Podcast 122: 7 Trends for Business Writers in 2020 (Part 1)

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You’ve probably heard it said that there are two things in life that are certain: death and taxes. I’d like to add a third thing that is certain: constant change in the writing and publishing world.

Or, you might say that the only thing that never changes is the fact that things are always changing!

This is the case in nearly every part of life and society today. We live in a time of upheaval and change. This is especially true in the world of writing, publishing, and content creation, especially when it comes to business.

Since we’re at the beginning of a new year, I thought it would be helpful to look at some trends I see on the horizon for this year. If we’re going to be effective in our communication, writing, and marketing, we must keep up with the changing times and be willing to do things differently.

But rather than seeing these trends as a threat, or in some other negative way … I believe they represent opportunities for reaching people in new and interesting ways. And like most things in life, our attitude and perspective will determine whether we embrace these changes and continue to grow … or whether we ignore these changes and become increasingly irrelevant.

So let’s dive in: 7 trends for business writers in 2020 (in no particular order). Fair warning: I’m breaking up this topic into two episodes. I’m committed to keeping these solo episodes short to respect your time. We’ll look at the first three on this episode, then the last four in the next episode.

1. Storytelling needs to be a major part of our communication and marketing.

Of course, this is nothing new. Humans have loved stories as long as humans have been able to communicate. It’s the way we process information and pass along our values. Stories are embedded in the way we make sense of the world and our place in history.

For example, have you noticed that many times, when you watch a commercial, it’s all about a story, but you only see the brand mentioned at the very end?

I think back to the commercials I remember watching as a kid. There was the one with the little kid and Mean Joe Greene, which featured Coca-Cola. Or the one with the son coming home on Christmas morning, that featured Maxwell House coffee.

The next time you watch television, notice that much of the time, they are telling stories that aren’t related to the actual product. There’s a reason for this: because stories engage our emotions.

This has a couple of implications for us as writers: First, we need to get better at telling stories. Second, we need to include stories in our communication. Did you notice how I just mentioned the commercials I watched as a kid? That was an example of including a story.

There are many great books on business and storytelling, but two essential ones are: The Story Factor (updated edition) by Annette Simmons, which talks about how to influence and persuade through stories, and Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller, which gives you a story-based marketing framework. Both are excellent.

2. Self-publishing options are getting better and more sophisticated.

Ten years ago, self-publishing was just getting started. Most self-published books were not very good. You would get a self-published book, and it would be in a three-ring binder, or maybe have a lot of typos, a bad cover, or otherwise just look unprofessional.

But Amazon, through KDP Print, has created a great opportunity for writers because you can easily make a high-quality book available to the whole world. And, their service doesn’t cost anything.

Now, you still need to hire an editor, cover designer, and pay for all the elements you would normally pay for with self-publishing, but Amazon itself doesn’t cost anything to use.

You can also use companies like Ingram Spark, which many self-publishers use, or you can go with a hybrid publisher such as Morgan James, which gives you distribution to bookstores and other traditional outlets, but allows you to keep your intellectual property.

So in essence, the stigma of self-publishing is quickly disappearing. In fact, if you do it right, a self-published book can be indistinguishable from a traditionally published book.

Additionally, the terminology has started to change. Instead of “self-publishing,” I actually prefer the term “independent publishing,” which really gets to the heart of why so many prefer that route—because you are independent of someone else having control over your creative work and intellectual property.

3. Authors must begin thinking like “author entrepreneurs.”

What do I mean by this? I mean that it’s not enough for you to just publish a book. You need to think of yourself not just as a writer, but as a business owner and entrepreneur. This means you need to think about creating a personal brand where books are only one part of your overall business or message.

A lot of writers are not comfortable with this. They just want to write books and leave the marketing and “business stuff” to others. But if you want to impact people in the deepest way possible, you need to embrace marketing and all the opportunities we have to build a business.

We’ll come back to this theme many times in future episodes.

Which of these trends excite you? Which intimidate you?