Do you have a great business book idea? If yes, you might wonder how exactly you will collect your expertise into a best-selling and business-boosting book.
The category of business books is quite broad – just like all other categories you can find on Amazon. The different categories include everything from accounting, business culture, biography & history, finance, economics, insurance, job hunting, HR (human resources), sales & marketing, and so on.
You get the point – a long list of topics and types of books make up a massive chunk of the non-fiction book category.
With that said, if you are seriously committed to writing a business book, there are many places where your book could potentially fit in. So, your goal to write a business book could work and become a great one – especially if you aim to gain thought leadership in your space.
However, you would also want to write a great business book if your goals included expanding your business, cutting short the long sales cycle, getting attention on social media, being invited to speak on podcasts, and so much more.
You get the point – your business book can turn into a powerful business and brand-building tool for your business. To get your expertise on paper, you will want to hire the best business book ghostwriter as the professional will help you throughout the writing process – but – you will still get to keep your royalties.
But – to produce a well-written book, you will want to understand the essential techniques that are part of the book-writing process. Believe us – compiling your expertise and getting them published in the form of a book is not a simple task like pouring coffee into a mug.
Let us have a look at the essential things that are needed to write a great business book.
Figure Out Your Ideal Reader
The number one thing that you need to do even before you start typing or writing is to figure out who the ideal reader of your book is.
This is the foundation of your book. For instance, if you want to use your business book to sell your products/ services, then your ideal natural reader will be a person who would also be your ideal customer.
Or – if the purpose of your business book is to help position you as a thought leader in a specific industry, then you will want to ask yourself the question of what potential expertise you are offering that is unique and who would most benefit from it.
Besides – if you want to attain the goal of becoming a paid speaker or mentor through the publication of your business book, you will want to ask yourself who would pay you to get onto their platform and what they would want their audiences/ employees to know that you could potentially share.
Simply put – you will need to determine the foundation of your book by figuring out the accurate answer to who could benefit from your book or who would need your expertise.
How Are You Helping Your Audience
You will have to determine the benefit your audience will get from your business book. It all comes down to the hook development. If you aren’t familiar with the term “hook” in the world of books, you should know that the hook is that single thread of an idea that holds your entire book together.
Your hook is that “something” that makes your book different and “hooks” your reader’s interest. The hook convinces your readers that they have to read your book.
So, you will want to assess the potential problem you solve for the reader and what it is you know most people don’t. The basic thing that you will be looking forward to is getting the answer to the potential outcome that someone gets from your book in their life or business.
A great way to determine the hook for your business book is to think about a sentence or two that your readers might use to tell their friends about your book. If you certainly have something that will make your reader exclaim that they have to read your book, you are on the way to success.
Without a clear benefit for your ideal audience, it will be difficult for you to market your book. In fact, it will be a real struggle to get your book in front of your audience and to hook their interest.
Determine Your Goals as a Writer
You might already want to start considering this during the step when you are determining who your ideal reader should be. Nonetheless, as an author, you will have goals too, which you will have to write down so you can look at them and get back on track whenever you feel lost.
Here is the thing about lofty goals – they might sound great – but these are often too impractical to stay on a realistic path as an author.
While setting your goals, you will want to focus on the things that you can control. Suppose you have the goal of becoming a global best-seller or appearing on Dr.Phil. No doubt – these are grand goals, but you have no control – or – you will have very limited control over that outcome.
Lofty goals often tend to put the author on a high pedestal of their ego. When it comes to publishing a business book, putting one’s ego in charge only makes you a product – rather than the book. Regarding realistic goals, you will want to achieve a specific outcome for a reader.
You might as well want to have the goals of getting a certain number of interviews and reviews and connecting with a certain number of influencers to help you get the word out about your book. You might have already realized that all these things are aspects that you can control.
You cannot control the number of copies your book will sell – but – you can control your marketing strategies and how much outreach you will do.
You get the point – you will want to focus on achievable and controllable goals while keeping in mind how your business book can serve and benefit your ideal audience. You will always want to keep your reader’s best interest in mind.
By doing so, you will ultimately connect with your ideal reader instead of feeding or hurting your ego.
