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The ability to gain and maintain market share can be increasingly challenging for many professionals. There are numerous reasons for this; competition, the cost of doing business, being viewed as an expert and knowing how to stand apart from the crowd. An excellent way to position yourself or your company is to leverage your expertise. This can be achieved by writing and publishing a book. For some, the thought of writing a book, let alone getting it published, can seem completely out of reach. Yet, with today’s technology and readily available resources, this is more achievable then ever before. Granted, there is work involved. Yet, the rewards can be well worth the time, money and effort invested. Imagine two experts competing in the same market who have the same level of knowledge and expertise. One writes a book, the other doesn’t. Who do you think the public will view as the “expert”? Hands down, it will be the one who wrote the book. With traditional methods of publishing it can take years to have your works published. Additionally, print runs are in the thousands. Without a solid marketing plan to sell and distribute the books the publisher, or you, are left with great dust collectors. This is why authorship and getting published seems out of reach for many. However, there is a solution. With today’s technology the process is much quicker and less costly. You can do what is referred to as POD – Print on Demand. This method allows for short runs of a book. The unit cost may be higher, but you don’t have to worry about keeping large quantities of inventory. You simply print according to market demand. If publishing a paperback or hardcover book is out of the question in the short term even with POD, consider publishing an electronic book, also referred to as an eBook. Regardless of the industry eBooks are fast becoming a very popular added value tool to many Internet savvy business folks. An eBook is a book in digital format that you can download to your computer and read using a software program, called Adobe Acrobat®. There are other formats, but a simple way to begin is with a PDF file. Some people develop eBooks solely as a revenue stream. Other reasons to write eBooks are to build a subscriber list, credibility, visibility and a loyal readership. Your eBook doesn’t have to be more than 10 – 15 or it can be as many as several hundred pages. eBooks are excellent vehicles to build an opt-in subscriber list. Regardless of the reason, what it DOES have to be is valuable to the reader and filled with great information. With a little foresight books, in whatever format, can become an intricate aspect of your overall marketing strategy that will position you as an expert and a leader in your industry. Maybe a book is in your future.
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