Why Every Infopreneur Must Read Books
- ARTICLES |
Infopreneurs turn words into wealth. They do this by taking words (raw data) and turning it into meaningful, useful, valuable content that others want, and are willing to pay for.
It follows that any infopreneur with access to more words, or more data, has a better chance of creating more wealth. And the data that you can turn into information comes from various sources.
You get news and recent updates from newspapers. You get opinions and deeper features from magazines. You get in depth reviews and comprehensive analyses of a topic from books. And when you read books, you get more data than other infopreneurs - which gives you a competitive edge over others.
Read Books for Information
When you read books, think like an infopreneur. On one level, you are gathering information on your subject which you may use in your own writing. On another level, you are analyzing and archiving things like background, context, historical data, industry trends and other niche-specific material which will be of value when you create your own infoproduct.
Read Books for Ideas
Another dimension to keep in mind while you read books is to get ideas - or better still, twists or advanced versions or contrarian stances on the ideas shared by the author you are reading. It is always easier to come up with a unique angle or slant on an idea someone else has touched or elaborated upon than coming up with a completely new one on your own.
Read Books for Market Research
While you read books, see how they are written. What audience levels they are targeted at. What content seems to be most frequent. Observe and take note of things like typesetting, language, grammar, and other things that give you broad indications as to the kind of market the content is targeted at.
Also remember things like the section in your bookstore you picked up the title from, or where you first heard about the book you're reading - that gives you a sense of how the book is being marketed, and therefore the intended reader demographics.
Read Books for Structure Planning
If you are not sure how best to plan and layout your book, you should go out and read books written by others in your niche. Look at how the subject is covered. What chapter headings do they use? How long is each chapter? What size paragraphs are common? Are the words long and complex, or simple and easy to understand?
Read Books for Style
Your writing style will be unique to you as an author and infopreneur. Still, it helps to read books in your niche to see what style is most often adopted. You can use a ponderous, lecturing style more appropriate for Ph.D. graduates while writing to 6-year old school children - and vice versa.
Read Books for Quotes
When you read books that share some powerful insights, you can also quote sections from it in your work. This lets you also point out inadequacies or fallacies in their arguments and views, expand on areas where they are not explicit, and position yourself against the other - by providing a platform to be compared against.
And if your own work is not very content-loaded, you could beef it up by inserting many clippings from other work and commenting on it. Some of the best business review titles and newsletters work on this model and are very profitable.
So keep all this in mind when you read books. The way an infopreneur will read books is different from the way a consumer will read books. Be sure to wear both hats and see the book from both angles - as a writer, and as a reader.
Time Management - Prioritize With a Day Planner
It follows that any infopreneur with access to more words, or more data, has a better chance of creating more wealth. And the data that you can turn into information comes from various sources.
You get news and recent updates from newspapers. You get opinions and deeper features from magazines. You get in depth reviews and comprehensive analyses of a topic from books. And when you read books, you get more data than other infopreneurs - which gives you a competitive edge over others.
Read Books for Information
When you read books, think like an infopreneur. On one level, you are gathering information on your subject which you may use in your own writing. On another level, you are analyzing and archiving things like background, context, historical data, industry trends and other niche-specific material which will be of value when you create your own infoproduct.
Read Books for Ideas
Another dimension to keep in mind while you read books is to get ideas - or better still, twists or advanced versions or contrarian stances on the ideas shared by the author you are reading. It is always easier to come up with a unique angle or slant on an idea someone else has touched or elaborated upon than coming up with a completely new one on your own.
Read Books for Market Research
While you read books, see how they are written. What audience levels they are targeted at. What content seems to be most frequent. Observe and take note of things like typesetting, language, grammar, and other things that give you broad indications as to the kind of market the content is targeted at.
Also remember things like the section in your bookstore you picked up the title from, or where you first heard about the book you're reading - that gives you a sense of how the book is being marketed, and therefore the intended reader demographics.
Read Books for Structure Planning
If you are not sure how best to plan and layout your book, you should go out and read books written by others in your niche. Look at how the subject is covered. What chapter headings do they use? How long is each chapter? What size paragraphs are common? Are the words long and complex, or simple and easy to understand?
Read Books for Style
Your writing style will be unique to you as an author and infopreneur. Still, it helps to read books in your niche to see what style is most often adopted. You can use a ponderous, lecturing style more appropriate for Ph.D. graduates while writing to 6-year old school children - and vice versa.
Read Books for Quotes
When you read books that share some powerful insights, you can also quote sections from it in your work. This lets you also point out inadequacies or fallacies in their arguments and views, expand on areas where they are not explicit, and position yourself against the other - by providing a platform to be compared against.
And if your own work is not very content-loaded, you could beef it up by inserting many clippings from other work and commenting on it. Some of the best business review titles and newsletters work on this model and are very profitable.
So keep all this in mind when you read books. The way an infopreneur will read books is different from the way a consumer will read books. Be sure to wear both hats and see the book from both angles - as a writer, and as a reader.
Time Management - Prioritize With a Day Planner