What should you do with your book now that you wrote it?

Writing a book is high on the list of life goals for many people whether they consider themselves entrepreneurial or not. Some people dream of putting their ideas down on paper because they want to preserve various aspects of their family history. Others have gained insights that they’d like to record for the benefit of others. Some may want to write a book because they find particular delight in entertaining other people.

I have several different motivations for writing books, depending on the topic. Most of the books I write are geared toward helping people in the following categories; online platform development, spiritual growth, and family life. There are sub-topics under each of those categories that I also value, but those would be some of the main topics I enjoy addressing with my written content.

On average, I try to release several new books each year. I have several in the pipeline that are just about ready to go, so keep your eyes open for their release.

But writing and releasing books is only one part of the equation. Many people mistakenly believe that once they write their book, their work is done. I would contend that that’s where the real work begins. There is so much that can be done with a book after it has been written, but many others never bother to get around to doing so. That’s unfortunate because they’re missing out on some amazing opportunities. Let’s attempt to fix that issue right now. Please allow me to make a few suggestions that I hope you’ll find helpful.

Authority – Let’s begin with the subject of authority. One of the most amazing things you’ll very likely experience after publishing a book is an increase in your perceived authority on whatever subject the book addresses. Even if no one actually reads your book, the very fact that it exists will increase your authority in your subject area.

Authority leads to income. If you use your book to build your authority, don’t be surprised if you see an income boost right along with it. Writing a book and publishing it on Amazon, for example, often contributes to your content showing up on the first page of most search engines when people do a search for your name. Developing that kind of authority may also contribute to book sales, speaking invitations, coaching opportunities, podcast guesting requests, and invitations to collaborate on additional products.

Your book can really become a powerful tool for developing your authority. But that’s not all it’s useful for.

Getting healthy attention – I recently had a conversation with a group of students in a communications class that I’m teaching at Cairn University. Our discussion centered around unhealthy ways people are attempting to gain attention through social media. In the midst of our discussion, I mentioned to them the fact that there are much healthier (and more edifying) ways to get the attention of others. Writing a book is one of those ways.

If you’ve written a book, I hope it sells lots of copies, but let me encourage you as a fellow author not to worry about that. That’s not really something you can control anyway. Even still, let me encourage you to keep copies of your book (or books) handy so you can readily give them away for free. Budget some money to do this. Be generous with your book. Share it with others to intentionally encourage them, and understand that this may also have the double benefit of bringing attention to the work you do and the brand you’re attempting to establish or promote.

Let me issue a challenge, if I may. Make it your goal to give away hundreds of copies of your book over the course of the next year, depending on what your budget may allow. In some cases, just one good speaking opportunity might completely cover the cost of doing so.

Create online courses – Online course creation continues to grow in popularity. I love taking online courses and I love creating them as well. I have several, in fact, that I’m currently in the process of creating. Depending on the subject of your book, you may find that the content you’ve created and the problems you’re able to solve with what you’ve written down lend themselves quite nicely to a course.

In fact, there are some people who will never pay you $15 for your book, but they’ll gladly pay you $200 (or more) for your course. As odd as that might sound, I can confirm that it’s absolutely true. The added human touch of hearing you personally explain your concepts appeals to many learning styles. Amazingly, you may also discover that some people will gladly pay you for both options, the book and the course.

Develop your online presence – Anyone who knows me well or who listens to my Platform Launchers podcast won’t be surprised by this suggestion, but book content can be particularly helpful when you’re trying to figure out what to share online. If you’d like to establish an online platform related to the content you’ve been writing about, your book has essentially outlined some of the work for you.

Blog posts and YouTube videos are two of the best ways to get discovered online and build an audience. You don’t have to create content from scratch to gain some traction in both of these areas. Look at what you’ve already written in your book and plan out some blog posts that can elaborate on those ideas a little further (or share recent stories from your life related to those topics). In addition to that, particularly if you’re comfortable on camera, take some of those topics and record some conversational thoughts that you can post on YouTube. Some of the most popular videos I’m seeing online right now are conversational videos that people are recording from the privacy of their cars. It’s a trend that continues to grow and the fact that you’ve written a book means you already have interesting content you could pull from if you decide to do something like this.

Wrapping up… All that to say, if you haven’t written a book, please consider writing one. And if you’ve published a book or two already, please consider one or more of these options as a way to give you book more exposure and a second life beyond the printed page.

© John Stange, 2024