Write Business Results

________________ Writing a book is a huge accomplishment but of course, very rarely can you reap rewards as large as the ones authors do without also putting in a huge amount of work, right?   WRONG. There are ways to simplify book production, publication and marketing, making this amazing achievement manageable, smooth-running and dare I say it - fun! Here are 3 top tips ANYONE who wishes to become an author can put into practice TODAY and not only experience better commercial results but also have fun in the process... A. Know your learning style We all have amazing skillsets and behaviours that we know how to make work for us, but which unchecked can also work against us.  We’re all diffe rent and have different M.O.s when it comes to our work.  Being heavily detail-orientated, for example, can pay dividends when doing your company expenses or analysing the results of a marketing campaign. However, it might lead to analysis par...

________________ I get asked a lot which is better; to self-publish your book or go with a traditional publisher. And then there are done-for-you services, which appeal to busy business owners for obvious reasons. It can feel like a tough call; do you pay £30,000, £50,000, even £100,000 for a traditional publisher because it feels safe and it's "what authors do", or do you decide to embrace courage, and go down the more rugged individualist path of self-publishing? Do you spend hundreds of hours on writing your book, sourcing the other complementary service providers like editors and designers, experiencing the various frustrations and setbacks, go through the publishing process alone, and then spending further hours/weeks/months on the marketing? Or do you simply outsource the lot to someone who can provide the full package? How on earth are you supposed to decide? The honest answer is, it depends entirely on your goals, but that's not very helpful on it...

________________ So your book isn’t a stand-alone item. It is, in fact, a part of your business plan. It’s a marketing tool and a highly effective one at that. But we know this already; don’t we?   Then why do the majority of business owners who’ve gone to the trouble of authoring a book fail to link it to their marketing strategy and then measure its performance?   In my experience, it’s the same fears that to date may have stopped you from authoring your book. It’s the unknown. It’s this big time-consuming unknown field.  Thinking of tackling a project like writing and publishing your book can be understandably daunting and it can lead to the procrastination our brains often do as a result.  Many aspiring authors drive all their energy into creating the book, but then don’t have a plan in place for how to use it once it’s done. The promotion of it becomes secondary. The message I really want to get across is if you r...

_____________ The written word has been used to communicate our most important messages since the beginning of time. Cavemen and women used early forms of language to write on cave walls, passing on information to future tribes and generations. In fact, I bet if you think of any of your business role models right now, they are also an author.   The word ‘author’ stems from the same word as ‘authority’ in Latin - auctoritatem - meaning invention, advice, opinion, influence, command, or the noun auctor; promoter, producer, father, progenitor; builder, founder; trustworthy writer; historian; performer, doer; responsible person, teacher, literally one who causes to grow (ref). It’s no surprise in that case that successful business leaders are authors and vice versa, given that in order to be successful you need to create, promote, influence, produce, build, found, do, teach, ‘cause to grow’ and assume responsibility. Knowing even just that little bit of...

Foreword What Is A Book’s Foreword & Why You’ll Want One The purpose of a foreword is to reinforce the message within the book and give it maximum credibility via a personal message to the reader. It is written by someone who isn’t the author, who has a high profile in the field the book contributes to and someone whom the reader likely knows of and respects. It’s a great bit of marketing for the book and expert positioning for the writer and the author. Placed within the book itself, it goes before the preface, introduction and other content. Because of its positioning, the foreword has the power to set the readers’ expectations for the entire book. Some key points good forewords include are (in no particular order): A few lines that sum up the essence of the book, the overall message, its purpose A paragraph or two on how and when the expert and the book’s author first met with a few lines on their ‘journey’ together from then un...