Book Marketing, Publishing, Author Resources
From Publisher’s Weekly
Togather.com is free for authors and starts August 6 with an authors-only portal for writers to sign up and receive an account. The account will allow them to set up events on a custom author event page that can be circulated through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. “The event page allows authors to ‘fansource,’ ” Kessler said, “set up a tour, schedule events, tweak the details, and solicit support for the event before the author arrives.”
Laura Stack’s new book came out today and while she is already established as an author, she know the market and pulled out all the stops to have a fabulous launch day.
My gift will be one of the many bonuses you find on Laura’s book site.
She didn’t stop there. As we suggest, she has a presence in social media.. a real presence with two way conversation and a lot going on. Plus a lot more than just a book with bonuses over at her site.
Here’s a bit about the book.. read more at her site
In this competitive economy, just being able to do your job is no longer enough, and competence is expected. To be successful in the business world and reach your full potential in life, it’s not enough to be simply competent. Our modern, super-competitive world is full of opportunities for the go-getter, but to take advantage of them, it’s essential to become "Super Competent." The SuperCompetent person is one that companies fight to get, fight to keep, nurture as team players, and see as future leaders in their business growth.
But SuperCompetence isn’t something you’re born with—it’s something that you can learn, no matter where your strengths lie or what industry you work in. In SuperCompetent, productivity expert Laura Stack identifies the behaviors that build leadership skills, boost organizational efficiency, and blast high-potential producers to the top of their fields. With Stack’s Six Keys, you’ll be able to consistently improve your performance, develop the confidence that will propel you forward, and achieve breakthrough results in your career:
SuperCompetent will give you proven methods to reach your maximum potential and achieve breakthrough results.
I
n almost every field, there are people who are extremely good at getting publicity.
The media loves them and they’re regularly on radio/TV shows and written-up in print publications.
They not only know how to get a ton of free coverage, but also how to profit from the coverage in the form of increased sales, name recognition, speaking engagements and more.
To discover how these "publicity superstars" do it and how you too can use their strategies, join Steve Harrison this FREE WEBINAR
Here’s just some of what you’ll learn on Thursday:
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I’ve worked with Steve Harrison for years and can endorse the programs he recommends because I have seen the results.
You will see that Steve’s free training such as this seminar give you a ton of actionable information… regardless of whether you sign up for his paid programs. (Imagine how much more you get when you do though 🙂
Don’t miss out on this chance to learn some of Steve’s secrets
Both new businesses and new books often start with an idea that you just can’t shake. I have spent a lot of time talking about how entrepreneurs should approach a new business and have found that there are a lot more parallels between starting a business and launching a new book than you might imagine. Below are a few insights from my recently becoming acquainted with the book launching process and the similarities that exist with entrepreneurship.
The same goes for your book. What’s your end game? Are you using it as a calling card to get more clients? Are you seeking a label of achievement (like “best seller status”) for your brand? Are you hoping to make gobs of money from it or are you using it to spread a message (by the way, if your goal is make gobs of money, you might want to chat with a few industry professionals first)? These goals will significantly impact the planning and strategy of not only your manuscript, but the launch and marketing of your book.
And while you are at it, you might as well set the biggest goal that you can. Nothing happens if you don’t achieve your stretch goal, but as Wayne Gretzky says, “You miss 100% of shots that you never take!”
I am always preaching in business about how important it is to know your customer, but my first book manuscript go-round was somewhat lacking in this department (which got fixed in the second go-round, thanks to great feedback from industry folks!).
To be successful in business, you have to know what pain point you are solving for your customer and how you are delivering value. Plus, if “everyone” is your customer, you are going to have a hard time reaching anyone at all, so having a focus is critical. The same goes for your book (particularly non-fiction books). Ask yourself what tangible benefits your reader will take away from investing their time and money into your message. Who is your specific reader and what quantitative and qualitative benefits are they seeking? This will shape not only how you deliver your message in the book, but also how you plan to market your book.
In an era where we have access to virtually everything we want and need, plus a whole bunch of crap we don’t care about, it is hard to have a truly novel idea (pun intended). Having the idea for a business isn’t valuable; it is executing on the business plan every day. The same goes for a book. Once you have the idea, you have to write the manuscript and then market, market, market! Most publishers care at least as much, if not more, about your marketing plan than the content of the book. So, even if you have a great idea, if you can’t or don’t want to pound the pavement to meet your goals, there isn’t a lot of value there.
Conceiving a business idea and writing your plan is a cakewalk compared to what you have to endure day in and day out to make your business successful. The same thing goes for a book. The common misconception is that you are done when you finish writing- not so! Writing the manuscript, as daunting as it may seem, is easy compared to everything that comes next. Prepare to devote a lot of time, effort (and depending on your goals, money too) AFTER the book is written!
The takeaway: Make sure you evaluate and prepare for launching a book, just like you would a business, if you want to be successful with it.
Please share any other similarities you have found between starting a business and launching a book.
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Carol Roth writes Unsolicited Business Advice (TM) for aspiring entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and other small business owners at CarolRoth.com You can find her on Twitter as @caroljsroth Carol helps businesses grow and make more money. An investment banker, business strategist and deal maker, she has helped her clients, ranging from solopreneurs to multinational corporations, raise more than $1 billion in capital, complete hundreds of millions of dollars in M&A transactions, secure high-profile licensing and partnership deals and more. |
Today I’d like to share the story of an author who leveraged the debut of his first book into new revenues of millions of dollars, with the formula you can use to model his success.
When I first met Matt Bacak, he was already known as The Powerful Promoter, working with up and coming speakers and authors to draw a crowd or boost their book sales.
Matt developed a formula that would works as a step by step system to generate all the leads a business needs. Over the next couple of years, he took on hundreds of clients, helped them set up his system, a turnkey package that an author or business can use to make sure they never have to chase down business again.
Imagine how you could grow if your prospective clients were contacting you.. asking to buy. It changes everything.
So when Matt told me he was sharing the system in a book, I knew we would have something people would want. We immediately made plans to launch The Ultimate Lead Generation Plan as a #1 best seller.
From December 29-31, 2005 we had millions of emails sent to opt in subscribers on hundreds of email mailing lists. The first day, we shot up to #1 at bn.com, the Barnes and Nobles online store. Thousands bought the book to read about Matt’s system. Thousands got excited by the 207 bonus gifts that were offered from people who purchase the book during that promotion.
When Barnes and Nobles stock was depleted, we switched to Amazon.com.. where the book went to the top as millions more emails were delivered.
A here’s the rest of the story..
You have seen the emails from our partners in these promotions. We regularly put together teams of authors, online entrepreneurs, newsletters and bloggers to launch a new book. The details vary, we add virtual book tours and media appearances and social media marketing to the mix, but the basic principle in a cross promotion is the same. We create buzz of all the partners, and grow together as we launch each best seller book to the market.
I want to tell you about two things that Matt did that resulted in massive success from this promotion:
First off, Matt understood that the book was not the income generating event for this promotion. In fact, donated the proceeds of book sales to Habitat for Humanity. We helped a good charity, and they were happy to let us promote using their name. This resulted in additional sales to readers who were interested in the work of Habitat for Humanity and attracted even more partners to the promotion.
But the biggest benefit to the Habitat connection was that it allowed us to remain focused on the real money making opportunity. The readers of the book were the best prospects for the course Matt taught and the systems his team put in place for authors and businesses. We knew that we would be investing in long term business growth for Matt’s business when he became a best seller.
The second key difference in the promotion for The Ultimate Lead Generation Plan was the tie in to Matt’s sales system.
Each book buyer was given a free consultation with one of Matt’s senior strategists. His whole team cleared their calenders and focused on spending time with any reader who accepted the invitation, providing many times the value of the book.
The results
New Prospects We had thousands register for a package of gifts, before the book hit #1
Book Sales Thousands each day of the promotion.. thousands more as word of the event traveled.
Recognition New partners and co-promoter started asking to work with Matt and promote his programs
Publicity Matt got additional coverage about the book and the donation to Habitat
Sales Revenues Sales tripled in the first month, and doubled again the next month.
When you have a system in place to allow readers who want more to connect and buy, you will see much more income from those clients than ou will ever make on sales of your book. In Matt’s case, we were able to compare the conversion process to other working lead generation systems.
There was a big difference in the quality of the new leads and business. Book buyers were 3-5 times more likely to buy the program and training connected to the book. Once they had made the commitment to Matt and his book, they were more likely to buy, and more likely to get results from the program.
Matt has gone on to author another book that creates leads for his business, and implemented his formula in other businesses with annual revenues in the millions.
I have worked with authors using the formula and our best seller promotions to launch successful businesses around their book, or generate new leads and increased revenues for their existing businesses.
Today, you can’t just call Matt and buy this system. He spends most of his time doing implementation of the formula in his other businesses. However, you can have my Book Marketing Strategy course fore free. Just tell me where you want it at my free book marketing course
If you are on my mailing list, or sign up today. I also have a gift from Matt that will blow you away… I’ve been working with him for the past couple of months behind the scenes, and want you to be the first to see this. As an author, you are a business owner, and this is going to be the easiest business decision you make this year.
Watch my blog from and announcement.. or to make sure you don’t miss out, sign up now for my free book marketing course and you will be on the priority announcement list.