Becoming an authority in your market is a big deal when it comes to success in business. This is especially true for entrepreneurs. No matter what your product or service, you will sell more and can charge more, if you are viewed as an authority in your area.
There is no better way to become an authority than to write a book. Now you might be thinking, “I’m not an author, and writing a book sounds like an extremely time-consuming and difficult task.”
It is true; it can be very time-consuming and difficult. But it doesn’t have to be. You don’t even have to be the actual writer of the book. It is fairly easy to hire a ghostwriter to write on your behalf. That happens all the time in the business world. Most of the books you see published by celebrities are not actually written by them. Usually, they are interviewed by a ghostwriter, and the writer is the one who puts the words on paper. But the celebrity still appears as the author and takes full credit. This is completely ethical as long as the ghostwriter knows that they are paid just to write and be anonymous.
However, it is unnecessary to do this if you are willing to take just a little time to do it yourself. And I do mean a “little time.” It is surprisingly easy to create a book in your area of expertise. Assuming you know your products and services backward and forward, all you have to do is come up with a topic that you think will interest your potential clientele. Then take some time to make a simple outline of chapters for your book. After you come up with the main chapter headings, then fill in some subcategories to break down the topics into manageable small chunks.
Once you have your outline, all you have to do is speak into voice recognition software about each topic. When you talk, the software transcribes all the words into print. You can stop and start as many times as you want until you are comfortable with your initial rough draft.
I have done this for several different publications I have created in my area of expertise. I have found that I can create a 100-page book in about 8 to 12 hours of speaking into the computer. I don’t do it all at once. I do one short topic at a time. Usually, I can only go about an hour before I have to stop and do something else.
Once you have your rough draft, then you can send it off to an editor to clean it up for you. Once the editor does their initial cleanup, you will need to do a final edit to make sure that the book reads the way you wanted it to read.
Keep in mind; the objective is for you to be seen as an expert in your field. By simply having your name on the cover of a published book, you are an instant expert. It doesn’t even matter if the book is any good. Of course, you want to do the best job you can to produce the best possible product, but the reality is very few people will actually read your book.
This entire process can be accomplished in about 30 days for a 100-page book. You can then hire someone like us to print the book for you in either paperback or hardcover. The last book I wrote ended up being 120 pages, and it took me a total of about 40 hours of my time between the initial idea and the finished product. I paid about $1,000 to an editor to help me clean up the content. I use the books as a giveaway to prospects and clients with the sole objective of showing them we are an authority on the topic. Every once in a while, someone tells me they read my book, and they thought it was valuable information. But most importantly, by being an author, you are automatically considered an expert.