"A book is the price of entry."
That's what I used to advise clients. They listened. A book was produced. And, they agreed, I was right. It did help develop new business, reinforce their value with clients, and put that halo effect on their brandname.
Now, I have modified that advice to:
- Have you considered creating an eBook, which you distribute free, much like marketing expert Toby Bloomberg has done with SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING GPS. You can download it here. Bloomberg is now golden, especially in digital circles.
- What about a video, webinar, or a video trailer? They pull double duty in both informing and, if done well, entertaining. The video trailer for my novel THE FAT GUY FROM GREENWICH has been a pull force in my business. What it has pulled in ranges from actual assignments to speaking engagements which in turn bring in assignments. No surprise, I am receiving more calls for scripting and/or presenting webinars than I am traditional print books.
- You might reinforce all that using Twitter, Facebook, and LindedIn.
Of course, there are books being put out there which still pull their weight. The prime example is Andrew Young's THE POLITICIAN. On Amazon.com it is at number 2231. The prominence and sales of the book have been helped by good luck for Young that the Edwards's saga keeps giving. The latest installment is that Elizabeth Edwards is allegedly planning for her daughter Kate, now clerking for a federal court in Virginia, to take custody of the two youngest children. That would prevent mistress Rielle Hunter from becoming stepmother.
In general, though, books even by brandnames on subjects which should be of interest are limping along. Yes, they experience a decent bounce up in sales now and then. But the average mediocre sales could be delivering a hit to the author's overall positioning in the marketplace. People can conclude: if the book isn't selling, maybe the person who created it isn't all that good either. Yes, rather than a source of new value, a book can be a competitive disadvantage if the author is high profile and the book doesn't sell well.
Lloyd Constantine's expose on Eliot Spitzer - JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR - is at 209,849. Bob Dilenschneider's guide on the convergence of digital and traditional communications - AMA HANDBOOK ON PUBLIC RELATIONS - is at 530,160. [Disclosure: I receive 50% of royalties for the work I did on that book.] My own recent book OVER-50: HOW WE KEEP WORKING is also stalled.
Producing a book drains resources which could be used in other ways. For example, the middlemen involved are expensive. There are ghostwriters such as myself and publicists such as Meryl Moss [who assisted with JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR]. We usually don't come cheap. Those resources are more likely to have a superior ROI if they had been invested in another communications strategy.
Then why are too many still hell-bent on having a book published? The answer is fear of the unknown. They are used to doing books. The way through this fear is simply interviewing those in the loop on eBooks, free distribution, videos, webinars, and video trailers. As vendors they will provide complimentary consultations. That's how we learned in the past and are learning now: from vendors pitching to us.
Note: Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Kanter said it all in her book CONFIDENCE. Our climb out of downward trajectories and our momentum in upward ones are usually the result of the investment we are willing to make in getting there. Those who get stuck or plateau lack the confidence in their strategy or themselves to bet the ranch.
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