What sort of author are you?
February 24th, 2011by Ayd Instone
There are certain types of authors that I’ve found and worked with. Each has advantages and disadvantages that need to be understood if a book project is to be successful. A book is like a rocket: it needs an awful lot of energy to take off and get going. It needs a constant supply of energy to overcome gravity and keep going, but once it’s in orbit it will move all on its own. Here is a list of the types I’ve found:
The Creator/Collectors: these people love creating stuff. They love having stuff in their hands. You’ll probably find their homes and offices full of books. And not just the obvious ones. They probably quite like nice looking, luxurious hardbacks. Those beautiful ‘coffee table’ books. They probably haven’t read many of them, but love having them.
Advantages: Have a strong desire to hold their book in their hands and see it on the shelf.
Disadvantages: May put form over function and create a beautiful product that doesn’t do anything
The Self-Help Junkie: these people will devour every theory that comes along. E Myth? NLP? 7 habits? Robbins? Rich Dad? Who Moved My Cheese? They have not only read them all, they can quote you passages from them.
Advantages: They know how books work.
Disadvantages: Could unconsciously regurgitate old messages or be far too aware of them all and be paralysed, unable to come up with something original.
The Consultant: They know their stuff. Possibly have their own unique material or way of doing things after years in practice. Tend to be practical. Like things to happen quickly. Often overlook or have little experience in marketing.
Advantages: They have a wealth of material and can explain it well.
Disadvantages: See writing as a chore. Tend to turn their exciting material into dull tips sheets, excluding their personality.
The Business Book Bootcamp will help identify what are your own strengths and weakness and will help overcome objections and problems you have with your book idea with tactics and strategies. It will give ideas to help formulate a worthwhile purpose, agenda and business plan for you book. It will give ideas to help create an interesting metaphor to give the book that wow factor and will inspire and motivate you to begin, to keep going and to finish as well as giving information on how to publish, produce, promote and proliferate your finished book.
Why people don’t write their own business book
February 24th, 2011
by Ayd Instone
The main reason people spurn the idea of writing their own business book is the often erroneous belief that they can’t see a connection between their business and a book. They can’t see how it could serve their business by being about something people will want to read. I’ve helped quite a variety of business people write a book, from many different industries and specialist areas where you wouldn’t have immediately thought it would work, and yet it has.
The main reasons people don’t start their book are because they:
- Don’t have what they think is a good enough idea
- Don’t think they have enough material
- Think they have too much material and don’t know how to structure it
- Don’t think it’s important enough to allocate time to
- Just don’t like writing
- Think they’re no good at writing
- Think the process is too complicated or will take too long
- Fear of success, it could take them out of a comfort zone
- Laziness and lack of discipline
- Don’t know how to do it
All of these can be condensed into one straightforward and damming reason:
People don’t write and publish their own book because they don’t think they’re good enough.
By that I mean they think their business knowledge is not really very good and/or they are not very talented. This is the same reason people don’t do anything; the secret fear of not thinking they’re good enough.
If you really do believe your business is no good and that you are useless at it then we probably can’t help you. You need to go and read some other experts books and learn something. Go and visit a psychologist and get to the bottom of why you feel so useless.
But if there’s a glimmer of hope that you do have some expertise or knowledge that is of value to people then everyone of those reasons listed above can be overcome. (That’s the essence of the Business Book Bootcamp, to overcome those obstacles and limiting or erroneous beliefs to give you the tools to get it begun and get it done.)
The Business Book Bootcamp testimonials
So why write a book? The more you think about it the obvious it becomes. If you have a book about your expertise it makes you look even more like you know what you’re talking about. It will mean you’re more likely to be thought of as the main expert on your topic. You’ll get more bookings, more clients, more PR and more opportunities as a result. You might even make money directly from selling the book too.
If you have information, be it data, an opinion or case studies, that help people understand your offering to help turn them into an informed buyer of your products or services, then creating a business book is for you.
Price, quality or added value?
February 24th, 2011By Sarah Williams
Andy Clarke’s defiant stand on raises once again the whole question of just what it is you want to offer your customers – and it’s a question which is of consummate importance whether you’re a grocer, a consultant, a trainer or a public speaker. Whatever your product or service, the issues, and the choices, are the same.
The first way you can position yourself, as Andy Clarke and Asda have done so aggressively – and successfully – is to be the 
cheapest available supplier. That has its attractions – certainly for the customer – but it also has major pitfalls. First of all, unless you have an eagle eye on the margins and substantial economies of scale, it is very difficult to keep undercutting the competition and keep your own business afloat. Secondly, of course, you run the risk of being perceived as ‘cheap’ – not only in terms of value for money, but also in terms of ‘shoddy’. Asda can grin and bear it. Asda, indeed, smirks smugly and bears it. But for a consultant, or trainer, or speaker, in today’s market, being perceived as low-value risks a swift downward spiral to oblivion. So, then what?
If you don’t want to be seen as the cheapest, then perhaps you should position yourself as ‘simply the best’? And this, for the professional service-provider, consultant, trainer or speaker, is clearly a much more attractive option.
Indeed, it is probably the only viable option for building a long-term, sustainable business with a loyal customer base. How, though, do you become, and become known as, the best? Partly through honing and toning your own expertise, your qualifications, your experience – and letting everyone know just how highly qualified you are. Partly through becoming very clear about what distinguishes you from others – becoming, in Seth Godin’s terms, the purple cow in your field, so that those desperately in need of purple cows can find and follow you. Finally, though, and most effective of all, is by adding value.
Stephen Covey, who knows a thing or two about building a successful business as a speaker and consultant, speaks of an 
Emotional Bank Account. If you can provide your customers and your prospects with something of real and lasting value, over and above whatever service you provide for them, then you will have a following of fans who really want to show their loyalty to you by buying from you, and by acting as your advocates in the market place, promoting you and your services further and faster than you could ever do on your own. What, then, can you provide that adds value? There are different services you can offer depending on your field – an IT colleague who is an SEO specialist offers a free audit of your business’ position online; another, who is a project-management consultant, offers a complimentary strategic planning session for you and your business. These are excellent, and they are extremely valuable in building that initial personal customer relationship, but they have their downside too. They are specific, one-off, non-transferrable, and time-consuming. They are part of the added value armoury, but not the whole solution.
A book, however, is a lasting way of providing something of value which will benefit you, your customers and your prospects in a myriad of ways. Your existing customers have a discrete body of knowledge which they can keep and refer to, reinforcing their respect for you and their reliance on your expertise. Prospects get a sense of who you are and the depth and value of what you know. You build relationships, day and night, far and near, with individuals to whom your services are relevant and who will be predisposed to buy from you. Books, more than any other marketing tool, have the magic of the Heineken effect…
Getting down to it – and getting it down
May 10th, 2010By Sarah Williams
The first Business Book Bootcamp ran just before last summer, and we are still getting news from each of the delegates as to how their books are progressing. Different people have different working methods, and finding the right method for you is crucial to the success of the enterprise. There is no ‘right way’ or ‘wrong way’ – there is just the way that makes it possible for you to get the ideas and words out of your head and onto the screen (or onto paper if that works better for you). Some people make lots of notes on index cards, some plan on large sheets of paper, some write better in a crowded venue such as Starbucks, with the noise and energy of other people around them, some need absolute isolation and silence. The only test of whether it’s right or wrong is – have you got anything written, and does it say what you want it to say?