The fifth secret the gurus don’t tell you when you’re writing your book.
When you begin to write a book that will share your insight and attract your ideal clients towards you a hidden danger lurks…
I wish someone could warn the authors of bland, generic business books… warn them that a book designed simply to be a business card for their business can seriously damage their business and their brand.
The finished book can undermine your
genuine expertise and damage your brand.
Your expertise comes from a journey filled with challenges and opportunities.
No-one else can replicate the hours invested, struggling to solve a particular problem and the feeling of relief when you finally cracked it.
No-one else can replicate your worst mistakes (though they may be able to benefit from what you learned).
No-one else can replicate the fine-tuning that you bring to every situation with your clients, often unconsciously, that flows from years of experience and adaptation.
This reservoir of insight and inspiration can be shared powerfully through a business book. But most coaches, consultants, trainers or business owners who write a book will fail miserably when attempting to share their wisdom and expertise. They will undermine the very thing that makes them successful.
So how do you avoid this danger?
The quality of your expertise has to be matched by
the quality of the writing and communication in your book.
Everything you have invested in developing your mastery of your profession needs to be reflected in your ability as an author.
If you’ve got tremendous expertise but the book you write is of poor quality this will tell readers that you’re a low quality worker and you should not be trusted.
The tragedy is that many business authors who write a business book to claim their space or demonstrate their authority actually damage their brand as a result. Many don’t even know this has happened to them as their readers/potential clients won’t usually tell them.
You’ve invested years crafting your expertise—a new craft is needed when you want to share it more widely.
The mastery you enjoy in your own industry, niche, or service, has taken many years to develop. You should rightly be proud of this accomplishment. Turning that insight and experience into a comprehensive, compelling and transformational book also takes time to craft.
Unless your daily work involves writing professionally to inspire, inform and impel your readers to action you will need to focus on developing this key skill.
Choose one of the following options to ensure that the quality of your book matches your expertise:
- Reflect on how much it has taken to be an expert in your profession and invest an equal amount of time and effort in crafting your writing skills—weave this through your authoring as you plan, draft, refine, edit and design your book.
- Locate professionals who have invested an equal amount of time and effort as you have, but in the publishing field. Those whose expertise can complement your own and ensure that it is presented brilliantly.
Your family and friends can’t give you objective advice in these situations, they know how amazing you are and won’t want to hurt/criticise/disappoint you even if they do have a suspicion the book isn’t as great as it could be.
Some book coaches who work within a marketing-led model simply reduce your wisdom/insight/experience to the basics: The 27 Steps to X, The 13 Keys to Y!
While they make for catchy titles they massively undervalue your true worth and the uniqueness of your hard-earned expertise. Ultimately this will disappoint the reader who is looking for genuine depth and transformation.
You’ve spent many years building up your brand,
ensuring that it is the hallmark for quality,
consistency and professionalism.
Make sure that your book not only maintains those standards
but raises them to new heights.
Oh, yes—secret five—If your book is not of the highest quality, your readers will believe your expertise is of the lowest quality.