Is your business card getting round-filed hours or days after you give it out? If you’re honest with yourself about what you do with most of the business cards you receive, the answer is probably yes. Even if your business card avoids the trash can, in a stack of other business cards it’s basically a calling card with laryngitis. And that does nothing to promote you or your business.
But what if you had a calling card that:
- Actually gets filed on a shelf instead of thrown out
- Establishes you as the go-to person in your field
- Generates media attention
This branding dream-come-true is called self-published books, and having one with your byline can boost your business’ bottom line.
Just ask Fred Swisher and Sarah Whipple. They had been my landscapers for a year when they decided that they should write a book about landscaping in Central Oregon. The fact that neither had much writing experience beyond promoting their own businesses didn’t matter because they knew that as their writing coach, I would guide them along the way.
The business- and life-partners barely had to write a word during our first session. We just talked about the challenges and advantages of landscaping in an area strewn with volcanic rock where temperatures can drop to below freezing 365 days a year.
Then I asked each to write a Big, Sloppy Letter to Linden, something I ask of almost all my clients. The instructions are simple: “Write anything and everything that pops in your head. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar, repetition, or anything else. It doesn’t matter if your ideas are all over the place. What matters is that you get them all down, so we have something to work from.”
Rather than being daunting, this sort of brain dump can be downright liberating. Instead of worrying about what goes where or how it sounds, you can let your thoughts flood over you and onto the page or the computer screen. Ironically, this stream of consciousness approach leads to prose that lacks the self-consciousness often found in more purposeful writing. That means that much of this sloppy letter material, once organized, winds up being plopped right into your first draft.
Before long, an outline for Fred and Sarah’s book 55 Myths, Tips & Secrets started to take shape. During the writing phase, I worked with Fred and Sarah individually to provide guidance, instruction and encouragement.
When the manuscript was done, I jumped in as editor and gave it a quick polish. Then my company Incubation Press published just enough copies for the advance readers. Based on their comments, minor changes were made to the book copy and quotes were added to the back cover. Fred and Sarah then sent out a second—and then a third—batch of reader copies. Only once we had dealt with the comments and changes that followed did Fred and Sarah order in any quantity.
55 Myths, Tips & Secrets allowed Fred and Sarah to establish themselves as the local landscapers, since they were the authors of a book about landscaping in the area. They built on that reputation with presentations to everyone from homeowner and business associations to horticultural gatherings. Their book also triggered a number of newspaper and magazine articles—along with a couple of television appearances. And all of that helped sales. “Customer and media response to 55 Myths, Tips and Secrets have been beyond our wildest expectations,” says Fred. “The book is directly responsible for generating most of our business last year.”
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