4 Signs You Are Ready to Add Author to Your Resume

4 Signs You Are Ready to Add Author to Your Resume4 Signs You Are Ready to Add Author to Your Resume These days its easier than ever to publish a book. With the advent of self-publishing, almost anyone with the dedication to commit fifty-thousand words to paper can add Published Author to their list of credentials, and theres no denying the impact that a book can have on your career. When was the last time you saw an expert interviewed on TV whose name wasnt listed alongside their book title?The book is often one of the final steps in establishing your position as an expert in your field , as a place where youve compiled your knowledge and research into one package that will hopefully help others. But with mora books in the market than ever before, its important to make sure that youre not writing the book for the sake of writing a book.A clear understanding of your goals for writing the book, as well as a strong author platform, will increase your chances of the b ook positively impacting your career. Think youre ready to take the leap? Read on to be sure.1. Youre already contributing content. If you arent already speaking regularly or writing articles on a given topic, its going to be an uphill battle to find the content to fill an entire book. More importantly, the demand for your content remains untested. Whether youre recording a podcast, writing blog posts, or building a social media following, its important to pay attention to the kind of content that your followers respond positively to before putting pen to paper. Which topics get the most shares, the most listens, the most downloads, etc.? Without that knowledge, youre taking a bigger gamble on your book than you need to.2. You understand your audience. Knowing your audience goes hand-in-hand with the testing of your content. Take advantage of whatever analytics you have access to. Pull demographic information from your social media accounts or through Google Analytics on your websit e to get a general idea of who is consuming your content.Take it a step further by surveying attendees at speaking events, responding to comments, or A/B testing content. What are the pain points your audience is experiencing? How are you helping them?A book is a large investment of time, and without really understanding what makes your audience tick, you cant guarantee theyll make the jump from short-form posts to buying and reading your book.3. You can answer 3 critical questions. Before you start writing, take some time to reflect. Thoughtful answers to these questions will not only motivate you to schliff the book but will also make the outlining and writing process much easier, as you can always refer back to them.4. You have a clear goal for the book. With all of these building blocks in place, the last step is to objectively identify your goal for writing a book. Yes, its nice to have a book on your resume, but how specifically will you leverage it?Are you hoping to charge mo re for speaking engagements? Do you want to get those coveted television interviews? Are you an entrepreneur, hoping the book will grow your business? Do you want to make an impact on peoples lives?Writing the book is only half the battle. Publishing and promoting your book well require time, dedication, and research. Clearly identifying your goal for the book should inform all your choices going forward, and there are going to be a lot of them. From which publisher to work with to your launch strategy, keep this goal front of mind to ensure everything ties back to supporting it.As CEO of Greenleaf Book Group, Tanya Hall drives the companys growth efforts and fosters a culture built around serving authors. Learn more about Greenleaf Book Group at www.greenleafbookgroup.com and connect on Twitter ( GreenleafBookGr & TanyaHall ) and facebook inc .