The Power of Your Book Lies in the Way it Reflects Your Commitment to Your Mission

“If you don’t care about the impact of the solution you deliver, why should anyone else?”

~ Debra Hilton

The Danger of a Template-based Business Book

I was talking with a ghost-writing colleague the other day about:

• The business books we are writing;
• What to do about our overflowing schedules;
• How excited we are about the books we have on our schedules;

And I realised what makes a book fun to write and of great value to its author:

The key differentiator is that the author is passionate about his subject and truly believes in the value he delivers to his clients, patients, customers, or members.

This brought us to the subject of alternative ways of getting your book written and a proposal someone (let’s call him Ken) brought me about hiring him to help write more books. Ken is a pleasant person who shares my belief that every business should have at least one book, especially businesses in regulated industries like finance and health. Where we differ is in what we think those books should communicate and how they should be written.

Ken is a ‘template ghost writer’: follow the formula, finish the book, and get it out into the world quickly. There are a few variations of this such as the:

• Workshop or Seminar Book: record your workshop, lecture, or seminar; have it transcribed; add chapters and headings; tidy up the text; create a cover; and publish.
• Week or Weekend Book: go away and lock yourself in a room and talk your way through an outline; transcribe your output; add chapters and headings; tidy up the text; create a cover; and publish.
• Template Book: hire a ghostwriter; tell them what your subject, goal, and desired action is; add some specific information; they plug it into either a generic template or an industry specific template and send you your manuscript for publication.

Yes, they do give you a book. However, it’s probably not a book you really want your prospects to read unless you offer generic solutions.

If They Don’t Care, Then Why Should I Care?

I’m sure you have talked to people at networking events and professional development seminars who are just going through the motions of presenting their business. Yes, they’ll stand up at BNI and give a decent 60 second talk, but you can tell they actually don’t think they offer anything different from the next guy. Sometimes you aren’t even sure if they’d use their own services.

Business books can communicate this attitude too.

I was at a conference a little while ago and I brought home nine business books representing four different industries. When I read the books, I quickly realised that five of them came from the same template (with very minor differences apart from the contact details); two of them were cleaned-up workshop transcriptions; 1 was template-based dictation (that had some personality) and the 9^th was clearly self-written and had a sense of conviction and personality.

They were all books. They were all designed to promote and elevate a specific business. Only two of them were really effective, the others sounded as though they had been produced to check off a task on a promotional list (these are the kind that Ken writes for people).

Granted, the authors were unlucky that I was reading their books side-by-side and that ghostwriting is my profession, but honestly, it wasn’t that hard to spot.

Here’s the Problem…

Your prospects are probably talking to more than one product or service provider… and these days they could all have a book. Imagine how silly you look when your prospect receives information from five different Property Investment Advisors (and the following is another true story):

“Four of the books were identical. The title, cover, and contact details had changed but the advice and contents were almost identical. Between the four books there were approximately fourteen stories illustrating several points and these were shuffled through the books.
The fifth book was different. There was nothing cookie-cutter about it although it covered the same material. It had personality, humanity, and it felt like the author cared about his process, his subject, and the outcomes he delivered. Of course, he was the person I called and I was already determined to work with him… even as I gasped at his fee… because his value was unquestioned.
Here was my thinking: the four had clearly outsourced the work and didn’t care about the content. Maybe budget was an issue, but if so, how was their own property investment doing for them? The other one seemed to care… at least enough to say something that was authentically his own. Later, I asked him about the book and it turned out he had hired a ghostwriter… after spending three years putting it off.”

So my question is: do you want to risk the possibility that your prospects will receive identical books from your competitors and form an opinion about you and your service quality?

The Flip Side: When Your Book Reflects Your Unique Mission…

So many things change that it seems almost like a series of miracles!

It’s not so much the quality of your writing. It’s the authenticity of your voice and your willingness to share nitty-gritty details about your process and experience that transforms your outcomes.

Two books come to my mind:

The first one was written to help tradies (for my non-Australian readers that’s your plumber, electrician, carpenter, builder, etc.) move their business out of crisis mode. It’s decently written and full of real-world examples. The author is a tradie himself and he set himself a goal to write a book in a week that would encapsulate the advice he’d give to anyone who asked him how to turn things around.

He created an outline based on the questions people ask him, the answers he gives, and the reasons behind them. He then followed his outline, sprinkled in plenty of stories and solid advice. When you read it you realise three things:

1. He knows what he’s talking about;
2. He cares about helping tradies succeed; and
3. He has a system for everything that he’s willing to share.

It’s not surprise that his book brings him a flood of qualified prospects who really, really want to work with him.

The other is Brendon Burchard’s High Performance Habits, which became his fourth New York Times bestseller and an incredible accelerator for his online courses and his personal coaching and speaking.

Does it follow an outline? Yes. Brendon shares his NYT bestseller outline template in one of his courses. BUT, it doesn’t stick slavishly to the outline. Not only is High Performance Habits a unique book, full of stories, statistics, advice and structure, that clearly demonstrates Brendon’s credentials in the field, it is also unique. It’s quite different from his other books… and from anyone else’s. That’s why he has an enormous following and can charge very high fees… that people are willing to pay without question.

What About YOU and YOUR Book?

What’s the purpose of your book?
Is it to:

• Check off a task on your marketing to-do list?
• Create an effective lead magnet?
• Attract new clients?
• Control your referrals?
• Position yourself as an authority in your industry?
• Build trust and relationships with prospects and clients?
• Write an Amazon or NYT best-seller?

Unless you’re just trying to check off a task, you should think twice about using any generic service. The promise of creating your book cheaply and quickly is not worth the limited traction you’ll gain and the potential damage it will do to your reputation.

A book is a very effective lead magnet, but for all the reasons I’ve talked about earlier, a low-quality book may damage your sales rather than accelerate them. For more information, download my report: “How to Choose the Right Writing Process for Your Book & 10 Questions to Ask Your Prospective Co-Author or Ghostwriter”