A year ago I received an interesting piece of advice: every entrepreneur should publish an industry specific book under their name. Of course, not everyone enjoys writing a 100+ page book, and thus hiring a ghost writer is a good alternative. Whether you like the idea of not, let’s look at some benefits of an entrepreneur publishing an industry specific book:
- Positions the company and entrepreneur as a thought leader
- Provides a great sales tool to hand out at tradeshows, send to prospects, etc
- Enables the content to be turned into a series of white papers
- Works as a training tool for employees and partners
I recommend that entrepreneurs and startups consider writing an industry specific book and self publishing it.
David Cummings on Startups 
Just curious… have you written one?!
I have not but I’d be interested in hearing feedback from those who have.
I’ve been fortunate to take part in writing an industry book. Some other points to consider:
– Huge opportunity cost of writing and publishing (six months of time to do it right)
– Rapidly changing nature of technology industries
– What if the entrepreneur’s business model changes?
– New legitimacy of eBooks, blogging, podcasts
I recommend entrepreneurs who want to build businesses focus on that, not on writing books.
Great points Adam. It sounds like the type of industry (established, semi-established, new frontier, etc) is an important consideration in deciding to write a book.