As a professional speaker, coach, or entrepreneur, writing a book has become almost as necessary as having a business card or a website. This is because, as a published author, your book provides instant credibility and influence as an expert in your field.
But writing a traditional book can take months or even years to produce and publish. With electronic retailers or “e-tailers” as they are often called, such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple iBookstore, many authors are now turning to self-publishing as an easier and more convenient way fast-track the publishing of their book. .
eBook authoring is the NEW COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE and is easiest and the quickest way to build credibility as a speaker or expert.
Expert Recognition
Let’s face it. There are droves of people in the world all claiming to be experts in their chosen field of specialty and the competition is fierce, particularly for those hoping to succeed as coaches or consultants. All you need to do is conduct a web search on “life coach”, “nutrition or health coach”, “small business coach”, “career coach”, etc. to understand how stiff the competition is.
For example, at time of this book’s publication there are 781,000,000 Google search results for life coach, 650,000,000 Google search results for health coach, and 320,000,000 Google search results for career coach.
However an Amazon search provides 5,583 results for “life coach”, 2,505 results for “health coach”, 5,852 results for “career coach”, and only 327 results for “small business coach”.
This data clearly supports the theory that an entrepreneur author with their own eBook published on Amazon has a greater opportunity for visibility than by simply taking their chances in the deep sea of Google search results. Think about your own habits when seeking information or resources when faced with a particular challenge. The reality is that Google is generally where people go to search for information, whereas Amazon is where people go to buy.
Creating your own book can open up a vast array of new opportunities for any entrepreneur such as receiving more speaking invitations, the ability to command even higher speaking and consulting fees, and can result in requests for media interviews with radio, newspaper, and television too.
Simply put, publishing your own eBook provides social proof and credibility to potential clients. It increases visibility of your brand, establishes your expertise and creates trust because you’re presenting your message and your value to the market in a tangible format.
Speaking Opportunities
Published authors are actually more sought after as speakers since they are viewed as experts in their field. It is very common for event planners to search Amazon using keywords to identify expert authors when they are in need of a speaker. Your eBook is then able to function as a calling card advertising your ability and desire to provide speaking services. If it is your goal to increase the number of speaking engagements you do, then it is advisable that you also ensure your eBook Author Biography and Amazon Author Profile specifically state that you are available for speaking engagements and specific the topics or titles of your key talk topics.
The same holds true for consulting opportunities. As illustrated in previously by the comparison of Google and Amazon search results, instant credibility and greater visibility are provided as a result of creating and publishing an eBook on your area of expertise, allowing you to stand out from the crowd of others who may be equally qualified.
So, write and self-publish your own expert eBook and you will likely see an increase in speaking AND consulting opportunities.
No Cost Advertising
As I mentioned earlier, social media advertising on platforms such as such as Facebook and Linked In and search engine ads like Google Adwords, can be very costly.
You’re credit card is charged every time a curious browser clicks on your ad. Many of these “curiosity clickers” have no intention of opting in to your list or signing up for your tele-class or your services or programs. But you know what? You still pay for every single click.
Self-publishing your own eBook provides a cost effective alternative to traditional and online advertising. Actually, a well constructed, lead generating eBook does not have to cost you anything at all! Let’s break this down. These are the key elements that go into the creation of an eBook:
Writing the content: $0.00 (Author provides the content)
Editing/proofreading: $0.00 (Can be done by friend, family member. Optionally, this can be professionally for $200+)
eCover $5.00 (I use www.fiverr.com where are jobs like this cost only $5.00, however you can this done by a graphics designer for about $300)
File formatting $0.00 (there are many easy to follow guides provided by Amazon that make it simple to do the formatting yourself. Alternatively, a professional can do this for you for under $150)
Uploading to Amazon $0.00 (There is no cost to set up an Author account or sell you eBook on Amazon – and it’s really EASY to upload too!)
Depending on how much involvement you choose to have in publishing your eBook, the cost can realistically range from $0 up to $750 or more. The clients I work with tend to have incredible results from spending less than $100 on the elements I’ve listed out.
Unfortunately, with online Facebook, Linked In, and Google Adwords run on either time or dollar limits. Once your budget runs out for the day or week or month, your ad is taken down until the next day or when you re-enlist. But once published, your eBook continues to live on, telling your story, advertising your products and programs, substantiating your expert credibility, and reaching millions of interested readers all over the world – FOREVER!
List Building
eBooks also create a unique opt-in opportunity when they’re structured and formatted for lead generation. This can be as simple as including a link within your eBook that brings the reader directly to an opt-in form on your website.
A really great way to use this strategy is to offer the reader something that is directly related to your eBook’s topic and provide the link within your eBook. A downloadable template, audio, video, special added chapter, quiz, assessment, or sample chapter from your next eBook are all unique and creative ways to entice your reader over to your website or special landing page where they are required to provide their email address or other contact information to receive your offer.
The trick to this is not being to salesy or blatantly self-promotional within the eBook. Readers will see right through this and it could result in negative reviews being posted about you and your book, so you’ll want to be careful about how and where you position your opt-in offer.
Global Visibility
Publishing your own eBook also allows you to reach more people – global reach.
Once you publish your eBook, it will be available to over 3 BILLION READERS in 29 COUNTRIES for instant delivery. How cool is that?? Just think of YOUR eBook as a VIRTUAL BILLBOARD for your business that is working 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to promote your book to readers looking for information just like what you published using your experience or knowledge or message that you have shared, Your dream book will be present on all the top eBook retailer shelves, and readers will discover them through online merchandising systems, search engines, reader reviews, and social media. By leveraging technology and platforms like Amazon, your ebook and YOUR BUSINESS becomes searchable and findable ALL OVER THE WORLD – forever
So as you see, each day that your book sits unfinished you’re undoubtedly losing money, speaking opportunities, publicity and the ability to impact more lives. Just think about that for a minute – How much money are you losing every single day your book is not out and available? So what’s stopping you right now? Is it the fear that writing an eBook is too complicated or takes too much time. Or maybe you just don’t know where to start. Well, if any of these reasons resonates with you, then that’s an easy fix that we will look at in the next chapter!
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