Many first-time authors think that marketing starts only after their book hits bookstores. They are under the impression that writing the book comes first, followed by publishing, and then by marketing and promotion. The truth is, that’s way too late to start marketing. In fact, you need to set your book up for success by planting marketing seeds while you’re writing.

The good news is that writing and marketing can be done in parallel. Here are some key steps to start taking now, before you’ve finished your draft:

In this article

• Confirm the book’s purpose
• Stake your claim to online accounts
• Start building your email list
• Repurpose book content
• Ask a high-profile person to write your foreword
• Book guest podcast interviews
• Look for publicity opportunities
• Explore public speaking gigs

Confirm the book’s purpose

People write books for many different reasons, and it’s important to be clear about what you hope will happen once your book is published. This will guide your marketing approach. Are you looking to land paid speaking engagements? Attract more clients? Close more deals? Create a new income stream from book sales? Leave a legacy? Or something else?

Get clear about your primary objective and who your target reader is. That will inform your marketing decisions, too.

Stake your claim to online accounts

Depending on what you already have in place, you’ll want to be sure you own the URL (aka your website address) for your book title, or as close as possible to it, as well as your name, which can house your author page. On your author page, upload your photo, a bio, and some information about your forthcoming book, as well as a sign-up form so that interested readers can join your email list and be notified when the book is released.

Then set up accounts on social media platforms where your ideal reader hangs out. You don’t need to be everywhere, and you really shouldn’t try, but pick one or two places where you can check in regularly. LinkedIn is smart for a business audience, and Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or Threads could be a good second.

Start building your email list

One of the first places you want to turn as soon as your book is available for sale is your list of people who’ve expressed interest in it—your email list. You need to start building that now because the larger your list, the higher your potential sales.

The best way to do this is by creating a free digital download — a freebie — related to your book that you can offer to the public in exchange for sharing their name and email address. This could be a checklist, a quiz, a list of resources, or some step-by-step guidance on how to do something.

After someone has given you their contact information, you’ll want to keep them updated on your path to publication, such as by asking for help in choosing your cover. Engage with your list as much as possible so that when your book comes out, they are eager to support you. Ideally, you’ll be able to build a list of a few hundred interested readers, and the sooner you start, the more time you have to add names.

Repurpose book content

As you write each chapter, pull out related material and use it to start connecting your name with your topic. Don’t copy and paste sections of your book, but use the topic as a jumping-off point for other types of content, such as LinkedIn posts, blog posts, newsletter articles, and presentations.

This can be useful in gauging public interest in some of your topics, too. And don’t worry about sharing too much; readers who like your free content are more likely to buy your book when it comes out, to get even more guidance from you.

Ask a high-profile person to write your foreword

A foreword written by a leader in your industry or a celebrity of some type can attract attention, so make a list of people you’d love to have associated with your book. It doesn’t matter if you know them or not; you can ask anyone if they’d be willing. Once you have a list of your top choices, ask your network who is connected to them.

The foreword isn’t an endorsement, you can reassure them, but rather, it’s commentary on your topic and why it’s important or relevant today. You can even offer to write it for them, based on their input, if they’re concerned about whether they’ll have time to complete it.

Book guest podcast interviews

Even before your book is out, you can start to talk about your perspective and what the book is about. Identify podcasts devoted to your topic or where you would be a good fit for the typical conversations. Reach out to ask about guest opportunities. Look into podcast guest subscription services like PodMatch, which can help identify potential opportunities for you.

Hold off on a big podcast guesting push until your book is available for pre-order, if you can, so that listeners who are intrigued can pre-order it right away. Without pre-order capabilities, you may miss out on buyers who will forget about your book after the podcast episode is done.

Look for publicity opportunities

As you get closer to your release date, three or four months out, start paying closer attention to what writers and reporters are planning to cover. Register for services that alert you to stories that are already in the works, so you can determine if you’d be a fit. Some are free, and others have a monthly subscription cost. The top services are Help a Reporter Out (HARO), Qwoted, Source of Sources, and MentionMatch for B2B stories.

Read each email you receive from these services, which list the planned articles and news reports, and respond to any that are related to your book’s topic, mentioning that you have a book being released soon. Any coverage you receive should be free and potentially drive traffic to your website, or to buy your book.

Explore public speaking gigs

One of the most efficient ways to spread the word about your book is by standing in front of a room of interested attendees. Public speaking can increase awareness of and interest in your book. Local civic organizations have a regular need for speakers, as do libraries and colleges and universities. Where do your target readers spend time? Those are the rooms you want to be in. Ask if they ever bring in outside speakers and tell them you’d be interested in being considered.

Although your focus right now is on creating your book, setting aside time regularly to spread the word about it can have a significant impact on sales when it comes out. Building your audience several months in advance gives you the runway, so to speak, to get them excited about it and eager to buy it as soon as it’s available.

I don’t provide paid book marketing services, but I do help my author-clients with many of these preparations as part of our work together. If you’d like to learn more about what the ghostwriting and publishing processes look like, email me at marcia@marcialaytonturner.com to request my free guide.

The post Don’t Wait for Launch Day to Start Marketing Your Book appeared first on Marcia Layton Turner.

Most executives who contact me have been thinking about writing a book for years. They’ve given the keynote, maybe even a TED Talk, mentored teams, and found a solution to a problem organizations in their industry keep running into. Friends and colleagues have been telling them, “You should write a book!”

They know they should. The problem is time, or the lack thereof.

Leading a company leaves little time to shut themselves off in their office and draft a manuscript on their own. It just doesn’t get done. That’s why so many CEOs, founders, and business owners partner with a ghostwriter.

That way, they can hand off the parts of the process that take up so much time: structuring, drafting, researching facts and figures, editing, and keeping the whole process moving. They’re not handing off the thinking, the storytelling, the insights, or experiences, which are solely theirs, but they’re delegating the process management.

Here’s how you can write a book as an executive by partnering with a ghostwriter, and what your role looks like at each stage.

In this article

• Start with What You Want the Book to Do for You
• Choose a Partner, Not Just a Writer
• How a Ghostwriting Collaboration Works
• Be Realistic About Your Time

Start with What You Want the Book to Do for You

Before you get into the meat of what the book will cover information-wise, take a step back to get clear on why you’re even starting this process at all. What do you hope will happen as a result of writing this book?

Do you want speaking engagements? Do you want consulting gigs? More leads for your business? Board seats? Or are you looking to leave a legacy for the next generation of leaders?

Being able to articulate this will help your ghostwriter advise you on the best way to achieve that goal. Knowing the purpose of your book will help shape decisions about the book’s angle, the examples used, who you’re writing for, and what publishing path makes the most sense.

Then, distill your idea into one or two sentences. This will become your north star as you get underway, to help keep you focused.

Choose a Partner, Not Just a Writer

A skilled book ghostwriter wears many hats, from interviewer to writer, editor, project manager, and publishing consultant. When you’re evaluating candidates, look for the following:

• Relevant experience. The right ghostwriter for you will depend in part on your book’s topic and target audience. Ideally, you’ll find someone who has ghostwritten books similar to your own. That is, if yours is a thought leadership book, a ghostwriter who has experience in that genre will be able to guide you better than someone who specializes in memoir, and vice versa.
• A clearly articulated process. Someone who has ghostwritten multiple books has a preferred way of working, and they should be able to describe that to you. Do they prefer to conduct all interviews first and then start drafting chapters, or interview a chapter at a time? How about editing—when does that start? They should be able to paint a clear picture for you.
• Confidence. You want a ghostwriter who will speak up when they aren’t sure about something and disagree with you when a particular example doesn’t fit, or the order in which you’ve shared information doesn’t flow. You don’t want a “yes-man” or woman.
• Publishing expertise. It is much better to decide on a publishing path long before you finish writing your book, so that you can get it released sooner rather than later. If you opt to pursue a traditional publisher, you’ll want to start now to find a literary agent and draft a book proposal before you write the book. Don’t write the whole book and then start shopping it around because it could be years before it ever gets published. Find a ghostwriter who can explain your options.
• Chemistry. Maybe more important than writing experience is whether you two click. Do your energy levels match? Do you like them? Are you confident they will help you produce a terrific book? The answer to all of those questions needs to be yes for your project to be a success.

Since you likely haven’t published a book before, you want to hire someone who is going to lead you expertly by the hand, rather than learning alongside you how the process of writing a book works. That won’t save you time.

How a Ghostwriting Collaboration Works

Although there is some confusion about how a ghostwriter works, in the nonfiction world, a ghostwriter is a writing partner, not a surrogate, and you need to be very involved in providing input. Usually, the creation process follows four general steps. This is what my process looks like:

1. Create the roadmap. I always start with designing the book’s outline. Most business books are between 10 and 15 chapters and 55,000-65,000 words long. Figuring out the general structure up front helps ensure your book does what you want it to.
2. Talk it through. I always start with Chapter 1, sending you questions in advance, based on the outline, so that you can come to our input session prepared to tell me what belongs in this chapter. That’s how each chapter discussion is designed to proceed, with me sending questions, you thinking about them in advance of our call, and then a 60- to 90-minute discussion to talk through the chapter.
3. Review the draft. Once we talk through each chapter, I draft it for your review. With Chapter 1, we talk through it in detail, since it will become the template for the rest of the chapters, but once that first chapter is finished, the rest of the chapters  aren’t edited until the end. Your job is to review each draft and give general feedback to ensure we stay on course according to the outline.
4. Refine during the editing stage. After the whole manuscript has been drafted, it’s time to go back through it twice, the first time looking at the structure and overall information flow. The second time, we’re looking more at tone and style.

Your ghostwriter will work hard to make your manuscript sound like you, weaving in your stories, your experiences, your frameworks, and your lessons. You have the expertise, and they have the writing skill and publishing know-how.

Be Realistic About Your Time

Working with a ghostwriter will take a fraction of the time it would have taken for you to write your book on your own, but it’s not nothing. You still need to allocate time regularly to provide input and review drafts.

When clients ask how long it takes to write a book, I typically say anywhere from four to twelve months, assuming regular meetings. That’s only for the writing. The design, production, and printing come later and have their own timetable.

Honestly, the biggest variable here isn’t typically your ghostwriter’s availability; it’s yours. If you have a lot of travel coming up or know you’ll be unavailable for big blocks of time, tell your ghostwriter so that you two can create a schedule to take advantage of windows when you will be available, so they can write while you’re unavailable. That will keep things progressing even in your absence, ideally.

One of the best ways to help avoid pauses in work is to pick a regular day and time when you’ll be able to commit to a call, then block it off. That way, you know that Wednesday at 3:00 pm or Thursday at 10:30 am is when you work on your book with your ghostwriter.

Executives who finish their books aren’t the ones with the most free time—they’re the ones who decide what they want to accomplish, hire a writing partner, and commit to a schedule.

If a book has been on your to-do list for a while, could 2027 be the year you finally write it? You have all the expertise. Now you just need a collaborator to help get it onto the page, in your voice, while you keep your day job.

Interested in learning more about what working with a ghostwriter could look like? Email me at marcia@marcialaytonturner.com to request a free copy of my Insider’s Guide to Finding and Working with a Ghostwriter.

The post How to Write a Book as an Executive (Partnering with a Ghostwriter) appeared first on Marcia Layton Turner.

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Many of my clients come to me after years of thinking about writing a book. It’s been their goal for a long time, yet despite having a good idea of what they want to write about, they’re not sure how to get started. They get stuck.

People around them keep telling them, “You should write a book!” And even when these business leaders agree, they don’t know what to do first.

While there are many ways to approach writing a business book, here are the 5 steps I help my clients complete to get their book done:

1.   Zero in on the Core Idea

The first step is making sure your idea is clear enough to attract buyers and deep or broad enough to fill a book; some ideas are terrific but can be covered in a feature-length article, rather than a book.

Ask yourself, “What, exactly, is this book about?” If you can articulate it in a sentence or two, like an elevator pitch, you may be on to something.

If you can’t, your idea may not be fully formed yet. Most business and thought leadership books have a thesis or make an argument for something. It might be a new approach to a problem or a new perspective on a situation. Are you challenging a long-held assumption? Are you offering a framework to help improve how something is addressed?

What is the big idea here? You need to get clear about that.

You also need to be clear about your target audience. Who are you writing this book for? Is it for fellow CEOs, age 40-65? Is it for retirees? For young moms and dads? Who you’re writing for will shape how you tackle the topic and the examples you use.

Sometimes, when clients struggle here, they’re trying to say too much — to squeeze everything they’ve learned through their career into 55,000-65,000 words, and in doing so, the main message gets diluted.

Choose one argument, a clearly defined reader, and be able to articulate that book concept in one or two sentences. If you can do that, you’re ready to move on to Step 2.

2.   Confirm You Have a Viable Topic

Now that you’ve clarified your idea, it’s time to make sure there is a market for your topic.

However, if you are writing and publishing a book as a marketing tool for your organization or personal brand, and your primary goal is to claim the title of author, this step is less important. You want to produce a well-written book that gets people in your industry or market talking, but you’re not expecting a bestseller. In this case, you’ll want to become familiar with your author-competitors, if you aren’t already, but finding a market for your book is less important.

If you are writing a book to create a new revenue stream for yourself or to open doors to new opportunities, validating the market is an important exercise.

To do this, the best place to start is Amazon. Search your topic to find comparable titles. When you do, take note of how the author positions the book. Is it a guide to doing something better? Is it for a particular niche? Is it primarily a memoir? Study each book.

Then look below the book’s description in its Amazon listing to see its publishing details. Which publisher produced it? How long ago? What’s the cover price? How many pages is it? What’s its Amazon rank and category rank? These details will help you understand how well it’s selling.

Ask your friends and colleagues if they have read any of the competing titles. What did they think of them? What did they do well? Where did they fall short? This last question can help you improve your book by addressing shortcomings in some existing titles.

3.  Design the Structure

Armed with an understanding of how other authors have approached your particular topic, you’re ready to start organizing all the information you want to share. This structure is the backbone of your book; I also call it a roadmap.

Your structure, which is your book’s outline, can make or break your project. Depending on how you plan to write about your topic, you can make the content easy to follow and digest, or confusing and frustrating for the reader. In that case, it’s unlikely they’ll bother reading the whole thing.

Your outline is like an architectural blueprint in that it lays out how you’ll address each element of your topic. A strong outline demonstrates how your argument builds from chapter to chapter, and your reader’s understanding evolves. It helps you plan how you’ll connect your sections so they flow seamlessly. That’s the goal.

As you’re designing your outline, consider what your readers know at the outset, as they’re opening the book. What are their assumptions? How deep is their background knowledge about this topic? And what should they know by the end?

Are you making a linear argument here? Are you explaining how to do something in a particular sequence? Or are you sharing a story?

Investing time up front to plan out how you’ll develop your idea pays dividends once you start writing, because your path will be clear.

Since we’re focused on writing here, I won’t digress into publishing, but at this point, I strongly urge my authors to decide how they’ll publish their book. If they’re planning to pursue a traditional publisher, they’ll need to pause writing and work first on finding a literary agent to represent the book, and then crafting a compelling book proposal.

Authors opting to publish through a hybrid or independent publisher, or to self-publish, can proceed to the next step, as a proposal and agent are not needed for those publishing paths.

4.   Write Your Book

When I work with clients, I always prefer to start writing Chapter 1. We save the introduction for last, once we’re clear about what’s in the book, and we dive into setting the stage with the first chapter. By drafting the chapters in order, it’s easier for my authors to see how the argument is building, or the picture is developing, but if you’re writing your book on your own, you can start wherever you prefer.

Some authors start with the chapter they think will be the easiest for them to write. That way, they can build some momentum quickly. They may switch back and forth between chapters as they write, or decide to progress in a linear fashion.

There is no right or wrong choice this way. What matters is that you write consistently, so that you’re making steady progress.

Some authors set a deadline for their book, so they can reverse-engineer the process and set chapter deadlines to keep them on track to deliver a manuscript by their due date. Knowing that you only need to write 250 words a day, every workday (Monday through Friday), to craft 55,000 in a year can help reduce the pressure to perform. And if you write 250 words a day every day, 7 days a week, you’ll generate more than 90,000 words in a year.

One thing you do want to avoid in this step is editing what you’ve already written. This stage is for creating new sentences and paragraphs, not going back through what you created yesterday to correct and polish it. That’s editing, and it’s an entirely different step.

If you opt to work with a ghostwriter, your ghost will take responsibility for asking you questions to pull out the details of your story during this stage. They’ll interview you, read any background materials you provide, and then draft chapters for you to review and approve.

5.   Edit and Polish Your Manuscript

The last step in the book-writing process is editing, which involves going over what you wrote and making it better.

During the developmental editing phase, which is the first, you’re looking for big-picture issues. That includes statements that don’t make sense or are incomplete. You’re reading paragraphs to make sure one naturally flows into the next. You’re verifying statements made or tracking down research citations. You’re filling gaps or holes with more detail, stories, and examples to liven up the text. You’re correcting structural issues here.

Then, once you’re happy with how information flows, you’re going to shift to copyediting. At this step, the focus is on structure at the sentence level. Does each sentence make sense on its own? Are there awkward phrases? Can you make the sentence clearer or more interesting? That’s what you’re doing now.

Finally, when all the words, sentences, and sections make sense, it’s time to look for misspellings or errant commas. Proofreading is the last step before turning in your manuscript to your publisher. Your manuscript is your pre-published book.

Some authors then opt to hand over their manuscripts to beta readers, who agree to read your book from start to finish and offer feedback on what they liked and what they didn’t, to help make the book stronger.

Once you feel confident in your manuscript, you hand it off to your publisher. Most publishers then have their own internal editor go through your manuscript with a fresh set of eyes, to see if they spot anything missing or unclear. If they do, they’ll come back to you with “author queries” to address.

When those are turned in, your writing is done.

Now, there is certainly plenty for you to do to help promote your book and build interest in it, but your book is written.

Breaking your book-writing process into steps makes it much more manageable and less overwhelming.

Thinking about writing a book and curious how a ghostwriter can help? Email me at marcia@marcialaytonturner.com to request a copy of my guide to working with a ghostwriter and getting your book published.

The post How to Write a Business Book: A Step-by-Step Guide for Executives appeared first on Marcia Layton Turner.

• Quick Answer: How Can a Book Generate Business Leads?
• Build a Proprietary Framework
• Design Your Book Around Lead Generation from the Start
• Sprinkle Calls to Action (CTAs) Throughout the Book
• Plan How You’ll Get Your Book into Readers’ Hands
• Repurpose Your Book Content into Other Formats
• Post-Launch Lead Nurturing
• What to Avoid
• Glossary
• Frequently Asked Questions

In the last 20 years, the number of nonfiction books published has increased sharply, from less than 300,000 to more than 2 million. Better printing tools and self-publishing have helped fuel that growth, but there is another reason business leaders are writing books: author status creates instant authority.

More business leaders now see a book as more than a credential. A strong business book can also attract clients, start conversations, nurture relationships, and support sales long after it is published.

That is why the difference between a thought leadership book and a lead generation book matters. A thought leadership book builds authority. A lead generation book also guides the right reader toward a next step with you.

Quick Answer: How Can a Book Generate Business Leads?

A business book can generate leads when it is built around a clear audience, a specific problem, a proprietary framework, useful calls to action, a distribution plan, repurposed content, and a follow-up system. Instead of acting only as proof of expertise, the book becomes a 24/7 introduction to how you think, what you solve, and why the reader may want to work with you.

The best lead-generating books do not read like sales brochures. They teach. They guide. They give readers enough value to trust the author, while making the next step easy to find.

Build a Proprietary Framework

Although it sounds fancy, a framework is simply a clear description of how you do what you do. It is your unique method shaped into a repeatable process, model, mnemonic, or acronym that readers can remember and connect with you.

Your framework sets you apart from others in your industry. It shows that you have a tested way to help clients achieve a desired result, whether you sell high-end real estate, run a venture fund, lead a consulting firm, or advise executives through major change.

Acronyms are a common way to make a framework easier to remember. SMART goals, SWOT analyses, and KPIs are familiar because they reduce complex ideas into simple language. Your own framework can do the same for your readers.

Your book is Step One in working with you. It introduces your framework, explains why it matters, and shows how it can help the reader think differently about their problem.

Step Two may be implementation support. That could include coaching, consulting, workshops, planning sessions, or a larger advisory engagement. The book gives readers the foundation. Working with you helps them apply it.

Design Your Book Around Lead Generation from the Start

If the goal of your book is lead generation, the manuscript should be shaped around the reader you most want to attract. Start by naming your ideal reader. Who do you want to work with? What problem are they trying to solve? What result are they hoping for? What have they already tried?

Once you know who you want to reach, you can package your expertise in a way that feels useful, direct, and relevant. The book should help readers see their current challenge more clearly and understand what a better path could look like.

This does not mean your book should feel promotional. In fact, the best lead generation books are generous. They educate first. They show the reader how you think. They help the right person decide, on their own, that you may be the person they want to speak with next.

It can help to explain that the book provides the framework, while working with you provides the implementation. This keeps the book valuable without giving readers the impression that a short read can replace expert support.

Your book can also pre-qualify potential clients. Not every reader will be a good fit, and that is fine. A clear book helps the right readers raise their hands through a newsletter signup, downloadable guide, discovery call, workshop, or private consultation.

Sprinkle Calls to Action (CTAs) Throughout the Book

Calls to action, or CTAs, are invitations. They tell readers what they can do next if they want more help, more information, or a closer look at your process.

The number of CTAs in a book is a balancing act. You do not want readers to search for your contact information, but you also do not want every other page to feel like an advertisement.

Look for natural points in the manuscript where a reader may want a tool, checklist, worksheet, assessment, video, private guide, or sample chapter. These offers give readers a reason to visit your website and share their contact information.

You can also include a resource section at the end of each chapter or at the end of the book. That section might send readers to a landing page, a downloadable companion guide, or a form where they can request a conversation.

After the book is released, track which offers get the most clicks or signups. That data tells you what your readers value most and which topics may deserve more content, speaking, or consulting offers.

Plan How You’ll Get Your Book into Readers’ Hands

If your goal is lead generation, book sales are not the only measure of success. The bigger question is whether the right people receive the book and know what to do next.

In addition to selling the book through Amazon or making it available as an e-book or audiobook, think about where your best prospects already spend time. What events do they attend? What media do they trust? What associations do they belong to? Who already has their attention?

For many experts, speaking engagements are one of the best ways to share a book. When you stand at the front of the room, you are already viewed as an expert. Giving audience members a copy of your book turns that moment into something they can take home, remember, and share.

You can also explore special sales. Companies, associations, and event organizers may buy copies in bulk if the topic fits their audience. A book given by a trusted organization can create an implied endorsement and open doors to conversations that may not happen through cold outreach alone.

Before launch, build a mailing list of your best prospects, current clients, past clients, referral partners, and business colleagues. That list helps you decide how many copies to print and who should receive the book first.

Repurpose Your Book Content into Other Formats

Your book is a major content asset. Once it is written, you can adapt parts of it into smaller pieces that reach people in different formats.

• Offer your first chapter or two as a sample.
• Create a companion workbook to help readers apply your ideas.
• Turn worksheets and templates into standalone lead magnets.
• Use chapters or ideas as blog topics.
• Use chapters or ideas as podcast topics or interview prompts.
• Prepare reports and white papers based on the book’s research or insights.
• Create tip sheets that can be shared with the media.

A printed or electronic book is a powerful way to organize your expertise, but it should not be the only way people encounter your ideas. Repurposing the book helps you increase the return on your investment and makes it more likely that the right audience will hear about your work.

Post-Launch Lead Nurturing

Many authors think the work is done once the book is published. For lead generation, the best opportunities often come after the book is in readers’ hands.

Follow-up can include email check-ins, invitations to ask questions, book club discussions, online reader communities, private events, webinars, or small-group workshops. The goal is to help readers keep engaging with your ideas after they receive the book.

The first hurdle is getting the book to the right people. The second hurdle is helping them read it, remember it, and take the next step. A book that sits unread on a shelf will not generate many leads. A book that becomes part of an ongoing conversation can.

What to Avoid

A book can be a strong lead generation tool, but a few common mistakes can reduce its value.

• Writing for a general audience. A book for “all business owners” will be less useful than a book for a clear reader, such as CEOs of nonprofit foundations, consulting firm partners, or founders preparing for a major growth stage.
• Writing a memoir when the reader wants a method. Your story may matter, but a lead generation book should help readers understand what you know and how it can help them.
• Forgetting to capture reader information. If readers do not have a reason to share their name and email address, you may never know who is interested.
• Leaving out calls to action. Readers need simple next steps, such as requesting a guide, scheduling a call, attending a workshop, or joining your email list.

Books written mainly for entertainment or memoir do not need to follow this same structure. But if your goal is to attract business leads, your book needs a clear reader, a clear promise, a clear method, and clear next steps.

A book can be an effective tool for long-term lead generation. It should also be well-written and something you are proud to share. One way to improve the finished book is to partner with a skilled ghostwriter who can help you turn your expertise into a clear, useful, and strategic business book.

If you are considering writing a book and want to learn more about the writing and publishing process, contact me to request my Insider’s Guide to Ghostwriting. I would be happy to share it with you.

Glossary

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Table of contents:

• What Makes Up Your Personal Brand
• The Authority that Books Convey
• Repurposing Your Ideas for Greater Visibility
• Choosing the Right Topic is Key
• Your Long-Term Brand Strategy

In a recent article for Chief regarding the importance of a personal brand for senior executives, Danielle Hughes, founder of branding consultancy More Than Words Marketing, said, “A personal brand has gone from being a nice-to-have to a need-to-have.”

This is especially true for ambitious business leaders.

Everyone has a personal brand. Your brand is based on what you’ve accomplished, what you’ve shared online, where you’ve spoken, and other evidence of your ideas and interests. However, your current personal brand may or may not represent how you’d like to be perceived.

Yes, blog posts, media mentions, TED Talks, and other recognition help establish your presence—your brand—but nothing else elevates your professional reputation like publishing a book.

Authorship is one of the most powerful ways you can build a credible, authoritative personal brand. Here’s why:

What Makes Up Your Personal Brand

At its core, your personal brand is made up of three components that together shape how others see you professionally: 1) Expertise, 2) Reputation, and 3) Visibility.

Your expertise consists of your experience, knowledge, skills, abilities, and insights. It’s what makes you a professional standout.

Your reputation reflects how others see and describe you. Your reputation is made up of your track record of success, your credibility, and authority. How people describe you when they tell others about you contributes to your professional reputation.

And visibility is determined by how well people remember you and recommend you to others, often based on how easily you can be found online. If people need to dig deep to come across your profile or anything that has been said about you online, your visibility would be considered low.

Unless you’re already a celebrity in your industry, it’s very likely you’re weak in at least one of these areas. For example, you might have a tremendous reputation within your company but be a complete unknown outside of it. Or maybe you have recognized expertise, but people don’t know you well enough to be able to speak out in support of you.

The good news is that writing and publishing a book can address all three of these components in one fell swoop.

The Authority that Books Convey

No matter how many speeches you’ve given, presentations you’ve made, or consulting engagements you’ve won, none of those impact your personal brand like claiming author status. Being able to call yourself an author instantly elevates your reputation.

Sure, there are industry icons who blog or have a podcast or YouTube channel, and many may be considered “influencers.” However, writing and publishing a book signals a different level of influence, of commitment to your field, as well as a higher level of expertise. You can write hundreds of articles and blog posts, but penning an entire book is an entirely different accomplishment, and everyone knows it.

In part because of the space that books provide, you have the freedom to articulate original thinking and innovative ideas that distinguish you from your colleagues. That’s the power of long-form content. When you have 50,000 or 60,000 words to use, you can delve deeply into your area of expertise and define new frameworks, point out coming industry trends, and speak out for or against what’s already headed your way. That’s harder to do in a 1,000-word blog post or article. Books can shift your career in new ways more quickly than any other tool.

The fact that media outlets and websites prefer to interview authors, or view them as credible sources for stories, confirms this enhanced credibility and authority. When you take the time to organize your ideas and insights into a book-length work, your efforts and serious engagement with your ideas are respected and even rewarded with increased attention.

With more credibility and attention comes new opportunities. Those new opportunities often include speaking invitations at events, podcast guest offers, as well as magazine columns or guest blogging requests. Landing consulting engagements, expert witness gigs, and board of directors offers are not unheard of. Your book becomes your business card.

 

Repurposing Your Ideas for Greater Visibility

Although a book is a way to package your expertise, it doesn’t have to restrict you. Once you’ve written a book, you can then deconstruct it and slice and dice it in new and different ways, for greater reach and impact.

For example, each of your chapters could become a related blog post. Pithy quotes can become graphic posts on Instagram. You could take an idea from your book and record a 30-second explanation or example to share on YouTube. You can create a course or courses based on your book or host a webinar or masterclass. That book becomes the center of a new content system to which you can return for more ideas over time.

Choosing the Right Topic is Key

Of course, your book has a better chance of being a jumping-off point for your personal brand if you select a topic that is at the intersection of your interests and expertise as well as your audience’s interests and information needs. No matter what, your book needs to offer a unique take on a topic or provide a new way of understanding it, such as through a framework, blueprint, or system.

When faced with a choice between what you want to write about and share and what your target audience wants to hear about, choose the topic they want to know more about. No, it may not be what they need, but by giving them what they want, you have a shot at attracting their attention. Over time, you can start to serve up what you know they need, but if you lead with what you want to write about, you may never sell enough books to have the impact you hope to.

As you’re evaluating topics and angles, think about where you want your personal brand to go. What do you want to be known for in the future? If you want to shift into doing more consulting, for example, weave in success stories and hit hard on corporate strategy. If you want to be considered for a global role, make sure you include content that addresses a global perspective. And keep in mind that long-term, you may write several books, so this first title does not have to include everything you have to say on a subject; go with the most relevant and perhaps unconventional, to attract attention and raise some eyebrows.

Your Long-Term Brand Strategy

The good news about a book is that it has staying power. Although LinkedIn users may come across your post once and promptly forget about it, your book may sit on their desk or bookshelf for several weeks or even years. For that reason, a book can have a larger impact on your brand-building efforts. A book can demonstrate that you have the experience, the insights, and the expertise worth paying attention to.

Some of the most successful authors started with one book that made a splash and they followed that one with another, in between speaking engagements and other invitations that quickly heightened their visibility. Their books sparked movements that positioned them for many more revenue-generating opportunities even years later. Just look at Malcolm Gladwell, James Clear, or Cal Newport, for example. They’re no longer just authors; they are massive brands. But their careers really took off when they decided to invest the time in writing a book.

You have a similar opportunity to make your mark.

 

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