Publish Your Own Book for Self-Promotion
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This is do-able but it’s a tough road to hoe. However, there are two major benefits. First, it gives you a product to sell on your website and at the back of the room when you do any public speaking. Second, it gives you major credentials.
We all know that being a published author gives you cache. It helps brand you as an expert. And it gives you some celebrity in a world of bland business owners.
Writing is hard work
But writing a book isn’t easy, in spite of what you may have read on some websites. I offer as proof that over 70% of new blogs rarely last more than a month or two. Writing a book requires discipline, a willingness to see it through, and writing talent.
Getting writing help
The writing talent is actually the easiest part. You can partner with or hire an actual writer or ghost writer. Most celebrity or politician books are written this way. And for that matter, most “business” books are written this way. And by “business”, I mean the seminar-types who are out there claiming to be business experts but are actually just experts at self-promotion.
Don’t kid yourself into believing you can write at a professional level
One problem I run into out there as a professional writer myself is the belief by most people that they can write. I hear it all the time. “Why should I hire a writer? I wrote papers in college. I can write.”
Yes, you may be able to write a dissertation or a paper. You might even be able to write some pretty good poetry. However, writing a marketing piece that will glue people to the paper or screen, convince them that you have the answers they are looking for, and then get them to pick up the phone, email you, or hit the “buy” button is a very specialized skill.
If it weren’t, all the small business owners who write their own copy would be rich.
In my next entry, I’ll talk about the difference between self-publishing and using a traditional publisher.
Originally posted 2007-10-20 07:22:45. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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10 Comments
April 5th, 2009 at 9:47 am
thanks !! very helpful post!
March 27th, 2010 at 8:42 am
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March 28th, 2010 at 12:32 am
Like you’ve mentioned, writing university papaer is absolutely different from writing for the web. Again, on the web, it’s different to write a sales copy or an article or a blog post, etc. Add search engines to all this and talk about “SEO web copywriting”.
It’s obvious that a well-established author requires some training before writing on the web. So, it will be very help ful to read a little more about web copywriting and learn some tips from the people like Bob McClain, whom I recommend strongly, to realize what it means to write for the web.
March 28th, 2010 at 2:43 am
Yes, it is very important to realize that not all writing is the same. Different people are skilled at different kinds of writing. And, of course, no matter in which areas of writing you’re skilled, it is still important to make sure that you very carefully proofread your writing or have someone else do it for you.
March 28th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Bob – excellent post on what it takes to write well and publish your own book! As a professional marketing/PR consultant and copywriter, I also run into people from time to time who think that if they wrote a paper in school, they can write great copy for their business and/or product/service. But, as you point out, that is not usually the case. The benefit of hiring a professional copywriter is that they are skilled at their craft and know how to focus on connecting customer challenges and needs to the benefits and features of their product or service to “engage” prospects/customers in the copy and convince them to buy. Also, different mediums require a different type of writing.
March 28th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
@Phyllis – I’ll admit that some of my blog posts have copy editing or spelling errors. But when it comes to customer’s copy, no professional would ever publish the mistake-ridden copy I’ve seen on some business sites.
March 28th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
@Barbara – And there’s one other benefit to hiring a professional copywriter. If you’re a business owner and know exactly what your time is worth, you would know that by the time you spent hours slaving over your copy, you are probably making about $5 an hour. You have to figure out what’s a better use of your time.
March 28th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
@Barbara – One other important thing for business executives and owners to think about is what is their time worth? Yes, they are going to pay us well for our knowledge, skill and writing speed. But from an hourly cost basis, does doing it themselves make sense?
March 28th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
@Phyllis – I’ll admit I’ve left spelling errors on my blog posts. But no professional copywriter would ever leave the mistakes I’ve seen on too many websites that were not written professionally.
March 28th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
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