Welcome to Author Platform Rocket. The highly acclaimed source for actionable business, marketing & mindset strategy for authors, delivered in 20 minutes or less (Most of the time). In other words, this is how you sell more books while building a bigger fan base... the right way.
Is building a relationship with your readers a good idea? The answer is yes, but not in the way that you might think. In this episode of Author Platform Rocket your host Jonny Andrews talks about how to segment your followers and focus on the ones who will explode your sales. Download PDF Podcast Transcription You do not need to build intimate relationships with your readers, but it makes sense to define what the relationship means. What the Kardashian Effect is and why it matters to you. The core pillars to focus on in your business. People buy from those they know, like, and trust. Create that bond by showing up consistently. Answer the question - what must I demonstrate to be true in order for people to buy my books? Show up as the most awake, authentic, and real version of yourself. How to systematically differentiate between your core followers and the fringe people. You have to show up for the people who are really hungry for your content. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: A relationship is just a bond between the reader and you, but there can also just be a relationship between the reader and the book. Building relationships does not have to happen in the conventional sense. You need to differentiate between your core audience and your fringe followers. Tweetable Quotes: “You don’t have to build a first-name basis relationship with your readers, it’s a business-level relationship.” -Jonny “You don’t have to be anyone other than who you are to promote your book.” -Jonny “In order to help yourself become more profitable, you have to learn to grow a white-hot circle in the center.” Resources Mentioned: Learn more about Author Platform Rocket. https://www.facebook.com/AuthorPlatformRocket/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/authormarketingassociation/ Reach out to Jonny at show@authorplatformrocket.com Become more profitable at profitableauthorcall.com
What you need to do consistently to get results and 10x your business and why fear will only keep you from growing. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 10X is a fancy way of saying “how to grow real big.” What one of Jonny’s clients did to increase her revenue dramatically. On day ONE she hit 130 presales when she’s only expected between 20 - 30. She got many messages from her fans who were happy that she showed up. How to get a baseline for your sales without letting them drop to zero. Showing up allows you to get rid of the rocks and keep the gold. Fear keeps people from showing up consistently and having big outcomes. Join Jonny on Facebook for LIVE training every day. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: You do not need to let your sales drop to zero to get a solid baseline. You have to show up consistently. People will unsubscribe when you show up, but some of them are supposed to. Tweetable Quotes: “One of the main reasons why big name authors see a drop in sales is due to fear around marketing.” -Jonny “Here’s how to 10x your business - show up more frequently!.” -Jonny “Give yourself a good 12 months of training your fans to expect you.” -Jonny “I feel like this last launch was different than any other launch I’ve ever done. It was so short and so thrown together but I’ve gotten so many personal responses. I don’t think I've ever gotten that many social responses and emails from readers who were that engaged before. It was really cool” - Agency Client.
How to sell a bunch of children’s books in a way that bucks conventional wisdom with your host Jonny Andrews. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Why you should market to parents when selling children’s books. Decide what your theme is going to be. Screen time before bed is terrible for kids, and that’s why books are a great idea. Why giveaways are a great idea when promoting your children’s book. After connecting, you need to stand out in everyone’s minds. Promote your video content on a page, not a group. Make it about your audience, but build your ecosystem. People buy more from those they know, like, and trust. Audience and the connection you have with them, are everything. Consistency is key. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Have a common theme and running concept through your book series. Build an audience using other people in your market who connect with your books theme. The days of organic traffic are gone, learn to target with paid ads. Tweetable Quotes: “What is the theme of your children’s books, and how are you going to promote it to parents?” -Jonny “You can’t just sell the books, you have to get an audience of people who want to buy the books.” “Capture, connect, and convert.” Resources Mentioned: Done For You Author Marketing Author Platform Rocket. Reach out to Jonny at show@authorplatformrocket.com Live video training to go with https://business.facebook.com/AuthorPlatformRocket/videos/526140817862295/ Author Marketing Association: https://www.facebook.com/groups/authormarketingassociation/V
How to sell erotic romance literature without hitting roadblocks in social media advertising with your host Jonny Andrews. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Click here to watch the Live Video training in FaceBook Social media ads for erotic novels tend to get shot down if they try to run like everyone else. Facebook looks at what’s in your ad and what’s on the page you’re linking your audience to. Keep that in mind before running an ad If you have "objectionable content" in your books or on your book page it'll be a good idea to create a "bridge page" between your ad and your "dirty stuff". You have to get creative about how you talk about erotica just like they did back in the 1950's & 1960's. It’s normal to get your ad rejected, you often have to appeal for no reason at all. Create a follow-up sequence with your audience to stay front of mind. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Erotic romance is often difficult to do an ad for, but there are ways around it. Creating a “bridge page” can allow you to create an ad. Expect to get your ads rejected, plan to appeal. Tweetable Quotes: “Just because you can’t send someone directly to the offer, doesn’t mean you can’t make money.” “If you’re having trouble selling erotica, you need to capture, connect, convert.” “A lot of authors get gun-shy about the automatic rejection of ads, but it’s normal.” Resources Mentioned: Live video training to go with this Done For You Author Marketing Author Platform Rocket. Reach out to Jonny at show@authorplatformrocket.com
Jonny Andrews discusses the role of money in the process of publishing and spreading your book´s impact. Money is an important resource in the publishing process. We need to rethink the role of money and start to use it as a tool rather than the destination. Download PDF Podcast Transcription A key resource you need to create a book is money Money moves the earth The LOVE of money is the root of all evil Money is neither good nor bad it is a tool Knowing your reason why you are doing this is an important tool Do what you do because you love it or are trying to make a positive impact Money is not evil but the use of the money could be If you want this to work, you have to rethink how you think about money Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: A key resource you need to put out books is money. Money is not evil it is a tool. Know your why of your project and let money be your tool that enables impact. Rethink about money´s role in your life and start to leverage it as a tool to spread your impact. Tweetable Quotes: - “Money moves the earth.” –Jonny. - “Money is neither good nor bad it is a tool.¨ –Jonny. - “Use money as a fuel and you business model as the vehicle¨ –Jonny. Resources Mentioned: The Author Rocket Platform
During this 50th episode of Author Platform Rocket, host Jonny Andrews and anonymous guest, ¨Mr. X, discuss the evolution of book marketing strategies from how it ¨used to be¨ to what it is today. The two discuss the power of conversational conversion and what it means to connect authentically with the audience. With all the different means of connecting with fans, Jonny and Mr. X outline the modes they have had the most success using. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Introduction of guest X, famous, successful author protected by anonymity. X has a love for books and ended up without a job. 5 Years ago Mr. X published the first book. The evolution of book sales has transformed from word of mouth to more technological path The key to selling books is conecting to people, capturing them, and eventually converting. People have to know you to be able to sell books. You have to be able to stand-out when you write a book. Today, to keep up with the market, you have to publish the book, advertise, connect with the public, AND stand-out. Conversational conversion is the art of selling without selling. Being who you are is the best way to sell. A new strategy that allows writers and readers to connect--aka taco tuesday. Connecting with authneticity is the new way to convert and sell. Your social media followers don´t matter if you aren´t interacting with them and they aren´t interacting with you. Engage your subscriber base in an interesting way Sales increased by 300% because Mr. X found a new, authentic way to connect with people--the power of taco tuesday. Ask and you shall receive: ask your fans what they want. The ways that Mr. X leverages facebook live. Going out and meeting someone is the best business builder. The way you can build different audiences in facebook. The connection and capture phases of the business can be merged. Connection is not a one and done process. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: The market shift in book publishing has now grown to incorporate social media aspects. Connecting authentically with your audience can bring huge gains for you and your business. Creatively connecting to different audiences helps to engage, connect, capture, and convert. Conversational conversion is sometimes the most successful way to grow a business. Tweetable Quotes: “You have to relate to people; they have to relate to you.. especially when you are telling a story” – Mr. X. “Be who you are” – Mr. X. “You are who you are. Let them [the readers] see you” – Mr. X. “One of the core pillars of communication is that people buy from someone they know, like, and trust.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: The Author Rocket Platform
During this 49th episode of Author Platform Rocket, host Jonny Andrews discusses the reasons why social media is a dead source for authors to get book sales. Before you get too concerned about how harsh that may sound, listen to the ways in which he recommends that you apply his capture, connect, and convert techniques to broaden and engage your readership. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Everything began when Jonny received a brilliant advertorial from a marketing guru It isn’t effective to hop on social media to keep saying “buy my book.” Too many authors post but then don't interact with their audience. Organic traffic on most social media channels will continue to disappear. Search Engine Optimization is basically a pay-to-play option at this point. Social media is now “social advertising” by engaging people with interesting content. Twitter is an enclosed platform where it isn’t a place for a lot of click-through ads. Twitter is best used for engaging one-on-one with influencers. Facebook is amazing for building an email mailing list using paid ads Capture emails by giving away a free book but don't forget to connect with them. Skipping the "Connect & Convert" elements to the 3 step process makes the end sale much harder To increase your sales do what other authors are not. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Make sure to reengage with the folks that comment on your posts to create conversations. Social media users want to engage with real people, not slick, professional pictures That look like they came from a business. Capture emails with free stuff, connect with these folks and convert into a sale with video. Tweetable Quotes: “Social media is dead (for authors).” – Jonny Andrews. “A lot of people are just posting out there, but then they aren’t reengaging with the folks that are doing the comments.” – Jonny Andrews. “If you want to sell books engaged your audience.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Done For You Author Marketing Webinar – Jonny’s webinar for how to sell more books consistently Facebook – Author Platform Rocket’s Facebook page
During this 48th episode of Author Platform Rocket, host Jonny Andrews discusses the three C’s of increasing your readership of your books: Capture, Connect, and Convert. In this discussion, the focus is on the importance of the connection factor of this process, with reasons of why it matters and ways to implement it. Download PDF Podcast Transcription The Three C’s of gaining more readers: capture, connect, and convert. The publishing industry in general has so many authors and books being poured into the market. It is difficult to make a connection if you have no way to follow up with interested people. Getting distracted by disaster are those little moments and topics of our daily life that have the ability to suck us all in. Authors need to stay front of mind with readers. Set up your auto-responder sequence to check in with readers. Read a chapter of your book for a video and put it on Facebook. It is a choice to suck at sales. People generally buy from who they know, like, and trust. Have access to your assets by building your personal platform. Between capture and connecting is prospecting—and losing people is part of the process. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: The connection end of gaining readers is most important because it leads their interest closer to a sale. There are over 1 million self-published titles made available every year. A good book is only its own best marketing if people know about it. Tweetable Quotes: “The single most important piece (gaining readers) is the “connection” piece.” – Jonny Andrews. “A capture moment is simply that they’ve raised their hand and said, I am interested in knowing more.” – Jonny Andrews. “Readers are probably not going to discover you. What that means is, you need to go and discover readers.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Jonny Andrews website Webinar – Jonny’s webinar for how to sell more books consistently Facebook – Author Platform Rocket’s Facebook page Video 1: The One Secret To Becoming A Successful Author https://business.facebook.com/AuthorPlatformRocket/videos/2094207953987685/ Video 2: 3 "Magic" Steps To Getting More Fans Who Buy Your Books https://business.facebook.com/AuthorPlatformRocket/videos/2096143493794131/ Video 3: Nobody Ever Told You What To Do AFTER You Get Your List! https://business.facebook.com/AuthorPlatformRocket/videos/2097988300276317/ Video 4: The 2 Places To Focus If You Want To Stand Out In A Crowded Market https://business.facebook.com/AuthorPlatformRocket/videos/2102107829864364/ Video 5: 3 Ways To Build Your Reader Base https://business.facebook.com/AuthorPlatformRocket/videos/2108559585885855/
In this 47th episode of Author Platform Rocket, host Jonny Andrews interviews author of the “Being Me” series—Tricia Copeland. The main topic of discussion revolves around coping with internal and external pressure. Hear Tricia’s story of struggle and triumph over high-pressure situations. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Tricia Copeland grew up in Georgia and attending a rigorous engineering school. Her drive to succeed prompted her to pursue perfection in every area of her life, including looking as great as possible. Her weight became an obsession and she developed anorexia, eventually losing over 30 Her health deteriorated and at a weight of 72, she nearly died of heart failure. Tricia entered a treatment program where she realized her disease was an addiction to cope with anxiety over succeeding. Three meals a day and therapy helped her out of anorexia. She suffered from an “I need to be perfect” attitude. In her thirties she began to write her story through the eyes of a fictional character named. She published her first book, Is This Me?, in 2015. One of her happiest moments as an author was when a fan dealing with mental health issues really connected with her books and contacted Tricia about how much she appreciated her writing. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: After taking a year off for treatment and therapy, Tricia graduated Sum Cum Laude from college. Tricia now enjoys a healthy lifestyle running, and hiking with her husband and three children. Writing has been truly cathartic for Tricia Copeland. Tweetable Quotes: “I developed anorexia and got to a point where lost over 30 pounds and my low weight when I finally decided to get some help…I weighed 72 and almost died.“– Tricia Copeland. “(Due to Anorexia) I literally almost died.“ – Tricia Copeland. “We are not what we do all of the time.“ – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Jonny Andrews website Webinar – Jonny’s webinar for how to sell more books consistently TriciaCopeland.com – Website for Tricia Copeland Facebook – Tricia Copeland’s Facebook Instagram – Tricia Copeland’s Instagram
In this 46th episode of Author Platform Rocket, host Jonny Andrews interviews Michelle Bellon, author of eight published books, including “Breathe In.” She shares the heart-breaking story of real life abuse that she has lived through and has been the inspiration for her writing. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Expressing art can be cathartic. “Breathe In” is a book that came from Michelle’s rage. Michelle is a mother of four and a director of nursing. She was in an emotionally abusive marriage for 16 years after a night of violence. The main character in “Breathe In” survives a traumatic kidnapping. Michelle faced horrible manipulation in her marriage and had low self-esteem. Her child have faced their own trauma but have turned it around. She developed gratitude and became conscience of her own “inner warrior.” Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Expressing art can be healing. Abuse can take over your identity and replace it with the negativity you are being told. Sometimes the things you are doing now don’t pay off until much later. Tweetable Quotes: “We use our art form, our medium, as a means to get out certain thoughts, feeling, emotions—and it can be quite healing.“ – Michelle Bellon. “I wrote “Breathe In” because I had a lot of rage to be very honest.“ – Michelle Bellon. (Referring to Abusive Manipulation) “Your internal dialogue becomes what they’ve been telling you.“– Michelle Bellon. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Jonny Andrews website Webinar – Jonny’s webinar for how to sell more books consistently www.michellebellon.com - Website for Michelle Bellon @MichelleBellon – Twitter for Michelle Bellon Amazon – Michele Bellon’s Amazon
During this episode of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews continues his interview series with seven-time #1 bestselling fitness and development author Derek Doepker. Their discusses covers the areas of his process of selling over 50,000 books, the importance of increasing your influence, and the growing audio book industry. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Derek moved to Los Angeles to become a rock star and had to live with a hoarding roommate. He published his first book on Kindle and it sold three copies. Second book of Derek’s sold more copies to strangers. Learning about influence and relation-building was an important point of growth. “50 Fitness Tips You Wish You Knew” sold almost $6,000 in 11 days. Derek has been most excited about how to get more consistent sales. Audio books have increased in sales by 30% over the last year. Whispersync syncs up the Kindle with an audio book. Audio books weed out the authors that won’t take that extra step. Understand how to get distribution for the audio book and how to create the audio book created. ACX is available in the United States, Canada, UK, and Ireland. Authorsrepublic.com helps authors get distribution from anywhere in the world. You can hire a narrator and pay them flat out or do a royalty split. Proof-read your book out loud while recording your audio book. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Derek wanted to do what he loved for a living, which is helping others through fitness and development, and get paid for it. “50 Fitness Tips You Wish You Knew” was Derek’s first book to become a #1 bestseller in Weight Loss, gaining almost $6,000 in 11 days. Consistent books sales for Derek have benefited from Amazon Marketing Service Ads and audio books. Tweetable Quotes: - “I published my first book on Kindle, and right out of the gate, first book I published, sold about three copies.” – Derek Doepker. - “Do things that others aren’t willing to do.” – Jonny Andrews. - “Quick tip, using your audio book as a bonus is a really cool thing that you can do.” – Derek Doepker. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Book marketing service Author Platform Rocket Podcast – Website for Author Platform Rocket Podcast Facebook – Author Platform Rocket’s Facebook Page DerekDoepker.com – Website for Derek Doepker Amazon – Derek Doepker’s Amazon page Twitter – Derek Doepker’s Twitter page BestSellerSecrets.com – Website for bestseller Secrets Audio Books Webinar– Derek Doepker’s Webinar Author’s Republic – Website for Author’s Republic
In this 44th episode of Author Platform Rocket, host Jonny Andrews interviews New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Lorhainne Eckhart. She shares her strategies that helped her emerge from being a humble writer facing rejections, to rising up to release almost 80 books. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Lorhainne lives on Salt Spring Island in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia. She never dreamed of being an author. Lorhainne is a mother of three children, one with autism. As an author you was initially turned down by agents and publishers. Look after your body and your mind to have the energy to meet your goals. Exercise, even for 20 minutes in the morning, helps diminish stress. Give gratitude for what you have before you start work. Imagine your funeral, what would people say about you? Plan a 12-week year: tasks expand to fill the time we allot to them. Instead of being constantly reactive—and be strategic with your day. What are you doing to help your community? Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: The publishing requires a strong will to overcome bad reviews and rejections. Lorhainne Eckhart has released close to 80 books. Plan your day to accomplish five big things. Tweetable Quotes: “I pursued through those years of every agent, every publisher saying ‘no.’ Until one magic day, until I got the email, yeah I want this.“ – Lorhainne Eckhart. “My third book that I ever wrote, I don’t know what happened, but it took off on Amazon. And it was the book I guess that touched every reader.“ – Lorhainne Eckhart. “Focus on your big main goal that you are trying to accomplish.“ – Lorhainne Eckhart. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Jonny Andrews website Webinar – Jonny’s webinar for how to sell more books consistently LorhainneEckhart.com – Website Lorhainne Eckhart Amazon – Lorhainne Eckhart’s Amazon page Facebook – Facebook for Lorhainne Eckhart
In this 43th episode of Author Platform Rocket, host Jonny Andrews interviews author Matthew Thrush, who writes novels full-time, who has went from being $85,000 in debt in 2015, to becoming an independent writer, and building his business up into a six-figure career. Download PDF Podcast Transcription In 2015, Matthew had $85,000 of debt and n job in eight months for typically be overqualified. He got a job as a technical writer in Houston. Matthew sought mentors, researched, and began write 2,500-5,000 words per day. Matthew’s 2017 goal was to make writing books his full-time job, and made this happen in four months and earned six figures. Ghostwriting was extremely lucrative for Matthew, which he was inspired to do by watching the movie “The Ghostwriter.” Matthew set a goal to each $10,000 a month. His ghostwriting rate started at 4-5 cents a word, and has moved up to 15 cents a word for fiction and 25 cents a word for nonfiction. Ghostwriters can sometimes be credited as co-authors. Upwork has been a great resource for getting writing jobs. Focus on your proposal on how you can help them achieve their goal. Helping others leads to an abundance mindset into of a scarcity mindset. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Treat writing like a full-time job. Set clear and achievable goals. Make writing your full-time job. Tweetable Quotes: “You have to surround yourself with like-minded people who are either on their way to where you want to be, or are already there.“ – Matthew Thrush. “Ghostwriting…at the very basic level, someone pays you.to write a book and they have all the rights. However, “– Matthew Thrush. “Visualize clients like people, because that’s who they are.“– Matthew Thrush. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Jonny Andrews website Webinar – Jonny’s webinar for how to sell more books consistently Twitter – Matthew Thrush’s Twitter Facebook – Matthew Thrush’s Facebook Website – Matthew Thrush’s website
During this episode of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews discusses coping with impostor syndrome and the panic of the writer’s life with author Patricia D. Eddy, who currently has released 15 well-received books. She shares her journey to learning herself better to become a better storyteller. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Patricia began writing on a typewriter when she was a child, and became a technical writer for Microsoft products. Lindsay Buroker was the first indie author Patricia ever read. Examining past relationships has helped Patricia deepening her characters. Build a better career umbrella to protect yourself from industry changes. Work the problem to find a solution instead of panicking with fear. If you are operating from panic, you are not working as your best self. Step away from an author group if the current temperature is negative, complaining, and fear-mongering. Most of the stuff posted on the internet are people’s versions or reactions to other things. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Finding your purpose is key to telling your own stories. The better you know yourself is the better you will know other people. Most of the characters Patricia has written have her in them. Tweetable Quotes: - “The reason I didn’t finish a book for so many years was that I needed to understand what inside me was driving me to create these stories.” – Patricia D. Eddy. - “If I was going to write the story of my life, what would I want the arc to be?” – Patricia D. Eddy. - “If you don’t know yourself, it is very hard to know other people.” – Patricia D. Eddy. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Book marketing service Patricia D. Eddy – Website for Patricia D. Eddy Twitter –Twitter for Patricia D. Eddy
In this 41th episode of Author Platform Rocket, host Jonny Andrews interviews author Victoria Danann, who is also the co-host of the Romance Between the Pages Podcast. They discuss how she became an author, and the tactics that she has used to market and promote her books. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Three years ago Victoria went to an author event in Austin Texas and met who would become her podcast partner. After her rock band split, Victoria wrote and self-published her first book May 2012. About 2/3 of Victoria’s time is spent on marketing. You need to have a catalog of books to sell. The three places to go to effectively advertise your books: AMS ads (understand how they work), Facebook ads (focus on platform building), Your in-house email list and similar genre authors that are willing to help you promote. Jonny’s Bug Spray Approach: target your audience based on behavior and not interest with your auto-responder implementation. Author Platform Rocket has worked with over 500 authors. It is ok for marketing experiments to have initial value and taper off after they are executed. You need to be where the industry is going and not where it was. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Victoria spends about 35% of her time actually writing and about 65% of her time on marketing. You need to establish a collection of books to sell and spend money on advertising. Three Ways for Advertising Your Books: AMS ads (understand how they work), Facebook ads (focus on platform building), Your in-house email list and similar genre authors that are willing to help you promote. Tweetable Quotes: “I spend (time) 35% writing, 65% on marketing.“ – Victoria Danann. “You really aren’t going to get too far without a catalog. So, you need to begin with a good book, and then when finish that good book, start another one as soon as you can.” – Victoria Danann. “You have to qualify your audiences, and know where you’re going and who you’re going“–Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Jonny Andrews website Webinar – Jonny’s webinar for how to sell more books consistently Victoria Danann – Website for Victoria Danann The Romance Between the Pages Podcast – Website for Victoria’s podcast Facebook– Victoria Danann’s Facebook
Inside this 40th episode of Author Platform Rocket, marketing veteran Jonny Andrews talks with writer Megan Haskell, the award-winning author of the The Sanyare Chronicles dark fantasy book series, and the co-author of Aspiring to Author: A Guide for Your Publishing Career. The focus of this interview is essentially, how to balance your life as an author. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Megan Haskell is also a stay-at-home mom with a three year old and a six year old, and a co-director of her local writing community OC Writers Network. She left a 6-figure job to raise her kids and write professionally. Studies have shown that Europeans that work less time than Americans get more done. She chooses one or two things to get done at a time, and focuses on them. A writer’s conference helped Megan find her tribe and cheerleaders. Seeing things work for others and applying them to yourself helps you level. The history of Olympic achievements have expanded is an example of how the bar can be raised for creatives and business people. Go out and meet people and network to get out of the house to reenergize, even if you are an introvert. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Megan is a stay-at-home mom and co-director of her Orange County California writing group called OC Writers Network with over 1,000 members. Prioritizing your limited time for writing and keeping to a schedule are key for productivity. Making your daily minimums for writing and marketing, along with making sacrifices are integral. Tweetable Quotes: - “Deciding what your goals are, that is really your starting point.” – Megan Haskell. - “Begin with the end in mind, what is it that you want to accomplish, and sort of reverse engineer that.” – Jonny Andrews. - “When you see somebody else doing something, you realize you can do it too.” – Megan Haskell. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Book marketing service Author Platform Rocket Podcast – Website for Author Platform Rocket Podcast Facebook – Author Platform Rocket’s Facebook Page Megan Haskell – Website for Megan Haskell Twitter – Megan Haskell’s Twitter page OC Writers– Website for OC Writers
Inside this 39th episode of Author Platform Rocket, marketing veteran Jonny Andrews talks about the power of being productive and producing prolific amounts of work with author Tracy Cooper-Posey. Enjoy this interview, because Tracy is the definition of productivity, currently having over 100 titles to her name. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Tracy Cooper Posey is releasing full-length novels every four weeks, writing them every three weeks, to get her production time to six months from first-draft to release. Your speed needs to be high enough that the internal editor in you turns off. Amazon favors you when you publish more than every 30 days and the readers love you for it. Tweetable Quotes: - “The official list level (her books) if you add in all of the boxsets, which take just as much production as everything else, and the short stories…I’m at about 105.” – Tracy Cooper Posey. - “I spend a lot of time in the chair writing. That’s how I get them written fast. I’m writing from 6:30 in the morning until mid-day, and I’m getting between 6,000-7,000 words down a day—six days a week.” – Tracy Cooper Posey. - “As soon as you slow down and let the internal editor in, you are focusing on the words themselves.” – Tracy Cooper Posey. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Book marketing service Author Platform Rocket Podcast – Website for Author Platform Rocket Podcast Facebook – Author Platform Rocket’s Facebook Page Tracy Cooper Posey – Website for Tracy Cooper-Posey Productive Indie Fiction Writer – Website for Productive Indie Fiction Writer @TracyCP – Twitter for Tracy Cooper-Posey
During this 38th episode of Author Platform Rocket, marketing veteran Jonny Andrews discussions how you can intensify the success of you book business by incorporating mentors into your journey. For this special installment, Jonny has a guest known as Golden Angel who is a fairly prolific indie romance author with 37 novels. Golden Angel expresses how transformative having a mentor has been to her own indie author career. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Golden Angel’s newsletter was expanded thanks to newsletter swaps and Instafreebie. “Imposter syndrome” can be remedies with the help of mentors and engagement in an author community. Golden Angel’s books are available at: iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Smash Words, and Amazon. Tweetable Quotes: - “I started writing for a free website called Literotica.com, which is erotica and romance.” – Golden Angel. - “There are a lot of us (authors) that are huge readers, and we all kind of fan girl over each other and there is a lot of mutual love going around.” – Golden Angel. - “My newsletter has exploded. I had like 200 people in December (2017) on my newsletter. It’s now getting close to 9,000.” – Golden Angel. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Book marketing service Author Platform Rocket Podcast – Website for Author Platform Rocket Podcast Facebook – Author Platform Rocket’s Facebook Page Golden Angel Facebook – Facebook page for Golden Angel @GoldenAngel – Twitter page for Golden Angel Twitter Amazon – Golden Angel’s Amazon Page
During this 37th episode of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews discussions the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and how regulations effect how entrepreneurs should pivot and shift in their practices. Learn about Truth in Lending and the importance of private policies. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Around 2009-2010 there was a shake up by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) put laws in affect that included, if you are going to endorse an affiliate product then you need to let customers know that is what is happening. GDPR was not really created for small business owners, more for big data companies like Google but everyone has been caught up in it. There are lots of companies out there that sell tons of products and take those customer lists then sell them to third parties—this pre-dates the internet. Running Facebook ads, no matter where you are globally if you do not have…track-and-pixel on the disclosure on your website, that’s going to be kind of a problem for you. There are WordPress plugins that have the ability to sense where your customers are coming from based on geography. There are free privacy policies you can use on your website. Truth in Lending is not new. What should you have on your webpage, regardless of where you are located: 1.) Cookie disclosure. 2.) Privacy policy + what you do with customer data. The Checkbox is not necessary as long as you clearly explain what people are getting from your site. It is the people that are able to shift to accommodate new regulations and incorporate it into their marketing who are going to be around the longest. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Running Facebook ads, no matter where you are globally, you need track-and-pixel on the disclosure on your website. If you are going to do advertising, you need to have a privacy policy on your website, there are free ones available. Your website needs: cookie disclosure and privacy policy that includes what you do with customer data. Tweetable Quotes: - “You need to disclose what you are doing with people’s data, and what they are signing up for when they sign up.” – Jonny Andrews. - “If you are running Facebook ads, no matter where you are globally, if you do not have…track-and-pixel on the disclosure on your website, that’s going to be kind of a problem for you.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Book marketing service Free Privacy Policy Generator WordPress Plugin Cookie Notice By dFactory Copy/Paste Code For Cookie Consent
In this 36th episode of Author Platform Rocket, host Jonny Andrews offers strategies to shift the more interested and engaged subscribers to your newsletter off of that list and onto a higher engagement list, and get rid of those that have zero interest. Learn how to increase sales and turn subscribers into potential buyers. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Your subscriber base is the most important part of any author or businesses’ platform, and it is also the most neglected. The reason why a lot of authors are frustrated with the performance of their newsletters is because of how they have been grown—dwelling on the cost-per-lead. Subscribers are seeking freebies until you convert them into readers and buyers. Multi-author giveaways don’t have the focus on you the author. You are looking for people who click on the links to your paid books—an indication of buying intent. Send about six automated ads in over the course of three weeks to your subscribers before you eliminate those that are doing nothing. Take the interested folks off this prospect list and onto a more valuable higher engagement list. Sell ad space in your newsletter to authors in your genre. Go to Authorplatformrocket.com/register and go through the webinar. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Mailing list, newsletter, and subscribers are the most important parts of your platform. You are looking for people who click on the links to your paid books—an indication of buying intent. Authorplatformrocket.com/register is where you go for the webinar. Tweetable Quotes: “Mailing list. Newsletter. Subscribers. All of these things are literally the same thing, and that is your platform.“ – Jonny Andrews. “Everybody who subscribes to what you are doing is a freebie seeker until you turn them into a reader and a buyer “ – Jonny Andrews. “In the author community, a sales funnel is going to be something where you are going to have these new subscribers go through a sequence of events that warms them up, and then gets them to buy stuff. “ – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Jonny Andrews website Webinar – Jonny’s webinar for how to sell more books consistently
In episode 35 of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews discusses the importance of not being a slave to perfection, and giving yourself the freedom to launch products and services while they are still in the development phase. He expresses the importance of full transparency about the stage the offering is in, implementing feedback, and giving early adopters a valuable incentive. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Author Platform Rocket began in 2015 with the ecosystem of book discovery sites and authors. Author Platform Rocket 2.0 became a more automated software-based system that catered to subscribers. An unrelated barbeque grilling blog inspired the idea to push Author Platform Rocket towards setting up individual perpetual giveaways for authors to grow their email subscriber base through Amazon, BookBub, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others. A lifetime discount was offered when the automated APR with individual perpetual giveaways was offered. Before you finish building your service and product, test it out with people to make it exactly what is needed in the marketplace. Jonny was a professional musician for about 21 years playing bass. And it was often said that recordings could be perfected once they are finally mixed in the studio. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: 1. Execute rapidly by figuring out the minimum viable product or service you wish to create. Map the logistics of your product or service and develop a standard operating procedure. Give consumers a huge incentive to join early while you are in the development phase. Tweetable Quotes: - “Success favors speed, and it doesn’t favor perfection.” – Jonny Andrews. - “Before you do all of the legwork and invest time and money in developing something, you need to first test the market.” – Jonny Andrews. - “Figure out the baseline logistics of it. What is the minimum viable product that needs to exist in order for this to work?” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Website for Author Platform Rocket
In this 34th episode of Author Platform Rocket, host Jonny Andrews gives an informative talk about product positioning—also referred to as “the frame,” which is the context in which you present something to be properly understood by its intended audience. Learn some techniques that will enable you to dispel negative assumptions about topics that your books and online classes may be confronted by—and get your prospective buyers on the same page as you. Download PDF Podcast Transcription How do you position a teaching product that is useful, but the topic is not sexy? The worst selling offer Jonny made was last year turned into one of the best this year because he used the correct frame. There is a ton of negative false beliefs about authors selling their books on their own website. One of the biggest negative myths about selling books on your website is that “people will only buy from Amazon.com. Take a step back from your concept and ask: what is it that this thing can do for people? Is there another direction I can go with this that is true and better? What are the false beliefs in the market you have to shatter and be able to engage an audience and quell their fears? Educate consumers, destroy the false assumptions, and rebuild them with the informed reality. Test the conversation that your marketing is having with your prospects. Go to Authorplatformrocket.com/register and go through the webinar. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Build an audience based off of purchasing behavior instead of interest targeting. Educate potential customers, crush their false assumptions, and rebuild them with the informed reality. Authorplatformrocket.com/register is where you go for the webinar. Tweetable Quotes: “How do you position something that has a lot of interesting connotations with it when you bring this stuff up?” – Jonny Andrews. “If you are setting up your ads to optimize for clicks, you are actually setting them up to optimize for the wrong thing. Training the artificial intelligence to do the wrong thing.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Jonny Andrews website Webinar – Jonny’s webinar for how to sell more books consistently
During this 33th episode of Author Platform Rocket, host Jonny Andrews breaks down what the GDPR or the General Data Protection Regulation for the European Union really means for authors and where all the terror and confusion came from. Download PDF Podcast Transcription The GDPR is an acronym for the General Data Protection Regulation for the European Union. How much do you market in the EU? His data from earning by marketplace includes: United States counts for 81.6%, Amazon.co.UK: 13.4%, Canada: 2.5%, Australia: 1.7%, Germany: 0.4%, and “Other”: 0.4%. Don’t bother re-opting your entire mailing list and informing them about the GDPR for the European Union. EU subscribers merely need to opt in once with approval for their subscription. Situations like this happen all the time. In the early 2000s, even Paypal had had trouble understanding what online selling was about. In the past, Paypal’s Risk Department froze $900,000 for six months in Jonny’s sales to investigate, but they have since changed these policies. This GDPR is an opportunity to clear out people that don’t want to be there, allowing you to focus on those that are engaged. The world is moving towards permission-based marketing, putting the power to the consumer. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: People from the European Union, which excludes the UK, need to give their permission to be on mailing lists. You don’t have to have your entire mailing list re-opted and informed about the GDPR for the European Union. The world is moving towards permission-based marketing, giving the power to the consumer. Tweetable Quotes: “If you have them subscribe to any kind of lists, people that come from the EU, then you have to make sure that they know they’re there.” – Jonny Andrews. “You do not need to send your entire mailing list something about the European Union, and get your entire list re-opted.” – Jonny Andrews. “Don’t go ask other people that are equally or more so freaked out about the same thing you are for advice.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Jonny Andrews website Webinar – Jonny’s webinar for how to sell more books consistently
In this 32th episode of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews shares the results of testing out the sales of selling books on your personal website instead of focusing on places like Amazon. When many authors report their fans saying they will only buy through established retailers, what can an author hope for? Something you may find shocking is there is a HUGE difference between what readers say and what readers do. So can an author beat the odds and come out on top? Check out today's show and find out the truth in real time as we test it! Download PDF Podcast Transcription The future of publishing is authors selling on their own websites. UPDATE: After running the full test we ended up earning $2.71 in pure profit for every $1 paid out to affiliates Amazon, Nook, and other self-publishing book platforms don’t provide authors with buyer data. If you spend money on ads and aren’t getting the results you want it is because clicks don’t equal sales. Facebook is jacking up prices for Facebook ads and lowering the available space. These book sales tests used LeadPages.net to set up one sales page and BookFunnel.com to deliver books with a 75% off book deal. Good conversion rates are typically: 1-5%. Book 1 Test: Conversion was 23% with 51 sales out of 415 people in 8-9 days. EDIT/UPDATE: Overall total funnel conversions were 23% and the front end converted at 12% One Click Upsell: sales were followed with a Thank You page that offered the entire 6-book series for 69% off; it converted at 32%. We used ThriveCart to processes credit card payments. We were able to offer ApplePay/PayPal & Stripe all at once which potentially increased conversions. The cart has an affiliate program to recruit other authors to make money by helping to sell your book. Gross revenue of book sales test was: $263 without lifting a finger. While retargeting for $1 a day, the click through rate on two ads was 11.76% on one ad and 16.67% on the other. Work with good editors and cover designers, and target your ads properly. Warm traffic (or Endorsed Traffic) is when other people send traffic to your website. Use free books or discounted books to upsell into more book sales. Keep 95% of your money and you get paid either instantly or within four days – the 5% is just the processing fees. Download PDF Podcast Transcription [caption id="attachment_541" align="alignnone" width="300"] Front End Conversions Upsell Conversions Between 32% - 34% 3 Key Points: There is no correlation between your cost per click and your cost per sale. Stripe processes credit card payments, provides buyer data, and takes ApplePay and PayPal payments. Work with talented editors and creative cover designers, and target your ads properly. Tweetable Quotes: “The vital evolution in publishing, the reason some people will survive and some people will not is that those that will survive will be selling on their own websites.” – Jonny Andrews. “Amazon, and iBooks and Nook…don’t give you your buyer data.” – Jonny Andrews. “You get to keep 95% of your money and you get paid either instantly or within four days.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Jonny Andrews website Webinar – Jonny’s webinar for how to sell more books consistently LeadPages.net – Leadpages.net website BookFunnel.com – BookFunnel.com website ThriveCart.com – ThriveCart website Stripe – ThriveCart website
Click Here & Learn How Your Book Can Add 6 Figures To Your Business (Even If You Haven't Written It Yet) In episode 31 of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews discusses: What happens when authors evolve beyond Amazon? Listen in and find out. (Hint: It's quite shocking) Download PDF Podcast Transcription Addictive nature of social media could potentially make Facebook a target like cigarette companies. Facebook slashed 55 million viewing hours to reduce quantity of time spent on the platform and increase quality time spent. If you are making your living off of book revenue on book publishing sites, the margins are low and you retain no buyer data. You need to run ads if you want a successful business. Tracking pixels placed on websites allow authors to see the results of the ads they are running. Facebook has stated that there is a 00.7% correlation between a click and a sale. CPC is a joke. If you believe it is bringing you sales – you just got lucky. It is untrue that people won’t buy anywhere but Amazon. Amazon’s affiliate program only offers 5% after 60 days. You could set up instant payment on commissions of books from your site for other people promoting the sales of your books. If you are in pre-order, there is no benefit to be on Kindle. The average book buyers are between 35-55 years old. If you can’t tell which ads are working for you – you are flying blind and will be left behind. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: 1. Facebook reduced 55 million viewing hours to decrease quantity of time spent on the platform. Tracking pixels placed on your author website allows authors you to see the results of the ads that you are running. The average age of book buyers is 35-55. Tweetable Quotes: - “If you were doing Facebook ads in your business, in your author business, or to your book or whatever it is that you are doing, you could see a very rapid, 45% increase in cost across the board.” – Jonny Andrews. - “Facebook announced that they had slashed 55 million viewing hours off of their platform.” – Jonny Andrews. - “You must start selling through your own website.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Website for Author Platform Rocket Entrepreneur On Fire – Website of John Lee Dumas
Click Here To Get On Track With Your Ecosystem Profit Audit In this 30th episode of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews defines and discusses chatbots as they pertain to authors. The importance of gaining access to buyer data is explained, as well as valid and valuable strategies for engaging with customers using chatbots - while still directing readers to your website. The pros and cons of chatbots for authors are illuminated in under 18 minutes. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Chatbots on Facebook are programmable autoresponders. Benefits to chatbots for book promotion: heighten response time. You aren’t getting any customer data from the chatbots. Chatbot messages have a faster open rate then email - for now. Facebook switched from being a social media platform to being a social advertising platform. Always do something to push customers from Facebook towards some way of collecting their data: a free report, video, webinar on your website to register. Don’t bank on chatbots because there can be a future drop-off rate. Chatbots are a marketing platform. You can use a discount sale of your book for about a week if they buy it directly from your website and use a payment platform like PayPal or Stripe where you can receive buyer data. Use Leadpages.net for landing pages, Bookfunnel to deliver books, and Stripe for online payments. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: 1. Chatbots don’t offer any customer data. Use a discount sale of your book for about a week if they buy it directly from your website with a payment platform like PayPal or Stripe where you can receive buyer data. Leadpages.net is for landing pages for your books, Bookfunnel delivers your books, and Stripe processes your online payments. Tweetable Quotes: “A chatbot is something inside of Facebook, it is a little machine…that connects to your messenger on your page. And it is sort of an autoresponder.” – Jonny Andrews. “I’m a big fan of predicting the future by looking at the past.” – Jonny Andrews. “Start training your biggest fans to buy directly from you rather than waiting to get you on those other platforms.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Jonny Andrews website Leadpages.net – Create landing pages. Bookfunnel – Delivering books Stipe – Online payments
Click Here To Get On Track With Your Ecosystem Profit Audit In today’s episode of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews has a conversation about ways to get over all the confusion that often comes with releasing a new book or ideas out into the world. Fear can make an author entrepreneur freeze up, or even worse, give up. Jonny shares the questions you need to ask yourself, the clarity of your goals that you should have in place, and ways to connect with an audience that is waiting for what you have to offer. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Confusion for author entrepreneurs is often caused by them seeing others doing what they want to be doing – but aren’t sure what that would be in their world. What systems do you use? What words do you use to describe yourself? Figure out what you want to do – beyond just a book. Pay attention to your numbers. An author entrepreneur uses their book as a piece of their marketing. The cost to acquire buyers for an author entrepreneur’s book will be more than the book itself. Do you want to do live events or coaching and consulting? Condense time and get someone who has done what you are trying to do to learn from. You need solutions that are tailored to you. Just do the best you can at something and incorporate an action plan. John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur On Fire went from the military to hiring someone to teach him what he needed to start his own business. Every year Jonny picks three things that he wants to improve on and does a deep dive into them. Don’t give up and become smart enough to know when you are doing it wrong and to modify your behavior. Identify who you are talking to and create that customer avatar. Create a list of at least 10 “pain points” that you know how to help people with – and create content about it. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: 1. Condense time by learning from someone who has done what you are doing and can help you customize your approach. Don’t give up and become smart enough to know when you are doing it wrong and to modify your behavior. Identify who you are targeting, create a list of at least 10 problems you can help people solve, and create content around them. Tweetable Quotes: - “I’ve seen other people doing what I want to be doing. But I don’t know what that means for me.” – Jonny Andrews. - “If you aren’t paying attention to your numbers, you are going to lose every time.” – Jonny Andrews. - “Experience - you are going to love this part - comes from screwing it up horrifically.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Website for Author Platform Rocket Entrepreneur On Fire – Website of John Lee Dumas
Click Here To Get On Track With Your Ecosystem Profit Audit In this 28th episode of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews addresses the painful side of being an author who publishes: coping with haters, negative reviews, and trolls. This discussion offers a sobering reality check that criticism, whether constructive or not, is bound to occur often where sharing your written work with the world. On the bright side, Jonny shares methods of how to take the high road and not sink to a hater’s negative level. Learn his coping mechanisms that can help you keep a positive mind state when a troll tries to derail your flow and get under your skin. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Understand that no matter what you write, someone may be offended or rally against it. If you focus on the problem, the negativity will eat you alive. Ask solution questions. Recognize that haters exist, and question if there is any truth in their criticism that you can learn from. Never negatively engage your detractors - it only fuels their fire. If you do engage, you want to bring the critics up to your level. We are wired to focus on negativity as human beings – ignore it because it won’t last forever. Shift your focus on the things that are going right. If you report negative reviews that have nothing to do with the content of the book, they can potentially get removed. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: 1. Is there any truth in the remarks from your detractors that you can learn from? Instead of dwelling on the problem, ask solution questions to find answers. If you engage critics – bring them up to your positive level. Tweetable Quotes: “It almost doesn’t matter what you say, somebody is going to have a completely contrarian viewpoint on it.” – Jonny Andrews. “You can let the fear of this reality dominate you. Or, you can just be like, yeah ok, I will deal with this when I get to it .” – Jonny Andrews. “Never go negative. Because if you go negative, what you do is you bring yourself to their level.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Jonny Andrews website Webinar – Jonny’s webinar for how to sell more books consistently
Click Here To Get On Track With Your Ecosystem Profit Audit In this new episode of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews discusses the importance of giving yourself more control over your self-publishing author career by having access to buyer data. He expresses the reality that without buyer data, authors are fishing for sales in the dark, without an hard facts to follow up on. Learn the differences between costs per click and cost per lead, optimizing for the results you wish to have, the advantages of publishing wide, pushing readers to purchase books directly from your own website, and the simple tools needed to gear up for successful customer engagement. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 01:21 – Which ads are working to convert to book sales? 03:56 – Jonny shares a story about a print and ship company that lacked buyer data. 05:17 – Amazon does not give you your buyer data. 05:57 – You can bid on leads and optimize on the outcome that you desire. 06:11 – An optimization example is expressed based on developing a list of people that download free books from Jonny’s agency clients. 06:48 – Costs per click vs Costs Per Lead. 08:40 – There is confusion in the market of what is actually working for author marketing. 09:12 – Tracking the effect of your own marketing, and sending people through your own shopping cart is vital. 10:24 – When customers are inside your compartment you can seeing their buying habits. 10:45 – Publishing wide on Amazon, iBooks, and Nook is free money, but should be an afterthought to selling through on your own merchant account. 13:03 – When you take responsibility for your business you have to build and optimize your self-publishing website. 14:18 – When customers buy from your website, you can put them in an autoresponder sequence to offer the other books in your series. 15:47 – Not only are you leaving all of your data to Amazon if they are your only store, but the cost of advertising is increasing. 17:17 – Using buyer data to following up with buyers increases sales. 18:26 – The three basic tools to develop a sales funnel from your own website are: LeadPages, PayPal, and BookFunnel. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Authors that depend on Amazon for sales are at a loss because they won’t receive buyer data. Costs per click have zero correlation to sales. The cost of advertising is increasing. Tweetable Quotes: “If you are not getting your buyer data, you are going to lose.” – Jonny Andrews. “Cheap clicks have no correlation whatsoever. In fact, Facebook has come out and stated this.” – Jonny Andrews. “You need to be wide, but you need to be spending money sending traffic to your own website.” – Jonny Andrews. “The goal is for you to increase the lifetime value of your customer.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket – Jonny Andrews website LeadPages.net – Company that sells customizable lead pages PayPal.com – Send and Receive payments BookFunnel.com – Deliver your books to reader
Click Here To Get On Track With Your Ecosystem Profit Audit In today’s episode of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews shares a conversation about how doing things for free can lead to more future income. With so many authors and way more books than readers can consume – how will your books cut through the cluttered industry? Build your audience that will willingly buy your books to have their problems solved and be entertained by the stories you share. Learn what Jonny Andrews means when he says “conversational conversion” and being “front of mind.” Learn how the power of “free” can help you spell “freedom” in your financial life. Download PDF Podcast Transcription The shared struggle of authors is to be discovered by readers. The barrier to entry is gone and the industry is flooded. The romance genre is flooded and readers can’t keep up with the overflow of books. Smash Words published data stating that authors that give away the 1st book in a series earn 30% more. Give new readers something free in exchange for name and emails, Chatbot using BookFunnel. Reasons you give books away for free: build audience, establish touch points, gain buyer data. Jonny gives away free training, podcasts, videos – gains emails and agency applications. Free things help pull in people who are really interested in what you offer. “Conversational Conversion” – engage people and then find what their problems are and solve them. The importance of usingFacebook social combined with advertising to get people excited to buy what you offer. Author applied what he learned from Jonny and began earning $100,000 a month from his book after 3-4 months. Be front of mind – become thought of as an expert in your specific niche. S. J. Scott is an example of a writer who is “front of mind” for Jonny. Figure out the methodology that will bring people to you – don’t look for one big thing to do it all. Document and release things that help or entertain your target market. Who are you? Who do you serve? How do you serve them? It takes time, effort, and consistently applying these strategies to succeed. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: 1. Give something away for free to build your audience and gain buyer data. Become a “front of mind” expert that people think about in your niche. Keep releasing things that help or entertain your core audience. Tweetable Quotes: -“Anybody with an idea and an editor can get a book out.” – Jonny Andrews. -“Romance is kind of like the petri dish of publishing, because there is so many authors publishing so many books.” – Jonny Andrews. -“If a person won’t take a thing you are trying to give them for free –they are not your customer.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Book Funnel– App for book delivery to readers S. J.Scott– Author and entrepreneur
Click Here To Get On Track With Your Ecosystem Profit Audit In the 25th episode of Author Platform Rocket, we delve into exactly which tools he uses to create, operate, and execute his online businesses. We share valuable insight into communication tools such as Ryver for managing projects and Hootsuite for sending and receiving social media messages across various platforms. Jonny goes into payment tools such as ClickBank for affiliate programs and Thrivecart as a solid shopping cart solution. He also shares creation tool wisdom about LearnDash, Fiver, Libsyn, Wordpress.org and Bluehost. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Keep using tools that you are great at Managing projects is key – Jonny uses premium version of Ryver Shopping cart for marketers with an affiliate program: Thrivecart Processing payments through Paypal – the service has improved Moving into product production - engaging affiliates with ClickBank ClickBank will manage referrals – don’t manage them yourself – and they may promote your products AWeber is the ideal choice for an auto-responder If you are just doing fiction don’t use Infusionsoft All of Jonny’s sites are built on Wordpress.org – highly secure Leadpages.net for creating landing pages LearnDash helps create online courses and you get to keep buyer data For social media posting Jonny’s team uses Hootsuite Libsyn is the recommended podcast hosting tool Bluehost could be fine for web hosting Fiver is an affordable place to hire someone to configure a website Facebook group with access to a Google Doc for letting users rent space on his site Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Payment tools: Thrivecart, Paypal, ClickBank Communication Tools: Ryver, AWeber, Leadpages.net, Hootsuite, Bluehost Creation Tools: LearnDash, Libsyn, Fiver, Wordpress.org, Bluehost Tweetable Quotes: “If you are using a tool that performs the same function, or a similar function, as one that I mention, and you are super hyper good at it…don’t go changing just because I recommend.” – Jonny Andrews. “The beginning and the end of every single successful businesses is going to come down to…can you handle the projects?.” – Jonny Andrews. “Keep things updated. Learn to run your sites correctly.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Ryver – App for project management and client communication ThriveCart– Shopping cart for marketers Paypal – Payment processor ClickBank– Merchant account alternative AWeber– Auto-responder WordPress.org – Content management softwareleadpages.net LeadPages.net – Landing page builder LearnDash– Online course plugin for Wordpress Hootsuite– Merchant account alternative Libsyn– Podcast hosting Bluehost– Web hosting
Click Here To Get On Track With Your Ecosystem Profit Audit In today’s episode of Author Platform Rocket, we speak about the problem with perfectionism, and how it leads to procrastination, stagnation, and being a blockage to generating income from publishing. Several examples are given of why making a book perfect gets in the way of progress. Jonny even shares his own personal story of triumph, that saw him rebound back strong after severe debt and secure his future with entrepreneurial writing and publishing. Learn how to use deadlines to your advantage and turn off your own inner critic. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Digital books on Amazon in 2008 The problem with perfectionism If you have been working over a year on a book – you are taking too long Write. Publish. Repeat. A book about writing faster to become s better author Amazon algorithm that seeks out problems in book writing Perfection is neither possible nor required – J.K. Rowling books even had errors Focus putting out a steady stream of books. Don’t waste time trying to make them perfect. Perfect Publishing System 4.0 Story of coming back from being homeless and suffering from identity theft PhD Family rejecting Jonny’s entrepreneurial goals Perfect Publishing System was a best seller: sold over 450,000 copies in about 6 weeks Enormous credibility as a publishing expert The power of deadlines – created a course in 18 hours Deep dives in Facebook Live and Chat Bots Customers want to get the value out of your books – has nothing to do with perfection Do things under a deadline to wipe out writer’s block People often find casual mistakes to be human - outrun your inner critic Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Concentrate on delivering books and not on making each book perfect. Jonny’s backstory about overcoming debt. Work with deadlines for completion. Tweetable Quotes: “Perfectionism is an absolute vixen.” – Jonny Andrews. “Now Amazon has an algorithm that sniffs out problems in people’s books.” – Jonny Andrews. “Money follows speed. Money does not follow perfection.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Write. Publish. Repeat. – Book about self-publishing Author Platform Rocket – Book marketing service Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/request/Tsf5VDg15LCxTs2sIFCv
Click Here To Get On Track With Your Ecosystem Profit Audit On episode 23 of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews shares the importance of authors and entrepreneurs to stay healthy and take care of themselves. Even though we are generally advised to hustle and grind the hardest and move forward with non-stop tunnel vision, you will hear valuable reasons why this can lead towards a toxic result on your mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing. You will also hear Jonny’s personal revelations about eating healthy, vacationing, and exercising that have had a positive personal impact on his life. There are also action steps that you can use to avoid negative energy from controlling you. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Taking care of yourself when it comes to stress Hustle and grind mentality and the inspiring entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk Overwhelming tendency to neglect our health – working without nourishment Your brain and body are like a car – must be taken care of to get anywhere Negative ramifications after eating fast food Start a daily exercise ritual Working 7 days a week without neglecting his family Eating in a way that will make you healthy Get some sleep – even if you have to take naps Eating before work – don’t work on empty Emotional problems from poor blood sugar levels and a bad diet Take a break even a “stay-cation” – Cayman Island Vacation story What are your daily micro actions for heath, knowledge and relationships? Jonny’s fitness gym rituals Recap: Take time for yourself.Show gratitude. Eat healthy. Avoid negativity and complaining: it’s toxic, when you focus on negativity you train your brain to keep searching for it. Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Your body and brain need to be taken care of with healthy eat and activities. Take breaks and vacations to renew yourself and to strengthen your relationships. Instead of focusing on your problems…focus on the solutions. Tweetable Quotes: -“There is the overwhelming tendency to begin to neglect your health.” – Jonny Andrews. -“You are your own engine.” – Jonny Andrews. -“If you’re neglecting your physical health, your mental health is going to suffer because of that.” – Jonny Andrews. -“I would very strongly recommend that you start a daily physical exercise ritual.” – Jonny Andrews. -“Instead of focusing on the problems, because you know what the problems are…focus on the solutions to those problems.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Gary Vaynerchuk – website Gary Vaynerchuk Wake Up Warrior – website for married businessmen
During episode 22, we speak on how to expand your how-to nonfiction book business and implement a solid infrastructure to sell the books or backend products and services like coaching or classes. We address the authors that may jump too soon into marketing, and may still be at the earlier stage where they need business development help. The two stages of authors we speak to include: Stage One: thinking about writing a book or already have and Stage Two: business owners looking to use a book to drive traffic to their website. Learn why your book must address one singular audience to be successful. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Jonny Andrews gives an overview of today’s topic Jonny will be doing a Facebook Live chat with Readsy Many authors struggling - thinking of writing a book, but not really understanding the business model that they are getting into. Many authors are reaching out for marketing help but aren’t ready for that stage yet Where are you on the “I’m ready” scale? Stage One: Thinking about writing a book or have already written a book. Stage Two: Have an existing business and using the book as a traffic channel Who are you? And who do you serve? If you are not speaking to one, you are speaking to none. Using a book as a traffic channel. Have you hit $10,000 a month? Need to not just hire people but you need steady lead generation Don’t need marketing yet if you don’t know the audience, a smart marketing company will tell you that you need business development coaching to do an eco-system audit to development your vision What business are you in really…beyond an author? How-to books usually are shorter so can’t capitalize on page reads The business you are in is selling products and services that the book leads people to. “Pre-frame” – set up the conversation with prospects for their problem that you can solve Where do you see the return on investment? You typically don’t see it with books. Steve Scott’s publish-only eco-system The purpose of your book is to identify a singular audience. Target one audience. What backend products/coaching/speaking engagements are you implementing? You can do your own version of Teachable through a WordPress plugin and theme to keep all your data What is your business model? Do you want reoccurring revenue? Minimum movement maximum impact. Weed out people that aren’t going to take the final step with you, the conversation begins with the book If you need help with business development Jonny Andrews gives contact information https://authorplatformrocket.com/help Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Don’t need marketing yet if you don’t know the audience, a smart marketing company will tell you that you need business development. The business you are in is selling products and services that the book leads people to. The purpose of your book is to identify a singular audience. Tweetable Quotes: -“You are thinking of writing a book, but not really understanding the business model that you are getting into.” – Jonny Andrews. -“Hundreds have reached out for marketing help. And what’s interesting is – that’s not what most of them need right now.” – Jonny Andrews. - “Who are you? And who do you serve?” – Jonny Andrews. - “Where do you see the return on investment? You typically don’t see it with the books.” - “The purpose of your book is to identify a singular audience.” Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket– Jonny Andrews website Steve Scott Books– Amazon page for author Steve Scott
Today, Jonny Andrews speaks on a subject that will benefit both fiction and nonfiction authors: how to grow your author business on a budget. This is an enlightening topic for serious writers that are not independently wealthy, or come from rich families that can serve as a patron to an author’s artistic endeavors. Jonny Andrews delves into the author’s necessary mindset, a realistic length of time to undergo this venture, and even the bouts of depression that can creep into an author’s psyche when penetrating the deeply saturated book market after launching the first book. Jonny Andrews tells it like it is to prepare writers with the reality check needed to grow an author business on a strict budget. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Jonny Andrews gives an overview of the discussion Who wants to read this, and who is already writing about this? Write. Publish. Repeat. book, Expectations: success comes around book 4, write a series of books Don’t expect to get rich right away Start with Facebook ads, $5 a day to give your book away in exchange for people’s email addresses LeadPages.net to split test several landing pages Inflicted marketing is creating an ad and forcing the market to react to the ad (takes a huge investment to penetrate the market) Flow marketing is putting options out there and let them decide what works Problem with book cover designers not giving authors the edible design source files Split testing ads, audiences, and landing pages that give the book away for marketing Make author friends and share Stranger Things example of how you know when a connection is being made “You are going to start by sucking.” You only need low-grading tracking of results Focus on audience building, write more books, learn the basics of advertising Don’t hire an ad agency yet No exact data, even AMS ads don’t give you where the reads are coming from yet $5 a day for driving traffic works initially unless you are selling back-end products Don’t go charging $10 for your book, be easy to access Charge accordingly – it’s an eBook not some tangible piece of art Get Facebook ads optimized for leads, don’t get leads directly through Facebook because they will be too expensive With a client went from 9% conversions to 40% conversions, audience discovery explained Jonny Andrew gives final summary Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: 1.Before marketing, know who wants to read your books. 2.Split testing ads, audiences, and landing pages that give the book away for marketing. 3.Focus on audience building, write more books, learn the basics of advertising. Tweetable Quotes: -“Hire a marketing agency before they even have their first book out. It’s not your time. Slow your role.” – Jonny Andrews. -“Don’t go charging 10 bucks for your book.” – Jonny Andrews. -“You have to start by sucking.” –Jonny Andrews. - “You don’t need to go and hire an ad agency. Please don’t. It’s absolutely like trying to shoot a fly with an elephant gun.” – Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: Author Platform Rocket– Jonny Andrews website Write. Publish. Repeat. – book about writing LeadPages.net – website for creating landing pages
During this episode of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews discussions the crucial steps that need to be taken prior to publishing or self-publishing a book in both the fiction and non-fiction arenas. Jonny provides the cold and honest truths that many first-time authors may feel afraid to hear – but should take heed to in order to take the strongest steps forward to succeeding as an author in the digital age. Jonny expresses the importance of understanding the specific audience that you are writing your book to, and the marketing strategies to take authors from hobby writers to professional committed authors. Andrews even offers information on how to use your book as a way to sell an online course based on your book. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Jonny Starts the Topic Discussion Fiction literary market – authors with zero supporters: don’t get a publisher Publishers focus on big name authors Publishers have been having a difficult time marketing Jonny interviewed 120 published authors –ones that were happy were on Amazon imprints that identify what reader want and get it in their face Huge likelihood books won’t sell for new authors with publishers Hybrid authors: independent and published If you do want to self-publish means you are on your own Science-fiction author that wanted to put his book out before executing marketing strategies Hobbyists don’t need to hire a book marketing company Write. Publish. Repeat. Non-fiction Discussion: you have to build an audience, at least $500 a month on advertising You need to pick one person to market to, one subset of humanity – then that conversation reverberates outward to others After deciding who you are specifically targeting, build your business and your message Recording a training and break it up into modules and sell that as a course, you can give book away in exchange for name and email or as lead generator on Amazon John Lee Dumas’s podcast “Entrepreneurs on Fire” podcast and business started by paying an expert Steps: concept, audience identification, initial monetization, scaling, ads and media, podcast circuit, take a media pitch and edit it Pay for the marketing service to build your business Find what you can afford Jonny Andrew’s closing statements Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: Authors without an audience aren’t ready for publishers. Write. Publish. Repeat. Creating at least four books a year is important for self-publishing. Going through the steps: concept, audience identification, initial monetization, scaling, ads and media, podcast circuit, take a media pitch and edit it. Tweetable Quotes: -“Write. Publish. Repeat. That is your new bible if you are going to be a self-published author.” – Jonny Andrews. -“You pick a market, you find out who those people are, and you write to them.” – Jonny Andrews. -“Four books a year, minimum. Try to even launch them.” –Jonny Andrews. Resources Mentioned: LeadPages.net – Landing pages website Write. Publish. Repeat. – Book about self-publishing Author Platform Rocket– Book marketing service Entrepreneurs on Fire– Entrepreneur podcast by John Lee Dumas
Today, we talk about the benefits of Facebook Live for marketing your books. Though it may feel awkward to engage candidly with your audience, a live video results in a much greater chance of engagement with your readers. And to sell your books, you NEED that connection. Tune-in to learn tips and tricks to make those highly effective live videos—including how to choose your topics, benefits of a Q&A session, and why you should schedule your appearances. You’ll also find out how Facebook Live will help you promote your NEW BOOK and give you that opportunity grow your fan base. Download PDF Podcast Transcription Facebook Live has been around for 1-2 years In a bid to compete with YouTube, Facebook launched video Facebook Live generates organic traffic that gives you better results than paid traffic When you go live, your fans and friends get a notification and it shows up in their newsfeed A live video gives you a greater CONNECTION with the people who want to hear you Do not let your introverted nature get in the way of doing a live video Gary Vaynerchuk and Nicole Arbour are prominent personalities who have been leveraging Facebook Live Tips and Tricks for going LIVE If you are in the self-help space, consider dropping information in small chunks at scheduled times; your video can be followed by a Q&A session Tell stories to engage your audience Aim for a fun, impromptu engagement with fan base Live video will get you a reach that is 10-20 times greater than what is generated from the videos you link to; extremely effective for engaging an specific audience If you are at a loss about what to talk about, Google will help OR just ask your fans Going live is especially recommended if you’re planning on launching a new book; a great way to get pre-orders Email your questions to Jonny and forward this show to an author friend who might need the love and assistance! If you are an author who needs assistance, do not hesitate to check out our website Download PDF Podcast Transcription 3 Key Points: A live video generates 10-20 times more reach than the links you post—this means a greater chance at connecting with the people who are interested in you. If you’re at a loss for what to talk about—ask your fans. Consider going LIVE if you are launching a new book; this is a great way to get pre-orders. Resources Mentioned: Gary Vaynerchuk and Nicole Arbour – Prominent personalities who have been posting live videos. Grow your platform with "Social" giveaways
Today, we talk about page conversion optimizers which increase the likelihood of getting better sales, particularly in regards to book reviews. Craig, from Hiddengems, provides some great insights on this topic as Hiddengems sole purpose is to help you attain those coveted reviews. Craig breaks down three approaches you can employ to attain reviews and lays out the benefits of hiring an outside agency to take care of this process for you. Jonny and Craig also explain the tricky Amazon Review policy to help you navigate their rules carefully. Tune-in and discover ways you can retrieve those trusted reviews to skyrocket your sales and conversion rates! Reviews are social proof stating the quality of your book Difficult for a new author without a following to generate reviews If you are self-publishing, it is more of a challenge Tips and Tricks to BUILD your ark team Established authors with an ark team receive a 10-20% return rate for their free handouts If you do not have your own list, you can consider hiring a marketing agency Hiddengems markets 100+ books every month Sending off free copies to your mailing list to fans who would probably buy your book anyway is NOT the best strategy Consider sending free books to younger people who are interested in your book, but do not have the money to buy it Managing an extensive list on a case-by-case basis is difficult Insights into Amazon Review Policy Policies are pro-customer which is not good for the seller/author Policies are open to interpretation since Amazon applies it selectively Email marketing with affiliate links can be shut down without any prior notice If the reviewer has received a free book, he needs to mention it Incentives cannot be provided in exchange for a review Reviews cannot be FORCED, need to be voluntary Policies are tailored to generate HONEST reviews Any serious author needs to have a review-receiving process in place Do it IN-HOUSE by building a team Or, target your existing LIST You can also reach out to groups who can help you get a review Most authors who work on getting reviews in-house have an assistant to deal with this cumbersome task Craig shares how Hiddengems can help you Send your book information to Hiddengems and they will put it in front of people who will MOST likely enjoy your book From those who sign-up, the best people are chosen based on how many people the author wants Send out the book and follow-up with these people to get reviews On average, Hiddengems is able to generate 80 reviews for every 100 books sent out Expect any review-getting process to take TIME and MONEY Hiring a service saves you time which you can use to streamline other business processes Authors need to concentrate on their writing and publish as much as they can You can also opt for a validation service by Hiddengems which is more cost effective and let’s you know how many people left you a review Get in touch with Craig through his website or his email Email your questions to Jonny and forward this show to an author friend who might need the love and assistance! If you are an author who needs assistance, do not hesitate to check out our website 3 Key Points: Any serious author SHOULD have a review process in place; you can do it in house, target your existing list or reach out to a group. Hiring an agency will increase your return rate exponentially—Hiddengems generates 80 reviews for every 100 books sent out. Hire an AGENCY to help you out so that you can concentrate on your other business processes and writing. Resources Mentioned: Hiddengems – Craig’s website
Today, we discuss the importance of sending across the right message to your target audience. It is of the utmost importance to be specific about whom you are targeting. Online advertising has made micro-targeting possible today. You learn the value of testing your ads on platforms such as Facebook Ads in order to determine whether your message resonates with your chosen demographic. You will also learn how designing a paid member course can help generate revenue, particularly for authors of self-help books. Tune-in to discover sound strategies that will ensure that you’re heard by the RIGHT people and will increase your revenue in some of the most toughest markets for authors. How to send the right message to your target audience: Be clear about what you are trying to say, and who you are trying to say it to Think about how you can set yourself up for a WIN in a particular environment A common problem is that authors target everybody; as a result, the message ends up being relevant to no one The Godfather of direct response marketing, Dan Kennedy said, “You have to enter the conversation in the prospect's mind” As people go through different stages of life, they worry about different things While creating a book, think about who is going to benefit the most Articulate your sales pitch and define your USP Remember—if you target everyone, no one will listen While targeting your audience, remember that we live busy lives and are hard-pressed on time Online advertising has made micro-targeting possible The first phase is about discovering the conversation: Who are you, who do you serve and how do you serve them? Paying huge amounts of money to list brokers is useless if you do not have clarity on whom you are targeting Facebook Ads is a great way to test your ads; results can be determined in 6 to 8 weeks Once you build a conversation, the audience will tell you what they want; test your ads with different demographics Figure out a common conversation theme in your chosen demographic and test these themes Designing a program that offers exactly what your chosen demographic is looking for is a great way to monetize Do not wait for too long to monetize your programs; if you offer real VALUE, there is no reason for people to not pay up Offering webinars and micro-videos at every step of the program is recommended Structure a separate membership area using WordPress software such as Wishlist and Paid Membership Pro Use your book as a free giveaway to drive traffic to this paid membership program Microbooks such as those created by Steve Scott are a great way to generate revenue While it is easier to make money selling fiction books due to a large audience, authors selling self-help books should resort to this tactic in order to generate profits Keep pushing until you have enough data to zero in on the right message that will engage your chosen demographic Email your questions to Jonny 3 Key Points: Be specific while targeting your audience; if you target everyone, you will end up reaching no one. Test your message via Facebook Ads to determine what works with your chosen demographic; you can see results in as little as 6 to 8 weeks. Use microbooks to drive traffic to your paid membership area; this tactic is particularly relevant for authors of self-help books. Resources Mentioned: Wishlist and Paid Membership Pro – WordPress Membership plugins
Today, we discuss a platform development technique called “media buying”, meaning buying traffic to help grow your audience. This technique allows you to leverage the traffic of powerful influencers in similar spaces to help you grow your own following. While implementing this strategy, it is critical that you test your creative using advertising and analysis tools. You’ll also learn the value of testing small units as a way of figuring out what works best even while on a shoestring budget. Today we discuss an affordable platform development technique called “media buying” Involves purchasing traffic from influencers like site owners, bloggers or page owners Works with all delivery mechanisms: email, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest Jonny attempted to grow an Instagram page about the fashion industry Shortlisted influencers who had between 500,000 and a million members on their accounts Had a conversation with the owner of the page using a messaging app called Kik Attempting to grow the page by buying “shouts” which are similar to email blasts Created videos using Animoto, a video creation service/app; it’s recommended that you buy the business version to eliminate the company branding on finished videos Key takeaways from this experiment Recommends a short, 3 hour “shout”—like email blasts, these lose their effectiveness with time Test out your initial videos by running paid FB traffic to them. The same goes for your landing pages if your goal is to develop a high converting list building page. Get in touch with list brokers. Ask for deals but make sure you actually buy! They don't like to have their chains yanked. Initially, you want to test small units on a single day by keeping a tight watch on your budget; If on Instagram you can test projected influencer engagement using this tool Algorithmic changes have made it more difficult to move a large number of people to a new group Vampire novels grew by using Facebook to generate an email list which helped migrate people to other platforms like Twitter and Pinterest; possible to move subscribers to other platforms using paid advertising. This is what we are doing now to grow ILVN Instagram. (And it's working!) Test your creative to find out what works and what does not BEFORE spending wads of cash Drive Facebook traffic to a landing page with a free offer; split-test everything on this page using a tool like Leadpages Split-testing enables you to determine the percentage of people that will convert; helps you to experiment and POSITION yourself correctly Experimented with 12 different landing pages for a thriller author by changing the background image; conversion rates ranged from low (11%) to high (60%) Higher conversions have a HUGE impact on your cost per lead If you get a negative result, ask for a “make good”; you will be surprised that most people will oblige Summary: Make a list of influencers who are catering to your market; get in touch with them via a messaging platform like KIK Test creative using Facebook Ads and analyze results using a tool, like Leadpages Reach out to influencers, ask for a rate card and try to get a discount Test smallest units each day to figure out what works best Be sure to ask for a “make good” if you get negative results Keep notes on what works and what doesn’t Scale up what works, start monetizing the page and selling shouts NEVER spend more than you can afford to lose—once you have data on what works best, RAMP UP Monetize quickly to offset your costs 3 Key Points: Test your creative using Facebook ads and analyze your results by resorting to split testing; use a tool like Leadpages to facilitate split-testing. Always ask for a “make good” in case you get a negative result; you will be surprised that most people are likely to oblige. Once you are in a position to scale up, monetize your page and start selling shouts. Resources Mentioned: Leadpages – Use this tool to split test your creative Instagram Money Calculator – Test the volume of engagement Animoto – Create your marketing videos using this tool
Today, Brian Meek, an AMS subject matter expert, provides some great tips on what to do and what NOT to do while marketing your books via Amazon ads. He shares about the MOST common mistakes authors make with their ads in an effort to provide the best possible advice for all those wanting to get the most from their ad campaigns. As the author of Mastering Amazon Ads: An Author's Guide, listeners get firsthand advice from Brian including why one needs to master their copywriting skills for their book descriptions and the value of analyzing your ad’s performance on a regular basis. Tune-in to discover how you can strategize and unleash the power of Amazon ads and achieve those sales! Brian’s book Mastering Amazon Ads: An Author's Guide is a must have for anyone putting out Amazon Ads Was spending 2 hours every day answering questions in the “20 bucks to 50K” Facebook Group; has put all his answers into this book People have wrong expectations when it comes to Amazon Ads They expect Amazon ads to perform like newspaper blasts or discovery sites 80% to 90% of people that start with Amazon ads result in foiled attempts Working with Facebook Ads and Google Adwords colors an author’s view AMS reports and total sales are not reliable; often it takes as long as 72 hours to report data Often, a sale is not captured in AMS reports Analyze ads based on the impact to the KDP report and not the AMS report If you are bidding at a rate which is going to optimize your return on investment, you have a shorter window where your ads are working; and so, you need to replace your AMS ads more frequently Unlike Amazon Ads, Facebook Ads can run for 3 months and still be profitable Turning off all ads will enable you to get clean, baseline data and effectively analyze A former data analyst, Brian states that an 80% accuracy is good enough to figure out the long term trends and make correct decisions Do not bother with how a specific ad is doing; look at the entire group and analyze the cost per click A lower CPC value will convert at the exact same rate as the higher one with the passage of time Imperative for an author to cultivate and practice some basic data analysis Authors should be able to calculate their ROI; in layman’s terms, ROI is pile of money earned, minus the pile of money spent, divided by the pile of money spent, multiplied by 100 Do not get bogged down by spikes in sales; as long as the numbers are positive, just keep on trying to further improve Often authors tend to overbid for their sponsor’s product ads and then lose money; lower your bid, and you might end up making money Do not fear math; the more you practice, the better you will get, and it is hard to hate what you are good at Avoid getting emotionally attached to your ad; instead become emotionally attached to your ROI Never use the synopsis of your book as the description The importance of developing your COPYWRITING skills Brian has included a couple of chapters on copywriting in his book Unhappy with the description on his book, Brian put off launching his book for 4-6 weeks He mastered the skill of copywriting, rewrote the description and published his book Conversions dropped from 1 in 30 to 1 in 10 due to this; had he done this a year back in October 2015, Brian would have saved $60,000 Reaching out and helping others is the best way to improve your copywriting skills Avoid copying your old ads to maintain integrity of your data Top Tips by Brian: Redo the description on your first book; try to have the opening line five to six words and a hook Do not fall in love with a single ad; build volumes Try to keep a tab on what your ad is producing for you by looking at it everyday 4: Give your product display ads 2-8 weeks, especially if you are bidding conservatively Connect with Brian through Mastering Amazon Ads: An Author's Guide - Beta Group 3 Key Points: Try to keep a tab on what your ad is producing for you by looking at your metrics every day. Do not fall in love with a single ad – build volumes; an Amazon ad tends to lose effectiveness with the passage of time. Give your product display ads 2-8 weeks, especially if you are bidding conservatively. Resources Mentioned: Mastering Amazon Ads: An Author's Guide - Beta Group – Brian’s Facebook Group Mastering Amazon Ads: An Author's Guide – Brian’s book Facebook Ads, Google Adwords – Alternatives to AMS Ads AMS Ads - Brian’s field of expertise
Today, Vinny from Awesome Gang shares some great SEO tips and tricks to optimize your website. Vinny shares his own experience building discovery sites and outlines everything he’s learned about SEO and building a site along the way. A big proponent of affiliate marketing, Vinny also gives listeners the ins and outs of affiliate links as it’s very easy to misuse these. Tune-in to discover the power of affiliate marketing, personalized newsletters and the online tools that will help you build your website and increase your search traffic TODAY! Vinny prefers going to the Affiliates summits and he uses SEO for marketing purposes rather than for paid ads Even hosted a podcast on affiliate marketing and knows all the big players in the space Newsletters and SEO for your own websites are the most VALUABLE tools you can implement Has authored the book 25 Ways To Improve Your Website; suggests ways to optimize your website or blog Vinny points out some of the common mistakes that people make: While Geocities has long been gone, authors still tend to paste information from one form to another without realizing that the information hasn’t been updated Authors fail to change their Amazon links on their copy and paste forms; no need to have Amazon redirect Amazon links that people submit contain unnecessary information such as search terms and the name of their browser A big proponent of ‘keeping it simple’, Vinny uses the Genesis Framework, WordPress and eleven40 Pro on all his websites Another site to use is Microsoft FrontPage; can’t change it out before doing major damage to his SEO WordPress is fluid and updates with pretty much everything Vinny shares how he started out in the world of SEO Started using internet marketing way back in 1999 by building sites with great content that would rank highly in Google search results; a big proportion of these were affiliate sites What not to do in SEO is way more important than what to do Florida update by Google resulted in all scam sites being shut down and Vinny’s sites pushed to the top of search results The origins of Awesome Gang Got prompted to build his own site when his book was rejected by a discovery site Leveraged upon his extensive SEO knowledge; had 1,000 books submitted overnight Using affiliate links on a site is not a good idea; site tends to be pushed down lower in search results Vinny asks authors to fill out an interview that he attaches to his social media sites and newsletter; ranks higher in search results because of the targeted questions that he asks Going to Affiliate summits is a great way to INFLUENCE people Leverage higher ranking websites to make money Make affiliate money from Amazon by linking your website using your own affiliate code; OVERUSE of your affiliate code will lead to lower rank results Amazon does not permit emailing of affiliate links; power hungry, they have put a cap on marketing options Jonny sold 15K copies of a health and fitness book in a week back in 2012 by leveraging the power of affiliate links; had his account shutdown by Amazon Amazon changed the terms of service midway into the campaign and the idea died down A lot of book promotion sites using affiliate links in their newsletter had to shut down overnight Top TIPS and TRICKS to pull traffic and optimize your website: Use a good platform Switch to HTTPS from HTTP by getting a SSL certificate and securing your website Rather than hosting your website on Weebly, use your own domain name by building your website through WordPress Whenever you are putting out a post or sending out emails, use a personalized tone; avoid structuring content like a press release or a business newsletter Go to Google Console and submit a sitemap Use the coupon code APR to avail a $5 discount on any of the following sites: Pretty-hot, Book Reader Magazine, Discount Book Man; avail a $10 discount by using the coupon code APR on Awesome Book Promotion Get featured in the newsletter and on the homepage for 3 to 4 days by paying $10 3 Key Points: Caution needs to be exercised while using affiliate links in your promotional campaign; overusing will lead to your site ranking lower in search results. Switch to HTTPS from HTTP by getting an SSL certificate. Using a personalized tone in your newsletter and emails will lead to building relationships; AVOID using an overly professional tone. Resources Mentioned: Pretty-hot, Book Reader Magazine, Discount Book Man, Awesome Book Promotion, Awesomegang – The Awesome Gang Family Sites Google Console – Build your sitemap WordPress – Build your own website Genesis Framework – Framework for Wordpress eleven40 Pro – Customize your website
Hiring an excellent personal assistant is a natural step for authors who want to take their business to the next level. As you grow your team, it is important that you develop into an effective leader yourself by working on your communication, your organization skills, and by defining KPIs to get those desired results. In today’s podcast, you’ll also learn how to deal with underperforming employees and find ways to ensure you hire the RIGHT remote workers. Tune-in to discover how you can assemble, lead, and manage a powerful team that will propel your organization forward. Authors need a personal assistant who is efficient in social media, advertising, accounting and other miscellaneous day-to-day tasks Nobody can GROW a business without adequate staff or infrastructure Critical to hire a quality editor if you wish to churn out quality content As a business-owner, you need to SHIFT your mindset and learn to delegate work STOP thinking that you are the best person for all jobs Jonny regrets not delegating tasks in his initial years as a business-owner; the only thing that he outsourced was graphics You need the ability to weed through multitude of resumes to zero in on the RIGHT one; inevitable that you will have to mentor a new hire Traits of an effective leader Show your employees how things are done by answering their questions Learn to communicate well, cultivate patience and organize your tasks properly Learn and evolve from your mistakes Know the outcomes that you want to achieve Have a systematic approach while delegating tasks to your employees, such as tasks related to social media marketing You can be a “plotter” or a “pantser”; a pantser is someone who “flies by the seats of their pants” Jonny has evolved from a pantser to a plotter; important to have clarity when you are trying to communicate something Defining KPIs will help get your requirements across It is your job to train employees to be AMAZING at helping you; accept responsibility for your employees goof-ups How to weed out and deal with underperforming employees Dan Kennedy, the Godfather of Direct Response Marketing said, “If I wake up three days in a row thinking of you and we are not sleeping together, you have to go” Look inwardly first to determine if there is anything wrong with the way you convey information Provide examples to your employees to get your point across; Jing is a great tool to make instructional videos for your employees Talk to your remote employees at least twice a week and mentor them on each individual client Provide employees with some touch points, but allow them to function the way they want to Clarity of vision and continuous communication are the key to great execution Hiring: Employs core team members from his ecosystem to leverage on their aptitude or knowledge Avoid hiring family members Hire remote employees through Upwork Weed out the majority of applicants by providing them a first milestone Provide a gist of the project without giving away too much Look for people with good aptitude Gauging your contractor through a Skype call is always a good idea Check out our page to know more about our marketing services 3 Key Points: As a business owner, learn to delegate your tasks—you can never grow your business if you attempt to do everything yourself. Great communication, patience and excellent organization are the traits of a great leader. When hiring a remote employee through Upwork, remember to weed out the majority of applicants by assigning them a task as a testrun. Resources Mentioned: Upwork – Hire remote employees Jing – Make instructional videos
Fighting for visibility in channels of influence, such as blogs or podcasts, is an incredibly effective way to connect with your target audience and attain those must-needed leads. HOW you attain this visibility and the CHANNELS you need to be aiming for is what will be discussed in today’s episode. If you are a writer of personal development books, children’s books and business books—this episode is specifically geared towards you. You will learn how to write articles that will resonate with your target audience as well as how to get invited as a guest speaker on a popular, high-traffic podcast. Tune-in to also discover the best way to implement free gifts to drive more traffic, build your list and ultimately rack up your sales. The bottom line—whatever strategy you employ from today’s podcast, make sure it benefits your target audience! Today we discuss a bootstrapping strategy that can help you BLOW up your sales in a short time Relevant for writers of personal development books, children’s books and business books Figure out where your audience is looking for information Jonny used this strategy way back in 2004 when he was setting up his first website He was cold calling auto-repair shops, his target clientele, and this was considered a bottom-up approach which yielded extremely poor results Fed up with rejection, he wondered how he could influence his prospects in a different way Figured that most of his old-school clients were still reading newspapers; hence, started marketing via newspaper ads This same strategy can be applied by authors of children’s books; try to INFLUENCE the parents by connecting with them via blogs, podcasts and social media On similar lines, if you are a writer of personal development books or business books, writing an article for Forbes or Business Insider can help you connect and influence your target audience If you play your cards right, media will be quite willing to provide you publicity; remember, the media needs you more than you need them Becoming a guest blogger is another way to influence your audience Start off by finding the articles that are pulling in the maximum amount of social traffic using one of the many tools out there Completely overhaul the article, but stay true to the tone of the article Find the main editor and send him an email to publish this article; remember to paste your article in the body of your email Getting invited as a guest on a podcast is an effective way to connect with your audience Find the popular podcasts that are major hubs of traffic Craft a well thought-of message in short, punchy sentences; tell them how you can benefit them and include a “call of action” Send some links of what you have done; however, be humble, polite and nice Be encouraged that you will get a better response from your target audience once you have built up your credibility; this is called “guilt by association” The halo effect of media channels with shine down upon you At the end of the article, include a call to action which is a dot com domain; provide a FREE offer on that page A free offer is a great way to build your list; leads them to the next page where they can buy your book Alternatively, you can use your book to lead traffic to a higher priced digital product or physical product; remember you are losing money on your book in a bid to sell another product Even sci-fi authors can implement this tactic; there are lot of places interested in sci-fi and geekery You need a basket of backend products or books to be profitable; consider selling non-traditional stuff like t-shirts and mugs Gearbubbles is a great site selling personalized merchandise where your profit per t-shirt can be as high as $15 You can even spend an entire year running with any one of the themes we have discussed today; tweak your pitch to maintain your authenticity and makes sure that you come up with something that benefits your audience Feel free to email Jonny your questions 3 Key Points: Figure out WHERE your target audience is getting their information from, then, use these channels to connect with them (an effective BOOTSTRAPPING method that will blow up your sales). If you play your cards right, media will be quite willing to provide you publicity—remember, the media needs you more than you need them. Becoming a guest blogger or a guest on a podcast are key, publicity strategies that will help you build up your credibility with your target audience.
You need to follow a systematic, marketing approach if you wish to rack up good sales via Facebook Ads. The problem is, the vast majority of people do NOT know why they’re not getting results they want from their ads—be it clicks and/or conversions. In this episode, you’ll learn the value of analyzing your metrics, such as Unique CTR and your relevance score to see how well your ad is resonating with your audience. You’ll also discover the need for an excellent development editor that can give you objective, direct criticism regarding your book cover, blurb and content. You’ll also see the value of giving your ad the time it deserves to see whether or not it will actually be successful. Tune-in to hear these marketing strategies employed by highly successful authors that will increase your visibility and boost your book sales! If your Facebook Ads or AMS ads are not yielding the desired results, there is a simple, effective and surprisingly unknown way of fixing this issue Spent 3 whole days reaching out to people, quizzing and researching in a bid to zero in commonly faced issues and possible solutions; unfortunately, a vast majority of people are NOT getting the results they want Analyzing Facebook Ads: Let us assume that you are doing a pay per click ad which sends you directly to the website where you’re selling your book You are allowed six different images; the higher the image quality, the more clicks you get You need to run enough TESTS to determine if you are using the right images; use a pixel ratio of 1200x630 A unique CTR of AT LEAST 3% and a relevance score of MORE than 5 means that your ad is resonating somewhat with your audience Run your Facebook Ad for 3-7 days to let Facebook AI capabilities kick in; running for 7 days lets you have a look at weekday and weekend data If your ad is not finding enough takers, resort to interest targeting or creating a lookalike audience Run your ad till you get between 100-200 clicks to get you a large enough sample Terrified of losing money, authors tend to pull the plug too early What do you do if you are getting enough clicks, but your clicks aren’t converting into good sales? STOP and FIX your problem before continuing with your ads Getting honest and objective feedback from people will help you determine what is off Good content alone is not enough to help you sell; critical that you get your PACKAGING right as well Less reviews, negative reviews, a crappy cover or an undesirable blurb are some of the probable issues that might be hurting your sales Use a GOOD development editor to ensure that your story is coherent and flows well Typically, a development editor looks at your books and comes up with suggestions; decide if you wish to go ahead after listening to these suggestions SELL your book at the RIGHT price; for instance, an unknown author selling a digital book at $10 is likely to invoke the rage of the public Pricing is irrelevant if you are on Kindle Unlimited since you get paid on the number of page reads If you are making less than $2,000 per month from selling a wide range of books, you might need a development editor. Access our FREE program to zero in on your marketing issue and bump up your sales Jonny is shortly coming out with a show that will cover free tactics that you can use to promote your book Anybody can write if they have the right editor to work with Be objective, allow the criticism to happen and use that criticism to better your look, your feel, your writing 3 Key Points: Unique CTR and relevance scores are great metrics to determine if your ad is resonating with your audience. If you are getting good clicks but have poor sales, you need to STOP and FIX the problem before continuing with your ads. Your book cover should be of the same quality as that of a New York Times Bestseller and should read like that too—overhaul your cover, blurb and content if needed. Get a GOOD development editor to help you out—99% of people cannot write in a vacuum and need someone to help them out. Resources Mentioned: Facebook Ads – Advertise on Facebook and Instagram
Having a high quality newsletter is the best way to grow your book sales. Getting people to subscribe to that newsletter is the real challenge that requires strategy and action on your part. In this episode, you will discover three different approaches for achieving a high quality subscriber base. You’ll learn how to leverage online tools, such as Leadpages and Facebook Ads, to accelerate this process and why those who have read your books and subscribed need to be treated with extra care. Tune-in to find out which strategy is right for you and your budget, and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Newsletters are just as important as your books! Earn higher profits by structuring your newsletter in the correct manner Concentrate on growing your subscriber base People do not like paying for leads to build a subscriber base Newsletter ads on book subscriber sites tend to work well because they are pitching your book to a huge subscriber base Tier #1: The Golden Child Approach People who subscribe to your newsletter after reading your book are the best kind of subscribers They are invested in you as an author and are committed to receiving updates from you Keep these subscribers on a separate list They will give you the most bang for your buck The only way to build an extensive subscriber list is through selling a large number of books The next group of people are those who connect with you via paid advertising These subscribers typically subscribe via paid Facebook Ads Facebook Ads are generally the most cost effective; they drive down your costs by testing your ad and landing page deliverability Tier #2: The Process-Driven Approach Get a landing page generator like Leadpages Go for the middle level membership costing $80 per month, which permits split testing Allows you to get an email address in exchange of a free book or video See which page turns people into subscribers faster—ideally, 25% of people who visit your page should become subscribers (even 70% conversions are not unheard of) Run Facebook Ads to your landing page Analyze your number every 7 days Facebook’s AI yields better results as you run your ads for a longer duration Do not let the high initial cost per click deter you; this cost will come down with the passage of time Allows you to reach into the marketplace and pull the people who are going to be receptive to you Set your expectations right: there will be a percentage of people who unsubscribe to your newsletter, it is a self-selecting mechanism Building a newsletter gives you leverage; without a newsletter, you are at the mercy of Amazon or an author or blogger In a previous episode, we have talked about “syndicate marketing” or joint level partnerships which leads to lot of politics This system can help you grow your business in spite of your introvert nature The bigger you get, the more power you have Once you have a sizeable and high quality subscriber base, you will see a lot of movement as you pitch your book to them. You’ll also experience a good open rate Get in touch with Author Platform Rocket if you have any questions or need help with your lead generation ads Tier #3: The “Knuckle Down” Approach Ran these to kick off the launch of two new book ecosystems Got 50 authors for each of these ecosystems for this joint promotion Expectations need to be scaled down—it is quite common for 90% of initial subscribers to unsubscribe Possible to clean the leads by weeding out the bad emails—you can acquire suppression lists from companies who provide this data Cost effective option which can really balloon your email list to thousands of subscribers It is a well-known fact that growing your social media following does not translate into high sales—what matters is a high quality, email newsletter subscriber base Feel free to email Jonny your questions 3 Key Points: People who subscribe to your newsletter AFTER reading your book are your best subscribers who will likely give you the most bang for your buck. Use a process driven approach, such as Leadpages and Facebook ads, allows you to reach into the marketplace and pull the audience that will be most receptive to you. Adjust your expectations when it comes to newsletter subscriptions—expect for a high percentage of people to unsubscribe from your list. Resources Mentioned: Leadpages – A landing page generator Facebook Ads – Advertise on Facebook and Instagram
“The Syndicate Method” is an age-old technique that will blow your book sales through the roof. But be warned, this method tends to become less effective over a period of time. Tune-in to find out the RIGHT way to create a syndicate and how to effectively draw upon its benefits. You’ll also learn the pitfalls of this marketing strategy that can trap you—for instance, the politics within the syndicate and how it creates a need to write with greater frequency. Find out why this method can be paralleled to Instagram marketing, and the tips and strategies you need to leverage this outstanding marketing strategy today. “The Syndicate Method” will increase your sales and leads faster than any other method Goes beyond the world of authors The top 100 authors are using this tactic Exercise caution while using this tactic Cold calling is an approach that is considered “bottom up” marketing “The Syndicate method” is a “top down” marketing approach “The Syndicate method”, a phrase coined by Frank Kern, involves getting a bunch of people together in the same genre and cross-promoting each other via in-house newsletters It can blow up your sales instantly You can make a staggering sum of money doing nothing but this method Building a syndicate: Find authors in the same genre and who are at the same level as you Minimum 12 and a maximum of 54 people are needed for this promotional campaign All people in one group will be promoting one book at a time This arrangement is called “list swaps”—in the world of internet marketing these are known as “joint venture partnerships”, or simply “The Syndicate” Need to have authors with professionally edited books and great covers; if not, your campaign might be treated as spam Not knowing the quality of the author or unknowingly promoting a substandard book will reflect negatively on you Finding parallels between Instagram marketing and “The Syndicate method” Once you have a sizeable Instagram following, you are an influencer You can trade a shout out for another shout out—you do not need to pay for it Ultimately, a big page grows a small page An influencer might agree to promote you for money as well—this might be money well spent Reach for the people who are reachable and who are at your same level Jonny grew his first business through “The Syndicate Method” but then moved out of it He made friends and promoted each other for mutual gain Used this tactic to grow his subscriber list consisting of buyers and prospects to 240,000 Moved on to paid ads “The Syndicate Method” is a great tool for making money when starting off; however, it’s difficult to further continue your growth as a business with this method Shortfalls of “The Syndicate Method” Tends to become less effective over a period of time Tactic can be used only once per book Using this method necessitates writing content with greater frequency If someone acquires a bigger following than everyone else, he or she might push their weight around “Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if your Life Depended on It”, authored by a FBI hostage negotiator, is a book that provides various tactics that can be used in business Netflix’s “House of Cards” can prepare you for the politics that can be part of “The Syndicate Method” “The Syndicate Method” is most beneficial for struggling authors making less than $500 per month To wrap up: Use it sparingly Promote good books with people whom you trust. And, be prepared to deal with the politics that go with it Possible to sell thousands of units in a single day Build your subscriber base via paid ads and author platforms as you grow through this method Don’t abuse this system and you can eat for years; abuse this and you can eat for a minute and it will shut down 3 Key Points: “The Syndicate Method” is great way to sell thousands of units in a single day. One of the many parallels found between Instagram marketing and The Syndicate Method is the fact that you about reaching out to people who are at the same level as you. Exercise caution while using “The Syndicate Method”—this method tends to grow less effective over time, so one should move on to paid advertising after that initial push.
Advertising your book on Amazon can really pay off if you select the right ad offering, zero-in on the appropriate keywords, prepare short, punchy copy for Amazon, and allocate a suitable (not cheap, but not expensive either) ad budget. In today’s episode, author Brenda Trim shares several tips and tricks to help you get your Amazon book launch off on the right foot. Brenda will also discuss the importance of constantly monitoring key metrics to test the effectiveness of your campaign, and what you need to know to strategically navigate through Amazon marketing services. Today’s guest is Brenda Trim, author of the Dark Warrior Alliance 15 books published to date Reviewing the different AMS ad offerings Initially AMS ads were limited to authors publishing on Kindle Opening this ad platform to all authors has increased its effectiveness Two Types of AMS ads: “Sponsored product” ads and “Product display” ads The likelihood of people seeing your ad is much higher in the former since your product shows up right below a specifically sponsored product “Product display interest” ad and “Product display product” ad are the two types of “Product display” ads. “Product display interest” ad shows up on Kindle e-reader. “Product display product ad” shows up below the purchase button Comparing effectiveness and costs of different ad types The sponsored product ad is cheaper, and yields immediate results Rather than increasing your advertising budget, it is better to clone your ad Product display interest ads takes 2-3 weeks to show results Selection of ad type depends on a host of factors: your target audience, how you reach them, and how they respond Likely to see clicks and impressions right away via a Product display product ad Know your genre to zero-in on the right keywords Key Questions for an author looking to build the right keywords: What are the keywords used to describe their books? What are the keywords used by similar authors? What are the keywords used while marketing any other book series? Targeted keywords are imperative for pulling in the right kind of audience Generic keywords result in a lot of clicks, but poor conversions More keywords the better. You can have up to 1,000 keywords Amazon dashboard lets you monitor how each keyword is performing Tips and tricks to write your Amazon copy Aim for a short, punchy description Take care to exclude odd punctuation. Amazon is strict about rejectingcopy that does not follow its guidelines Adding a “Call to action” is not permissible Image should be your book cover Strategizing your Ads Budget A high budget does not ensure more conversions $5 per day is an adequate budget Bidding process for each ad type differs “Bid per click” for product display product ads and product display interest ads “Recommended bid” by Amazon for sponsored product ad Can opt to go lower than the recommended Amazon bid for sponsored product ad If you’re on a tight budget, it’s better to go with a sponsored product ad Amazon is a non-optimized ad platform Unlike other platforms, your ad budget does not last the whole day If your ad is popular and is garnering more clicks, your ad will get moved up Making sense of the various metrics in Amazon’s ads dashboard Ability to view key metrics such as impressions, clicks, cost per click and Average Cost of Sale(ACOS) 100% ACOS means you’re doing really good Amazon does not count page reads by Kindle Limited clients Hence, ACOS is not a good indicator of ad success Book sales—not page—are the true indicator of your ad’s success or failure Remember that there is a 3 day lag in Amazon reporting While testing the effectiveness of your online marketing, it is wise to change one thing at a time, and then analyze results 3 Key Points: If you have a tight budget, you’re better off going with a sponsored product ad. Product sales—not Average Cost of Sale (ACOS)—is the true indicator of your ad’s success or failure. Amazon is a non-optimized ad platform, so remember that your budget might not last a whole day. Resources Mentioned: Amazon Marketing Services
Instagram is an excellent marketing platform for authors to gain a following and promote their content. It gives you access to billions of users—increasing the reach of what you have to offer. However, being haphazard in your approach to this platform can work against you. Employing sound strategies and being highly committed is fundamental for the success of your Instagram marketing campaign. In today’s episode, you’ll hear why Instagram is worth your efforts, practical tips and tricks that will effectively draw an audience to you, and why it takes a commitment of at least a year to see the fruits of your labor. Today’s topic: how authors can use Instagram as a marketing platform Instagram is a watered-down visual version of Facebook Reasons to use Instagram as a marketing platform: Billions of users When used correctly, it is an highly effective marketing platform for authors Tips and tricks for authors to efficiently leverage Instagram as a marketing platform: Discipline yourself to post content every single day Know your audience intimately to come up with targeted, relevant content that will gain you maximum clicks and followers Spending 40 minutes to an hour each day is necessary to effectively engage your target audience Can Instagram be used as a marketing tool for any written content? No, you need to strategize the type of content you post on Instagram For instance, posting content on personal development might work really well You can post photos with quotes If you are doing fiction, Instagram may not be the right fit If your content can be married with visually stunning, high quality photos and videos, then Instagram will work for you as a marketing tool Using social media as a marketing platform is a big commitment and often requires a dedicated team Strategizing to build an Instagram following Extensive research and pre-planning are non-negotiables “Shoutout” to influencers in your space, and use their social presence to grow your following Asking your audience is the best way to zero-in on relevant topics You are not venturing into the unknown. Most of the topics are out there—you just need to discover them If you are short on funds, then Instagram is a great marketing tool. If you lack commitment, then you are better off paying for advertising Change the username in your profile to reflect what the audience is actually getting Search engine tools like Google Keyword planner will help you zero-in on the right keywords Remember that people are unlikely to check out some random social profile The only way to drive people to your profile is by offering a solution. And, your username should reflect that solution Tips to set-up the “About” section Consider adding emojis in the “About” section Post a link with a brief but catchy description that informs people about your content Adding an image and posting your bio is another way people can find you Check out Gary Vaynerchuk’s Instagram profile Gary has built up a huge Instagram following by his active efforts over a long period of time He posts shorts clips on Instagram of people asking him questions Authors can learn from Gary and build a following through posting everyday content Doing thematic posts around food and drinks is always a great idea Wrap up: Put out 3-4 posts every day There is NO alternative to quality content Keep on changing and mixing up your hashtags Actively engage with people to build a following Reach out to an Instagram influencer Commit to it for a year—do NOT give up 3 Key Points: You need to put out 3-4 posts every day for at least a year, before you start seeing results on Instagram. Reach out to influencers within your space and leverage their social presence to build your own following Your username and “about” section should be strategically designed to drive your audience to your profile.
Committing to one genre as a writer may work for some, but not for all writers. In fact, sometimes exploring other genres can give you the opportunity to test your limits and tap into the market in a new way. Today’s guest of Author Platform Rocket, Kevin Tumlinson, took the the creative leap when he pivoted from writing sci-fi to thriller. Kevin Tumlinson is a bestselling author, blogger, and host of the Wordslinger Podcast. Tune-in as Kevin breaks down the reasons for his creative pivot and how his “failure” to perform in one genre resulted in success in another. Last episode was about knowing when to quit; today you’ll hear how quitting (a genre) resulted in a WIN for Kevin Tumlinson. Today’s guest is Kevin Tumlinson Jonny and Kevin will talk about the concept of quitting, failure, and pivoting Kevin had a massive pivot with 40 books out in the market Kevin started as a sci-fi writer His first series, Citadel, launched in 2008 He had a nice following, but he couldn’t crack the income code Kevin was doing a podcast with Nick Thacker when Nick challenged him to write a thriller Kevin took the dare, wrote a thriller, and it was a big hit! It earned bestseller status on Amazon The weirdest thing is that out of the 40+ books Kevin’s written, his thrillers got the most attention and success Kevin invested a lot of time into writing sci-fi, but he knew he had to make a compromise Writing these thrillers opened his eyes to the many, creative different ideas he had put aside “It changed my perspective in my career” He turned down Jonny’s offer to ghostwrite for romance – because he wanted to focus on his sci-fi writing He did not leap into a ‘selling-trend’ just because It’s important for authors to make sure their writing is IN LINE with who they are Writing romance didn’t feel right for Kevin Kevin’s criteria for switching genres: Write something people will read Make sure the story fits the readers Look to see if authors made money in that genre Assess whether or not you can keep up writing that particular genre Can you scale? Kevin went to The Nebula Awards in Pittsburgh and came to the realization that he just didn’t like it there He realized he had outgrown science fiction If you’re questioning the genre you’re in, think about pivoting Kevin shares how in Neil Gaiman’s speech, he describes his career as a mountain “You have to do the things that are going to move you closer to your actual goals as an author” Connect with Kevin on his personal website and on Draft2Digital End of today’s podcast 3 Key Points: It’s not easy to pivot away from a genre you’ve already invested in; at the same time, don’t hesitate to make that move when you know it’s time to move forward. Be open to the possibilities that are out there. Do the things that will move you closer to your goals. Resources Mentioned: Wordslinger Podcast – Kevin’s podcast Citadel – Kevin’s first sci-fi series Nick Thacker – Person who dared Kevin to write thriller The Nebula Awards – Where Kevin realized he really didn’t want to be in sci-fi Neil Gaiman’s speech – An impactful speech that Kevin heard Draft2Digital – Kevin’s website
How do you know it’s time to quit? Quitting often carries negative connotations in our minds; however, in this episode of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews challenges the stigma of just letting something go. For authors, it’s easy to become attached to our writing for the sole reason that it’s an extension of us. But, what happens when that one piece of writing just doesn’t sell? Tune-in as Jonny explains how we can objectively tackle our “failures”. He breaks down the steps we need to take to assess just why our writing is not performing—everything from determining who our target audience is to the length of time we allow for our marketing strategies to really take hold. And, if our efforts still come up empty, you’ll see why making that choice to quit is really a move towards your next win. Today’s episode is about how to know when to quit Quitting is stigmatized as failure Comparing your efforts vs the results is terrible way to assess “The internet is loaded with crazy stories of obscure authors” If you’re just getting started, you’re ahead of the game! Things you should ask yourself: Is there a directly reachable audience for my book? Who and where are they? Does my book appeal to this audience, so much that they would buy? Have I done everything possible to engage this audience and build an email list? Am I publishing frequently enough to keep my audience fed? You should be publishing at least 4 books per year How many subscribers do I have? Do they open my emails? And, do they click? All these questions boil down to a single point – do you have enough readers and are you giving them what they want to buy? If you’re starting out, build a reader-base of about 2,000 subscribers Use Author Platform Rocket to help you do this Get group author email swaps If you don’t build a business backed by paid marketing, you’re really not building a business Facebook Ads insights: After 2,000 impressions, does your ad have a unique click-through-rate of at least 3%? Does your ad have a relevant score of at least 6%? Your cost per lead should be below $1 for fiction and below $4 for the health/business market Are you getting 30 subscribers per 100 clicks? You need to quit using Facebook ads if and when these parameters are not being met Quit and restart Failure is a lab result, it’s a learning opportunity If you’re writing fiction, write at least 4 to 6 books in 12-18 months As an author, writing books is a labor of love Take writing and marketing actions on a DAILY basis “Give it a try time” means employing a strategy for at least 12 months You could end up making bad choices when emotions take the reins of your decisions If you’re earning a living from writing, start out small While using tools that track your progress, analyze the trends in your data Don’t make decisions based off the data you receive in one day Jonny has seen the trend of authors killing their efforts way too fast Give whatever you do enough time to ‘cook’ Sometimes, great things just don’t sell Most successful authors have one book that really didn’t sell well “Don’t hold onto the hope that somehow it’s going to work” Quitting can actually be the choice and action you need to take that takes you to your next win End of today’s podcast 3 Key Points: Always set realistic and measurable goals; track your progress and analyze the data from over a set period of time. Set the expectation for yourself that it will take time to earn from your writing. Don’t be afraid to fail. Instead, consider a failure a lab result from which you can learn and make better decisions in the future.
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