MARK WAITE / PVT Dan Rodriguez holds up a copy of his book, "Inner Secrets for the Everyday Landlord." Advertisement

Most authors hold book signings and boast about how many copies they sold at the book store.

By contrast, Dan Rodriguez, outgoing president of the Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce, said his book, "Inner Secrets for the Every Day Landlord," isn't available in book stores.

"This isn't a book, this is a business card on steroids," Rodriguez told chamber members at their monthly luncheon at Wulfy's Restaurant.

Rodriguez said being an author gives a person credibility on a topic. After all, they wrote the book.

As an example, Rodriguez recalled how it was difficult for him once to get financing for purchasing property. During his pitch, he gave a copy of his book to the loan underwriter and voila! He got the loan.

"The underwriter took the book and the bank decided to give me a loan based on my credentials as an author," he said. "Everybody has a specialty, and just imagine if you wrote the book on it how that would bring you to the next level."

Rodriguez said he's been in the business of managing property ever since he helped his grandmother, Estella Rodriguez, run a rental apartment house back in Colorado. He ended up buying the five-unit apartment house.

"Fifteen years of being a landlord I had apartment houses, I had single-family houses, duplexes, I went bankrupt, I had anything and everything that could happen to somebody as a landlord and as a small business owner happen to me. Fifteen years into the business people started saying to me, 'You know, you need to write this up into a book.'"

Rodriguez said his book has useful information for anybody that is considering getting into real estate and purchasing properties.

Rodriguez had some advice for writing a book. He suggested potential authors come up with an outline of 10 major topics for the chapters, then break that down further to five ingredients for each chapter. He said it took him six months to write a book; he had six people help edit it.

Rodriguez said he's now writing a second book in collaboration with his wife Manon Rodriguez called "Anything With Two Heads is a Freak."

It involves making business partnerships work, he said. For that he's hired a ghost writer. Rodriguez said he found it easier to find a publisher after his first book.

Rodriguez suggested printing 1,000 copies of that first book. He said it could be in the range of 40,000 to 45,000 words.

Rodriguez admitted when he checked at a Barnes and Noble bookstore he found about two dozen books similar to his about being a landlord.

"You didn't know that. As far you know, this is the only book on the subject and I wrote the book on it," he advised chamber members. "If you have a book, your corporate clients and customers will listen to what you say."