IC TRAVEL AGENT May 2014 | Page 21

A Book Is the New You know you’ve always wanted to write one. Everybody has it in their mind to do so. Fact is, it’s not that easy to write a best seller and then you have to wonder who would be interested in reading about you out of the 7 Billion people on the planet. But then, hold on. This is a book of a different nature. This is a book about travel, your travels, your client’s travels… how to book this and that and more! And this book, or books once you get to grips with the concept, becomes your NEW business card. Keep your business cards and hand them out when you get the chance. They are two-sided with limited information unless you go to those 5 panel jobbies. As you look at that box of business cards, think about handing out, sending out, posting an e-book and using that book as your calling card. The word author elevates you for some reason and probably because of the above introduction – everyone wants to write a book and so few do. Well they start but never finish. The book you can write does not have to be a 300 pager – it can be a 30 pager and very focused. Topics For your first topic you could actually write about your own travels and use some of those amazing images that you shot. Think about it: one glorious image on one page and your text on the opposite page. It’s the imagery that will capture the eyes of the reader first and then the excitement builds as they read about your adventures and experiences. The Reason for Writing Our focus in IC Travel Agent is always about generating income – so we meaning you, need a reason for writing. The reason is to boost your sales. This means you’ll need more than one call to action requesting your reader to “Call Me to discuss your trip to this very spot!” One Book or Many? No need to give it all away in one shot. One book could fill 100 pages as you describe your travels. If you’ve travelled far and wide then you could still be writing come page 822! I can tell you from experience – your reader won’t make it that far. Those who know, tell us that an eBook (of this type) should be about 10 – 20 pages and that’s it. Following that advice, you could set yourself a goal to write a cruise eBook, a touring Europe eBook or a book about the top three adventures you have enjoyed the most. The New Business Card The concept here is to promote yourself using the eBook format which as the title of this page suggests, becomes your calling card. It’s the new business card that you send out to your clients and post on your website. Now a Famous Author! Today you can publish your own books and eBooks without any editor or publishing house telling you NO! As soon as you publish your first eBook, you are an author. Not well known yet, but you could be. Market yourself the right way and a publishing house could knock on your door. In the meantime – write, publish, promote yourself as an author, use your eBooks as business cards and generate new sales.