David Cummings on Startups

Publish an Industry Specific Book

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David Cummings

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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.

Comments

4 responses to “Publish an Industry Specific Book”

  1. John Melonakos Avatar
    John Melonakos

    Just curious… have you written one?!

    Reply
    1. davidcummings Avatar
      davidcummings

      I have not but I’d be interested in hearing feedback from those who have.

      Reply
  2. Adam Avatar
    Adam

    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.

    Reply
    1. davidcummings Avatar
      davidcummings

      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.

      Reply

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