Self-Publish Your Way to More Book Sales, Client Leads or New Jobs

Lots of reasons exist to write a book and self-publish it. One of the strongest arguments revolves around the ability for authors to make more money. However, the money doesn’t always come in the form of Amazon sales. In this guest post author and Internet marketing professional Jim Kukral, founder of Author Marketing Club, explains how to leverage an indie book into money in several important ways: new jobs, off-line book sales, client leads, and additional forms of revenue created by your expert status. NA

Bottom line: There is probably no better way to close a sale or get hired for a job than to pull a book out of your briefcase and let the person across the table know you are the expert in the industry.

Imagine this scenario: You’re applying for a job as a social media strategist at a big manufacturing company. You really need a job, as you’ve been searching for a position for months now. You keep going from interview to interview and keep getting rejection after rejection for whatever reason. Maybe they didn’t think you had enough experience? Maybe they just thought you were boring? Whatever; it doesn’t matter. You can’t seem to close the deal and land the job.

Land a Job with a Book

Then one day you finally say to yourself, “You know, I should write a book on my niche and my industry.” So you write something, put it on Amazon and get a few print-on-demand copies made. Then you go on your next job interview, and you try this tactic instead.

The person across the table from you asks you a question about how you would do something and, instead of just answering verbally, you reach into your bag and pull out a copy of your book and say, “Well, actually, I wrote about this in my book. Let me just answer this for you. Let me find the page.”

Briefly look up and see the faces of the people across the table from you and you’ll notice the look in their eyes:  “Wow, this cat wrote a book on this. He is the real deal.” (Because that’s exactly what will happen.)

Now tell me, with that money move, are you getting the job, or is the other guy without the book getting it? You’re getting the job, more often than not. Believe me, I’ve seen it done to me as an employer and, frankly, it works. It immediately elevated that person to the top of the list in my head.

Here’s the theory, and you have to admit it’s more than just theory—it’s true. If someone has the passion/drive/skill/knowledge to go out and write a book on a topic, then logically that person must be an expert on that topic. Therefore, that person becomes a higher-level candidate for that position.

The same goes for all service type businesses as well. I don’t care if you’re a plumber, a car salesperson or an exotic pet seller of iguanas. You need a book!

The good news is that it’s easier than ever to take the knowledge or story out of your head and publish it online for free using sites like Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Many regular people are doing just that and seeing huge gains to their businesses and brands.

Speakers Make more Money with a Book

David C. Baker writes books and uses them to sell from the back of the room (a practice where a speaker sells books to the audience after the presentation). His book, Managing (Right) for the First Time, is intended as a field guide for first time managers, or for managers who want to do a better job.

I asked David how he uses his book to make money and boost his speaking career. “I had a three-day conference last week and we sold $1,600 from a table in the back at full retail,” said David. “I’m speaking at Harvard in two weeks and will be giving away about 100 to students. In other words, they will be leaving the graduate program and immediately managing people. I’m hoping the book helps them… so that they’ll also buy copies for other people who are promoted.”

David has seen his books increase his consulting business as well.

Increase Your Income with a Book

Michelle Dunn is an expert money collector. No, not the type that shows up at your house in a leather jacket with a bat in hand. You know, the professional-type of money collector. She specializes in helping businesses get paid by past-due clients. One of Michelle’s biggest challenges, like most people, was finding new business.

So, Michelle decided to write a book. “I wrote my first book to promote my business. I owned a collection agency and my book title was Starting A Collection Agency, How To Make Money Collecting Money,” said Michelle.

Michelle wrote the book and sent press releases to the local papers, business magazines and online media sources. Because of the topic and title, it got a lot of media attention. “As it turns out, there was only one other book anywhere about starting a collection agency. Once I did an interview with one newspaper, it snowballed to NPR and Ladies Home Journal, etc…”

“Writing this book gave my business much more credibility and, because of the media attention, more business,” said Michelle. In fact, that book is now in its Third Edition. Michelle has since written 15 books and become so successful as an author that she sold her collection agency and is instead making a living selling her books online.

Karen Fredricks has used her books to become an instant authority in her field. “I’ve written 13 books, 11 For Dummies books and two “cookbooks” (technology books), and created training videos for Lynda.com,” said Karen. “The royalties have been nice, but being able to leverage the books into a successful consulting career has been even nicer.”

How does she do it exactly? “All the books include my e-mail address and contact information.  I have links back to my website which provides me with a nice stream of prospects. When I come up against competition, or make a sales call to a large prospect, I plop down a copy of my book and tell them they can go with a lesser known competitor or with me, the expert.”

About the Author

Jim Kukral is a 16-year Internet marketing professional who was recently named by Dun & Bradstreet as one of “The Most Influential Small Business People on Twitter.” Jim also serves as a Program Faculty Member for the University of San Francisco’s Internet Marketing Program where he teaches classes to students around the globe on the topics of Internet marketing, Web monetization and social media. In addition, SmallBizTrends.com chose Jim as one of 100 top small business influencers online. You can find out more about Jim here http://www.jimkukral.com

Jim is the founder of the free book marketing resource Author Marketing Club. He has written 8 books that can be found by visiting http://www.jimkukralbooks.com

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