I’ve spent most of my career in the business world neglecting my more artistic wants for financial gains. Now I am trying to make them one and the same. In doing so I find myself thankful that I have read as many books on success, sales, and marketing as I have. So I wanted to share a few books with you and explain why I think these books are great books for authors to read even though they are not about writing or specifically book marketing.
Free: The Future of a Radical Price – This book is a reminder that the free economy is upon is. It’s a solid reminder of why companies and authors are giving things away for free and how you can make more money by giving thing away for free. Giving something away you might have spent years on can be hard, but this book will teach you how you can use that to find further success.
Who Stole my Cheese – This book is very short and is about finding more income streams or more to eat instead of just being content to eat from one source. It’s a reminder to be open to the idea of making money in different ways. The characters in it are being fed cheese every day in a maze and every day it’s consistently there. Until one day the cheese stops coming. it’s told in a way that reminds the reader to remember to keep an eye open for more ways to expand your success and keep changing with the market you are operating in.
Content Inc – This book is a great book about using content marketing to grow a business. What is content marketing? Blogging. As writers we write. A blog is a no brainer but you have to have a unique voice and you have to be original. On top of that you have to be talking about something people want to see. This book showcases the success of many content marketers and how they were able to build businesses. You can easily apply everything in this book to your book marketing strategies. For instance I’ve noticed that my blog posts about writing do better than my blog posts about anything else. Secondly, my blog posts about H.P. Lovecraft and his works do second best. This is great. This is the audience I want. Other authors and fans of Cosmic horror.
I also recommend the book Think and Grow Rich. It’s not so much about marketing or business as it is about mindset. (If your not overly religious just ignore stuff about religion like I did). It’s a good book. It helps to put parts of life into perspective. It also does a great job of showcasing the power of staying positive.
Books are a business. It’s a hard business to be in and like all other businesses most independents fail to make a profit or to make a living. The more you know the more you can do. The more you can do the more opportunities you have.
Books and Mor 