Heather Townsend's Journey to Authorship: Part 3
by Heather TownsendThe Efficiency Coach
So, what makes me different?
One of the ten things that you must do before you start a business is answer the question, ‘what makes me different?’ Well, in my case, what will make my book different? To be a successful profitable author, I need to be more than just a highly talented natural writer (forgive a bit of artistic licence on my part!). If I want to sell 10 000 copies of a book, 10 000 people have to want to buy my book, and probably 100 000 have to at least of heard of it and thought about buying it.
Luckily, I am in good company - this is a marketing problem faced by nearly every new writer who starts their first book. So, it’s not an insurmountable problem. Difficult, but not insurmountable...
I did a quick check on Amazon, there are 1135 books listed on starting a business, 12 896 books on entrepreneurship and 22 098 books about some facet of professional services. How am I going to make my book stand out?
To answer the question, ‘what makes me different?’, I went back and looked at my SWOT and thought about my business aims. In case, these have slipped your mind, I want to be working with professional service firms and small business owners – delivering coaching and consultancy services so that individuals and businesses achieve more for their time, effort and money.
So, anything I write has got to be aimed at either of these two markets – so that it builds credibility and expertise within my target market. That sounds simple, but still not answering the question – what’s going to be different about my book? This question went around and around and around in my head, until I stopped trying to answer the question and let my subconscious mind work on the answer to the question.
Four days ago, I woke up enlightened. My subconscious mind had worked its magic. I am going to write two books, and have them self-published as e-books within 12 months. The 1st book is aimed at helping people build up the necessary characteristics and qualities of a successful entrepreneur. When I looked nearly every book about starting a business or being an entrepreneur is focused on the how, sales, marketing, finance or the strategic part – nothing looks as if it solely targets the behavioural aspects of being a successful entrepreneur. I’ve recently written two blog posts on characteristics of a successful entrepreneur. The 2nd book is going to be a guide to making partner within a professional service firm. I spent the last five years of my life helping people progress within a professional services firm – so I need to bottle my knowledge.
For both books I will include diagnostic tools and exercises you can complete, to help you achieve your aims – whether they are to run a successful business or make partner.
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Find out more about Heather Townsend's Journey to Authorship
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