If you’ve read my book Authority! How Experts Just Like You Are Using Authority Books To Grow Their Influence, Generate Leads And Steal Your Clients (and probably even if you haven’t!), then you already know that a book is one of the most powerful positioning tools for a professional, whether you’re a coach, consultant, lawyer, accountant, financial adviser or any other kind of professional adviser who sells their knowledge, experience, and expertise.

You know that a book not only establishes your position as the “natural expert” in your field—the person everyone wants to work with, whatever it takes and however much it costs—it can also exponentially expand your audience.

Not only that, but it’s the single best way to get the attention of mainstream media outlets, influential pocasters and bloggers, and land paid speaking gigs.

There’s virtually no downside to writing a book.

Except that you do have to actually write it.

Now, if you don’t think of yourself as a “writer”, you might assume that the benefits are out of your reach, but there are ways to start your book even if you’re a self-confessed non-writer.

1. Repurpose. This is an easy and very popular option. The chances are you’ve already written hundreds, maybe even thousands of pages of content, so there is almost no writing involved. Or you may have hours of video and audio—your YouTube channel, client presentations, seminars, etc.—that you could get transcribed. You may need to edit for flow and to update ideas, but otherwise, you probably have a ready-made draft of your book sitting right on your hard drive. And before you start thinking, “Why would anyone pay for a book that’s just pulled from my blog/YouTube channel/etc.?” know this: People will pay for information that is organized in a way that makes their life easier, even if that same information is available for free elsewhere. In fact, Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net used this technique to publish his wildly popular “31 Days to Build a Better Blog.”
2. Interview others. What if you don’t have enough content to repurpose? No problem. A great way to create new content is to interview other people. This is a great way to build social proof, especially if you're relatively new in your industry. You could interview current and past clients and create a book that highlights how you've helped them (making your clients the hero in your marketing is a great idea by the way--after all, when you tell them they're in the book, what are they going to do? They're going to tell everyone about it!). Another possible group to interview is well-known figures in your industry--clients you'd like to work with,thought leaders, you could even interview your competitors! This provides a different sort of social proof: it puts you on the same level (in the readers' mon) as the people you've interviewed. FInally (and this is the sneakiest method of all), you could interview people you would like to have as clients. It's a great excuse to introduce yourself, and you're going to be asking them all about themselves. And what will they do after that? They'll ask you about you and your business, which is a perfect lead-in to a sales conversation.

3. Outsource. What if you just don’t have the time or the energy? Or if you're just not a "good enough" writer? One final option to consider is to hire a ghostwriter or book coach. This is a professional who works with you to create a book that is uniquely yours, with your ideas and your voice, so that you end up with a well-written book that has your name on it, all without typing a word.

Having a published book on your professional resume can work wonders for your business growth. It will bring you clients, expand your audience reach, and even attract some media. But it can’t do any of that if you don’t write the book in the first place. So take one of these ideas and get your book written. You won’t regret it.