You’re Writing the WRONG Book

Any speaker convention, entrepreneur bootcamps, and so on tell you the same thing: you need a book to show your expertise. One of the things that you’ve heard me talk about here a whole lot is what my book has done for me. I was able to gain national media exposure because of my expert book. It’s true, you do need a book to have this. The problem is, however, many entrepreneurs write the wrong kind of book. 

The following are the kinds of books that do not work:

• a book that is an extension of your business card. Essentially, this book only talks about yourself and alienates the reader. These books do not start conversations and because of that they get disposed of quickly. In the end, you have wasted time and effort in crafting a disengaging book.
• a quote-compilation book. Many people will not care about your favorite quotes.
• an information-dump book. Do not simply vomit out everything you know in a book. In this digital age, information is easily accessible by many. Your value in the market place isn’t to show what you know but how you can help people. 

These books don’t work because they are not tied to the goal of your business. So what can you do? How can you write the right kind of book that can really show your expertise and scale your business? 

• Tie your book to your business’ goal. 

There are two books about real estate coming out from Laurel Elite this year. The first book is concerned about first time home buyers and the kind of mistakes that they make and must avoid. The author of this book is also very interested in showing these inexperienced home-buyers, especially millennials, how they can afford to buy a house.

The second book focuses more on helping real-estate agents who have experienced burnout and made destructive decisions in their lives. The author of this book ultimately plans on becoming a speaker, talking about balancing life and work as realtors. 

These two books are written by two people from the same profession but very different content and goals. So, it is very important to have your book aligned with your goals. 

• Avoid talking solely about yourself. 

Create value in the marketplace by creating conversation with your readers. Imagine being at a cocktail party with just hearing someone talk at you for hours. These kinds of books do not sell because they alienate the readers. Instead, create a book that creates conversation with your readers. This book has two-way dialogue instead of a monologue. 

At the end of the day, people don’t want to know the what but the how–how you can help them. This is a very important distinction for your expert book. 

I’d love to chat with you about where you are in your business and how a book can help you massively scale your business and be seen as a real, true expert in your field.