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Reader, I’m currently on a flight from San Diego, CA to Leesburg, VA to celebrate my adorable niece’s one-year birthday. Happy birthday Elouise 🙂 I just woke up from a quick nap…. (don’t tell my team as I told them I’d be working the whole flight but there’s something about an airplane seat that puts me out before we’re even in the sky) and for some reason the following (hopefully useful) rant popped into my head which I’m going to share with you now. It’s a rant the summarizes the most important thing I would want to tell any author based on what I’ve learned working with over a 1,000 authors, spending over $10,000,000 on various marketing campaigns, and interviewing my favorite authors in the world about how they “made it.” WARNING: This will be a LONG and TRIGGERING rant. If you make it to the end, I’ve got a surprise for you. I know you’re here for the secrets so I added a quick one at the end but no more since this rant is a bit long and I promise you a short newsletter each week. If you’re not in the mood for a rant, feel free to just skip down to the secret and I’ll be happy to see you again next week. (and there’s nothing keeping you from the surprise either I guess). And the rant starts like this: Not 3 secrets…more like a dozen? Is that book marketing consultant you’re about to hire promising real people opening your book? If you’re a follower of the newsletter you’re aware of the reader seeding concept: Steven Pressfield recently said on Before The Bestseller, it’s the author’s job to sell the first few thousand copies and it’s the books job to sell the rest. If you don’t find some way to seed copies in the hands of real people, your book doesn’t have a chance. People WILL NOT find out about it. In 2018, in releasing our first book, my co-author and I paid a consultant for the Amazon Bestseller tag and ignored the important question: Would this promotion actually result in real people opening up our book? It’s easy to fake a lot of the “wins” you see people posting about online but sooner or later they will go quiet because their marketing didn’t actually achieve any long lasting impact. After realizing neither this consultant nor the purchases by our friends and family were going to result in anyone we actually wrote the book for opening it, we had to face the hard truth: We had wasted our money. You can pay for almost anything in this industry but if your goal is for people to actually share your book you MUST ask IF those readers they’re “engineering” are going to be real humans opening up your book. In most cases, they won’t be…and although it’s easier to sign a check than actually market your book, if your goal was to get people talking about your book, you’re setting yourself up for failure. If you’re a speaker, sure hitting a list will help jack up your speaker fee and you might not care if those are real people. Getting on lists or paying for other fancy marketing bells and whistles may open doors but you won’t be building a fan base if what you’re buying doesn’t bring you REAL human readers. And so I ask another question for those of us who want to improve lives directly through a book, or use this age-old medium to provide entertainment to real people: Is it economically feasible to be able to move 20,000 copies into the wild before knowing if you’ve got the right book or not? For most of us, the answer is HECK NO! Anyone bringing something new into the world won’t know if it’s good until they test it scientifically by getting enough of it out there to know if people like it. There are ways to improve your product before getting to market. Two that come to mind are: Investing time and money into getting 20,000 copies into the wild is a tough ask before even knowing if you’ve got a good product. So start with 1,000… and figure out where your cheapest cost per reader will come from. Understand that for those just getting started without budget or connections, the cheapest way to get the word out will be selling a few books in person at local events to pay for the printing of the next few copies. The game you’re playing is unique to YOU and your situation. The way one author markets SHOULD BE completely different from another depending on their situation. Others wrote the book expecting readers to turn into clients. In fact, let’s talk about that real quick: If a big goal of writing the book was lead generation, don’t write a book with the sole intention of lead generation. Readers will smell it a mile away (and call it out in reviews). If your friend told you that getting leads is as easy as writing a book and running ads to it, they’re wrong. I see a lot of “lead generation” books and the only ones that really bring in leads are ones that genuinely serve the reader first. The best lead generation books work by: If it does 1 and 2, you’ll have a more sustainable path to getting your book into the hands of 20,000 real people. If your book was not written partly for lead generation, and you don’t have a large budget, understand now there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Anyone who is offering stardom in the form of a “bestseller” for just a few thousand dollars doesn’t understand or doesn’t want to understand the facts of book marketing. The only way we’ll make it is by understanding we’re not on a quick-win journey. This WILL take 2-15 years and may never pay off. To again use Steven Pressfield’s words: A few final observations: You either need time or money and if you don’t have money, it’s going to take your time. John Strelecky went to in-person event after event (Patrick Taylor did the same) selling a handful of books at a time and having genuine conversations…for years. This is one of the few ways I know of first time authors to be able to break even with their book marketing out of the gates and it’s going to have to do a lot with how well you can sell your book in person. If you have money but not time, expect to pay a premium for readers. There’s a quote that Google loves you after everyone else loves you first. The same goes for Amazon. Amazon Ads are great for attracting real human readers but if you’re a first time author doing little else to market your book you might expect to spend anywhere from $5-$30 to acquire that reader. Especially because a lot of the people you’re bidding against are running ads to acquire leads to their business, not just a reader. If you’re running ads for readers and not leads, you’re at a disadvantage to businesses that can spend a lot more for each reader and will outbid you every time. (Whether or not they know how to run effective Amazon Ads is a different story). If you read this far and you don’t hate me then your chances of success are now much higher. Half of the battle is just knowing the actual battle you’re signing up for. Again, I was that author who came into this industry shelling out money for fake results and not asking the right questions. I just want you to be on an even playing field with everyone else in this industry. This was a long rant, if you were looking for a quick secret I’ll still give you this one and we’ll be back to the regular programming next week. here’s your reward for understanding these hard truths…we transcribed every podcast episode of Before The Bestseller into a database of 185 strategies and tips used by the top authors in the world. Enjoy 🙂 Today’s One Secret: Forget the listeners, genuinely connect with the host Malcolm Gladwell, in The Tipping Point, talks about super connectors. People who know everyone. If someone hosts an interview-style podcast they probably know more people than the average person. Yes, showing up on a podcast ready to connect with listeners is important but if that’s all you’re focusing on, you’re missing what’s right in front of you. Even if no listeners buy the book, a podcast interview may still be well worth it if you’re able to create a fan out of the host. So how can you do that? 1. Listen to at least one episode before you appear and then reference that episode you listened to during your interview (gives the host all kinds of good feelings) 2. Check their website or ask for a physical address to send a little thank you to. Even if no one listens to their podcast, they will be interviewing dozens if not hundreds of others and if you are a favorite guest, they’re going to talk about you and your book. I love these book themed Thank Yous that we also send to all new clients. 3. When researching which shows to go on to begin with, ensure that not only the listener is aligned but that the host would make an ideal reader. I know all this works because I interview authors on Before The Bestseller and love to share my favorite books resources with other guests who come on the show. Additionally, by focusing on teaching and providing directly helpful advice to the host you’ll end up with a more engaging episode for listeners. As always, with genuine appreciation for you…
Alex P.S. Know someone who needs help marketing their book? We offer a $500 referral bonus 🙂 |