Using Your Book as a Credibility Tool
Book publishing and authorship is a business, and we’ve already talked about the importance of kicking off your publishing journey with a business plan. But as you’re looking ahead at your publishing journey, it can be helpful to reframe the way you look at your book and how you can use it to propel you closer to achieving your goals. What does that mean? So glad you asked!
Not Just an IMpressive Achievement
Traditionally, authors look at their book as something to display, something to point to and say, “I did it,” You did the work, you did the hustling, and you unlocked the achievement of “Get Published.” The thing is, while publishing a book is a massive achievement, once it’s out in the marketplace it isn’t just an unlocked achievement. Your published book is also a tool that can do vital work unlike anything else when it comes to building the pathway to your goals. Once you’re published, you now have something to help prop up your credibility and, by extension, your platform. Whatever your book is about, it instantly adds a bit of stability and interest to your name. Your book is now something you can use to get into speaking events, book podcast appearances, get a seat on a panel at a conference or convention, schedule events at local shops or bookstores, or maybe reach out to local news or radio stations for a segment.
Let Your Book Boost Your Message
After all of the work you put into your book, it makes perfect sense that you might look at any future speaking event or appearance as something to help boost sales of your book. And indeed that’s important and something you should absolutely take into consideration. However, by flipping those expectations and viewing the book as a tool to get yourself into the room for networking or for booking speaking events rather than booking events and networking to help bolster book sales. When you use your book as a credibility tool, it tells potential colleagues and partners, “Here’s something I quite a bit about, and I’d love to speak about it at your event/on your podcast/etc. I know my stuff so well that I even wrote a book about it!.” That shift in thinking will not only help you reach your goals as an author and open the door for more opportunities, those opportunities will naturally lead to more book sales as you broaden your audience.
Leave Imposter Syndrome At the Door
We’ve all likely struggled with imposter syndrome at one time or another, but it’s one of the biggest hurdles writers face when it comes to taking advantage of the excellent tool that is a published book. Because when you’re using your book as a credibility tool, in some respects you’re saying, “I’m the expert here.” And for some of us, that can be a really hard thing to say with our whole chests! You don’t feel like you’re really an expert, you know other people have spent way more time learning and talking about this topic, or you don’t have the years of experience you think you need to truly be considered any sort of authority on your chosen topic, so you tell yourself you’ll use your book as a tool “later.” The thing is, later never seems to come, does it? So when you feel that imposter syndrome rising up, be really intentional with shutting that line of thinking down. Know that you do have the skills to talk about your chosen topic in an educated fashion. You wrote a book about it! Sure, you’ll keep learning and growing, but don’t wait until you feel you’ve hit some murky, ineffable point of competency to start letting yourself be any sort of expert. Start seeing what you can achieve now!
Your book is an amazing achievement, and you should feel proud of that. But if you’re looking to extend your publishing career beyond one book, it’s so vital that you use the book as the tool it is to help grow your network, audience, and opportunities. Don’t be afraid to use it!
All of this is something that you can begin to make rough plans for as you create a business plan. We’ve got a free, basic business plan available to you, but keep your eyes open here on the blog and on our newsletter, because we’ll be launching a book that goes more in-depth into making a solid business plan.