I can recall, to this day, the thrill I felt when my first book was published back in 1985. Since then nothing else has compared to that moment. And now with almost 20 books in print and countless hundreds of articles published, I have become quite blasé about my books. But nothing will ever make me undervalue their effect on me, on my life, on my reputation, my career and my self-confidence.

You may be passionate, experienced or learned in a particular area, but until you have published a book, you will not feel that your work has proved its value. Instinctively, most of us do not want to keep our knowledge to ourselves. We want to tell the world, we want other people to be able to share what we know. We want to see our thoughts and ideas on the printed page, and better still, on the shelves of a bookshop.

My first book was a cookery book, entitled French Tarts. I was not an experienced cook, but I had conceived an original idea and a catchy title. The first publisher I approached agreed to publish it. All I had included, in my original communication with the publisher, Octopus, was a one page letter outlining my idea. I did not let on that I had never had an article, let alone a book published before. Once they had communicated their interest, my next step was to submit a contents list and three sample recipes. And within a few weeks I had a contract. Only the contract obliged me to sell the outright copyright for the book and, being a novice, I was too keen to be published and did not much care that I had relinquished future rights. When the book was later reprinted in Australia, translated into French and sold in France, I kicked myself.

Along the way I have learned so much about being published by other publishers. I saw many of my computer handbooks being published by giants such as Macmillan and McGraw-Hill. I sold a book called How to Get There From Gatwick to British Caledonian airlines (now British Airways). I wrote and published in-house manuals and then, in 1995 started to publish my own books under my own imprint Summertime Publishing. As you know, A Career in Your Suitcase 2, is my fourth title, but there is also a cookery book, entitled Dates, on my list.

It’s funny, that even though I have no cookery qualifications, people believe that I can cook, simply because I have written two books on the subject. I created a number of successful businesses in computer training and people signed up because they knew I was a published computer author. And now I speak about portable careers, and my books stand as proof that I am an expert.

Nothing has helped my businesses more than being able to show potential clients that I have already been published on the subject. And now that I publish my own titles, the fact that no third party publisher had chosen to invest in my work, and that I had produced them myself, has not lessened their impact.

No matter what business you may be involved with, there is little doubt that you would benefit from having some of your work in print. Find an outlet for an article you can write, even if you are not paid for it, and immediately, you will increase your kudos. People are impressed when you are in print.

I have been teaching writing skills for years and have helped countless expatriates to start a new career as a journalist, writing about the things they know, the people they have met and the places they have lived. Then, over the last year or so I have found that people have been approaching me for help regarding publishing complete books. I helped Robin Pascoe to edit her great book on repatriation, entitled Homeward Bound. I helped Maria Paviour work on first a novel about energy vampires, and then, later wrote the foreword for Changing Vampires into Angels, which she has now been published. Last April, I helped Huw Francis with his book on the trailing male.

One thing that Robin, Maria and Huw have in common, is that they are all speakers and workshop presenters. All realise the value of being published. They benefit from the passive sales, that occur at the end of every presentation too, and increase their earnings as a result. When you are published people believe that your presentation will have added value. And at the same time, when you give a great presentation, people believe that your book will be exceptional too.

I find that I sell books to between 25 and 75 per cent of the audience each time I speak. Other presenters report the same figures. No speaker should be without a book or other item, such as an audio tape or CD, to sell at the back of the room, when the presentation is over. Right now I have a client called John Sealey, who runs a company called Your Marketing Matters. I am helping John to produce a range of CDs, tips booklets and workbooks, one for each of his presentations.

But you do not need to be a presenter to benefit from publishing a book. Sue Valentine, helped me to produce the Date book. As a food scientist, her interest and involvement has increased her potential in product development and consultancy. It also led to her being given a monthly cookery column in her local magazine. Beth Koestal is an artist, but she has produced a simple booklet about how to tie and wear a scarf to endorse the work she does as a Wardrobe Witch.

You do not need to produce a 100,000 word manuscript to be published. Think about producing a product that will endorse and enhance your business. A product that will stand as proof of your expertise and make you a useful profit at the same time.