A playbook for Generating Business Ideas

Why You Should Self-Publish a Book
There are a variety of different benefits that can come from writing a book. In
the first part of this section I will explain the benefits of writing and
publishing/self-publishing a nonfiction book. In the second part of this section I
will explain the benefits of self-publishing over working with a traditional
publisher.
Benefits of Writing a Nonfiction Book
You may be interested in some or all of the below benefits of writing a
nonfiction book, depending on who you are and what your goals are. Your
writing strategy can be adapted to achieve the benefits you desire. I have
experienced most of these benefits and I cannot understate how strongly I
recommend you write and self-publish a book.
a. Market Your Business and Acquire Customers
A book can be a great marketing channel for a variety of different businesses. By
publishing a book on a topic that’s valuable to your target audience, you will
attract them to you, build a relationship with them, and potentially get them to
pay for your product or service. If you publish your book via Kindle Direct
Publishing, you can include links within your book to your website or landing
page of choice. Readers can click the links and engage with your website as they
please. If you’re writing a paperback or hardcover book, you could include an
easy to write and type website address and instruct readers to visit your site.
b. Acquire Consulting Clients

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A book is a great way to display your expertise. If you’ve written a book on a
given topic, people will assume you are an expert. Writing a book is a great way
to boost your credibility and authority. Books are the new resumes!
When people are looking for someone with certain expertise, they may start by
searching Amazon for people who have written a book on the topic. Or, they
may find your book first and then realize they could use someone with your
expertise.
c. Get Paid Speaking Gigs
Conference organizers may need someone with expertise in a certain topic to
speak at their conference. The organizer might start their search for that person
by searching Amazon. Speaking at a conference could be paid, it could give you
exposure via the conference’s website and promotional materials, or it could
allow you to meet some awesome people at the conference. By having a book on
Amazon you increase your chances of being found by conference organizers.
d. Get Paid for Corporate Training Workshops
Some companies will hire outside people to teach or train their employees on
specific topics. Sometimes they do it as an added benefit to their employees. For
example, they may bring in an expert on personal finance for no reason other
than to provide value to their employees. Other times, companies will hire
experts because they need their employees to have the given expertise.
For example, a consulting company reached out to me about teaching their
employees about networking, because their employees need to be able to
network in order to bring in new business. The company found
my
book
on
networking
first, then presumably, realizing that I have deep expertise on the
topic, they reached out to me.
e. Make Money
Who doesn’t like money? There are many examples of self-published authors

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making massive amounts of money from their books. Hugh Howey has been
reported to be earning $120,000 per month self-publishing on Kindle.
What’s great about the money you earn from writing a book is that it’s pretty
“passive.” Passive means that it’s fairly automated, so you don’t need to keep
trading your time for money the way you do at a salaried job. A passive income
stream will keep paying you while you sleep or travel. Once your book is live on
Amazon it will be searchable and buyable forever. You may want to continually
market it, but you don’t need to.
f. Have a Flexible Work Schedule
You can write whenever and wherever you want! Maybe you want to travel. Or
maybe you want to have kids and be able to spend a lot of time with them while
they’re young. If you’re making your living from Kindle books you could work
at home while you raise your young kids. It’s possible that you could have
earned or be earning enough income from previously published books that you
don’t need to work anymore!
g. It’s Fun!
Some people, myself included, really enjoy the process of writing. I would have
never guessed that I would like it as much as I do. I find it relaxing and almost
meditative. I enjoy sharing my opinions on topics I’m interested in. I enjoy being
able to share my knowledge with people and help them grow their businesses.
h. Get Press Coverage
If a blogger is writing an article about a certain topic, they may seek input from
experts on the topic. In order to find experts, they might search Amazon for
people who have written about relevant topics. I have had people find my book
and reach out to me for a quote. Other people have written articles exclusively
about my books.
i. Network and Meet New People

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Your readers might reach out to you. They could become friends, colleagues,