Is Writing a Book a Good Career Move?

This piece from Smart Money asks an interesting question: Is a book the new business card? It's a question that's addressed to entrepreneurs in the article (which they answer "yes" -- that you can get a jump on your competitors by writing a book), but I want to approach it from a career standpoint. Will writing a book help you advance your career?

IMO, the answer is "maybe." It depends on the career (business professionals, medical personnel, tradesmen (plumbers, electricians, etc.), professors to name a few) can likely enhance their profile by writing a book. For others (manual laborers, unskilled workers, etc.), not so much. But if you're in the right field, writing a book can benefit your career in many ways including:

• It will help you crystallize your thoughts. Probably the best benefit from writing a book isn't for the reader, it's for the writer. He gets to determine what's really important to him, outline his philosophy, and work through all the issues he's probably been grappling with for years. It can help him determine what's important and what's not and direct focus on the key factors that will bring him success. If the book writing process does nothing more than this, it's a great success.

• It can establish you as an expert (or more of an expert) in your field. I haven't written a book in my field yet, but I did used to write articles for several trade magazines in my industry and I can tell you that by doing so my expertise, credibility, and stature in the industry grew tremendously. In fact, writing those pieces was key to me receiving an industry-wide award one year. People put a significant amount of weight on the written word, and if you can write anything that makes sense in your field, your credibility WILL grow.

• It can help you find a job. You could hand a book to a potential employer (assuming it's good, of course), and it's likely he'll be impressed. And if this doesn't suit you, you could list it on your resume as a professional accomplishment. Not too many people have written a book and it's something that will certainly make you stand out (in a positive way) during a job search.

• It can help you develop a side income. One of my suggestions for making more money is to use your current job skills to make money -- by freelancing at night or by teaching those skills to others. Having a book will be a marketing tool that can help you achieve both. Again, it helps establish credibility and can get you work (as a consultant) or a job (as a teacher.) In addition, you can sell the book to clients (for their staff -- at a discount) or to students (as a textbook) and make even more money.

There are some other benefits to writing a book, but these are the main ones to me.

Anyone out there ever written a book for career purposes? What happened? Or do you think this idea is worthless? Let me know your thoughts below.

Comments

[Dave Benson]

I've written two career-related books, and I'd say it helps. Many people express admiration when you say you've written a book, and, even if it's outside of your career area, it gives a certain credibility.

On the other hand, it's mainly an indirect effect--I haven't ever been offered a job just because of the book; and it's definitely minimal income, unless you write a best-seller.

[David]

I'd be interested to see a follow up post on this, specifically about financial blogs and books.

Some of the blogs I read have turned me off when they wrote a book. I have no problem with self-promotion, but the quality of the book just wasn't there, and it made me value their opinion less. There were others (like Ramit Sethi's book) that I really liked and enjoyed. Plus I think his was a text book example of how to promote and release a book.

[Texashaze]

How does one succeed in getting a book published? This excludes vanity presses where you pay to have your book published.

[Studenomist]

Since I run a blog for college students I would love to write a book before my college graduation aimed at people my age. I think it would be a great career move because most college students only have their GPA on their resume. The blog is one thing I would be skeptical about adding to resume because employer may feel I will waste company time to work on my blog. Any thoughts?

[Trent Hamm]

"Some of the blogs I read have turned me off when they wrote a book. I have no problem with self-promotion, but the quality of the book just wasn't there, and it made me value their opinion less."

I'll guess that this was directed at my own book. The purpose of that book wasn't to be some great, all-purpose personal finance book. It was intended to be very low-cost (it usually sells for $5 or less) and simply get actionable tips to people who need them. For me, the risk of "turning people off" because the book wasn't a giant revelation was fine - I'm happy to lose ten readers if I can create some positive change in one person's life. Some people need the big scope - others just need help making ends meet that week. I figured the title alone would more or less tell people if the book was relevant or not - "365 Ways to Live Cheap" makes it pretty clear what you'll find inside.

That being said, I think there are different goals for writing books for different people. Books are not a good money maker unless you sell a boatload of copies.

[Corporate Barbarian]

While I haven't written a book, I started my blog in part to capture some of my learning experiences at work. Writing does force me to do a self-examination, and this may indirectly help at the job. It does help reinforce my good habits.

[FMF]

Texashaze --

That's a post (or more) in and of itself. Google "how to get a book published" and similar terms and see what comes up. I'm sure there has to be lots of info out there.

For me, I've found a couple local self-published authors that I've taken to lunch and they've talked me through the basics.

[FMF]

Studenomist --

I have a post on blogging to get ahead coming up in a day or so. Stay tuned...

[Get Published TV]

writing a book is definitely a great career move. A book can give you great business exposure and also another income source. I loved the write up. it is interesting to think a book can help with a job interview lol.
Check out Get Published TV - episodes about writing and publishing your very own book http://www.GetPublishedTV.com