Publishing has big benefits for real estate professionals that want to take their careers and incomes to the next level. Self-publishing is quickly displacing traditional channels to fast track credibility, authority and increase profit margins for those that embrace it. So what tools are available, and what do real estate experts need to know before trying to use them?
What Real Estate Pros Should Publish
There are many reasons real estate investors, agents and CEOs should be publishing original content. Being a ‘published author’ still carries a lot of weight, even though it may be easier for the average Joe to accomplish than ever. It delivers authority and credibility, boosts brand visibility and value and can dramatically increase results while being marketing tools in themselves. Published works can even become ongoing passive income sources, which diversify income even further.
Both hard cover and paperback books may hold the most weight in offering credibility, but ebooks, magazines, picture books and even blogs can offer a lot of the same benefits and are sometimes less time and money demanding to produce.
New Tools To Bury Traditional Publishing
Traditional publishing is definitely dying. It just doesn’t make sense any more. The value just isn’t there, and the margins certainly don’t justify it for authors. This is not to mention it’s too slow, unreliable, distracting, and expensive for most to consider chasing a book deal. Why do it when you can self-publish immediately, keep more profit, and potentially scoop a book deal and six figure advance afterwards without any effort?
Digital publishing and print on demand are taking over and there are an increasing number of services to support real estate pros ready to embrace it. These include WordPress for blogging. Lulu and Amazon/ Create Space for digital and print on demand, Kindle Direct Publishing for the Kindle and HP MagCloud for all types of self-publishing and getting in the Apple App Store.
What to Know About Self-Publishing Tools Before You Dive in?
While self-publishing is made out to be incredibly easy, fast and inexpensive, and it is in comparison to traditional publishing, it may not always be as cheap and easy as you were expecting. These tools, like many others promoted to real estate agents and investors, can often be more technical than made out to be. Expect that you may need extra help with design and formatting, and recognize when it’s better to recruit help and outsource, so that your own time can be spent on more important things.
Still, it can be far easier to self-publish than you think. In just a couple hours a day, it is entirely possible to write an entire book in 30 days or less, providing you are disciplined and stick to a timeline. Plus there are now many freelance ghost writers that will write on behalf of real estate pros. This is how the majority of celebrities and big name real estate gurus ‘write’ today.
Keep in mind, a plan like this is going to take some promotion. There is a lot of noise out there in the book market, just like the real estate market. Few houses sell themselves. Similarly, expect to do some social, blog outreach, press releases, and maybe even consider Kindle Direct Publishing promotions or book signings to get it started.
