Is it time for you to write and publish your own real estate book?
Writing and publishing real estate books has become increasingly popular. It’s now far easier and less expensive than ever before. That said, is there room for your book on the shelf? And if so; what’s the best way to go about it?
The Benefits of Your Own Real Estate Books
There actually many benefits associated with producing your own real estate book. They include:
- Boosting branding and credibility
- Enhanced visibility
- Influencing mindset and demand
- Developing an expanded client base
- Streamlining the sales process
- Elevating your value
- Drawing great talent, investors, and business partners
- Profits from book sales
- Accomplishment and creating a legacy product
- It’s a lot of fun
Is There Room for My Book?
Absolutely – if you’ve got the experience. If you have something valuable to add to the conversation, feel free to do so. This applies to real estate investors, Realtors and brokers, mortgage experts, builders, and more.
The field may appear crowded, but the great ones will be welcomed. In fact, the crowding is one of the main reasons you need to do it. You need a way to stand out from all the amateurs online, and in your local community. You need to deliver a value that people can’t get anywhere else. However, success will certainly depend a lot on you being unique and giving people something they don’t already have. Find your niche. Do you work a particular niche of the market that needs more visibility or transparency? Do you have a unique story, take on the market, or a voice that stands out? How can you leverage design to stand out?
Publishing, Pricing & Distribution Your Own Real Estate Book
Publishing a real estate book is easier now than it has ever been. Gone are the days of having to try to score ‘a book deal,’ or dealing with old school book publishers. Now the hottest books are self-published.
There are many platforms for self-publishing your own books. This includes; Lulu, Amazon’s Create Space, and HP Magcloud. It’s almost as simple as creating a PDF document and uploading it to the global book marketplace. Once loaded, you can print as many or as few copies of your book as you want. Your customers can enjoy print on demand. Each individual book is printed to order, so that you don’t have to make a massive investment in book printing upfront, or storing them. Plus, they get shipped right to your customers from the printing house.
Through self-publishing platforms, books can be sold online, on your own website, via Amazon, and in physical bookstores. You should decide upfront how you plan to distribute your real estate book. Will it be in print or ebook form, or both? How big will it be (dimensions and length)? Will you sell it or give it away?
All of this will play into your costs. While some real estate and finance pros may be perfectly capable of writing their own book, designing a cover, formatting it, uploading it, and promoting it, few have the time. For few, it will be the best use of their time. Expect to drop several thousand dollars from start to finish. These costs can be reduced by publishing shorter books, more efficient book marketing, and perhaps even collaborating on your book with another author or two, or strategic business partners and sponsors.
Best Ways to Create Your Book
As it is highly unlikely you’ll have the time to write your own book, like most celebrities, the best path is normally to hire a ghostwriter. Maybe you already have a real estate blogger or content expert that can also write books. Check out freelancing platforms like Upwork. The process can be very streamlined if you select someone that is already very familiar with the real estate industry and can create much of the content from their own knowledge. Inject your personal story. There are several ways to collaborate with your writer. You can brain dump bullet points, quotes, and short stories via email or shared Google Drive files. You can record audio or video sessions to have transcribed. Have them interview by phone, send email interview questions, or perhaps fly them to you for the weekend to hash it out.
Don’t overlook design either. If you get design working early, you can test responses to covers, get more creative and have both text and format ready at the same time. Don’t be afraid to be creative and push the boundaries of what has been done before.
Marketing is a huge part of the success of any book. It can be pushed out via affiliate partners, existing marketing channels, blogs, social media, press releases, and at live events. If you really want to get ahead of the game, set up a pre-order page and get pre-sales going early.
