Knowledge that sparkles: Linda Culbreth is an author, publisher and writing coach

Regardless of the industry, winning over and retaining consumers is the name of the game when it comes to business.

Writing coach and publisher Linda Culbreth says being able to position oneself as an expert in a given field can make a powerful impression on a consumer. That idea inspired her to start Diamonds of Knowledge, her own personal publishing label geared toward business writing.

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

She says 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 says. "It's also a 24/7 marketing tool."

She says 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 explains. "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 bestseller," she says, though she herself has had multiple eBooks of her own that have spent time as bestsellers in their categories on Amazon. "A lot of people think they've got nothing to say when everybody's got a story."

Culbreth had her first written piece published in a magazine at age 7, and she says she's been writing ever 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 writing workshops to those who need pointers before penning their book, but says often all a person needs is a push to get over writers' block.

Her services include publishing traditional books and eBooks, 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 says. "That's something I do in teaching my students."

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

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