Your book can wait

Your content, credibility, growth, and income can’t.

You may have any number of reasons why you currently view writing a book as your end-all-be-all goal, that it must be first or at least very early in life’s sequence of sharing your expertise, that someday you’ll write one or even a dozen books. You have such a wealth of knowledge to teach others. And yet…

This is not a statement against books. If writing a book is important to you, how open are you to making it easier to create, market, grow, and generate revenue from it than you are currently doing or believe is the only way to get there?

Yes, books establish you and your topic's or genre's authority, as do smaller content delivery forms. Plus, you become both teacher and student in the process of sharing your knowledge regardless of what form it is. Why do you think successful “big box” stores keep giving small samples of food, health supplements, cleaning products, and other things that they also offer in large quantities? Customers determine what they like or don’t through samples. Manufacturers test what buyers like and don’t based on giving samples.

TEST FIRST

Your brilliance and expertise let large quantity decision-makers test your content by licensing (renting from you) or investing in tangible small quantities. You get feedback from decision-makers on how their audience, consumers, subscribers, or members respond. When the companies or other organizations want more of your knowledge to bring to their followers, you have more to offer. That can be different small forms (i.e., your how-to tips on printed card decks, a tip a week emailed to their mailing list to educate them and to stay in contact with them), or larger information amounts (i.e., your book, self-guided course)

 

SMALL SAMPLES GROW

Your knowledge in small quantities is valuable in sampling your content, building your credibility, helping educate more people, and generating revenue. Imagine someone coming to your expertise for the first time. They are prepared to taste small, easily digestible, basic levels and amounts of what your expertise is about. Once they do digest the small taste, they are either hungry for more or made a decision that the taste was unappealing. Either way, they learned something – they liked what you offer, they didn’t like, or they’re willing to give it another try because they are on the fence about their experience. You helped them explore previously unchartered territory in their life journey. Either way, they grew. They said yes, no, or maybe as their next step. The process was one of growth for you, too. When you get a lot of “yes,” that’s an invitation for you to develop more. More can be a slightly deeper dive to a more advanced level of your expertise. Or it can be a different delivery format, adding a visual delivery of that content they sampled only in the written word.

 

STRATEGIC DECISIONS

This brings you to a strategic moment, one of planning your growth as you support the growth of others.

1. Notice what has felt easy, natural, and enjoyable to you up until now. It might be a particular segment of your expertise or a specific delivery format.

2. Build on your strength, comfort level, and success. Your growth often happens in small steps forward (and maybe a few steps backward, too), similar to the small bits of your information you are bringing to your audience.

3. Listen to the feedback your followers give you. They might prefer to learn by reading, yet their lifestyle lends itself to listening or watching video.

4. Recognize that the buying habits of your followers, clients, members, or other consumers gives you valuable guidance on what steps make good sense for you. That helps you build on what has already worked.

5. Test new product and related service ideas in small ways first. A tips booklet or digital version of that content might seem ho-hum offers to you, yet a corporation or other organization may view that as ideal ways to stay connected to their consumers to increase the company’s revenue.

6. Ask questions of your colleagues and vendors when you are new to producing a different format. People love to be helpful, and you get to expand your knowledge and understanding.

7. Create your own how-to tips based on what you have seen modeled in this list you are now reading. Each starts with a positive verb saying what TO do, followed by a second sentence explaining why or how, and maxing out at no more than 50 words per tip.

Your personal growth means:

• Expanding your knowledge by exploring different ways of delivering it,
• Serving the people, groups, and businesses who need/want what you offer,
• Finding and bringing joy in as much of the process as possible.

YOUR HOW-TO TIPS

Imagine the amount of time and effort it takes you to compile a list of 52 how-to tips that represent your knowledge, your expertise, your perspective, your experience – how-to tips you already give away when talking with others about your expertise and what you do? If it takes you more than a few hours, it would be a lot. And look at all the good you can do with that document. It can readily lead you to expand your awareness, authority, approaches to the world, and income. The tips can become a trail of breadcrumbs introducing any and all of your related products and services in natural, appealing, and inviting ways. This part of your journey can ultimately give you more time and space to grow personally and professionally, while increasing your book’s demand if you do decide to write it or apply a different promotional approach with one or more of your existing books. You get to be the student and the teacher pretty much simultaneously, growing in each of those roles. Thinking back on how this article began, now how do you feel about the idea:

Your book can wait. Your content, credibility, growth and income can’t.

(s) 2022, Paulette Ensign – All Rights Reserved