Top 10 benefits of writing a business book

A lot of my authors come to me already knowing the incredible benefits of writing a book – particularly a business book. But there are a substantial portion who don’t necessarily know what the benefits are. They’re thinking about writing a book because someone (a coach or mentor usually) has told them they should. But they don’t quite understand why.

I agree that anyone who offers a unique point of view, a new level of thought leadership or simply has a fantastic story to tell, should absolutely write a business book. It’s not a vanity project. And it’s certainly not a waste of time or resources.

There are real, tangible benefits to businesses that come from having a book under your belt. Not for all businesses perhaps. But it can certainly lead to huge wins for founders, entrepreneurs, consultants, thought leaders, coaches, mentors, experts, speakers and anyone with a personal brand.

So, what are these benefits to writing a business book? Let’s dive in!

Top 10 benefits to writing a business book

1. Business growth

OK, let’s be honest. This right here – business growth – is the number one benefit to writing a book. All the rest of the benefits really play into driving this one.

At the end of the day, you’re in business to succeed. And growing your business or brand, particularly your revenue, is a vital part of that success. You can use your business book to drive this growth through your marketing, lead generation, sales, brand awareness, positioning and more.

2. Lead generation

One of the best ways you can use your new business book is for lead generation. Lead generation is a hugely important part of running a business or practice because it’s a crucial part of your sales process. It’s the first step to converting a business acquaintance into a business customer.

Your book is a fantastic calling card. You can hand it out at conferences, events, expos and workshops. You can pop it in the mail to potential customers you’ve met while networking or who haven’t quite taken the step to working with you. And you can give it out to people who sign up for your email list (so now they’re one step further along your sales funnel).

And most importantly, when you have an incredible business book, that really showcases your expertise, potential clients will feel compelled to work with you!

3. Content generation

A book gives you a huge amount of potential content. You can mine it almost continuously for a really long time to create value-sharing socials, blog posts, podcasts and editorials.

You can also use the ideas that you share in your book to prepare specific programs. In fact, one of my clients writes a book for every program that she creates. This doesn’t just share the IP for that program with the participants (thought it does that very well). It also showcases the value that her program can bring to individuals and organisations who are considering buying it. And it builds her credibility and authority around that specific niche as well.

4. Credibility and authority

That brings us to our next point. Writing a business book can help you build your credibility and authority around your area of expertise.

This doesn’t mean that you only have one book in you. So, if you’re a business coach, for example, you won’t be limited to writing only your magnum opus on coaching (maybe, The Essential Guide to Coaching, for example).

The Essential Guide to Coaching might be your first book – the book that creates your positioning for example. But there are literally hundreds of books that you could write around your expertise on coaching. Some that have already been written are:

• Coaching Questions for Every Situation by Jeremy Kourdi
• Conscious Coaching by Brett Bartholomew
• The Leader’s Guide to Coaching in Schools by John Campbell and Christian van Nieuwerburgh
• Coaching for performance by John Whitmore 
• Occupational Performance Coaching by Fiona Graham

…and I could go on.

Each of these books will build your credibility and authority on your subject matter and allow you to develop great selling programs that deliver value to your audience.

5. Positioning

This leads me right to the next benefit – positioning. Writing your business book is excellent for establishing your positioning in the market.

Every brand (even personal brands) will occupy a place within a particular target market. For example, if you’re a coach, you might be a business coach focused on taking startups to market. That’s a specific niche that will govern how you market your brand to consumers.

Your book can help you achieve that positioning and differentiate yourself within a broader market. This is an excellent chance for you to say to the world – ‘Hey, this is what I do, and this is how I do it the best!’

6. Brand awareness

Brand awareness puts you on the map (with your customers). It is how familiar your customers or clients are with what you do – your services, your programs and your expertise. And good brand awareness gives your target market a reason to buy from you.

A business book is fantastic at building brand awareness. If you get it in airports and bookstores, congrats, you’ll have a path to visibly build brand awareness. But even if you don’t, you now have a physical ‘proof’ of your expertise that you can get in front of your audience.

Put it online with a dedicated landing page (and don’t neglect the SEO), talk it up in your newsletters, put it on social media, use ads (like Google Ads and Facebook Ads) and make reels. You could even be a guest on podcasts.

Another great way to leverage your business book for brand awareness is to get endorsements and reviews from other people (particularly those whose audience overlaps with yours but is not the same). This gets your book in front of new people who are likely to be interested in what you have to say.  

7. Referral partnerships

Another benefit of writing a business book is how it opens up the opportunity for referral partnerships. These are partnerships where one business or expert agrees to promote or refer customers to another business or expert in exchange for some kind of perk (sometimes monetary and sometimes simply referral reciprocation).

A study of one group of book-writing entrepreneurs showed they were able to use their books to secure strategic partnerships with 74% finding new referral partners. That’s a huge win!

8. Speaking gigs (and other opportunities)

Writing a book is an excellent way to spark a speaking career. And speaking is a powerful way to build your own brand awareness and generate more business opportunities.

Unfortunately, many new speakers struggle to get on a stage. But a book provides you with vital cut through. It shows organisers that you know what you’re talking about, that you have the authority and energy to write a book about it and showcases how you stand out from the crowd. In other words, it shows them why they should hire you.

Research backs up the value of books for getting on stages. One study of entrepreneurs showed that 72% got speaking engagements as a result of their books, with 33% being paid gigs.

9. Media opportunities

Finally, a book can open up media opportunities for the same reasons that it gets you on stages. Journalists – who value words –are looking for experts who have a voice. They want to see that you are differentiated from the crowd and that you have something to say or have a unique point of view. Your book showcases that about you.

The same study of entrepreneurs also revealed that after writing a book, the majority attracted incredible media opportunities. 63% were featured in online magazines, 43% in newspapers, 33% on radio and 10% on TV.

10. Passive income

I would be crazy not to mention the opportunity for passive income. While most business books are not written for the income (but instead for sales and marketing opportunities), they will almost certainly generate some amount of passive income.

Statistics are in your favour. In 2021 80.64 million business books were sold in print worldwide. This is a full quarter of all adult non-fiction print sales. When it comes to e-books, business books were third ranked on Amazon in 2022 as well.

People are buying these books. But you need to write one to be able to sell it!

Getting started writing your business book

If you’re keen to get started writing your business book, no time is better than now. Start with developing your concept, nail down an outline and get started writing. And of course, if you need any help, I’m always here to step in either as a ghostwriter or an editor!

At the end of the day, getting your book written is the most important thing so you can start grabbing all the benefits it offers.