Self Publishing To Enhance Your Career

Positioning yourself as an expert in your field takes time, and there is no better way to do it than to write and publish your own book. Here are a few ways to tackle that project, and to promote your work and yourself along the way.

Establishing Yourself

Obviously you are passionate enough about your subject that you want to write a book about it. Is it also the kind of thing that might make for a good class at your local community college, or an interesting lecture series for a local organization? Would you r chosen subject make a great website that includes a forum section where other interested parties can discuss your pet subject? The key is to be as diverse as possible, and ti disperse your information in as many forms as you can. Often, for instance, local early morning television interview programs are on the lookout for people to bring into the studio and interview. Once you have gotten you book and other materials together, consider hiring a publicist at least on a limited basis to get these kinds if promotional gigs.

Employment

If it is appropriate for the field you are in, you may want to hang out your shingle as a consultant. Depending on where your expertise lies, you may be able to create anywhere from a great to fabulous income from this alone. Hopefully by now your book, lectures, and interviews have place you solidly as an expert in your field. From there, you will need to find a way to drum up the consulting work. Business cards, brochures, and even cold calling are some of the ways to get the ball rolling, if need be, though perhaps by now you regarded as such an expert that your potential clients are calling you!

If you are not quite there yet, you should make it a point to find employment in your field if at all possible. If your book is not yet complete, you will learn more about your field this way, and if it is, you can use it to help secure employment.

Promotion

As we've been suggesting so far, a multi-tiered approach is what is called for if you really want to reach expert status in your field. Start to consider yourself a writer, call yourself a writer, and always be looking for ways to increase the profile of your work. If a publicist is out of your price range at this point, you will have to pick up the phone and do the work yourself. Create an interesting press release and send to any local journalists you feel might be interested in picking up you story. Keep an eye out for any networking functions you feel can help your cause and attend them if at all possible.

Binding Your Book

If you are indeed self-publishing, you would do well to consider purchasing your own thermal (hardcover) binding machine. They are fairly inexpensive and remarkably easy to use. Some other advantages are that you will only have to print the number of books that you actually need at any given time, and that you can update and make changes to your manuscript at will. There are countless options also as far as size and color of covers, so you will always have the flexibility that you need.