Daniel Pink accidentally marketed his book: 3 secrets, 2 links, 1 quote

3 secrets, 2 links & 1 quote

Currently in Singapore! Anyone based in Singapore?

Got interviewed by marketing legend Allan Dib about the current state of paid ads for books, the framework for properly marketing a book, and how I’m a fake Australian. Listen here.


3 Secrets

1. Cameron Herold on Self Publishing School podcast talks about how he always makes sure all audience members get copies of his book at speaking events.

A few days after he’s booked to speak, he sends a follow-up asking if the host also wants him to bring a copy for each audience member for $10 each. (Cameron says about half say yes)For the half that say no, Cameron says, “How about I do it for $5 per book, to cover my costs and make sure everyone gets a copy?” (Cameron says half of those say yes) . For the final 25% who say no, Cameron then offers to bring a copy for everyone for free which makes the host ecstatic for the bonus of bringing him in to speak. It’s a win-win because it’s actually a win even for Cameron to give his book away to people who are more likely to read it and even work with him down the road.

2. Get someone to sponsor your books at an event.

Cameron knew the founder of an executive recruiting firm, and, knowing their audience was people in the COO role at various companies, asked if they wanted to pay $5K to get a sticker and phone number on each book being given out. This way, Cameron was able to get a sponsor to pay for the books. Think about who you can get to sponsor your books at an event.

3. Daniel Pink wrote a book around regret.

He had 16,000+ people fill out his survey on regret as research for the book. He included responses throughout the book. Although seemingly just collecting responses for the survey, he was also building an email list to promote the book once it went live. He DID NOT intend for it to work this way but it did. Think how you can bring people along for the ride. He paid survey company Qualtrics to run the survey for him.


    2 Links

    1. What a dream to get to have a book marketing nerd out with Allan Dib on his show, Lean Marketing. We talk about the foundation of book marketing and what it takes to ACTUALLY get your book in the hands of real people. Listen here.
    2. Thank you to Catherine Duncan of Everyday Awakening for sharing this alternative to Listennotes that all the pros use to determine listener numbers for various podcasts. https://rephonic.com/home

    1 Quote

    with love and sincere appreciation,

    Alex Strathdee
    BeforeTheBestseller | AdvancedAmazonAds

    Recent Posts

    3 secrets, 2 links, 1 book

    Reader, each year I might be lucky enough to have a top 10 life moment… this past week included at least 3 of the top 10 moments of my entire life. That’s because last week our Chief Marketing Scientist, Laura Russom, and I traveled to Franklin, TN to present about Amazon Ads to many of our lifelong heroes. The requirement to be in that room is to have sold over a million copies of your books. We’re pretty happy just to be at around 4,000 for Before The Bestseller. That said, we HAVE sold…

    Read more >

    3 secrets, 2 links, 1 book

    Reader,Just 3 secrets today 🙂 3 Secrets 1. Just make the ask already! A BIG thank you to world-renowned violinist and newsletter reader Anthea Kreston for sharing her story with me. After mentioning to me that she’d toured with Yo-Yo Ma, I asked her if it was worth asking him for a blurb. She wrote back that she wasn’t sure he’d go for it, but that she’d send him a galley and make the ask anyway. “I took your advice and reached out to Yo-Yo and he gave me a terrific quote for the cover!…

    Read more >

    Subscribe for a copy of Before the Bestseller and level up your book marketing today!

    Fill out the form below, and you’ll receive your copy shortly.