We cover how you can establish yourself as a thought leader in the knowledge industries by self-publishing books
What is the knowledge industry?
The “knowledge industry” is a relatively new term that refers to the people and companies who create, share, and profit from information. This includes a wide range of industries and jobs — think content creators, software developers, investors, marketers, journalists, brand developers, independent publishers, and many others.
It's a growing sector of the global economy driven by ideas and intellectual property. So, think of it as an umbrella term for any industry that focuses on providing information or ideas to its customers rather than direct services or physical goods. It includes businesses that produce or distribute information and data, as well as other service industries that use this information as inputs for their products or services. The knowledge industry encompasses fields like education and training, professional development, publishing, research, data management and analysis, and any kind of consultancy practice.
If you're an entrepreneur in any sector of the knowledge industry, you'll need to tackle the issue of the perceived credibility of the knowledge you want to share. Knowledge can come from research and testing or from experience and practical, demonstrable expertise in a given field. Proving the validity of your knowledge needn't be so great a challenge, but establishing the trust and interest of others such that they'll listen to what you have to say is another matter. And it's an essential step if you want to package, market, and sell your knowledge to others. That's where developing thought leadership comes in.
What is thought leadership?
Thought leadership is about establishing yourself as a recognized authority in an industry or niche enterprise. Most thought leaders are passionate people who have strong ideas, opinions, and beliefs about what they do and how it can be done better or differently. They're not necessarily “official” experts or authorities on any given subject — they may just have a lot of experience doing something that others don't know much about yet or that has led them to create innovative perspectives and improved practices which can help others in the field to drive their own success. Their ideas are important because they provide new ways of thinking about problems that other people haven't considered before.
So, to establish thought leadership, you need to provide fresh ideas and insights into your field of expertise by sharing new perspectives on current issues and trends. You position yourself as an expert who is passionate enough about their niche and generous enough to be willing to share their ideas with other people in order to influence their progress, improve their skills, or help them make better decisions going forward. You do this through books, articles, blogs or podcasts — basically any channel where you can share your knowledge, experience, and unique point of view with others.
This kind of thought leadership allows you to develop and maintain a reputation in an industry or niche enterprise and you can then monetize your reputation through speaking engagements, consulting fees and, crucially, book sales. In this sense, it's also a marketing strategy. The beauty of it is that it generates a positive feedback mechanism whereby the more paid engagements you do and the more book sales you make, the greater your reputation becomes, and as your reputation grows, you get more engagements and make more sales!
Thought leadership is a vital objective for anyone establishing a niche within the knowledge industry because it helps attract new followers or subscribers, many of whom will become investors and stakeholders when it comes time for your next venture or to raise money for research and development on your current projects.
Obviously, thought leadership isn't something you can achieve overnight. You must put in the effort and the hours, studying your subject matter, pushing ahead daily, challenging yourself until you become a master at what you do, and then share your knowledge with others. An aspect of the learning curve is developing the ability to influence others' thoughts; being able to influence people's behavior by convincing them to try something new.
In short, thought leadership is a powerful way to establish yourself as a recognized authority in your industry. It's also a great way to build your business, attract investment, and grow your following. Okay, so how do you do it? How do you establish yourself as a thought leader?
Establish yourself as a thought leader by publishing a book
Once you do your research into thought leaders and thought leadership, you'll discover that there are multiple strands of influence from in-person networking and contacts at conferences, meetings and trade fairs to content marketing strategies such as your blog, article writing, guest posting, speaking engagements, consultation, and training. But central to all of these — the hub, if your like, around which they all revolve— is always your book; or better, your books.
The best way to establish thought leadership is to publish books. Why? Because books — and not just eBooks, but physical, hardcover copies — command both attention and respect. Not only that: in our digital world, they have more perceived authority and value than any number of blog articles, social media posts, or podcast episodes.
Going from zero to a published author has never been easier. Once you've created your content, we'll work with you to make an outstanding print edition of your book, and then you market and promote it through your pre-established channels. But wait, what if you don't have a huge following yet, and you haven't written a book? In many ways, that can be an ideal starting point, because you can build both together.
You see, writing a book and building a responsive following can both seem like daunting tasks. But you can break it all down into a single, neat process which you can fulfill in small, manageable chunks. And that's by “blogging your book”. The most common way that thought leaders establish themselves in the first place is through writing articles on their websites or blogs — and by persistently, regularly outputting high-quality, innovative content, they attract an audience that comes to them through search engines and builds and consolidates through social media and organic sharing.
It can take anything from a few months to a few years to build a successful, visible blog with a large following. The key is persistence, planning, and building community.
- Persistence means that you commit to publishing your best writing and doing so regularly. The good thing about writing your book this way, is that you have that unshakeable objective to keep you going through the early stages before your blog starts getting noticed. And this is where planning comes in.
- It's a great idea to sit down and brainstorm your book, then plan it out section by section, chapter by chapter, listing bullet points, getting your thoughts in order, and making notes. Once you have a book plan, you also have a content plan. Break the content down into smaller chapter-length chunks. Each one is a blog post. How many chapters will your book have? Let's say it has 36 chapters — each one an in-depth blog post — that will give you an advance plan for three year's worth of content if you write and publish one chapter/post per month!
- But because you don't just want to publish a blog, but also build a loyal following of fans who will later buy the book of the blog and invest in your business, you'll need to do more than write and publish. Once you have a few established followers, you can add a forum to keep your community engaged. But even before that, make sure you have a visible comments section, end each blog post with a question that invites participation, and then reply to every comment you get. The power of being present, reachable, involved, and building conversations can't be underestimated.
All well and good, but what will you write about? The answer to that, only you can figure out. But rest assured, if you have the “entrepreneurial mindset” and you're involved in the knowledge industries, you have plenty to write about!
- To establish thought leadership in your industry, start by identifying your expertise — what do you know that no one else does?
- Then identify what gaps exist in your field: what questions aren't being answered? What problems aren't being solved?
- Now look at your potential audience and readership. Who needs help and how can you provide it?
Once you've identified these areas where there's a need for more information and solutions, start creating content around them! This could be just blog posts or you could also repurpose the content as videos, podcasts —any medium that gives your “tribe” the chance to find you and get engaged.
You needn't set yourself up as a “guru” or “expert” to be a thought leader. It's fine to be a “fellow traveler”. In many ways, that is the best approach. There's always a new opportunity to learn more about your subject matter so that you can explain it in ways that captivate your audience's attention and keep them coming back for more. To do this, you need to read widely on the topic, talk with other people who work in your field, listen closely when people tell stories about their experiences, and generally live your life immersed in all things related to what you're learning about — including any potential downsides or pitfalls associated with it.
Why should thought-leaders self publish hardcover books?
You should have a pretty good idea now about why it's important to establish yourself as a thought leader if you want to dominate any of the knowledge industries. You should also understand why and how to develop content for your book or books. But why not just throw out eBooks on Amazon? Why physical books, and why hardcovers? Let's answer that now. Establishing yourself as a thought-leader requires three things:
- expertise
- credibility
- trustworthiness
You need to be an expert in something that other people care about, but also make sure that you're credible enough for them to trust you with their money or time (or both). Now, we're not saying that you shouldn't self-publish eBooks online, and paperbacks for that matter, too. But we are saying that to maximize the impact of your efforts and make the best return on your investment — both in terms of sales, reputation building, and increasing your following — a hardcover book can be the difference between standing head-and-shoulders above the competition and falling back into the crowd.
While hardcover books cost a little more to produce, you can sell them at much higher prices, so they actually represent a stronger investment and a higher profit margin than paperbacks or eBooks. Ask anyone in the field of publishing and marketing psychology and they'll tell you without hesitation that a well-produced hardcover book has considerable perceived value and authority compared to other formats. Just the fact that your book is a beautiful hardcover edition already builds your credibility and trust with readers.
Think about it. Imagine you're at a conference, and there are two keynote speakers, and both give interesting and enlightening talks on a similar subject. You want to know more, so afterward, you visit their stands in the concourse. One has a couple of obviously low-grade print-on-demand paperbacks and a leaflet about the eBook edition available on Amazon. The other has a stack of signed, traditionally printed hardcover books with dust jackets. Who looks most authoritative and successful and who looks like they're trying to get by on the cheap? Q.E.D.
In short, a hardcover speaks of expertise, credibility, and trustworthiness, that other formats simply don't. As book publishing is an essential aspect of successful thought leadership development, it's a no-brainer that you should publish in hardcovers. Have eBook and paperback editions, too, of course. But the backbone of your campaign will always be your fine, hardcover edition.
Let's talk!
Designing and printing an exclusive, high-end hardcover book either as a premium addition to your thought leadership development strategy or as an independent business proposal, is always a satisfying creative project which adds immense value to your reputation in the knowledge industries. Get in touch today to chat through your needs or to ask for a no-obligation quote. We can't wait to help you make your custom hardcover book the most powerful yet!
