Self-publishing can help entrepreneurs self-promote

On TechCrunch, James Altucher writes that “every entrepreneur should self-publish a book”. He runs through the usual benefits of self-publishing—declining publisher advances, rapidity of going from manuscript to sale, better ability to market, higher royalty rate, and more control over how the book turns out—then gets to why entrepreneurs should do it.

Altucher sees self-publishing as a way that entrepreneurs can publicize their business in a way that stands out better than a business card or website. And entrepreneurs who blog will already have a collection of material that, properly edited and curated, can easily be turned into a book.

Amazon is an extra platform for you to market your blog. Or vice versa. You won’t make a million dollars on your book (well, maybe you will – never say never) but just being able to say, “I’m a published author” extends your credibility as a writer/speaker/entrepreneur when you go out there now to sell your book, syndicate your blog elsewhere or to get speaking engagements, etc. And when you do a speaking engagement, you can now hand something out – your book! So Amazon and publishing become a powerful marketing platform for your overall writing/speaking/consulting career.

He goes on to discuss how to self-publish and then market what you’ve self-published. “Writing guest posts for blogs like TechCrunch helps and I’m very grateful.”

This may seem a bit mercenary to people who just like to read (or, for that matter, just like to write), but it takes all kinds to drive a market. And if people should find they want to read what some entrepreneur or other puts down on electrons, who am I to say they’re wrong?