Local author also coaches other writers

Regardless of the industry, winning over and retaining consumers is the name of the game.

Writing coach and publisher Linda Culbreth said positioning oneself as an expert in a field can make an impression on a consumer. That inspired her to start Diamonds of Knowledge, her personal publishing label geared toward business writing.

"I work a lot with businesspeople," she said. "It differentiates people as a business. Having a book makes them the elevated expert."

She said it also makes an impression on competitors -- she's even got a customer who's become known in beekeeping circles as "the one who wrote the book on it."

"When you have your own book, it's a very personal thing," she said. "It's also a 24/7 marketing tool."

She said many businesspeople are intimidated by the prospect of writing a book, but it's a more accessible goal than people assume.

"If you're someone who gets asked a lot of the same questions over and over, that lends itself so well to a book," she said. "And then you have something tangible that you could put in people's hands."

Question-and-answer books, recipe books, sermon compilations -- Culbreth says there are ways for anyone to consolidate their working knowledge into a book.

"The goal is not to write the next great American novel or an Amazon best-seller," she said, though she has had e-books of her own that have spent time as best-sellers in their Amazon categories. "A lot of people think they've got nothing to say, when everybody's got a story."

Culbreth's first written piece was published in a magazine when she was 7, and she said she's been writing since. Her most recent book, "The Truth Is, My Only Recourse Is God," is one of more than 50 she's published. She also teaches workshops to those who need pointers before writing their book, but said often all a person needs is a push to get over writer's block.

Her services include publishing traditional books and e-books, which she says serve different purposes.

"Both require some of the same formatting, but sometimes it can be much more impactful to be able to place that paper book in their hands," she said. "That's something I do in teaching my students."

Ultimately, she encourages anyone with trade knowledge to make use of it.

"I think everybody's got a little nugget of knowledge that sparkles," she said. "And sometimes diamonds don't look like diamonds until they're polished."

tgraef@semissourian.com

388-3627