For business people, entrepreneurs, niche experts, and heads of industry, writing a book on thought leadership is an effective way to build your reputation, authority, and promote your original thinking. In this post, we walk you through how to approach writing a book in this challenging genre, with practical tips and insights to help you succeed.
Forget the popular saying, “A penny for your thoughts.” If you have speciality knowledge or expertise in your industry; if you've started a business from scratch and learned a heck of a lot on the way; if you've climbed to the top of your profession; or if you're an entrepreneur with a bright, original idea, you could make much more than a penny by sharing your thoughts. Writing a book on thought leadership can certainly make you money; but the benefits go way beyond that: build your reputation, your authority, get high-paid speaking appointments, and potentially attract new investors. You have the knowledge, experience, and originality already. All you need to do now is write the book. Okay, take a deep breath. Now, here are two things you need to get straight before we go any further:
- Writing and selling so-called ‘thought leadership' books is one of the most challenging prospects for any business writer.
- But if you can think, you can do it. You just need the right knowledge and approach.
So, where do you get the right knowledge and approach? Right here. Let's dive straight in.
Only serious writers need to apply
The thought leadership book is an opportunity for a successful businessperson, entrepreneur, or industry professional to go beyond the standard fare of the typical business book – processes, strategies, management, and sales, for example – and to dive deep into the serious social, political, economic, philosophical and cultural issues of the day in the light of the knowledge and experience they've gained through their enterprise, personal and professional development, deep work, and profound reflection. To get a sense of the style of this kind of writing, you should read not only the most popular and successful books in the genre but also check out the many “think pieces” (the short-form equivalent of the thought leadership book) published in mainstream journals such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, Harper‘s, The Saturday Evening Post, The Washington Post, or Vanity Fair. You probably subscribe to and read several of these or similarly reputable papers already.
You don't need a “name” or “influence” to write and publish a thought leadership book. If you have those already, it will certainly help, but the idea here is that writing a book like this leads to getting name and expanding your influence. All your readers will care about at first is the quality of your book and the information, insights, and inspiration in communicates to them. Period. So, if you've thought deeply about your experience and you feel you can bring a fresh and thought-provoking perspective to a subject, go for it.
Even if your book doesn't become a bestseller (most don't, to be honest with you) it will still help further your career. Whatever your profession, you never know when you'll be called upon to give an intelligent and supported opinion about a serious topic and argue your case in writing. Writing a thought leadership book is excellent preparation for such an eventuality and the skills you'll learn, invaluable. If, when networking at conferences or speaking at conventions and other corporate events, you can refer to your published book, it will boost your authority as an expert in your field.
If you're a professional and ambitious entrepreneur or business leader, you should have as many arrows in your quiver as possible. Writing and publishing a thought leadership book can only help. Business is, by its very nature, competitive. So the deeper your experience and the wider the range of skills at your disposal, the better your chances of success. Most entrepreneurs and business-minded people do their best work and develop their most original ideas when tackling a challenging brief rather than something they see as too easy. Well, few books are more challenging to write than the thought leadership book. But your thought leadership book is also a book that only you can write. Anyone can churn out another management style handbook or an analysis of certain business processes. But only you can write your personal take on the important issues. No-one else can do that.
How to make writing a difficult book easier
Given that thought leadership books may be the hardest of any genre to write, it's useful to understand how you can make producing and marketing this kind of book easier. The most helpful strategy is to start small and try getting a few short pieces published in the mainstream press. You needn't aim for the top journals – although if you think you already have it in you, why not try? – but as most newspapers and high quality trade and professional magazines carry “think pieces, at least occasionally, it's worth making a few pitches to smaller professional publications to which you already subscribe or which you already know.
There are a couple of major advantages to “cutting your teeth” by publishing short pieces before diving into your major book project. The first is that getting pieces published in these venues will confirm that you have a saleable commodity. The second is that choosing to publish an essay, article, or feature in a specific publication can itself provide you with the inspiration you need to write on a well-targeted topic that you may find you can later expand into a book. And thirdly, if you have sold a selection of shorter think pieces to several reputable journals, you will have a major boost when itcomes to marketing your finished book.
What topic to choose for a thought leadership book?
Whatever else it may be, a thought leadership book should never be banal, predictable, or fall back on already well-worn ideas and perspectives. So, unless you're bubbling with topics to write about already, where do you begin to look for inspiration? Here are several ideas that we've seen work well.
It's always worth looking out for ongoing stories of interest reported in relevant papers, magazines, websites, blogs, and journals; especially those which provoke strong reactions or divide opinion within the community they serve. You don't just need to have an opinion to write a thought leadership book; you need an original take on a hot topic that closes the argument; that becomes the authoritative statement on the subject; that makes you the guy that finally got it figured and got everyone else on side. Always make a point of reading the “Letters to the Editor” in print editions and any comments added to online publications. Whereas in most business writing, your aim is simply to inform or educate without challenging or offending your reader, the thought leadership book (along with its short-form cousin, the think piece) requires you to state a subjective opinion on a given issue. While deliberately courting controversy may work against you, you shouldn't shy away from it if you can justify your point of view.
Be prepared to defend your opinion
There's a difference between “being opinionated” and sharing a justifiable, informed opinion on a given subject or situation. When working up your ideas and arguments for your book, you'll need to defend your point of view with more than mere emotion and bold statements, even though you are drawing on personal experience and private reflection as your original source material. Check your facts, find out what other experts have said, and show all your reasoning. If you can quote people involved — storekeepers, maybe, or town planners, law enforcement, youth leaders, politicians, successful people form all walks of life, cultural representatives, or others with a direct personal or professional interest in the matter, all the better.
In writing a thought leadership book, you're not aiming to publish it and forget. It should provoke a response, stir up a lively conversation, animate others to think and reflect and share their thoughts in response to your book. So, expect to stick around and respond to any letters, emails or comments on your blog (if you have one; you should have one!) that come in. You can't just write and publish a thought leadership book and then walk away never to be heard from again! Especially if you've chosen a contentious and controversial perspective. Remember when responding to letters and comments that you're dealing with your customers, the people who have bought and read your book, so always be polite, calm, and rational in your replies, however provocative the reader's statements may seem. And don't be surprised when several of those emails are invitations to speak or head discussions. That's the whole point!
Keep a professional tone at all times
Getting the balance right between a striking statement of a strong opinion and falling into an angry or offensive diatribe isn't always easy. However you feel about the subject, you must use an eloquent and persuasive professional tone. Study the best columns and Op-Eds you can find along with your favorite thought leaders' books, and analyze how the authors manage to tackle difficult topics and express their feelings and ideas without compromising their dignity or losing control of the argument.
Besides backing up your claims with references to authoritative voices, a touch of humor can often help to diffuse the tension in an otherwise controversial debate. You don't want to come over as a crank, an extremist, or an ill-informed whiner. Aim for thought-leadership and don't court controversy for its own sake. Go for a measured, well-informed, rational tone.
The challenge of writing a thought leadership book
To write a good thought leadership book with a chance of selling it, you need to arm yourself with more than your opinion. To really make your mark, you must meet reader expectations and remember that while a section of your market will be ‘aspiring' business leaders and entrepreneurs, most will already be successful and looking for something “a cut above” the standard fare. They expect beautifully crafted writing, a clear and convincing voice, and, above all, evidence of deep research and original thought.
However, thought leadership books needn't be overly long. They can be as short as 25,000 words and rarely go over the 75,000-word mark. If you aim for 45,000 words, you're probably in the sweet spot. But make sure that you take note of the lengths of the best-selling books most similar to yours and use them as a guideline.
But bear in mind that while these books aren't necessarily long; they aren't written in a few hours, or even a few days, either. If you aren't already a renowned authority on the subject you're writing about, you need to build authority on the basis of extensive and thorough research. While a thought book isn't an academic work, it should be scholarly and demonstrate a profound understanding of all the issues. You should quote freely from academics, scientists, business analysts, and other experts. You will almost certainly need to obtain interviews, usually by telephone, with people who are authorities in the matter you're discussing.
A word about style
Style is always an important issue when writing a thought leadership book. Many new writers making their first attempt at writing a book like this make the mistake of equating a scholarly, intelligent style with the use of long, complex, multi-syllabic words. They dive straight for the thesaurus and extract the most obtuse and little-known terms, hoping to seem smarter than they are. It's a grave mistake and will turn readers off every time.
The famous quotation attributed to the ground-breaking physicist, Albert Einstein, that “if you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself,” is worth taking on board. Your style should be crisp and controlled, not a rambling mess of jargon and verbosity. This doesn't mean you need to “dumb down” what you're saying. The readership for a thought leadership has a college degree at least and is always well-educated and literate. Use whatever vocabulary and construction is natural in the context, but aim for clarity and conciseness above all else. And don't be shy about letting your personality and sense of humor shine through in your writing, either. Readers want to connect with a person they feel they can trust, admire, and follow. So don't just be a word-machine. Be a real person. Be you!
Are you ready to write a thought leadership book?
If you'd like to write a book of thought leadership but you're not sure you're ready to tackle a project like this, answer the following questions.
- Do you already enjoy reading and thinking about think pieces in the major national publications and do you consume other thinkers/leaders' books? As a general rule, it's a tough call to write what you don't enjoy reading.
- Do you have — or could you develop — the kind of authoritative tone and confident writing style this market demands?
- Do you know how to do efficient and effective research to inform and support your arguments?
- Have you thoroughly researched the market to identify a subject, event, or issue which will have broad appeal to your target readership and so be likely to sell?
- Do you know enough about your topic to be confident that you can engage constructively and intelligently with any comments, conversations, or debates that your book might provoke?
- Have you got something truly thought-provoking to say, or a genuinely fresh and original angle on the topic, that will make your readers think in surprising new ways about it?
The last point is arguably the most important of them all. Remember, the core purpose of a thought leadership book isn't to show off how much you've thought about something, it's exciting new thoughts in your readers.
If you answered yes to all of these questions, then go for it. You're probably the sort of thinker/writer/leader who stands a good chance of developing a powerful and worthwhile book and selling it to an eager readership. You'll probably enjoy it, too. And with a project of these dimensions, you'll need to enjoy it to see it through. It can be rewarding on many levels, not least in building influence and reputation. But make no mistake, you'll need to earn it.
Ready to get started? Talk to us!
If you have other questions or need clarification or help with any aspect of preparing your thought leadership book for print, shoot us an email to [email protected] or just call us on +1 951 866 3971 and we'll be delighted to do all we can to help you.
