Want to Write a Business Book? A Short Guide

Last Updated: 

April 21, 2023

I've been writing and publishing books since 1994, and since then I've seen a lot of changes in the publishing world. There are now more options than ever for writers to publish their own books, whether it's on a platform like Amazon or through a traditional publisher. 

It's also become easier for people to create ebooks and audiobooks, which means there's no excuse not to get your idea out there! Still, writing is hard work - and even if you're successful at getting published by one of these methods (or both), there are still plenty of challenges involved in bringing your book into reality.

Key takeaways on writing a business book

  1. Define your purpose: Clearly outline your goals and objectives for writing a business book to ensure your content is focused and impactful.
  2. Know your target audience: Understand the needs and preferences of your target readers to create content that resonates and provides value.
  3. Develop a strong outline: Create a comprehensive outline to guide your writing process and ensure a well-structured, organised final product.
  4. Research thoroughly: Conduct extensive research to support your ideas, provide accurate information, and establish credibility with readers.
  5. Engage your readers: Adopt a captivating writing style that keeps readers interested and encourages them to continue reading.
  6. Editing and proofreading: Refine your manuscript through multiple revisions, ensuring clarity, coherence, and correctness.
  7. Consider self-publishing vs. traditional publishing: Weigh the pros and cons of each option and decide which path best suits your needs and goals.
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Figure out what you want to write about

You are the best person to write about what you know. If you're an expert in a field, then it's likely that people will want to read your book.

You may also want to write about something that interests or excites you but isn't necessarily related to your professional life. For example, if one of your hobbies is gardening and has always been interested in starting an indoor garden for yourself at home, then why not write a book about how easy it is? Or maybe there's another topic related with gardening such as cooking recipes using fresh herbs from the garden which would be interesting enough for readers who love cooking too!

Whether it's personal interest or professional expertise, the key point here is this: figure out what kind of content would benefit others before writing anything down!

Brainstorm ideas, then narrow them down to one or two that make sense

When you're ready to start writing, the first thing you'll need is an idea. This can be a tough part of the process because you have so many options and not enough time or money to pursue them all!

The best way I've found is brainstorming all of my ideas in a document and then looking for common themes among them. For example: if I'm interested in writing about entrepreneurship, I might have some thoughts on starting up a business from scratch; hiring employees; marketing strategies; etcetera. But once I look at all those ideas together, and consider which ones make sense from a business perspective, I'd probably end up with two or three topics that seem most relevant for my audience (and therefore myself).

Once this has been done successfully (i.e., two or three topics remain), write down their benefits so that later when thinking about what chapters should go into each chapter of your book's outline (which we'll cover below), there will already be clear reasons why people should care about reading your book instead of just another one like it!

Choose your format, including length and style

  • Length. Most business books are between 50 and 100 pages in length, but you can make yours as long or short as you want.
  • Content. The amount of information that should go into each chapter will depend on your audience and purpose for writing the book. If this is meant to be an introductory guide for beginners, then there may only need to be one or two chapters with a few sections each; however, if it's aimed at experts in the field who already know much of what's being covered in the book (e.g., lawyers), then there might need to be more than five chapters with several subsections under each main topic (such as contracts).
  • Chapters versus Sections vs Paragraphs within Chapters/Sections: There are many ways writers can break down their text into smaller chunks so readers don't feel overwhelmed by all the details at once! Some examples include "chapters," which contain several sections within them; these could also contain paragraphs or even bullet points if needed!

Choose a target audience and market yourself accordingly

If you want to write a business book, the first thing to do is to choose your target audience and market yourself accordingly. This means making sure that you know who your readers are, what they want from their reading experience, how much time they have available for reading and more importantly why they would buy from you rather than someone else.

You also need to be aware of your competition - both direct (who has already written similar books) and indirect (who else is talking about this subject). This is important because it will help inform how successful your book can potentially become by highlighting gaps in the market or areas where there are no alternatives currently available on sale today!

Create an outline or timeline for your book

Once you've decided to write a book, the next step is to create an outline or timeline for your book. An outline helps you plan out what you want to say and in what order, as well as how long it will take. This can be helpful if your goal is to self-publish and not get an agent or publisher involved at all, it will help make sure that all of the content fits together well and flows smoothly from one chapter into another.

An outline is also useful because it helps ensure that each chapter has enough substance without going overboard; if there's too much material in one section and not enough elsewhere, then readers may feel like they're being overloaded with information instead of being given something useful enough that they'll want more!

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Write, revise and publish it!

Once you've written, revised and edited your book, it's time to publish it. There are two ways to do this: self-publishing or traditional publishing.

Self-publishing is the easiest option but you'll need to take on all of the costs associated with producing your book yourself (such as cover design, editing etc.). You can also choose how much control over every detail of your book's production process - from typesetting through to marketing - by hiring freelancers or working with companies that offer these services as part of their packages.

Traditional publishers will be able to help promote and sell copies of your book at retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble but they won't pay any advance against royalties unless they sign an author who has already sold many books independently first (in which case there may still be some fees involved).

Writing a book is a great way to boost your online reputation by showing off your expertise in one area of business

Writing a book is a great way to boost your online reputation by showing off your expertise in one area of business.

  • Get your name out there. A book can be a great way to get more exposure for you and what you do, especially if it's related to something specific that people will want to learn about (like marketing).
  • Showcase your knowledge. If you have special skills or knowledge that others would benefit from knowing, writing an e-book or print version is an excellent way of sharing that information with them at their own pace, and making money while doing so!
  • Give people a reason to trust you: Having written several successful books myself, I've found this strategy especially helpful when trying out new ideas/methods/systems because it gives me instant credibility when recommending something new without having ever met them before (i'm not saying don't try these things without doing any research first though).

FAQs on writing a business book

Embarking on the journey of writing a business book may raise several questions and concerns. Our FAQs section below aims to address these common queries and provide practical advice to help you create a valuable resource for your target audience and achieve your publishing goals.

What are the advantages of self-publishing?

As a self-published author, you have complete control over your book. You can choose the price and format of your book, as well as its cover design and interior layout. You also have the freedom to decide when the book will be published (and who will get access to it).

In addition to these advantages of being able to publish as soon as you're ready and have total control over every aspect of your book, including pricing, self-publishing offers some other perks:

What are the advantages of traditional publishing?

  • More prestige. Publishing a book with a traditional publisher is more prestigious than self-publishing, and it can give you credibility as an expert in your field.
  • Control over design and content. With self-publishing, it's up to you to decide on things like the book's title, subtitle and cover design, and if there are any issues with these elements later on (like misspellings or bad grammar), they'll be on you! With traditional publishing, these details will be handled by professionals from start to finish who know what they're doing when it comes to making sure that everything looks great before hitting shelves around the world.
  • A team working for success: Traditional publishers employ editors who work closely with authors during each stage of production; publicists who help promote books; marketing teams that devise strategies for selling books online or at events like conferences where people might buy them; salespeople who sell them directly into stores such as Barnes & Noble or Amazon...the list goes on! In short: They have all sorts of people working together so one person doesn't have too much pressure placed upon him/herself while still achieving maximum results through teamwork instead of depending solely upon one person alone."

Should I hire a proofreader?

If you're serious about publishing a book, you'll want to hire a professional editor. Your writing may be good, but it's not perfect, and no one is. A good editor will catch all of the little mistakes (like using "its" when you meant "it's") and help clean up your grammar so that readers can focus on what matters: the message in your book.

A proofreader is different from an editor in that they only look for typos and other minor errors rather than helping with larger issues like sentence structure or flow between paragraphs. If your manuscript has been edited by someone else before being sent off for proofreading, then there might not be much left for them to do besides making sure everything looks right on paper (such as correcting formatting errors).

If possible, try both types of services out before deciding which one fits best with your needs as an author!

Where can I sell my book?

You have a few different options for selling your book, depending on what you want to do. If you're looking to make money from the sale of your book, then Amazon is an obvious choice because they have a huge audience and will pay authors 70% of the cover price (which can be as high as $10). But if you want to gain exposure for yourself and/or brand awareness for your business, then other platforms like Barnes and Noble or Apple may be better suited for this purpose.

You should also consider how long it takes each platform to get new titles up on their site; some take longer than others due to their process, for example: CreateSpace takes about 8 weeks from submission date till publication date while Lulu takes only 2 days!

Should I consider publishing in digital formats?

You should consider publishing in digital formats if you want to reach a wider audience and make your book more accessible to people who don't have access to physical copies.

Digital books can be read on any device, including smartphones, tablets and computers. They're also cheaper than print books because they don't require any printing costs or shipping fees, just the cost of developing an online platform and paying royalties (which are typically lower than those charged by traditional publishers).

Conclusion

If you're looking to get your name out there as an expert in one area of business, writing a book is an excellent way to do that. It can be daunting at first, but if you follow these tips and take it step by step, it will become easier over time!

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