Writing a Book to Help Build Influence
In this month’s series of posts, we’re exploring the effectiveness of materials outside of photography. We’ll give you tips on how to increase your outreach using materials from different mediums ranging from visual to printed. Take a look in the following post to see how investing the time to write a book can improve your integrated communications program and help you to build influence.
By Dr. Tami Hausman
So you’re an architect, and you design buildings, but you want to…write a book? Well, you’re in good company. Throughout history, architects have a rich tradition of writing and publishing. Think of The Ten Books of Architecture by Vitruvius or The Four Books of Architecture by Andrea Palladio. In more recent times, some of the busiest architects have been the most prolific – such as Le Corbusier or even Rem Koolhaas.
Writing a book is, admittedly, a big undertaking. In a world of texts and tweets, it can seem a bit anachronistic (you might be asking: does anyone actually buy books anymore, much less read them?). Well, they do, and the time that you put into writing a book can be well worth the payoff.
Books make a great part of your integrated communications program and help you to build influence by establishing your firm’s position in the marketplace. They can also increase your brand awareness, be a strong sales and marketing tool that generates new prospects, and set you apart from your competition – through your design, ideas, approach, people, etc.
We at Hausman LLC are big advocates for the printed page. We also believe that – for greatest effect – you must be strategic. So, before you get started, here are some of the things that you’ll want to have in place:
Your reason for writing the book. A book is a big investment in time, money and resources. So you need to be clear about why you’re doing it: do you want to celebrate a milestone, such as an anniversary, highlight an area of specialty, or talk about a proprietary approach or process? These are all good reasons, but you need to pick one, and then stick to that decision.
Your topic and format. Many books by or about architects are monographs. Monographs are extremely useful, as they can put you on the proverbial map. They are good ways to demonstrate that you have a strong portfolio of work, or that you have been in business for a specific length of time. But consider this: you also write a book about a particular project type in which you excel; one standalone, great project; or even an industry trend. You’ll also want to think about the size of the book and its format.
Your timeframe. Books can take a long time to write, design, edit, print and publish. So be sure that you plan ahead. Even if you assign one person to the project, you will invariably need a good, concentrated team of people to get the job done. You’ll also need to factor in a lot of principals’ time. Before you start, make sure you clear the decks.
Your authors. A book can be written by one person or many people. You may already have some content on hand but, in most cases, you’ll need to generate a lot of new text. Someone will have to fill in the gaps. You can enlist a team of people on your staff, write it yourself, or hire a ghostwriter.
Visual material, including – but not limited to – photography. Whatever kind of book you write, you’ll need visual material. It is best to have this on hand before you start. So, if you need to dig through your archives and scan old images, then don’t delay. If you need to create new presentation materials or new renderings, get them started before you set the wheels in motion. You don’t want the images to hold up production.
Your publisher. There are a number of different publishers from which you can choose. Some of the most common include: Images Publishing Group, Oro Editions, Princeton Architectural Press, The Monacelli Press, and Wiley. They all have different fee structures and conditions, so take the time and do your research to find which one is the best fit.