The power of books as content marketing

You cannot beat the feeling of a book coming out.

“It means more to know that I’ve helped someone write a book and become a bestseller,” says Mitali Deypurkaystha, with an explosion of energy.

Ghostwriter turned international bestselling author and vegan book expert, Mitali Deypurkaystha, aka ‘The Authority Creator,’ transforms vegan business leaders and entrepreneurs into thought leaders by becoming published authors.

“More than writing my own book. It’s like having children, I’ve nurtured them, watched them grow and become a best seller. I’m so proud of each of them.”

Of course, with any work, there are parts that consume more energy than others but Mitali sees this as part of the process with both her own business and that of her client’s writing.

“For amateur authors, one of the big mistakes they make is the consistency of the writing,” explains Mitali.

“For example, they will use “two” in one part of the manuscript and the numerical two in another.

“Publishing houses would not dream of publishing an inconsistent book. Even down to the spaces and how you set out your bullet points. All of this matters when it comes to publishing your book.”

And this is why Mitali wants to share her expertise so that business owners can make an impact with a book that reflects the quality of their work. Something they can do while also maintaining a level of creative freedom through using the self-publishing route.

Mitali knows her students’ books so well because she meticulously goes through each book.

“You get the same level of quality through working with me that you would with traditional publishing,” says Mitali.

Process of coaching versus writing for yourself

“I’d say half of my students trust the process. Yet all coaches and consultants will experience this,” explains Mitali, “that some clients will think they know better. You think why did you hire me when you want to do it your way anyway?”

“I’ve created a process that is the easiest process to get a non-fiction book into a finished form. I can’t help with fiction books and have no idea if my process works for that. It only works if you follow it in the right steps.

Mitali compares the book-writing process to following a recipe.

“If you are making a meal, would you do step five before step two? You wouldn’t. You’d end up with an inedible mess. A recipe analogy really helps people see why they need to follow my steps in the way I set out.”

“I have one student who I told needed a final check of her manuscript before going to the typesetter. I wanted her to check the content was in the right sequence of learning. Typesetters will do as many edits when it comes to design.

“If you ask them to change content — they will charge more. This client decided there was a big section of chapter one that had to go to chapter five.

“I even have a video that shows step-by-step what to do. Plus they get weekly coaching with me. You cannot go wrong. But it happens.

“I know that my process works. I’ve written eight books now, seven as a ghost-writer, one as an author. My first book took 20 months to write. The last one took less than six weeks because of the process I created.”

Lessons

Learning how to phrase things is important and one of the lessons that Mitali has brought to her work.

“Using that example of a recipe is one of the ways I’ve learned to phrase my process better. This helps business owners understand what they need to do to write a book.”

One of the other lessons Mitali brings to our conversation is that of learning who you don’t want to work with as much as who you do.

“I get people who want to journal,” says Mitali. “There are coaches for that — I am not your coach. I am the coach that gets the job done. If you want a book that raises your visibility, that takes you to the next level, will get you booked for speaking events and podcasts. If you want a book that will market you and your business and you need to get it done — I am the coach for it.”

While it’s okay to write a book for a cathartic reason — and many people work with Mitali who have this as their goal — she is clear that you need to be super clear on what your business goal is for writing your book.

Writing with a mission

For Mitali, working with vegan, ethical and sustainable business owners is part of her own mission and the values for her company.

“It’s great that there are so many sustainable and vegan businesses but the ones who seem to do well are not necessarily vegan. It made me think that is a missed opportunity. We are on a precipice of the world becoming vegan-mainstream but the voices pushing this forward are not always vegan themselves.

“Many vegan and sustainable entrepreneurs do not know how to get visibility for their products and services. That is a motivation for me.”

Writing a book will give you a platform — when it comes to sustainable businesses this means you have a wider platform where you can do more good in the world.

Is this for you?

Mitali’s Is This For You page is an inspired piece of content on her website. It is about who she does not want to work with and as Mitali explains, “of course it is important to want to leave a legacy, it is why I work with vegan and sustainable entrepreneurs. They have a mission beyond making a profit. No one is vegan for selfish reasons.”

It is important for people to put themselves into their book else you have a textbook. People want to know about you, your mission and your message. However, there are also people who do too much of this. It becomes self-indulgent. This rarely translates to people leaving five-star reviews.

Most people pick up a non-fiction book because they want to see a result. They want to change their way of thinking, action or improve something. Or bring a new dimension into their lives. There is an element of personal growth happening.

If your book is all about you and self-indulgent, you are not helping that reader feel transformed by the end of the book — you will not get a good reception.

It’s always interesting to read reviews, especially when they say it could have been covered in 50 pages and went on for too long.

“Put yourself into it sparingly,” advises Mitali. “This is why I’ve put this page in. I want to outline who I don’t want you to be and it has pushed people away.

“I want to get to a stage where I go to a summit where there are vegan authors on stage talking about the impact we can make in the world. I want to see vegans representing what we stand for.”

Vegan leadership

Those in leadership positions are authors. It is why they are leaders. You get visibility through publishing a book.

“I’ve seen business owners who turn into leaders because they have become an author.”

If we want to change how people see vegan businesses, to change the belief that sustainable business needs to be solely not-for-profit, and to show a better way to do business then we need to be more vocal about it.

“Words are how you show up in the world. They make people want to buy from you or not.”

Books as a powerful piece of content

There are two reasons why books are crucial. Firstly, writing a book will set you apart. Most business owners have a website, business cards, and social media. Yet, very few business owners invest their time into writing a book. This is what will differentiate you from having to compete and to instead be visible.

Secondly, books are a shortcut to being visible. What you do on social media is raise your visibility and raising your authority. You win at social media by demonstrating how good you are rather than telling them.

Imagine compiling this all into one book and the reach become exponential.

“This is why I believe writing a book is so clever. I was stumped when you asked which vegan business leader hasn’t written a book because that is why they are leaders — because they wrote a book/ I call it a fire starter. It ignites what you are doing.

We live in a world overloaded with information. We value books more than what is written online. Most people are tired and social media becomes noise. Writing a book now is more important.

As soon as you say ‘author’ people think ‘proper expert.’ It is not just someone shouting on social media because everyone on social media is an expert on something.

What you do with the book afterwards is important as well. You can give the book away for free — you can cover your costs with postage. It will allow you to amplify your message and value in the marketplace. It makes you stand out. You’re giving value rather than selling information.

We have the belief that if there is information in a book, then it has more value. It has been researched and verified — it is not simply someone on the internet. These are all ways in which we want our content to be seen.

Ideal point of writing a book

From experience, most people will plateau before writing a book. They will go to conferences, see people on stage and wonder why they are not speaking on stage. They want to hit the thought-leader status.

How many thought-leaders do you know who is not a published author? To get to that point, you need to consider writing a book. Yet, you do not need to wait until you are at this point.

At any stage, you have the courage to write a book. If you are starting out, there may be imposter syndrome. However, if you have the courage you will reap the benefits from doing this at the outset.

“I had a client who had his own business for 8 months when he approached me. I know most people would think this was not enough experience. He didn’t care and was very self-assured. As a result, within two years, he was in the top three highest-earning coaches in his state. He was charging more than his competitors despite being in business for less time.

“I will always ask: are you creating transformation for your client with your product or service? If the answer is yes, you have enough to write a book. Else you are only imposing rules on yourself. That is on you, No one else is judging you on that. So you need to get out of your own way and write the book. You can help more people as a result.

“You need to have helped at least one person before you write a book. It is about demonstrating expertise and authority. If you are telling but not showing results, then why should they believe you?

Blogs as a book

There is nothing wrong with using blogs to construct a book but there is a difference between reusing and repurposing. You see people chuck all their blog posts together as a book — that is re-using.

Yet, there is an art to creating a book. You need flow and structure. You can use blog posts, social media, podcasts, videos. All we are doing in a book is what we do on social media: demonstrating expertise.

Is now the time to write a book? If you want to build your career and profile as a thought-leader, a book is an essential part of that journey. To build authority within your field. And as Mitali shows with her framework, it is not something that needs to take years or be reserved for further in your business.