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Reader, I’ve never heard from so many readers in one week – thank you! I loved every response I got. Based on what I’m personally seeing in the industry, I’m thinking of ranting about whether AI will kill books or not in an upcoming newsletter. Let me know if you’d like that? 3 Secrets Stories to teach. Think about a recent memory of yours. Was it something dull and mundane? Or was there something juicy or interesting about what was going on? Simply telling someone about a piece of information won’t help them talk about it because they likely won’t remember it. Instead, talk and teach in stories. I can recall a lot of what I learned in How To Win Friends and Influence People simply because Dale Carnegie includes a simple yet memorable story alongside each lesson. I haven’t read it in over 10 years but still remember that a dog is the only animal that doesn’t need to have economic value because when we get home from a hard day of work, it greets us at the door as if we’re the most important thing to ever exist. Therefore, I should get that excited whenever I see a friend. Without the story, this tip would not remain in my consciousness. 2. Healthy book page conversion rate while running Amazon Ads By book page, I mean your product listing. The place people go to learn more about your book on Amazon (Example). 20 clicks for every sale = Good If your Amazon Ads are showing that it takes more than 20 clicks for each sale of your book, consider making a change to it. A final note: Know that your conversion rate may be artificially inflated during your launch as a lot of your traffic out of the gates may be warm if you already have a following, so pay attention to your Amazon Ads search term data to see what people are actually searching for when they click on an ad and buy your book. For a deeper dive into each of these changes, here is a presentation we recently put together for our publishing partners which details each of the changes, how they impact sales, and what we’ve found to be best practices for each. 3. The question to ask when hiring a virtual assistant or anyone else I read this in Who by Geoff Smart and Randy Street. At the beginning of your interview with the candidate, ask them who their previous boss was. Specifically ask them to spell their name out and provide a way to contact them. Then ask, “WHEN I reach out to them, what will they rate you on a scale of 1-10 and why?” “What will THEY say is your biggest strength?” Because they realize you will be fact-checking whatever they say, it forces them to get REAL honest REAL quick. I once had a candidate drop the act and admit their former employer wouldn’t give them a great rating because they could be lazy at times. Thank you. Next. DO actually reach out to their previous boss to verify their answer. 2 Links
1 Book Maybe the only book to ever really make me cry. If storytelling is the future of an author’s career, check out the storytelling of Abraham Verghese in The Covenant of Water (Oprah’s Book Club). A blend of medicine, regionalism, and “just pull my heart out already.” As if being an insanely successful author isn’t enough, Abraham is the Vice Chair of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Maybe save some talent for the rest of us? Jeez. 6 out of 5 stars.
Alex P.S. Know someone who needs help marketing their book? We offer a $500 referral bonus 🙂 |