book. A book is what establishes a consultant as authoritative and raises their visibility about the competition. Ashley Welch and Justin Jones were in this predicament. They had taken their sales consulting firm, Somersault Innovations, to a high level, but they were not standing out until they wrote their book. This got them a speaking slot at Dreamforce, where they signed AT&T as a client. Kirk Drake owned a successful consulting firm that helped credit unions learn to market and sell better. He was doing fine, but it wasn’t until his book came out that he was able to command high six-figure fees and sign the biggest credit unions in the industry. Joe Mechlinkski used his two bestselling books, Grow Regardless and Shift the Work, to sign major Fortune 500 clients and be named the EY Entrepreneur of the Year. For a consultant, a book is the best marketing you can do. 2. PAID SPEAKING One of the major ways to make money from a book is through speaking engagements. It’s challenging to become a professional paid speaker without a book. People have started speaking careers without books of course, but almost all professional speakers eventually write a book; and when they do, the fee they can command usually triples. John Ruhlin is a terrific example. He was a successful corporate gifting expert but was only able to charge about $5K for an engage- ment. He published Giftology, and now regularly books keynotes for $30K or more. This is because a book is a credential for a speaker. It’s a basic 386 · ThE SCriBE METhOD