Authored a Book for Credibility?

[Parker]

Sales is really about selling yourself. Establishing or positioning yourself as an authority in your field will make selling yourself a lot easier. The fast way to do that is by writing a book. Authoring a book gives you instant credibility. I am currently in the process of writing a book for my daytime employment. Has anyone written a book? Have you considered? Self publishing avenues are plentiful. It's not as costly as it used to be.

[kingusama92]

Authoring a book is definitely a way of gaining credibility in a specific field.

Obviously, this book has to be properly written with the appropriate research done. If you have the time to spare and put together such a book, I think it's an excellent endeavor to pursue.

A lot of the times, there just isn't enough free time for an individual to author a book.

[SpikeTheLobster]

The fast way to do that is by writing a book. Authoring a book gives you instant credibility.

As Kingusama noted, it's not a particularly fast process. I'd also beg to differ on the second sentence, changing it to "Authoring a good book gives you instant credibility."

I've seen a LOT of books coming out over the last six months that were written too quickly, badly formatted, not edited and generally rushed to press in order to (a) jump on the ebook bandwagon or (b) gain credibility. Unfortunately for the authors, their work did precisely the opposite: it made them look cheap and useless in a competitive market - and probably killed their sales rather than helping.

I am currently in the process of writing a book for my daytime employment. Has anyone written a book? Have you considered? Self publishing avenues are plentiful. It's not as costly as it used to be.

I've written two, though the second one is only a wee marketing tips thingy. The first is a proper paper and electronic affair available on Amazon. I'm rather proud of it, in all honesty, even though it doesn't sell many copies.

Self-publishing is free, by the way. Never ever pay someone to publish you: the days of forking out wads of cash for vanity publishing are long gone - though you might choose to invest in a professional editor and cover designer (I did).

[SomePocketMoney]

It can definitely provide credibility. The funny thing I've recently learned about writing and publishing markets is that generally an author makes no money on his first book. It's exactly as you've said, more of a self-establishing step to earning income from that field. If it's a high seller or highly raved about book, then people know your name and the next book you write is where you start making deals for income.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've heard about that from multiple sources and thought it was quite clever, but also quite difficult to manage for a newly beginning writer.

[SpikeTheLobster]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've heard about that from multiple sources and thought it was quite clever, but also quite difficult to manage for a newly beginning writer.

No, you're right. First books rarely make any money. Most of the follow-ups don't, either, unless the first one was really good or you put a MASSIVE amount of effort into publicity. That's where getting published differs significantly from publishing your own book - the publisher puts in the marketing effort for you, which helps enormously with both sales and reputation.

[Parker]

As Kingusama noted, it's not a particularly fast process. I'd also beg to differ on the second sentence, changing it to "Authoring a good book gives you instant credibility."

I've seen a LOT of books coming out over the last six months that were written too quickly, badly formatted, not edited and generally rushed to press in order to (a) jump on the ebook bandwagon or (b) gain credibility. Unfortunately for the authors, their work did precisely the opposite: it made them look cheap and useless in a competitive market - and probably killed their sales rather than helping.

I do believe that authoring a book can give you instant credibility. I'm making the assumption that it is of decent quality. Those fast and loose ebooks you're talking about are mostly made to make money. The "sell ebooks on Amazon via Kindle" craze. That's completely different. Those are not created to establish any authority in a specific niche.

[sillylucy]

That is a pretty good way to establish credibility. I am currently writing an e-book and plan to publish it on Amazon. I am going to self publish because I think it would be more cost effective. Has anyone else done this method vid Amazon?

[Parker]

That is a pretty good way to establish credibility. I am currently writing an e-book and plan to publish it on Amazon. I am going to self publish because I think it would be more cost effective. Has anyone else done this method vid Amazon?

Do you mean publishing in the Kindle format on Amazon? It's a fairly painless experience. Your ebook can be live within 72 hours after you submit it.

[Waynefire]

This is a good way to establish yourself as a credible expert. I mean look at what it has done for the Dog Whisperer in the U.S. He wrote some books and is now considered the go to expert for dogs in the U.S.

[thewebmiss]

I have co-authored a coffee table book featuring success stories of local businessmen. It is a two-year project, and we have had a grand book launching for it. We have done it in line with the 60th year of our College. We, the authors, are all business students. Initially I have no intention of writing it for credibility purposes, but then I have realized that it has strengthen my equity as an entrepreneur and as a web content writer.