
Speak directly to the store manager and make it clear that you want to do an impromptu event, not a formal signing. You won’t get the advanced press you might otherwise get, but you’ll make up for it in walk-in traffic.

Either way, the bookstore must be able to order copies of your book, so be sure you’re working with a publisher that allows that option. Some vanity presses will tell you that book stores can purchase stock, but the truth is the ordering process is so cumbersome and the return policy so bad that bookstore owners and managers will not order from them. In that case, you can offer to bring your own stock if the bookstore will allow it. Self-publishing makes the most sense, where you order directly from the fulfillment house in the number of copies you wish to receive.

Peruse All Of My Books Here

I’ve Been Nominated For The Small Business Book Awards

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The Small Business Book Awards

Once again my writing has been nominated for the Small Business Book Awards. Because I published two books during the qualifying period, both of them have been nominated. This happened once before, two years ago when I wrote one book and co-authored another, and they were both nominated as well.

This year almost two hundred books are in the running. Mine are both in the marketing category, as you would expect from someone who is an online marketing strategist. I had almost forgotten that I had published both of these books during 2015, and that’s because one was published in January and the other in October.

Write. Publish. Prosper: How to Write Prolifically, Publish Globally, and Prosper Eternally teaches you how to to write a book, publish it yourself, and create a business based on your topic. In this step by step and detailed training, I show you how to write a full length book in the next four to six weeks and turn that information into an online business.

Book. Blog. Broadcast: The Trifecta of Entrepreneurial Success is the blueprint that will take you step by step to the life and business you want and deserve through strategies I have used for almost ten years. In it you will learn how to use your book, your blog, and your broadcasts to build a lucrative online business.

Having my books nominated for this prestigious award is meaningful to me for a variety of reasons. Writing can be a lonely process, and knowing that your thoughts and ideas will be shared with people all over the world alleviates this feeling. I live to help others achieve their goals, and my writing has enabled me to do that with a much wider audience. I appreciate Anita Campbell from Small Business Trends for starting the Small Business Book Awards and including authors like myself in what she is sharing.

Self-publishing has allowed me to add a new dimension to my life and to my business. My publishing company, Hunter’s Moon Publishing continues to grow and serve other authors and entrepreneurs as they get their messages out to the world.

If you are reading this before the end of the day on May 11, 2016, please vote for my books by clicking on the titles below:

Write. Publish. Prosper: How to Write Prolifically, Publish Globally, and Prosper Eternally

Book. Blog. Broadcast: The Trifecta of Entrepreneurial Success

Marketing Tips

Connie Ragen Green Shares Internet Marketing Updates

Tag Archives: Book

5 Reasons To Write a Book: Entrepreneurs, Coaches, Everyone

Your Book As An Info Product

Self-Publishing Your Book to Increase Credibility

Self-Publishing Your Book

Blog Your Book: A Concept That Works

How and Why to Blog Your Book

Some Excellent Reasons to Publish a Book

Reasons to Publish a Book

Book Signing Tips: Before Your Book is Published

Book Signing Tips

Book Signing Tips: Writing and Editing Your Book

Book Signing Tips: You Can Judge a Book by Its Cover

How to Host a Book Signing Event

Peruse All Of My Books Here

I’ve Been Nominated For The Small Business Book Awards

The Small Business Book Awards