Don't fall for inflated claims about the benefits of authorship.
By David M. Freedman [Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons]
You can find books, written for professional advisers and consultants, on how to write a book. Most of them overestimate the benefits and underestimate the time and skill required. For example, in their book Publish & Flourish, A Consultant's Guide (1992), authors Garry Schaeffer and Tony Alessandra make this claim:
"Many [advisers and consultants] get to a point [in their careers] in which they are established, but not to the extent that they would like. The question becomes, "How do I make the leap to the position of having nearly all the business I want?" The answer is simple: Get published."
No, it's not simple. First of all, writing books won't help you if what you really need is to offer new services that generate higher fees, or develop better client relations, for example. Once you focus on offering the right services and establishing good client relations, maybe writing a book can help increase your visibility in the marketplace, reinforce your credibility, and position you as an eminent expert and foremost authority in your practice niche.
Second, writing a crummy book will not boost your career. You must write a good book. Writing a book that becomes highly regarded is not simple, even if you are indeed a foremost authority in your area of expertise.
The claim made by Schaeffer and Alessandra is inflated and self-serving. The former, a freelance book editor, is trying to boost his own career.
My point is, writing a book can boost your career, but only if all of the following are true.
The book contains information or advice that readers need or desire.
It presents that information in an innovative or seminal way, or otherwise provides information that is not available in bookstores already.
It is narrowly focused and deep, rather than broad and superficial.
It is authoritative, accurate, clearly written, well organized, professionally edited, and easy to use as a reference.
It looks and feels impressive.
Schaeffer and Alessandra also make this specious claim:
"A book is better than a brochure. The average brochure probably ends up in the wastebasket within ten minutes. How many people do you think would throw away a book? Very few. People generally put books on bookshelves."
No, a book is not better than a brochure if the client needs a brochure — for example, one that describes your services, capabilities, experience, fees, etc. A book can't do that. And maybe a book will get placed on a bookshelf instead of into the trash, but so what? Is it going to be read or referred to, or just sit on the shelf for years?
If you want your book to boost your career, you must make sure people read it and refer to it. That is, it must offer valuable information and advice that readers need now and/or often.
Leverage Can writing a book boost your career? Yes, if you write a highly regarded book. And you can leverage your highly regarded book in order to gain further renown, by
Spinning off articles
Using it as a handout in seminars and speaking engagements
Getting quoted as a foremost expert in the press
Giving it as a gift to clients, prospective clients, referral sources, and thought leaders in your field
Posting excerpts on your website (and link to them from your LinkedIn profile), and spread them virally across the Internet.
About the author: Dave Freedman has worked as a financial and legal journalist since 1978. He has also served as a media relations consultant for legal and financial advisers. He won a Your Honor Award for public relations from the Legal Marketing Association. Dave is the author of three non-fiction books, one of them a bestseller. More