Have you ever thought about writing a book?

Maybe you have, but you dismissed the idea because you don’t think of yourself as a writer.

Or maybe you’ve even gone so far as to walk up to a shelf in a bookstore and clear out space where your book would go, if you ever got around to writing it.

Even if neither scenario applies to you, the bottom line is this…

Writing a book can help grow your business; in fact, it can be the biggest leverage point in that yields the fastest results.

In fact, 63% of business owners who wrote a book reported that it had a “very strong” or “strong” influence on their ability to attract new customers.

How Writing a Book Can Grow Your Business

Let’s look at some of the surprising ways that writing a book can help kick your business growth into high gear.

WRITING A BOOK GIVES YOU INSTANT CREDIBILITY

The first benefit of writing a book that’s related to your business is that it gives you instant credibility – in the same way that an experienced PR person can help you by getting you access to opportunities you might not otherwise have.

How?

• While self-publishing is very common today, that wasn’t always the case. It used to be fairly difficult to get a book published. Potential clients will be impressed when they see that you’re a published author.

• A well-written book about a topic that’s relevant to your target audience demonstrates that you are someone knowledgeable – someone they can trust.

Today’s consumers tend to search for companies and people before they do business with them. When a potential customer sees your book on Amazon when they Google you, they’ll know that you are an authority in your industry.

 WRITING A BOOK GETS YOU FREE EXPOSURE

When you’re trying to grow a business, it can be a struggle to get people to notice you – particularly if you’re in a competitive industry. That barrier is greatly reduced when you write a book. It’s standard practice for newspapers, industry publications, and even television shows to review books and interview their authors.
Instead of trying to cajole influencers to talk about you, your book can convince them to approach you – or at least help you open the door when you approach them.
WRITING A BOOK RAISES YOUR ONLINE PROFILE

If you know anything at all about online marketing, you know that regardless of your industry, you’re in competition with many other companies and websites for the attention of your target audience.

How can you stand out from the crowd?

When you’re the author of a book that speaks to the needs and problems of your target audience, it’s like standing on a stage while your competitors are milling around in the theater. Your book puts you in a position to command attention and respect, and will also come up in search results for your topic.

Just as a PR person can make sure that people know your name, a published book can help raise your profile and increase your visibility online.

When you list your book for sale, whether it’s on your own website, on Amazon, or even on social media sites like Facebook, you automatically increase the chances that people in your target audience will notice your online footprint instead of your competitor’s. This can even improve your SEO as various sites and publications link back to your company’s website.
WRITING A BOOK ALLOWS YOU TO CHARGE MORE

The final benefit – and one that business owners love – is that the cache of having written a book allows them to raise their prices.

Why?

Think of it this way. Every commodity that sells, whether it’s a product or a service, is subject to the law of supply and demand. The higher the demand is, the lower the supply tends to be…
And the more you can charge for whatever you’re selling.
The author of an authoritative book is likely to be in demand. As you gain visibility and credibility, the number of people who want to work with you will inevitably increase. And when that happens, you can raise your prices. You might even decide to offer high-end consulting services as a way of capitalizing on your notoriety as an author.

When Should You Start Writing?

If you had the money to hire a PR person, you’d want to do it as soon as possible, right?
The same goes for writing your book. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a writer, you know that you have specialized knowledge just by virtue of being a business owner. Your experience and expertise can be working for you 24 hours a day in a published book.

The average non-fiction book that sells on Amazon is only about 10,000 words long. If you wrote only 500 words a day, you could have a completed first draft in less than a month.
You have the expertise. All you need is to carve out a little bit of time and write it.

And as soon as your book is published, it can start working for you – bringing you the credibility, publicity, and success you deserve.

Related content: How to Grow Your Business as a Speaker or Author

This post was first published on She Owns It