Why write a book?

My coaching mentor happened to be a former financial planner, my boss for a few years, and “the father of coaching”.  Thomas Leonard taught me that writing wasn’t as difficult as I made it out to be.

He could, and often did, design a new website every day — including all the words of another new coaching program.   He wrote 100’s of top ten articles and turned the best of the best into a book.  He also offered the coaches he was training the opportunity to include their own top ten lists on his site.

To become published, all I had to write was a title, short introduction, and ten tips.  That was it.  If I wanted to explain each tip in a paragraph, I could.  I’d go to the site and just write.  (Hint: You can write articles this short, too!)

I wish I had known that the site would be removed before I had an opportunity to download all my articles.

Working for Thomas inspired me to write and learn simple tips on how to choose what to write about.

More Inspiration

My first coach, Eddie, inspired me to “write and speak about what I know”. I started writing pages and pages of articles. I taught first as a volunteer and then I was paid to teach classes about business plans, marketing on a budget, how to use the internet, how to create a website page from scratch, and many others.

Never could I have imagined that someone who didn’t enjoy writing would become one of the first 100 internet marketers to create an e-book to grow my business (that was in 1999).   Then a couple of years later, I had internet gurus calling me “one of the internet’s article marketing pioneers”.  Next, I was asked to create a 4-part article marketing webinar series for a company that allowed people to post their articles to their website (to help them with SEO but also to promote thousands of companies, too).

My series has helped thousands of people to write and promote their articles as a way of attracting clients to their business websites.

The Writing Continues

By 2008, I had written 600 articles, 10 workbooks, and who knows how many assessments and reports created.*

But I haven’t been inspired to write in many years.  Yeah, I’ve written new articles, maybe even a new report, but nothing spectacular.  And as someone who relates writing to someone scratching a chalkboard, I need inspiration!

Two months ago I “got inspired” by attending a conference I knew would motivate me.  And since then, I’ve been writing up a storm about subjects that are in my brain but I’ve never written down.

Some of what I write about comes from questions my clients ask me.  Other reports or articles come from my client’s needs.  Some of what I’m writing are updates to what I’ve written in the past.

But at the conference, it dawned on me  it was time to put my business building and transformation tips in a book.  So, every week, I write at least 2 articles or reports.

My marketing person can’t keep up with the inspired me.  So, I’m not posting all of it here until she checks it (she is not checking this post, so please skip over the typos).

So why am I writing a book?

At the conference I attended, I was reminded again about the “whys of authoring a book”.  I’m sure you’ve seen someone give special authority to the author of a printed book that is different from the authority you might have as the author of an article or e-book. Here are some of the reasons you might want to write a book.

1. People give you a tremendous amount of credibility as an author.
2. Published authors have wider access to media and paid speaking opportunities.
3. You become established as a “thought leader” in a specific area. *
4. Once a book is published, there are numerous possibilities of new products or services you can offer such as::

• • Writing articles, reports, training materials
  • Publishing e-books or workbooks
  • Producing webinars, audios, podcasts, speaking
  • Developing a blog on the topics and the media will find you when they search for your topic.
  • Creating group coaching or consulting packages based on your area of expertise.
  •  And so much more…

I am committing to producing a printable book, for my ideal clients by the end of 2020.  How about you?

*Even having an e-book establishes some credibility and expertise.  During the time I was teaching my article marketing webinars, I was asked to appear on a TV series in Connecticut about authors.  The host was very intrigued with e-books and I was the first e-book author interviewed.

Note: None of my writing could be done alone.  Along the way, I’ve had numerous proofreaders, editors, and now a marketing manager, who ensure that most of what I write work for my audience and business.  Don’t do it alone.  It’s even more difficult if writing is not one of your passions