Before you write your book, it’s important to understand how you will use your book to help you achieve your goals.  That will help you write the right book, that is in alignment with your business strategy.  Writing a book is hard, but it’s worth the effort if it is the right book.  This was the advice of Cathy Fyock, The Business Book Strategist, my guest on the January episode of the SkillBites Show.  Cathy is the author of ten books, including The Speaker Author, and Authority. Since starting her business in 2014 she’s helped nearly 200 professionals become published authors.

Cathy provided several tips for utilizing a book to move your business forward.  One such tip concerned the About the Author page in the book. This is like a billboard for your business.  It is your opportunity to explain what you do for your clients, where you can take them and how people can get in touch with you.

Another tip involved providing postcards with the front cover of your book.  Not only is this a nice marketing piece to leave behind, but if you use a large postcard, you can have people take photos of themselves holding the postcard, which will look like they are holding a copy of your book.

A common strategy for generating leads from a book is giving copies of your book to your prospects.  Cathy suggested writing a personal note with each book you give someone.  

You can also create special editions of your book.  For instance, one of SkillBites’ clients wanted to give his book away at a trade show he was attending.  He had a special edition created just for that trade show, with a message inside for the attendees.  Cathy mentioned how sponsors of conferences might purchase bulk copies of a book that is relevant to the attendees of a conference if you create a special edition with the sponsor’s logo and message in the book.

There are numerous ways to leverage a book.  It starts with knowing your business objective and determining how a book can help you achieve that objective.  Then you should identify who you want reading your book, and what you want the reader to do after reading your book.  When you have a project plan for utilizing your book, not only will it improve the book itself, but it will also increase the likelihood that you’ll achieve your objective.Cathy offered members of the SkillBites audience 30 days of writing prompts, which can be obtained by joining Cathy’s mailing list.  Click here to join.  Once you are on Cathy’s mailing list, she will send you the prompts.  For more information on Cathy’s services, go to her website, cathyfyock.com, and to contact her, email her at cathy@cathyfyock.com.