Publishing a Book Elevates Thought Leadership

[00:00:00] Surbhi Dedhia: Hello, Alinka. Welcome to The Making of a Thought Leader podcast. 

[00:00:05] Alinka Rutkowska: Thank you so much for having me, Surbhi, I am really excited. 

[00:00:08] Surbhi Dedhia: Me too. And you know, we have so much to talk about, so I'm going to allow us to dive straight into the podcast. So why don't you start by introducing yourself and what have you done through that you've come to this point in life?

[00:00:23] Surbhi Dedhia: So, take it away. 

[00:00:25] Alinka Rutkowska: Yes. Well, I'm here to help you guys get your books out and onto bestseller lists. And, uh, why would I be a good person to talk about that? I'm the CEO and founder of leaders press, where we help entrepreneurs during their book ideas into best sellers. We've, uh, gotten more than 500 entrepreneurs.

[00:00:48] Alinka Rutkowska: Published and 172 of them have become USA today and wall street journal bestselling authors, and we distribute the books into bookstores through our distribution partnership with Simon and Schuster. 

[00:01:03] Surbhi Dedhia: Wow. That is impressive. I really am impressed with the fact that so many of the books that you've published have actually got into, the best sellers list.

[00:01:15] Surbhi Dedhia: So that's wonderful. Alinka, I remember us talking about your book. How did you get started on this journey of publishing? 

[00:01:22] Alinka Rutkowska: I got started back in 2010 when I was still in the corporate world. And I felt like maybe there's something more to life than what I was doing at the time in, um, domestic appliances.

[00:01:35] Alinka Rutkowska: And so that was basically operations, operations activities within, um, domestic appliances. I thought maybe there's something more to life. So, I think I was going through a sort of quarter life crisis and I started writing the self-help books, sort of to get myself through the questions that I was having and some, um, doubts about, uh, what was going on in my life.

[00:01:59] Alinka Rutkowska: And then I discovered self-publishing somebody told me about it. And when I found out I. Like, this is for me. I don't need to ask anybody for permission. I can just go out there and publish the book. So that's what I did. And since I already had some background in marketing, I, probably also had some beginner's luck.

[00:02:19] Alinka Rutkowska: And the royalties from that first book brought me more than my corporate salary was bringing in at the 

[00:02:27] Surbhi Dedhia: time. 

[00:02:29] Alinka Rutkowska: So, what that's not to be expected now it's a lot of, you know, beginner's luck. It's not something you should expect, but it did happen for me. And that got me really excited about the possibilities of publishing.

[00:02:42] Surbhi Dedhia: Yeah. That's wonderful. And what is the name of So, your book? 

[00:02:47] Alinka Rutkowska: Well, that book that I don't really talk about anymore because I've produced much better stuff since I, but it's called Read Me, I am Magical. 

[00:02:54] Surbhi Dedhia: Oh, wow. And is it, is it the book about your own learning of getting, uh, understanding self-help and, areas that you were confused about?

[00:03:05] Alinka Rutkowska: Yes. Yes. Sort of, allowed me to gain perspective, on how to live. As I was working through it, going through many sources, there's a lot of, um, references to other sources because I was consuming a lot of material to put this book together.

[00:03:19] Alinka Rutkowska: Um, but there are some thoughts that recently I've been, coming back to, we started something with our team called Mindset Monday and, uh, every week a different team member goes through something related to mindset. And, I was, talking about meditation and how that's important to be a happy, balanced individual and, I thought that the best place where I've actually, found a good framework, was in that book.

[00:03:50] Alinka Rutkowska: So, I went back to that book and, used it to put together the benefits? Why meditation? what are the benefits? Where is it practiced? And, then the newer things that I've come up with suggesting practical exercise, et cetera. 

[00:04:05] Alinka Rutkowska: So, I did a good job there I think putting it together in a systematic manner, like you would maybe in a, master thesis dissertation. So, it's still useful even now. 

[00:04:16] Alinka Rutkowska: Yeah. It is interesting that you, connected back to master's dissertation because so many of us actually going through the process.

[00:04:25] Surbhi Dedhia: I mean, process, meaning the whole, thinking of what is the current situation? What is more that you want to add into that idea? And because dissertation has to be an original thought.

[00:04:37] Surbhi Dedhia: So that is something very interesting that you bring this up and I'm thinking, um, that's this book writing a book does it, does it involve a similar process of this? 

[00:04:50] Alinka Rutkowska: um, it does because the first thing we do we look at where the book will be in the marketplace. So which bookshelf, it will be on what will be the books next to it. So that's where we want to position it first. Then we put together the outline. So that's usually, that's something you do for a dissertation.

[00:05:07] Alinka Rutkowska: You don't just start writing random thoughts. You actually have a framework. And I think the best of the books have a framework. Then you've either adapted from something else, like more general and you've niched it down for your purposes or that you put together completely. So, there is a framework. I mean, if you're all over the place, that's not going to be a good read.

[00:05:28] Alinka Rutkowska: So, if you written a dissertation, you're a capable of writing a non-fiction book. 

[00:05:35] Surbhi Dedhia: Wow. That is attractive. And I think we are just getting started to go deeper into the topic where the next question that I have is really who should consider writing a book. In the business landscape, who do you think, should be writing a book, 

[00:05:50] Alinka Rutkowska: You know, in business, I think that whoever does not have a book is really missing out. Um, cause if you have a business, you probably want to grow it.

[00:06:00] Alinka Rutkowska: If you want to grow it, one of the best ways to get people in your world is through a book. Because people search for answers to their questions on Amazon. Amazon is a search engine, right? So, I want more referrals. I'm going to put how to get more referrals probably on Amazon. Uh, my credit card has already hooked up there.

[00:06:18] Alinka Rutkowska: I find that book that I want and I buy probably not one but five. And then I consumed them really quickly to find the answers to my questions. And if there's a link to go deeper and maybe work with somebody to help me, then I'll do that. And that's what business people do. Um, so if you don't have a tool like that, you know, your competitors will be sought out and not you.

[00:06:39] Alinka Rutkowska: And then it's also a lead conversion tool because once I read the book and then I go talk to somebody wanting to maybe work with them, they're already an authority in my eyes because they've written the book. So, I think that whoever, wants to have more credibility, more authority and more business, they need to have a book or they're really missing out.

[00:07:01] Surbhi Dedhia: Just playing a devil's advocate. Aren't there enough books already, right? Like, like there's so much content overwhelms that's happening and just so much to consume these days on the digital landscape. So, what do you think about, uh, this, part of everybody should write a book? 

[00:07:17] Alinka Rutkowska: I don't remember if he said it like hundreds more than a hundred years ago.

[00:07:22] Alinka Rutkowska: Everything has already been invented. Somebody said. Mean it hasn't everything already been invented. What else do you to invent? Right. Like we wouldn't be having this conversation over zoom. If everything had already been invented a hundred years ago. And just as, um, you know, thought moves forward, new ideas come forward.

[00:07:39] Alinka Rutkowska: There's always more and more content for books. There's always new thought. There are always new formulas, new ideas, there's something new and you know, some things are fads, like, you know, clubhouse So, Super-hot. I think like a year and a half ago or something was the thing.

[00:08:00] Alinka Rutkowska: Again, some books popped up on Clubhouse and now I don't see it anywhere. I think it’s; it was in that moment. I saw people being there like 16 hours a day out of their businesses there. That thing. I don't know where it's going to come back in some other version or something we know with the technology.

[00:08:19] Alinka Rutkowska: It's pretty volatile, but. There's always, um, there, so there's these, uh, oldies, but goodies, like, you know, psychology is something human psychology doesn't really change. So, if you're going to write about anything, that's based on that, um, then you're probably going to have an evergreen book and that's great, but things you keep learning, right?

[00:08:42] Alinka Rutkowska: So, you keep, you have more and more content to share. And like us as a publishing company, like we did a book called. Outsource your book, which is our lead generation book a couple of years ago. But now, you know, we've done so much more accomplished so much more. We're putting together more books out there because we want to share what we've accomplished.

[00:09:03] Alinka Rutkowska: So, there's more and more and more that you can, you can give. And I think in business, if you feel like you're doing something of value and you received that type of feedback from your clients, then that's a good indication that you should have a book. 

[00:09:18] Surbhi Dedhia: Yeah. That is actually a reasonable thinking in that sense. And also, when you were talking that everything is invented. Yes. But the context of it, when everything is invented, that was like in the past. And as you also mentioned that with technology and with the advancement of human race, there is a lot of different contexts now.

[00:09:40] Surbhi Dedhia: I said similar things like the word events, right? Like COVID actually changed a lot of things for a lot of people. And that is a new context. That is a new, a lens that they weren't aware and see the world with. So, in, in even business, uh, there is a lot changed because of COVID or, and because of, uh, digital transformation advancement.

[00:10:00] Surbhi Dedhia: So that is a lens people are going to see. And the same concept may have been written over like a thousand times, but probably now that lens has changed and they need a refresh on what others are thinking about the concept and therefore the book now, because even more interesting. 

[00:10:19] Alinka Rutkowska: Yes, absolutely. 

[00:10:20] Alinka Rutkowska: Super, super. Now that we have established that, you know, writing a book is really, important to build thought leadership, grow business and generate leads. Then how can individuals really showcase their expertise with the book? Like they just pour in all the ideas. I know we spoke about framework earlier, but how can individuals really begin, uh, with that thought process 

[00:10:44] Alinka Rutkowska: to showcase all their ideas, 

[00:10:47] Surbhi Dedhia: you know, if suppose I come to you and say, I have this idea about digital marketing and building thought leadership.

[00:10:57] Surbhi Dedhia: How do I start now building on this ideas and look, I mean, do you have a template framework or because you said you start from the end and then work backwards where this book is going to be placed and which is the book next to it. So how do I start on this journey? 

[00:11:15] Alinka Rutkowska: Right. So, there is no framework, one size fits all.

[00:11:19] Alinka Rutkowska: We don't even have several sizes. It's all custom. So, if you're writing about digital marketing first, once you position as the leader in your niche. So, we wanted to understand what your unique selling proposition is and how you are different from the others in your space basically. So, once we found that that's where we want to focus on.

[00:11:40] Alinka Rutkowska: So, we want to drill down, like, do you have a five-step process, uh, that you take your clients through? Maybe you have a 17-step process, like, we put together in our book, outsource your book. Maybe you don't have it in bullet points, but then we would encourage you to put it into bullet points and those might be the chapters for your book.

[00:11:59] Alinka Rutkowska: So that's like a process that you have, or maybe you are looking to share more of your journey and your legacy. And then we could look at, chronological perspective. So, where you came from and how you got to where you are, depending on what you want. These are two completely different books. So, the first one is really to grow your business.

[00:12:19] Alinka Rutkowska: The second one is to leave a legacy, something that you would want people to read to know who you were, after you're gone one day. So, those are the types of, frameworks that we develop and usually we're able to do it within one or two calls to brainstorm with you.

[00:12:36] Alinka Rutkowska: Cause it's already in your heads. It's just a matter of, you know, like, uh, we're looking at this block of wood and we just need to remove the excess pieces the excess of it to come to, to see the sculpture inside. Um, so that's what we uncovered during those sessions. 

[00:12:53] Surbhi Dedhia: That is so interesting. Take me through some of the examples that, you know, such individuals have come to you and you worked with, so that may be interesting for us to see probably both, both examples, right?

[00:13:07] Surbhi Dedhia: Like the legacy one, and also how to kind of books. 

[00:13:12] Alinka Rutkowska: Yeah. So, for the legacy one, we did a book for the co-founder of DHL international for a DHL's 50th anniversary, Mr. Proton. He didn't come with an idea. He came with a mind map and the mind map, if you printed it out, it was like something that you could put the pieces together, and it would occupy the whole floor of your living room.

[00:13:34] Alinka Rutkowska: So, it was so much in there and our job was really to make it more concise and interesting. People who are not interested in every minute of your life. They're interested in the exciting stuff, the turning points, um, the learnings. So that was our job there to work on that mind map and turn it into an outline.

[00:13:56] Alinka Rutkowska: And a lot of people come with some, uh, preparation. So. Um, it's unusual for somebody to come and say, you know, I want to write about digital marketing, but there's usually much, much more there. Um, either some sort of thoughts or some time or some outline or something written already that we can work with.

[00:14:15] Alinka Rutkowska: So, we turned that into something that will make a good book, make a good read. You know, we're thinking about the reader. We want them to read it. We want the book to be marketable and, um, for a lead generation book, a good example is our own book called outsource your book. It, uh, came to life based on an article.

[00:14:33] Alinka Rutkowska: I wrote an article for entrepreneur magazine called the 17 steps of, outsourcing your book or something like that. And then I thought, you know what? This is really brief. I could take each of these points and expand. So out of an article, we then put together the book. And if you've written an article where with bullet points, think about those, you might already have that mind me the outline of your book.

[00:14:58] Alinka Rutkowska: So, you might already have done it with realizing that you have.

[00:15:03] Surbhi Dedhia: Yeah. I think that that's a very important point that you're making because, these days it is so natural for most of us to kind of put down thoughts together by building our thought leadership, to talk about a certain, area that actually brings me to the point of what is the benefit of making it niche? Like, is there a merit of the book being so niche that it is like, you know, one of those books in that particular category, especially I'm talking from the business point of view, where some people may be like, in a, a very niche industry doing a very niche, kind of a role, uh, from the technical side of point, point of view.

[00:15:42] Surbhi Dedhia: So, is that marketable? Is that something exciting? 

[00:15:46] Alinka Rutkowska: But it's required. We work with Simon and Schuster and whenever we upload books to their system, we need to tell them exactly, which books they're similar to. So, when we upload a new book, we have to find other books done by Simon and Schuster. Other books done by us saying this book is similar to these books so that we can anticipate the sales it's.

[00:16:06] Alinka Rutkowska: Okay. So, this is probably going to sell like these other books here. Um, so it really is a requirement and, also there is no such thing as a book for everyone. If somebody comes in and says, who is the book for? Everybody. We're like, you know, we are not a good fit. We'll do books for everybody, for everybody means for nobody.

[00:16:24] Alinka Rutkowska: You need to be really clear what your target audience is. So, if you're, you know, digital marketing for young solopreneurs, in their twenties, who live in Canada. Okay. Niching down a little bit, too much, uh, and have a hamster. Now we're getting a little bit too much, but then if you're a digital marketer and you're 25 and you live in Canada and you have a hamster and you see that, you're like, oh, this is for me.

[00:16:57] Alinka Rutkowska: She wrote this book for me. Rather than this soup that fewer people will resonate with. And you want your target audience depending on your business.

[00:17:08] Alinka Rutkowska: Like there are businesses where you might have four clients and you're set, you're done. You just need to get to those clients. And that's, that's how you do it. The co-founder of DHL international, would never have been able to attract through our regular outreach. We have a very sophisticated, outreach machine where we reach out to people, but he has too many gatekeepers that, you know, when you have to go through one assistant and another one, he doesn't respond to his own email.

[00:17:39] Alinka Rutkowska: Um, you know, so, but he does like everybody else in the world go to Amazon and look for books that he wants. When I spoke to him the first time on zoom, he showed me the book and it had a sticker on the spine. And number two, he cataloged the book on his bookshelf. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. Our book on his bookshelf, what's in his library.

[00:18:05] Alinka Rutkowska: So, without the book there would've been no business with, the co-founder of DHL. 

[00:18:13] Surbhi Dedhia: Interesting. And also, I feel the book, it bears so much a weight. for example, once you are a published author, you can obviously introduce yourself as an author. There is a conversation starter, as well as like an authority builder there itself. You have to think about the last point, then work backwards.

[00:18:30] Surbhi Dedhia: You have to think about the audience. So, there is just so many elements to it. It is just not something that you have an idea and you want to write. 

[00:18:38] Alinka Rutkowska: Yep. That's it? 

[00:18:39] Surbhi Dedhia: Tell me about from your experience, what are some of the trends that you see, uh, that's happening in terms of book writing, as well as publishing?

[00:18:48] Surbhi Dedhia: What are some of the new things that are happening? 

[00:18:52] Alinka Rutkowska: For writing, I think there's a lot of opportunity for small books. We've been experimenting with these tiny, tiny books that we're doing that are like, this is something that we give if you have a person that you might want to refer to us, we would send them this book called the gift of your wisdom, which is tiny, but it's a really conveys the point.

[00:19:17] Alinka Rutkowska: So, if somebody's busy, it's, it's something that you're probably not going to throw out because it is a book. People have a hard time throwing books out, but you don't have to invest a whole day to read through it. You get the message really quickly. And you know, it's a call to action to start a conversation with us.

[00:19:34] Alinka Rutkowska: So, we're doing more and more of these for ourselves and for our clients as well. So, a shorter amount of time and you get the result really quickly. So, you have. Um, lead generator really, really quickly, as opposed to this book So, um, where do you want to put everything in? So that's one of the trends.

[00:19:52] Alinka Rutkowska: Another trend is, we've been, talking about digital marketing a little bit more and more digital content. So, audio books, eBooks, and audio books, more and more of those, you know, people love paper. We'll still love paper. When we get authors, they always want to paper back. I've never had somebody who said, oh, no, I don't care about paperback I millennials. Uh, no everybody wants a paperback, but you know, more and more is being consumed e-book in via audio book. Um, so that's important as well to have. And, I think that books are a little bit like psychology. They are not going away. Okay. So we can have all these new apps and all this new stuff and virtual reality.

[00:20:34] Alinka Rutkowska: No good old paper is here to stay. Yes. 

[00:20:39] Surbhi Dedhia: I could hear like that banging it is just a confirmation that it is not going anywhere. Yeah. I'm a big lover of books and I have a huge library as I read a lot as well. I think what you mentioned in terms of, the technology with audio books and eBooks and with so much of content overwhelm that we spoke about, like there's so much digital content, it just makes sense to have, to the point precise book, which is short, simple, and easy to consume. While paperback is definitely something that people want and to keep. It's probably going to that phase of, collector’s pieces. Only limited published, uh, copies, and then the rest is all available on e-book. 

[00:21:22] Surbhi Dedhia: So, um, tell me a bit more about the book marketing strategy. Like, do you from leaders press do that, or is it something that the author, um, before writing a book also has to think of.

[00:21:39] Alinka Rutkowska: We take care of, the whole process at leaders press. I like to call it an elegant solution. So, you come in with an idea and you come out with a USA today, or wall street journal, bestseller book in bookstores through Simon and Schuster distribution. So, we take care of everything, depending on what your goals are, at the first meeting we establish what those are and then we deliver on those.

[00:22:03] Alinka Rutkowska: So, it's a really, easy process for the authors. Like if you go to leaders, press.com and you watch the videos, what are the recurring themes is that this was so easy. I can't believe I got the, all these accolades without doing anything.

[00:22:17] Surbhi Dedhia: Very curiously, I want to ask you with all the AI coming in, do you think, if you input certain things, a book can come out of this whole AI, tool

[00:22:27] Alinka Rutkowska: yeah, so it already has. And, the accuracy is in some cases, astounding and scary even how it can be done. Uh, so now the algorithms are becoming more and more powerful and we have been experimenting with it a little bit. Like what we've done is we had the, the book that was written by our ghost writers.

[00:22:50] Alinka Rutkowska: We had. Uh, pieces of input into an algorithm so that it writes articles to be posted on various platforms. And we've actually did that as a, as a service and we had takers for it. So, you know, we are also experimenting there, um, for what we're doing right now and what our clients want.

[00:23:12] Alinka Rutkowska: Um, they want the books to be ghost written by humans. Their result that they're looking for is delivered right now, by humans. But there's definitely opportunity here and we're already playing with it. So, who knows we might have a service soon that will be book done by AI or your book, done by a human?

[00:23:39] Surbhi Dedhia: I will briefly that's up on this part of the life of a book. Like you mentioned that earlier. Uh, you know, clubhouse and people wrote so many things about clubhouse, but now it's like the trend has died off. So, does that mean the life of the book is dead as well? Like, I mean, it's not any more relevant.

[00:23:56] Surbhi Dedhia: So, when you're thinking about writing a book or when you are recommending thought-leaders, uh, to write a book, then it should be something which is more, livable in that sense. 

[00:24:09] Alinka Rutkowska: Yeah. So, you know, all the books on clubhouse, that's, clubhouse has gone, um, probably not doing very well, but then you just take it as a learning experience.

[00:24:19] Alinka Rutkowska: And the next one, you're going to write about something more substantial, such as, um, you know, what you learned from that maybe, or, you know, basically those strategies for glove house, there were some specific things that you needed to learn. Like when you want to talk, you need to turn on and turn off your microphone a few times so that the coasts can see, see that you're ready to talk and whatever other things going on.

[00:24:45] Alinka Rutkowska: Um, but most of it was also psychology, like, you know, value first. Okay. So first, you know, give value so that people can see as the authority. And then, um, you know, some business might come out of it, calls to action. So, um, you know, reset the room was something like, you know, every 10 or 15 minutes, uh, because people are coming in and out and remind them who you are and where they can go for more.

[00:25:10] Alinka Rutkowska: So, these are things that would be, you know, some are really specific, like the microphone. But others are much broader. So, um, if somebody came in and said, hey, you know, clubhouse, we would say, look what this was invented five minutes ago, the book will probably come out. You know, if we only want to do the full thing, it's going to be out in a year.

[00:25:31] Alinka Rutkowska: Sure, you want to write about that? Cause might be extinct. Let’s instead focus on, maybe your journey through social media from when you started to know. And maybe you were on my space and w what you were doing there and on Facebook and all the others mentioned them. And then let's, uh, pull out all the learnings.

[00:25:52] Alinka Rutkowska: And, do the book on that. So how do you market your business on any platform? No matter what the, differences are. A technological difference. How do you, what is the psychology behind it? How do you, cause it's all human interaction, you know, but there's no such thing as business to business.

[00:26:14] Alinka Rutkowska: It's two individuals talking to each other, having a relationship. So, when we so strip it, from all the superficial stuff surrounding at the core is really, Things that have been around for a really long time. So that's, what we want to do in order to make the books relevant.

[00:26:34] Alinka Rutkowska: And, um, very often if somebody comes in with an idea and we're able to reposition it into something that will be longer lasting. Although many of the entrepreneurs that we work with already come in with something that is a solid cause they come in with their careers and what got them to where they are.

[00:26:56] Alinka Rutkowska: So, there's always so much, you can pull out from that so that people can, uh, learn. Yeah, that 

[00:27:03] Surbhi Dedhia: is interesting. And I think listeners of the show are, talking about building their thought leadership. They want to, uh, build a thought leadership and through the episodes I've seen, uh, to encourage all these people, to build their thought leadership.

[00:27:17] Surbhi Dedhia: And I think what you're saying is so relevant. even if there's nothing else, only your life story can be relevant to so many people because they may take inspiration from your career. So, yeah, it's an interesting point to note and think about that. If that is something exciting that you would like to write a book on and, uh, yeah, they should contact you.

[00:27:39] Surbhi Dedhia: Another, point I was thinking is that, the timeline, right? Like from the point you decide that you have a book in mind and you get connected. how long does it take to actually see it published and. Then following the bookshelves and the awards and accolades, 

[00:27:57] Alinka Rutkowska: if it's a big-time block, um, the so-called legacy piece or a really solid business piece we're looking at almost a year.

[00:28:08] Alinka Rutkowska: So that's in order to get the book out and get it into the systems, pre-orders, presales. And then into bookstores. The bookstore part is the one that takes some time because, Simon and Schuster is a traditional publisher. And for this part they need a specific, timeline. So, the books need to be like, we tell them about the books that will be on sale, like six months beforehand, almost.

[00:28:33] Alinka Rutkowska: So, we need to know. What's coming in and what the title is, what the cover is, what the competing titles are already, so that they can propagate that and start pre-selling. So that will be almost a year for that, but for the shorter books that are meant to be leads gen only, where we slap them onto Amazon and, don't do the traditional distribution. Then we could be done in as little as three months. So, a couple of interviews get that written, get that out. And you have a lead generation tool. 

[00:29:03] Surbhi Dedhia: super. I think that is, that is interesting to know as well. And from a marketing stand point of view, what is the life cycle?

[00:29:09] Surbhi Dedhia: Right? Like once the book is published, there are different avenues to market and probably you can highlight one of the main avenues that you recommend, or you, you and your team go after and then how can it sustain? Let's consider a mid-point, like six to eight months to come out with a book and then, just to sustain that another six, eight months of marketing, what should a potential author be thinking about? Like, what should be the expectation? 

[00:29:36] Alinka Rutkowska: Yeah. So, there's the initial launch where there's a lot of buzz and a lot of marketing. And, you know, if it's a USA today bestseller, then you know, there's just a lot going on and you want to leverage that capitalize on that. Enjoy the benefits of it. And then, the book becomes a tool in your toolbox, really. So, when it's up to me as well for online sales and it is when we do it, then when people search for it pops up on top and what we do to help that is we'll continue running Amazon ads for it, so that, you know, it really works almost as an employee in your team, on your team.

[00:30:12] Alinka Rutkowska: You know, always there, if somebody is looking for an answer, um, then we recommend that you use the book or have another book as a, lead magnet on your website. So, you know, you want to have people's email addresses for email marketing, which is a big thing. Then you, you know, you probably want to give them something else.

[00:30:30] Alinka Rutkowska: If they find you on Amazon, you want their email. You have to send them somewhere else. You can give them the same book. They have to give them something else could be a checklist, could be a quiz, could be anything. But another book is really valuable too. So, we really recommend, uh, capitalizing on that.

[00:30:46] Alinka Rutkowska: And using that in your ads, for example, or if you're doing maybe JV partnerships with people, you can have, those partners send their audience to your, um, page where they can download your book. So, it becomes a, an integral part of your funnel and of your business. 

[00:31:04] Alinka Rutkowska: One of the parts that's the most, uh, that has the highest return on investment. For example, the book that we did outsource your book, brought us extra six figures in six months, and now we're way into seven figures, just because of that book and, what is doing to attract clients. 

[00:31:23] Surbhi Dedhia: Yeah interesting. And you said that, um, it, it comes into a funnel now when there is an individual person, like I'm talking really about an entrepreneur who started his business doing well, um, you know, kind of going to the next level of becoming a midsize from, um, entrepreneurship level.

[00:31:40] Surbhi Dedhia: Those are the people who have so much experience they've done it themselves. They have experience in the industry. Now, should they be writing a book that can benefit their organization, their company, or should they be writing a book, about themselves, for their own, branding and building thought leadership?

[00:31:59] Surbhi Dedhia: What do you think? 

[00:32:00] Alinka Rutkowska: It depends on their goals. So, it depends on the goal. So, for example, we have our, People on the sales team, write they're small books, right? They're short books because that increases their authority. You know, in the past, people wanted to talk only to me, um, because you know, your sales guys, they didn't, you know, they're not authors well, now they are.

[00:32:20] Alinka Rutkowska: And we went through our process and they can very well, walk you through everything the same way I, I can because you know, the only way to scale is, with other team members, you will always have 24 hours. And you can decide, okay, I'm not going to sleep. That's not going to work for very long.

[00:32:35] Alinka Rutkowska: So, the only way to do it is to give your team the power, um, that you have really. So that's what we're doing. And, uh, if somebody comes in working in a corporation and they, maybe they want to pivot and become a consultant, then they would want to write about themselves. And that would allow them to build their authority. For a solopreneur doing their thing where they would see a significant improvement in their business is if they wrote answers to the questions that their audience has. So not so much about yourself and how awesome you are, that will come out, but about, oh, we were talking about referrals. Okay. What is your system for referrals? Well, give it away, give it all away. And don't be afraid that somebody will just take, take it and run with it. Okay, good. You helped somebody in their business, but many people will say, okay, well, this looks like a lot of work. I'd like to hire you to do it for me.

[00:33:34] Alinka Rutkowska: Because you know, you know what you're talking about. I read in your book. I see, you know what you're talking about and. I think that could, that can be a game changer for a lot of solopreneurs and bigger businesses as well. 

[00:33:46] Surbhi Dedhia: Wow. That is so insightful. And I think very, uh, to the point in sense of how people should really have the mindset.

[00:33:55] Surbhi Dedhia: To actually give and educate others of what they know. So, yeah, I think that is very important. In fact, on this show itself, there was an episode on how you can create a create content that can stand out. And in that I'm saying that you should give, give away first show value, and then, people will always come to you because of your individual style and attention, to the work that you're doing. So obviously there is that uniqueness, uh, in building thought leadership that you can bring by giving away first. Interesting. All right. I think Alinka, I have had such fun talking to you, with all these different areas of writing a book and becoming a published author. I want the audience to know where they can reach you, and if you have any other things to share, with us? 

[00:34:43] Alinka Rutkowska: Fantastic. Well, the best place to go is leaders, press.com/discover. You're going to go through a one minute quiz that will tell you which book you should write. It should be a short book. Should it be a big book?

[00:34:56] Alinka Rutkowska: Should it be a legacy piece? or a business book? So, one minute quiz you're going to know. And you're also going to get an audio book version of outsource your book. Cause I know you like to listen and that will explain how you can outsource every step of the book creation process. So that's at leaderspress.com/discover/

[00:35:14] Surbhi Dedhia: awesome. And where they can get in touch with you. Are you on LinkedIn or? 

[00:35:19] Alinka Rutkowska: Yeah, go to LinkedIn Alinka, Rutkowska. But when you go through that funnel and you'll get an email from me and they can reply to that, then we'll be in touch. 

[00:35:28] Surbhi Dedhia: Oh, awesome. Thank you so much Alinka, I think this was very helpful and insightful.

[00:35:33] Surbhi Dedhia: I'm sure our audience will love it. And I enjoy talking with you, like always. So, thank you for coming on the show. 

[00:35:41] Alinka Rutkowska: Surbhi, delighted to be here.