Can I get rich writing a business book?

In other words, can writing a business book make you rich?

Or, put another way, how can writing a book help my business?

Often, potential clients will ask me if they should write a book if they have a business. Sometimes, they think that they should write a business book in order to sell tons of copies, making money from writing in that way.

While you can write a business book that becomes a bestseller, it’s rare. Instead, most people who write their own business book monetize it and benefit from it in ways other than regular book sales, especially by landing speaking gigs, generating increased business, and gaining greater overall business exposure.

Grammar Factory Publishing surveyed around 150 entrepreneurs, all of whom had written a book, and asked them how writing a book had impacted their business. Here were their findings:

• 34% said their earnings have doubled since publication
• 63% received additional media opportunities
• 72% got speaking engagements as a direct result of their book
• 86% have seen business growth since launching their book

The takeaway? If you want to grow your business and your sphere of influence, think about writing a book. And realize that if you do, the payoffs will generally come in ways other than mere book sales. Remember, writing a book opens doors!

10 reasons every entrepreneur and business owner should write a book

Maybe you have thought about writing a book or have had people tell you that you should. You may know other entrepreneurs or business owners who have written a book. Still, you may wonder why you should bother writing a book, because writing a book is hard work, and there is no guarantee that your book will even sell well. And do you really have anything to say?

Here then are ten reasons you should write a book—ten things a book can do for you:

1. Set you apart from your competitors
2. Show your potential clients that you know what you’re saying
3. Become the ultimate business card
4. Create talking points that open doors for you
5. Increase your standing within your business community
6. Create speaking and presenting opportunities
7. Build trust in potential clients
8. Help you solidify what you believe and hand it down to your staff
9. Dramatize your ideas so that others know what you’re all about
10. Help you define what you really believe and know

Here then, in more detail, are ten reasons and benefits to writing a book if you’re an entrepreneur or business owner.

Writing a book sets you apart from your competitors

The fact is, most entrepreneurs and business owners have not written a book. There are no solid facts on this, but some estimate that less than 1% of people have written a book. The figures may be higher for entrepreneurs, but probably not by much.

When you write a book about your business, your experiences, and your view on how business should be conducted, you separate yourself from the rest of the crowd.

Writing a book demonstrates to potential clients that you know what you’re saying

Not everyone can write a book—not everyone has something to say, and not everyone has the staying power to sit down and write a book.

When you are bold enough to put your thoughts, ideas, and experiences down in print, you signal to others, especially potential clients, that you know what you’re talking about and that you have something to say.

Writing a book creates the ultimate business card

Business cards may be slowly falling out of favor, especially given our increasing focus on connecting and doing business online.

However, a book can become the ultimate business card. Not only does it tell others who you are and what you do and how to find you, it also tells them what you know and why it might be valuable to work with you.

People may throw away business cards that they are given, and they may even do that to a book they are given, but it’s less likely. Generally, a book becomes something that speaks for you in your absence, and in that way it far exceeds what a simple business card can do.

Writing a book opens doors

Once you write a book, others consider you an authority on your subject—even if you’re not!—and you may be asked to give your opinion during news broadcasts or be hired as an expert in your field, even giving testimony in court or during other fact-finding operations.

As an author with a book that has your name on it, you become part of an elite group, and you are likely to be given opportunities than those without a book in their name.

Writing a book increases your standing in the business community

As a book author, your standing in your business community naturally rises, and others look to you for advice, counsel, and help when solving problems.

As an author, you are in a distinct minority within your community, and as such you are naturally afforded a level of respect and consideration that non-authors do not usually get.

Writing a book creates speaking opportunities

Should you ever want to deliver a keynote speech or speak to associations, trade groups, or corporations and be paid for it, having a book authored in your name is almost a must.

Not everyone wants to become a speaker, but after you have written a book, becoming one is easier. And paid speaking gigs can run anywhere from $5000 a speech on up to $100,000 a speech and more.

Writing a book helps potential client trust you

Once you let potential clients know that you have written a book—whereas your competitor may not have—you can’t help but earn their trust because you put in the time and effort to organize and publish your thoughts, ideas, and experiences.

Gaining a potential client’s trust is one of the keys to landing their business, and book authorship can help you gain others’ trust.

Writing a book helps you solidify what you believe, think, and know

The very act of sitting down, every day or so, for many months to document what you think, what you know, and what you’ve experienced, helps you solidify these thoughts and ideas.

Once you see what you think on paper, it becomes real, and you are better able to judge the soundness of your ideas.

Writing a book codifies your business beliefs and practices so you can pass them along to others

When you write a business book that logs your best practices, knowledge, and your many ups and downs, this becomes something you can transmit to others, both inside and outside of your organization.

Lessons you have learned and wisdom you have gained are not lost but can be absorbed more easily by others, helping them to succeed as well.

Writing a book dramatizes and communicates your ideas so that others know what you stand for

Nothing can communicate your ideas in the depth that they deserve better than a full-length (at least 120 pages) business book.

You can use illustrations, stories, narrative, and charts and graphs to get your point across. Others will almost always know what you think after reading your book.

Is it worth writing a business book?

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: writing a business book—for many of the reasons already outlined above, can raise your credibility, help you find new business, help you get speaking gigs, make you be seen as an authority in others’ eyes, and can help you transit valuable knowledge and wisdom to others, helping them to avoid many of the mistakes you have made.

While writing a book is not easy and takes time, the payoff can be large and can last for years to come. Writing a business book can set your business and your role apart from others in the same field who have not yet written a book. So, what are you waiting for?

Why do people write business books?

People write business books to help grow their businesses, to raise their name recognition within the marketplace, to establish themselves as an authority in their field, and to share knowledge and experience that will help others. They also write books because of the doors that writing a book can open for someone in business. Don’t underestimate the power of writing a book and the affect it can have on you and your business.

Do I need an LLC to write a book?

You do not need an LLC in order to write a book. You can write a book and then have revenue go to you personally, to a company you own (LLC or not), or to a trust you have established.

Is writing a book a side hustle?

While you can write a book while you run your main business or work at a full-time job, writing a book, especially a book that contains usable, accurate content requires effort. Perhaps you can do that on the side, but to really write a book that makes a difference often requires full time effort, or at the very least, help from someone else, like a ghostwriter!

What makes a business book successful?

In short, a successful business book is not only well-written, engaging, and contains interesting stories and a compelling narrative, it also solves a common problem for its business-owning readers.

So, if a business book helps its readers improve their business, that business book stands a better chance of selling well.

How do you write a good business book?

Just like any nonfiction book, a good business book requires the same basic ingredients.

Good business books are well-organized (the author mapped out his or her subject prior to writing), they address a common business problem or need, they contain useful information and experiences, and they are written in a compelling, easy-to-read fashion.

Can you become a millionaire by writing one book?

You can, but it’s rare. If you write a breakout novel or a nonfiction book that addresses a timely subject at just the right time, you can generate significant revenue via book royalties (if you publish traditionally).

However, most books don’t do that. In fact, most writers also have side jobs or careers that they pursue until they can exist solely on income from book sales alone.

Nonfiction writers in the business space especially use their book to help them launch speaking and/or consulting careers—the book becomes a lead magnet for clients or a key to open the door to speaking opportunities, which can pay.

Is writing a book a talent or skill?

Writing is a craft, meaning that it can be learned, but it appears that it comes easier to some than to others.

Even those born with a joy of writing and a knack for it have to write, and write often, to sharpen their writing skills.

Anyone can write a book, but writing a good book that makes a difference takes talent, skill, effort, and help from others, be they outside editors, associates, or even ghostwriters.

Why is it hard to sell books?

Hundreds of thousands of books are published traditionally each year, not to mention the self-published books that appear on the market. In other words, writing a book that stands out from the crowd and sells well is no easy task.

Not only does the book (generally) have to be well-written, it has to hit a nerve (if it’s fiction), answer some kind of problem (for nonfiction), or reveal something previously unknown (for either).

So yes, selling books is not easy, but people do it anyway.

Can I make a living off writing books?

Making money by writing books, especially just one book, can be difficult. Most authors who earn a living writing have more than one book that they have published. This is true for fiction and nonfiction authors. It is through continued, consistent writing of good books that they develop a following and eventually earn a living. Writing books to make your living is not for the faint of heart!

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