How to Make Sure Your Book Converts Leads to Clients
Most Common Mistake of New Authors
As an entrepreneur, finding fresh ways to condense years of experience into enticing lead magnets is just day-to-day business. These days, there is almost no better way to prove your worth to potential clients than writing your own book.
Studies (and the sudden influx of self-help books written by coaches and experts) have shown that adding a book to your marketing plan is an effective strategy to refresh your brand and solidify your place as an expert in your field. That, in itself, is pretty strong motivation for most small business owners to pull out their laptops and start typing up their wellsprings of knowledge.
While so many experts have taken up this strategy, many still fail to create a lead magnet that converts, leaving them to wonder if it was worth the time and investment. They put all of their knowledge into the book. They didn’t hold anything back from their readers.
They were so sure that readers would know, instantly, that this professional had the answers that they were looking for. And yet, these new authors find themselves with about 50 downloads, a ton of free giveaways, a handful of reviews, and maybe one new sale. Why?
The Mistake: Not Writing to Your Readers
In my experience reading, writing, and editing self-help and personal-development books, all of these author-preneurs who struggle to connect with readers are making the same critical mistake, one so insidious that you’ve probably made it too — even if you haven’t started writing yet. The fatal mistake that I hope to save you from is thinking about their book as a tool for your business instead of a resource for real people. Let me explain.
In the world of self-help and transformational nonfiction, people buy books that they believe will help them solve a problem that they have. One more time: people invest money ($$$$) in order to solve their problems. So, in order for your book to convince readers to invest money in working with you (whether you’re selling a product or service, coaching, or consulting), it has to solve a real problem your readers have.
What this means is that your book cannot be about showing off how much you know (we call this jacking off in public), because it has to be about serving your reader’s interest before your own.
From the outset, you were probably thinking that your book would be for you to do something with. But consider this: what could you possibly do with a print or digital version of information you already have swimming in your head? You don’t need your book.
Your reader, on the other hand, is looking for the information — they need it. On principle alone, your book was, is, and should always and only be for your reader. Take one more consideration: the most effective way to prove that you can help someone is by… actually helping them!
Starting your book with your reader in mind is imperative to your ultimate success for a few reasons:
- You save yourself and your reader a lot of time by only writing what is valuable to your reader.
- Your book will be more focused, which will make it easier to read and write.
- You show your expertise in relation to something your reader already has a vested interest in. (Themself!)
- You earn trust by demonstrating the ability and desire to actually help your clients and not just sell them a program or product.
- Your book will retain more value than just a lead magnet.
- You leave yourself room to write more books in the future.
The Fix: How to Write a Reader-Centric Book
It should be clear, now, that the solution to the “new-book-no-sale” problem that I described above, is to write for your readers not yourself. In order to do this, you want to define your target audience — or in this case your ideal reader.
This is a topic that can (and will) be covered in its own article, but I wanted to give you a brief run down here so you can get a sense of what an ideal reader is and how to figure out yours.
Your ideal reader represents the type of client you want to attract to your business. If you’ve been working with clients, this person represents the clients you absolutely love and would take 100 more of right now if you could. They are the person who is the best fit for your product or service because you fully understand their situation and can guarantee with near 100% certainty that you can get them the results.
Your ideal reader is the most likely person to read your book and invest in your solution. In order to qualify as an ideal reader versus just a reader in your target market, this person should meet three minimum requirements:
- They have the problem that you are an expert at solving.
- They know that they have the problem and are looking for the solution.
- They are ready and have the urgency to invest ($$$$) in working with you right now.
If you don’t have any idea of who this person is yet, don’t worry! You’re in the majority. As you prepare to write your book, take some time to think about not only what you want to teach and who you anticipate pushing your book to, but who it is you actually want to have knock on your digital door asking to work with you.
Knowing your dream client and what they are worried about will transform the effectiveness of both your book and your marketing language. The end result will be a powerful tool that you can write easily with assurance that it will connect with people, greater customer intrigue in your business, better clients, and a higher conversion rate as you prove, without a doubt, that you are the best person to serve your prospects needs.
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