Books are the new business card. They capture your ideas, exhibit your expertise, and codify core messages that define your philosophy in an easily transferable, shareable, and efficient manner.
But creating a book is A LOT of work. It would be a shame to just leave your book’s content on the pages of an object most commonly found on the bookshelf. Instead, you should design your book from the very beginning to exist in a variety of formats.
The people we want to reach are consuming content in seemingly endless ways, so it really doesn’t make sense to limit the reach and potential of your core ideas to one medium. With a little planning, your book could create a significant amount of momentum for you.
Cross-channel engagement is optimal when you want to fully penetrate any market segment.
So what else can you do with your book content? What are examples of popular distribution channels that can work together to prepare, launch, and extend the engagement with an author or personality around a subject matter?
Your book manuscript can become:
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Social Content (across a variety of channels)
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Blog Posts
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Content Papers
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Case Studies
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Frameworks for traditional interviews on TV and Radio
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Podcasts (and subsequent transcripts)
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Email courses (subscription-based)
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Speeches
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Lectures
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Online coaching program
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Direct response campaigns
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A series of eBooks
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Video content (and subsequent transcripts)
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Workbooks/Study Guides
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Regional Training Events
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Ancillary product (works great for inspirational content) (e.g. Postcards, calendars, specialty books, etc.)
Note: This list is not exhaustive.
The key is not to do everything but to match the native consumption habits of the target audience and utilize the distribution channels that match those consumption habits.
If you are going to take the time to write a book, then you might as well design it with the long-tail options in mind.
You should know that distribution channels change slightly depending on mobile or mainstream distribution and should be accounted for in the planning process. Nevertheless, with a proper content development and distribution system in place, your book could provide the basis of all the content you’ll need for the next 12–18 months.
Is your book dying on the bookshelf, or are you harnessing the long-tail potential of content creation and distribution to efficiently and effectively engage a broad base of your target audience?
Ben Stroup is Chief Growth Architect and President at Velocity Strategy Solutions where he helps leaders design, develop, and deploy smarter business growth strategies. Ben is a futurist, disruptor, and data champion. He leads a team that takes a structured learning approach to business challenges, which allows them to assist leaders in bridging the gap between ideas, innovation, and revenue—taking ideas from mind to market.
Velocity Strategy Solutions is an on-demand, next-generation business strategy and management consulting firm which provides clients with a relentless focus on data, execution, and results that positively impact the bottom line. Velocity delivers integrated people and revenue strategies combined with a disciplined approach to growth architecture that elevates the capacity of leaders, teams, and organizations to succeed and win more.
Topics: Leadership