While self-publishing is a great business idea in its own right, releasing books can also be incredibly beneficial if you have an 
established business, or are looking to start one.
Of course, writing and releasing a book is a major project. If you commit to it, you need to go about it in a way that justifies the investment of your time and other resources.
If you’re interested in learning how self-publishing can benefit your business, you’re in the right place!
Read on to learn more about the reasons a book can boost your business, and ideas on how to make your book a valuable win/win for yourself and your readers.
Table of Contents
1 – Strengthen your personal authority
Releasing a book is a powerful way to let the world know exactly who you are, what you’re about, and what you have to offer.
These days, it’s difficult to differentiate yourself from your competitors. It’s often the case that almost everyone has a modern website, presence on social media, and a similar range of services.
With that in mind, how can you stand out from the crowd in a positive way?
How about a book?
When you stop and think about some of the most authoritative and influential figures in recent memory, you’ll realize that many of them are successful authors alongside whatever else they do.
Stephen Covey improved millions of lives by sharing his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Tony Robbins helped his readers Awaken The Giant Within.
In more recent times, Tim Ferriss has inspired the digital nomad movement with his 4-Hour Workweek, and Gary Vaynerchuk has taught people how to Crush It!
If you are excited about the idea of strengthening your personal authority by releasing a book, here are three considerations to explore further.
- Ideal reader. Who would the ideal reader for your book be? Your book shouldn’t seek to serve everyone. Instead, write with an ideal reader in mind, and speak directly to their pain points and challenges.
- Benefits. Once you know who your ideal reader is, think carefully about the benefits they will get from reading your book. A book will only boost your authority if people’s lives are authentically better after reading it.
- Legacy. Part of the reason that books are effective in boosting authority is down to their permanence. The ideas you express in your book carry serious weight. Think carefully about the legacy you want your book to leave.
If you’re looking for a way to strengthen your authority while leaving a meaningful legacy, writing a book could be the perfect solution.
2 – Establish your values and beliefs
People are more likely to want to do business with you if they feel you share similar values and beliefs.
While almost anyone and everyone can express the values they have through a section on their website, a book gives you space to not only tell but show your readers what you believe, why you believe it, and how it affects the way you do things.
Have you ever read a book from someone where they give an honest and authentic insight into the beliefs they hold, and the events that shaped them as a person? It’s a powerful experience that leaves you feeling like you understand the author on a deep level.
Of course, before you share your deepest beliefs and values in a book, you need to have a thorough understanding of them yourself.
If you’re a fan of self-development and success literature, you probably already have a good idea of the values you hold and what they mean to you.
If not, consider checking out this guide to values from Mind Tools, or this exercise from Tony Robbins.
When you offer a book to the world, you have a precious opportunity to share what motivates you on a deep level, and to form a real bond with your readers.
Those who relate to the values you convey stand a great chance of becoming loyal and committed customers of what your business has to offer.
3 – Grow your mailing list
If your book does a good job of showcasing why you’re a useful authority figure, and the values that motivate you, it’s inevitable that some of the people who read it will want to deepen their relationship with you.
You should make it easy for the people who want to connect with you to do so. Consider choosing email marketing instead of a platform that’s out of your control like social media.
If your book has an eBook edition, you can directly offer a link to sign up for your mailing list.
But, like every other aspect of your book, you need to make offering value to your reader your main priority.
Rather than just asking people to sign up, give them an incentive to do so. This could be a bonus chapter of your work, a free tool that compliments your book’s contents, or some other small gift as a thank you.
People who sign up to your list from your book are likely to be very valuable to you. They have already demonstrated they are willing to invest their money into what you have to offer by buying your book, invest their time by reading it, and take action on your offers by going further and signing up.
These are exactly the kind of people you want to have on your mailing list, so don’t let the opportunity to attract them to it go to waste.
4 – Offer valuable upgrades to your book
The value you get from releasing your book is both tangible and intangible.
We’ve covered some of the intangible benefits your book can bring to your business, such as boosting your authority and forming deep, values-based connections with your readers.
As far as the tangible benefits your book can bring, consider ways it could generate revenue for you.
The most obvious is through book sales alone. Although sales revenue can be a nice stream of passive income for you in the months and years ahead, it’s unlikely to be a life-changing amount. You can increase it by offering multiple formats of your book, such as audiobook and hardcover editions.
However, you shouldn’t limit the income potential of your book to its sales alone.
Instead, consider if any of the following ideas could be a good fit for helping your book generate more income for your business.
- Course upsells. Depending on the contents of your book, you could consider creating a companion course to upsell to your readers.
- Direct coaching. Not every business is suited to coaching, but if you feel yours could be, consider putting together an offer for your readers.
- Affiliate offers. One of the lessons to take from Tim Ferriss’ books is his use of affiliate offers in the books themselves. If there are products or services you feel would be a great fit for your readers, and you can receive an affiliate commission by promoting them, there’s no harm in including them in your book.
Ultimately, any extra revenue source tied to your book should be a brilliant fit for your readers and offer them genuine value. By keeping that principle in mind, you ensure the offers you choose are a genuine win/win.
5 – Turn your readers into advocates
Word of mouth recommendations are worth their weight in gold for your business.
Can you imagine how excited someone would be to work with you if someone they know and trusted shared how your book had changed their life?
That’s the ultimate aim you want to have when writing your book. You want to create something that changes lives. The type of book that people want to gift to their loved ones.
Of course, if someone hears good things about your book, they might want to get a feel for your content before committing to reading a full book.
If you haven’t already, prioritize your author platform. Make it easy for people to discover you and get a feel for what you and your business are all about.
Releasing a book is a worthwhile and meaningful endeavor in its own right, but when you consider all the ways it helps your wider business, it almost becomes a must-do.
Why not take the first steps now?
It might just be the start of a journey that changes people’s lives while helping your business succeed.