Book Marketing Success Podcast

Judith Briles, The Book Shepherd, and book marketing expert John Kremer deliver a fast hour of 10 plus strategies to deliver book marketing success in 2025 on the AuthorU-Your Guide to Book Publishing podcast. Your takeaways include:Overall strategies to leap forward.Why every author should have a newsletter.Tips for creating your own Summit and why you should.How to start your marketing offline.Why magazines are still hot and how to target/pitch to them.Why you should reach for a national TV show.Why being a podcast guest is a must do and two sources to use.And, of course, much more.Tune in for lots of ideas and how-to tactics via the AuthorU-Your Guide to Book Publishing podcast.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

JohnToday I'm interviewing Connie Bennett, author of I Blew My Diet, Now What? She's going to tell us a little bit about how to get to speak at a TEDx event.TEDx is a local event produced in different cities around the country. TEDx talks are a really great opportunity to expose you and your book to a book buying audience.ConnieI'm an author and I've been a long-time fan of yours since my first book, Sugar Shock, came out. Later, I came out with a book called Beyond Sugar Shock. And now I just came out with I Blew My Diet, Now What?I am a former sugar addict and also a former carb addict. For years I did really, really well. I ate very, very cleanly. But more than a decade ago after my mom passed away. It was a difficult year watching her lose a battle to cancer. I blew my diet.Hence, the new book. I come clean at last to the world about what I was doing, which was hanging out in movie theaters and in my home and secretly stuffing my face with crunchy, greasy, salty movie popcorn and other carb garbage, what I now call carbage.JohnI know that you recently spoke at the TEDx conference in San Diego, If you'd like to watch her TEDx talk, check it out here: I wanted to find out from you. Connie, how did you get in to do a TEDx talk? Because I know that it's not always easy to get to do a TEDx talk.ConnieWell, the very first thing I did was I decided that I was going to do a TEDx talk, come hell or high water, I was going to do it. So, my first step literally was deciding that I was going to do it.So then I began to research. I even took a course or two about how to get a TEDx talk.Then one day it hit me. I had moved to San Diego. I had been living there for a number of years. Then I thought: Why don't you just volunteer at my local TEDx? I don't even know how I got the idea, but I did. So I volunteered at the local TEDx.I watched the speakers and became friendly with them. I think, yeah, I want to be up there just like them. So that was my first step, volunteering.Then the next year, I actually applied to my local TEDx San Diego and I got turned down. But I did make it through round one. So, round one you submit something in writing and then round two you had to submit a video. I made it that far but was rejected that first attempt.A few months later, TEDx had auditions yet again, so I applied again and got turned down again. Then I got an email saying, hey, would you be interested in doing this special thing that we're doing with TEDx San Diego? And that is what let to my talk.Going local was the way to go because after the first time they turned me down, they knew me.I've met several people who'd been through a similar situation. They had applied, and they had been turned down. They tried again. They applied, and they got turned down again, and finally they were accepted.You can apply for TEDx talks in other cities, but it's good to start first with the TEDx event closest to where you live.JohnActually, I think that that's two incredible pieces of advice that you really talked about.One was simply being persistent. You have to knock on the door more than once. You can't take it as a rejection. It's just they have to know you better.ConnieThe other part of it is you have to be very gracious. They turn you down. You do not want to write to them and say, why was I turned down? You've got to be really careful about the way that you're persistent.You want to be politely persistent. But you don't want to get turned down and then all of a sudden send an email and say, hey, why didn't you accept me? So you need to be very, very careful and walk this fine line.JohnBut I am convinced that that going local is the way to go.I also thought it was really wise of you to volunteer. It's an incredible way to get to know the people behind the local TEDx. It's a really great opportunity, as you said, to meet the speakers and get to talk to them.ConnieIt was it was totally fun. And it also it stoked me. It got me like really excited about doing like I want to be one of those people,But I volunteered to get to know more about the talks and the people behind the local TEDx talks. I was like, I want to know more about this.I know I want to do a TEDx talk at some time. I hadn't set my sight on doing it in San Diego. But the actual act of volunteering, it was just so exciting to see these speakers do their thing. You just learn so much just watching what they went through.Now my talk was less than seven minutes. A lot of TEDx talks, they're a little bit longer. And I went even a little long. I'm telling you, every single word counted.I've heard of a lot of situations where people give a TEDx talk and then it goes so viral that it could lead to a book.JohnThat's one reason that speakers want a TEDx talk, because they're more likely to get an offer from some publisher saying, wow, I saw you and I liked what you did. A TEDx can open doors. Such talks give you great credibility and it gets a lot of attention.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

How can you tell if you're a professional writer?Professional writers do three things:1. They don't write anything until they've sold it.2. They sell their work more than once.3. They write every day without fail.That's it. That's how you become a professional author.Are you professional? Or are you an amateur?Now you know how to tell which you are.Be honest.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

I'm sharing a note from somebody that I'm newly following on Substack, Yana G.Y. I've been doing episodes about stories lately. And the key thing about stories is you've got to be real. You've got to be human.The title of this episode is The World Needs More Humans.The subtitle is Are You Ready to Write Relatable, Raw, Vulnerable?And here's the note that Yana G.Y. shared, I believe, earlier today.The world doesn't need more noise.It needs more humans.Raw. Relatable. Vulnerable.Keep writing. — Yana G.Y. That's from Yana G.Y.. I encourage you to subscribe her Substack newsletter.And that's how your stories should be written—with passion, with vulnerability, with a human touch. Raw. Relatable. Vulnerable.Are you ready to write like this?Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. And get the next 10 books in the Write a Book in 10 Days or Less series free! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Do you have a nonfiction book out now or one coming out soon?If so, you've probably wondered, "How can I sell as many books as possible in the limited time I have?"After working with more than 15,000 non-fiction authors and helping launch such bestsellers as Rich Dad Poor Dad and Chicken Soup for the Soul, my friend Steve Harrison has learned what works (and doesn't) when it comes to selling books.Sell More Books Crash CourseHe'll reveal strategies and tactics successful authors use in a special event on Zoom, next Thursday, May 1st, called the Sell More Books Crash Course.It will run from 12 noon – 8 PM Eastern (9 AM – 5 PM Pacific) and you may attend for free.To reserve your spot, at no cost to you, just click the link below:https://m164.isrefer.com/go/sellmorecrashcourse/A10005/Here's a sneak peek at what you'll get:A personalized 2-to-3-page game plan designed to give you greater confidence and clarity so you can focus on the things that matter.The most critical decision to make in order to sell a lot more books.Five ways to sell more books on Amazon most authors know nothing about.Case studies of authors who've sold thousands – even millions – of books via bulks sales of 100… 1,000… even 10,000 copies or more in a single order.How to enjoy telling people about your book without being sales-y.The one-page document that gets your family and friends to help promote your book.How to launch your book to bestseller status.The strategy one author used to get over 20,000 reviews for his book on Amazon.What it takes to get on national TV.How an author who felt intimidated by social media grew a large following.Sign up here: https://m164.isrefer.com/go/sellmorecrashcourse/A10005/I'm proud to be one of Steve's compensated affiliates because I know this event could make a big difference to your book sales!The average author releases a book with high hopes, but only ends up selling fewer than 250 copies.Don't let it happen to you! Join Steve on Zoom next Thursday:https://m164.isrefer.com/go/sellmorecrashcourse/A10005/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

The following is excerpted from a newsletter Guy Kawasaki, the Apple and Canva evangelist, sent out about a week ago. I love his advice. I'd recommend you follow it when appropriate.Facts tell, but stories sell. If you want to change someone's mind, skip the data dump and share a story that resonates emotionally. When I was evangelizing the Macintosh, I didn't just talk about specs—I told stories about how the Mac empowered creatives to design, write, and innovate in ways they never could before.Stories bypass skepticism. They're not something people argue with, they're something people feel. Whether you're pitching a product or convincing your boss to greenlight your idea, craft a narrative that makes your audience see themselves in the story.By the way, I wrote a revised and updated edition of my book Wise Guy—it's new name: Wiser Guy. Don't miss a new collection of honest, humorous, and heartfelt stories! You can preorder it here: https://amzn.to/3GmUbdL.Appeal to Emotion, Not Just LogicPeople make decisions emotionally and justify them logically. If you're trying to win an argument, tap into what your audience cares about most. When I pitched the Mac, I didn't just say, “It's user-friendly.” I said, “It's the computer for the rest of us.” That phrase hit people in the gut—it made them feel included, empowered, and part of a revolution.Think about what your audience values. Is it security? Freedom? Belonging? Frame your argument in a way that aligns with their emotional priorities.Handle Skeptics Like a ProSkeptics are inevitable, but they're not your enemy—they're your opportunity. The key is to listen, not argue. When someone doubted the Mac, I didn't try to bulldoze them with counterpoints. Instead, I asked questions to understand their concerns and then reframed my argument to address those doubts.For example, if someone said, “The Mac is too expensive,” I'd respond, “It's an investment in your creativity and productivity. What's the cost of not having the best tools?” By reframing the conversation, I turned objections into opportunities.Make It About Them, Not YouHere's the secret sauce: people don't care about your argument—they care about how it affects them. When you're evangelizing an idea, focus on the benefits to your audience, not the features of your product or point of view.For instance, when I pitched Canva, I didn't say, “It's a graphic design tool.” I said, “It's the easiest way to make your ideas look amazing.” See the difference? One is about the tool, the other is about the user. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

I'm correcting something that happened yesterday on Easter. Some people had trouble downloading the book, How to Write a Bestseller in 30 Days or Less: 111 books you can write fast — with examples.So I switched the book from being a Word document to a PDF document. That should make it a lot easier for you to download. This is the link to download the document now as a PDF: http://bookauthorauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/The-Book-Authority-Guide-on-Writing-a-Bestseller.pdf.I hope the PDF document will help you get access to it much more quickly.The link is also available on my podcast website (right here: (bookmarketing.substack.com) so you can click on the link there to download the PDF (see the link above).How to Write a Bestseller in 30 Days or Less will be available for one week after the International Day of the Book, also known as World Book and Copyright Day. It's on April 23rd, the anniversary of William Shakespeare and Don Miguel Cervantes' deaths. It's a day when many people around the world celebrate books.One week later would be the 30th of April, just so you know. So the book will be available for free download until then.You are welcome to share the link for the free download so you can share the book with anybody you want, as long as you share it in one piece. Don't cut part of the book out and share it with people. Share the entire book with them.On May 1st, the book will go on sale on Amazon and Gumroad.Yesterday, I also told you about another free offer: The Book Authority Guide to Why You Should Write a Book. Here the link to download that book freely as well: https://bookauthorauthority.com/the-book-authority-guide-on-why-write-a-book.It's actually better to share documents as a PDF anyway rather than as a Word document.I really would like you to get a free copy of both books. So I hope that you will download them and I'm hoping that you will benefit from both of them.They're really great books and they're really the beginning of an entire series that I'm going to be announcing over the next few weeks that you will be able to buy.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

I want to introduce you to my new book, Write a Bestseller in 30 Days or Less: 111 books you can write fast — with examples.This week, I'm making a special offer. You can download the book for free at this URL: https://bookauthorauthority.com/the-book-authority-guide-on-what-to-write.That link will give you an immediate download of the book as a Word document so that you can play with it if you want.I wanted to make it easy for you to get and it's absolutely free. You don't have to leave an email. You don't have to pay anything.You can just download the book. And, maybe more important, you can share it with your friends. You can give it away to them. You can send them this link so that they can download it for free themselves: https://bookauthorauthority.com/the-book-authority-guide-on-what-to-write.Be sure to read the book first before you decide to share it with your friends. That way you'll know that you really want to share it. Again, the book is free to you and to your friends.This free offer is good for one week after the International Day of the Book, also known as World Book and Copyright Day.After that one week, Write a Bestseller in 30 Days or Less will be for sale via Amazon and Gumroad, and that will be the only way that you'll be able to access it—to buy the book. And, of course, it's well worth it.Write a Bestseller in 30 Days or Less is already for sale as an e-book (https://amzn.to/4cBGnYU), a print paperback (https://amzn.to/42zc14J), and a print hardcover book (https://amzn.to/4jmaVR8) via Amazon.com.And I don't mind if you want to buy the book on Amazon. I don't mind the extra income. But you don't have to buy it.You can download it for free, again, at the download URL: https://bookauthorauthority.com/the-book-authority-guide-on-what-to-write.Late last year I shared with you a different book that I wrote, The Book Authority Guide on Why You Should Write a Book. That book is also available for free as a download at https://bookauthorauthority.com/the-book-authority-guide-on-why-write-a-book.The Book Authority Guide on Why You Should Write a Book will be available indefinitely. At some point, of course, it will be for sale only (as it is already on Amazon.com).So, you can download both books for free for at least the next week or so: Why you should write a book and how to write a bestseller in 30 days or less.If you go to my podcast portal at https://bookmarketing.substack.com, you can click on the links to access the book without having to write down the long links.Again, once you download these books, you can share them with anyone you want. Share it freely! As long as you keep the book exactly as I wrote it.I hope you'll take advantage of this offer and learn why you should write a book and what sort of books you can write—and write fast!Happy Easter! He is risen1Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Drop Everything and Read Day is coming up on April 12th! Get ready to celebrate!D-E-A-R Day, which stands for Drop Everything and Read, is a national celebration of reading designed to remind families to make reading a priority in their lives.It's celebrated every year on April 12th, which is the birthday of Beverly Clearly, the author of the Ramona books. A main feature of the Ramona books was the DEAR Time, a reading practice where everybody would drop everything and read for a while.I'm giving you advance notice to celebrate Drop Everything and Read Day on April 12th by inviting your followers, your email subscribers, and your social network to celebrate the day with you and drop everything and read your book.Or if you don't want them to read your book, then have them read my book 1001 Ways to Market Your Books.Either way that's fine with me: Your book, or mine!Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

I encourage you to think about telling more stories — to entice people to read your books, to interact with you on social media, or to become an advocate for you.The more stories you tell, the more listeners will become involved in what you have to teach and what you have to share.All good stories are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished listening to one, you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places, and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a storyteller. — Ernest Hemingway, novelistAnd if you are a storyteller, then you really are somebody that people will pay attention to, that people will listen to.Comment on this storytelling episode and receive a free copy of my new book, Write a Bestseller in 30 Days or Less 111 Books You Can Write Fast — With Examples!Website: https://www.bookauthorauthority.comWebsite: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.comBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Folks say that the best stories of the South are written in recipes; you hear it so much it begins to sound like just something to say. But I have seldom listened to my people speak of the past without talking, sooner or later, about chicken. We honor people with it. — Rick Bragg, humorist and storytellerAlmost every great culture tells incredible numbers of stories through the foods that they serve, the foods that they eat, the foods that they cook, and the recipes they create.Think about that in terms of how you go about marketing your books, your services, your other products. Learn to tell a story. Create a great recipe.And the recipe doesn't have to be about food. It can be about how to get something done. Just start to share some of the best stories you can possibly share.Comment on this video post and receive a free copy of my new book, Write a Bestseller in 30 Days or Less 111 Books You Can Write Fast — With Examples!Website: https://www.bookauthorauthority.comWebsite: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.comBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Today, I want to share something from Dan Nikas, who's the founder of GearBunch. He said,My journey from Detective Sergeant to founding GearBunch, an e-commerce brand that hit nearly $5 million in its first year, has taught me the importance of authentic storytelling.When you tell a story, tell it authentically. Tell a real story and tell it from your heart. Tell it from what you actually have experienced, what you hear, what you see, what you are! So become an authentic storyteller.Comment on this video post and receive a free copy of my new book, Write a Bestseller in 30 Days or Less 111 Books You Can Write Fast — With Examples!Website: https://www.bookauthorauthority.comWebsite: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.comBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to another Book Authority video minute. Today I want to feature a quote by Issa Rae, an actress, director, producer, and all-around wonderful person.Storytelling is forever.Make no mistake, but sometimes the stories get detached from the storytellers.The best stories do.Doesn't that make sense? Don't we often detach a story from who the storyteller was?And really, as a storyteller, it really doesn't matter because what is important is the story. Get ready to tell your own story over and over again.Leave a comment here and receive a copy of my new book: Write a Bestseller in 30 Days or Less: 111 Books You Can Write Fast — With Examples!Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Start writing your own story today. Don't wait! Take control of your life and set the direction you want to take.Do the same with your writing. Take control today. Don't let AI be your voice. Use your own voice. Your voice is what leads to better writing, more powerful writing, writing that moves people, writing that sells. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

I wanted to take the time to introduce you to a new series I'm doing of Instagram videos (which I will also share on other social media websites).In this new series I will talk about why you should write a book. Note: there are many good reasons to do so. And I will also talk about how you should go about marketing your books.So, I'm going to be doing short videos, one or two minutes long, every day. That's my goal, as part of my new Instagram marketing plan!This is the first episode of that series where I just wanted to introduce you to the concept of this Book Authority Video Series.If you comment on this video post, I will send you a copy of my new book: Write a Bestseller in 30 Days or Less: 111 Books You Can Write Fast — With Examples!Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

In an hour-and-a-half Meetn session, John Kremer answered questions from book authors on his birthday (76 years old as of January 16, 2025).Here are a few of the show notes from that session:Meetn.comMeetn.com is a less-expensive alternative to Zoom, with more capabilities. Rick Raddatz is the founder and CEO of this service.Stream Simultaneously to Multiple Social Media Platforms — Meetn grants you the ability to live stream to many social media platforms at the same time with its unique one-click Start-Streaming button.Video Share with One-Click Simplicity — Meetn provides the capability to upload and share your videos, PowerPoint presentations, or testimonials…faster, better and easier.Title Events Before You Start Recordings — Meetn allows you to name your virtual webinars with one click so you'll never lose a recording again.Persuade Your Participants to Buy Faster — Meetn's CTA function gives multiple options that make it a more comfortable alternative to monetize webinars and live events without forcing you to type hyperlinks inside the chat.Custom Web Page Popper — This monetization tool makes it easy to pop-up web pages during your presentation so none of your participants leave your Meetn room and get distracted from your Call-To-Action.Custom Exit Page — This monetization tool makes it seamless for your early abandoners to experience and take advantage of your re-engagement message that historically leads to 15-25% more automated profits.Custom Featured Button — Imagine creating any call-to-action button and display it on your Meetn toolbar for your participants. It could be a Donation button, an Application button, or any other button of your choice.Custom Call-to-Action Pop-up — Meetn allows you to create any custom pop-ups with your own headlines, subheadlines, photos, pop-up backgrounds, and call-to-actions with a single clickable button inside your presentation.You don't get the above features with Zoom.Clip ChampClip Champ is the Microsoft Office program that allows you to create videos, including videos featuring AI narration that is very human like. You have this program if you subscribe to Microsoft Office.Check out these two videos I created for novels using Clip Champ:Thrall Conspiracy: Genesis by John Sorflaten — https://tellmeastory.substack.com/p/thrall-conspiracy-genesis-by-johnLife by Chance by John Graves — https://tellmeastory.substack.com/p/life-by-chance-by-john-gravesBook Publicity Opportunities for Book Authors Via Email NewslettersBook Industry Online Newsletters: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/pitch-your-book-story-to-book-industry-publicationsBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

If you subscribe to Microsoft Office, you have access to the new Microsoft Clipchamp program for creating videos using AI, images, videos, and text to speech.Above, I showcase a text to speech video I created using the words and image from my previous newsletter. To create this video, I used Microsoft Clipchamp.Check it out!Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Website: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.comWebsite: https://www.bookauthorauthority.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Host a Podcast and Be a Podcast Guest!John Kremer: Every author should have a podcast. I still believe that. I've been promoting it for a long, long time.I still really believe that because I think podcasting is one of the most powerful tools you have for getting the word out about yourself.The neat thing in today's world, it's easy to create a combined audio-video podcast that you can syndicate on 40 or 50 platforms.Judith Briles: How many people come in and start a podcast with absolutely amazing intentions? Kind of like when people are going to do a blog and then within six months the blog is dead. Is there any stats on the startup for podcasts that start petering out?John Kremer: I don't know of any specific stats, but I do know from my own anecdotal experience that probably 80 or 90% of podcasters give up on their podcasts within six months. It becomes too much work. It's too hard. It's every week. But the thing is, you don't always have to do a podcast that's going to be a forever podcast. You could do a limited edition 10-episode podcast.Some of the most popular podcasts in the world are limited podcasts. They cover a true crime case, and then once you're done covering it, the podcast is done. But the podcast lives on in all the podcast syndication sites. It lives on in Audible. It lives on in Amazon. It lives on in lots of places.Judith Briles: Some of the news shows I'll pick up once in a while, they have both the ongoing, like in perpetuity, like ours has been, and we're seven years old now. But they also have limited edition episodes, almost like a serial book and then it's over. And then maybe they'll come back again when they have a new serial to start up.John Kremer: Even a limited podcast series still gives you the benefits of a podcast, especially the power of syndication.One of the incredibly powerful things about podcasts is that it puts you on 30, 40, or even 50 of the major websites on the Internet, including Apple, Amazon, Audible, Google Play, Spotify, Pandora, and more!You know the power of a podcast because you built up a listenership for your podcast, and you've had millions and millions of listens and possibly views because I know you also put it up on YouTube.Podcasts not only allow you to syndicate it to all these powerful websites, but it also gives you the opportunity to exchange views and podcast episodes with other podcasters.Ask key influencers and authors this question: I'd love to interview you for my podcast, but I would really like it if you would also interview me for your podcast. I think we have complimentary audiences that would like to hear both of us talk on each other's podcasts.The Book of the Month ClubJohn Kremer: I'm going to talk about the Book of the Month Club. Now, this isn't the old line Book of the Month Club, which died a sad death.Judith Briles: So, how do we create our own Book of the Month Club?John Kremer: I met somebody once at one of your seminars, and I'm still trying to track down his name now because I seem to have misplaced it in my move to Arizona.But he offered a book of the month club. He was a business speaker and consultant to corporations. What he did is he wrote 12 short books. I'm talking about short books, 96 to 128 pages, somewhere in there.Then whenever he'd go out and speak or whenever he attended a convention, whenever he met somebody that might be a potential client or customer or speaking agent, he added them to his book of the month club.Once a month, he mailed out real books to his prospect list, a list of about 500 potential customers. He kept adding people to the list as he spoke in different venues and met people on planes, in hotels, or at convention sites.His book of the month bluc not only justified him printing hundreds or thousands of copies of his books but it also impacted his speaking engagements and his corporate consultations.From a business standpoint, his book of the month club made perfect sense for him because he picked up all kinds of coaching clients, speaking engagements, and corporate programs that he would do.To be successful with such a club, first you have to write 12 books. And you can't produce junk. You have to produce real content worth reading, something that would showcase your experience and help to sell people on other products and services you have to offer.The neat thing is that at the end of every book, of course, he included a pitch for his coaching and his speaking and his corporate programs.His book of the month club was designed for a business audience. But the thing is, novelists, memoir writers, cookbook authors, and other writers could release five to 10 pages per week instead of releasing a book a month.One chapter per month, a recipe per week, something like that. They could email it out. Or they could podcast out episodes. They could even do YouTube videos.I just ran across an old friend of mine, Peggy Glenn, who's now doing videos under the name Grandma Potty Mouth where she shares fun recipes. She's a little spicy in her videos. They're entertaining and fun. She obviously enjoys it. And she actually got a book deal with a New York publisher to publish a cookbook.It wouldn't be that hard for any author, regardless of what kind of book they're writing, to offer a book of the month club or pages per week club or something like that.As you share, be sure to collect listener email address so you can email out the episodes or posts or videos to your list.It means that you don't have to invent new content for your email every week. You can simply be podcasting a book. Or email out a book a few pages at a time.The classic case of this is the novel, The Martian, which the author originally released as a series of blog posts. The story became so popular that Andy Weir ended up self-publishing his book before he got a contract offer from a major publisher to publish the book. Of course, it got made into a movie. He ended up making millions of dollars on what began as a simple blog.Judith Briles: Many authors sell their ebooks on Amazon, but they don't go any further.John Kremer: The neat thing is now with Amazon Kindle, you can do a paperback and a hardcover as well. And they actually encourage you to do those now. And an audio, an AI-generated audio that's actually not bad.Give Away Your BookJudith Briles: Yeah, it really can make a powerful difference to have different versions of your book.Authors are too often afraid to give away their book. I really think it's important to get rid of that mindset because I think in some ways giving away pieces of your book.John Kremer: For novelists, I recommend giving away your first book because I know you got three more books in you. I don't know any novelist other than Harper Lee and Margaret Mitchell that don't have a dozen novels in their heart and soul.One of the best ways to market the second novel is to give the first novel away.Offer the 1st Book in a Series to Sell the 2nd BookJudith Briles: Here's a little trick I found when I've been in bookstores. I have a historical fantasy fiction book called The Secret Journey. Book two is The Secret Hamlet and book three, The Secret Rise.When people meet you for the first time, they usually want to start with book one. If they like it, they'll come back to the trough. I typically tell a bookstore to order 20 to 25 copies of my book. I've learned to ask booksellers to order 20 to 25 of the 1st novel in a series and a dozen of the 2nd novel.In one instance, I asked readers, “How would you like to read book one for free if you buy book two?” That got their attention.So I said, “Do you ever read e-books? Are you on Amazon's Kindle? Let me sign book two for you and you can go up on Kindle Unlimited and download book one for free.” Within five minutes, I sold another five books of book two.Reach Out to InfluencersJohn Kremer: The first step to marketing your books is to reach out to influencers in your topic area.Judith Briles:; How do we find the influencers?John Kremer: It should be easy for you to find influencers in your topic area. If you don't know who they are, you're probably not writing on the right topic— because you should be a fan of that topic if you're writing in it.For example, I think it's terrible to write science fiction if you've never read science fiction. It's terrible to write a business book if you don't read business books.That's a crucial element in researching your audience, researching your topic, and making your book 10 times better.Work with Your CompetitorsJudith Briles: Many times I talk with authors and I ask them, who are their competitors? One author told me, “Well, I don't have any competitors.”I said, what BS? She just looked at me startled.That is total BS. We all have competitors. Ask yourself, what are the names of authors who are comparable to what you write? Or, who is competing for your services? Who is competing for your wisdom? Who's out there trying to get people to buy their books that have storylines in your genre? Those are your competitors.So I don't actually call them competitors. I call them friends or potential friends. And they can become friends, right?John Kremer: Back when I started out, Dan Poynter had written The Self-Publishing Manual. We partnered together, and he sold thousands of copies of my 1001 Ways to Market Your Books. And I sold thousands of copies of his self-publishing manual. I did the same for Tom and Marilyn Ross with their Complete Guide to Self-Publishing.I didn't see them as competitors at all. I saw them as people who were offering great content, and I could sell their content. So one of the first things you should do is ask your competitors is: “Can I sell your books?”Via the Amazon affiliate program, you can easily sell competitor or compatible books.You can also publish a catalog that you send out to customers when they order your books direct from you. That's how I created my first catalog. If you create a catalog to send out to customers who order your book direct from you, you can generate lots of extra orders. With my catalog, I ended up selling thousands of other authors' books that I stocked in-house.Potential competitors should be cooperating with each other. One of the best things that writers can do is work together with other people writing similar books to reach out to their audiences and expand each author's audience.The Audience as Super FansJudith Briles: You're talking about the audience as super fans. Who are these unique animals out there? Number one, they're mostly women, but they devour anything in the genre because they're always on the prowl looking for new things. So, why not create a cooperative collective of other authors like you?Or you can create a collection of related author books on Amazon and collect referral fees for encouraging such sales.Earlier when we were talking about the Book-of-the-Month Club, we both said we miss them because they were curating books. And there's still room for curators.John Kremer: I could see you doing a science fiction podcast that interviews your favorite SF authors and promotes their books. Any author can do that.When authors tell me that they can't think of anything to podcast about, I'm going, duh. All you have to do is interview people. Just interview your favorite authors.If you started interviewing a few famous authors, you can also start to become famous by associating and interviewing those celebrated authors. You start to become well-known. Their audience starts to seek you out because they say, wow, this person seems to know what they're talking about.Back in the day, I would have loved to interview Isaac Asimov or Jerry Pournelle or other science fiction authors. I went to a couple of world science fiction conventions and actually got to sit down with some authors and talk to them. In today's world you could easily go to the next world science fiction convention and record a whole year's worth of podcasts.And that's just the first half hour of the podcast. Listen in for even more great ideas!Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.ResourcesThe I-Don't-Have-Any-Time Hour-a-Day Book Marketing Plan: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/the-i-dont-have-any-time-hour-a-day-book-marketing-plan51 Ways to Help a Book Author You Love: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/36-ways-to-help-a-book-author-you-loveThe Ultimate Guide to Social Media Hashtags for Book Authors (439 author hashtags): https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/423-social-media-hashtags-for-book-authorsBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

The first secret of success is very simple: Tell the truth. That is how you build relationships with potential customers. This first secret does not change, no matter how successful you become. You must always tell the truth. — John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market Your BooksTruth is the easiest thing to sell. — Daymond JohnThe secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. — SocratesBe truthful, gentle, and fearless. — Mohandes GandhiWeb: https://www.BookAuthorAuthority.comWeb: https://www.BookMarketingBestsellers.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Have you thought of creating videos to market your books, writing, and other products and services? If so, here are a few statistics that should encourage you to do more with video in the coming year.Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% in text.More businesses are now using video than ever before. 90% of businesses plan to use video for marketing in 2024.85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound.66% of people will watch the full video if it's less than 60 seconds.1 in 4 consumers have made a purchase after seeing a video story on Instagram.The sweet spot for video ad length is 6-10 seconds. Short-form videos offer a great return on investment.80% of consumers want to see more short-form videos this year.For American adults, the average daily social media time for video is plateauing. Still, video consists of 60% of social media time among American adults.84% of people claim to have visited a website after watching a video promoting a product or service.Video production is often outsourced. Many marketers also use AI to create marketing videos.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

I've just completed a new book, A Is for Asterisk * - An A to Z Guide to Punctuation and Related Symbols (from the new ABC Book Series).According to the grammar experts, there are either 14 or 16 primary punctuation marks, but there are also mathematical operators, newly invented punctuation marks, emojis, and other symbols that are becoming popular as people write and post to social media.This new book is an A to Z guide to many of these punctuation marks and symbols. Enjoy!My hope is that this short book will help you become a better writer. I think you'll enjoy the book.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

One of my readers shared another key idea for back cover copy: testimonials. Linda Condrillo had a suggestion for the back cover:Visualize what you want on the back cover—including rave reviews from prolific authors. Then send your final (perfect) manuscript to those authors, or other prominent people you admire or even know. Ask them to write a review for your back cover (and also have a sample of suggested text waiting, just in case they ask you for it).You may be very surprised at the responses! I did just that. Voila!Linda's strategy outlined above is the same strategy I've used on the back cover of my 1001 Ways to Market Your Books. Here's the latest version of my back cover:If you collect the right testimonials from a variety of people talking about how they use your book in a variety of way, those testimonials can really sell a book. Are you convinced by any of the testimonials above. I know that I get inspired by the testimonials whenever I read them. They keep me going.Web: https://www.BookAuthorAuthority.comWeb: https://www.BookMarketingBestsellers.comBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

First, a few notes from yesterday's podcast episode.1. The author of Power and Petroleum died shortly after I reviewed her back cover copy. Apparently her book was never published.2. I write promo copy for all authors, no matter where they are on the political spectrum. My job is to write great copy for any author who hires me to copywrite for them.Here's my copywriting on environmental policy and promotion:If you want people to be worried about global warming, don't talk about global warming.Too big. Too hard to grasp. Too hard to figure out how to help.Tell the story of one lone polar bear cub who is losing its home as it melts around him.We will respond to that.3. I have no problem with people speaking Spanish. For the past 18 years, I've lived in two bilingual states: New Mexico and now Arizona. I interact with Spanish speakers all the time. I studied Spanish in college. It's a beautiful language. But in the context of the sales copy for the book, I did essentially denigrate Spanish. I apologize for that.A Novel of Ancient RomeThis novel had a front cover that looked much more like a nonfiction academic title than a novel. It needed fixing.The back cover read: “A thought-provoking story that is truly original — Copernican in nature. The premise meshes well with historical evidence, which lends startling merit to a sequence of events exquisitely revealed in this gripping novel. The theory proposed will inspire intriguing debate among readers, historical scholars, and theologians for decades to come.” That's it.There's nothing in the back cover copy to draw the reader into the drama of the novel. Is the novel truly gripping just because the back cover says so? The cover also says other things — none of which indicates the novel is gripping. The rest of the copy says that the book is a theory, an academic think piece. Nothing wrong with an academic think piece, but think pieces are not novels. Not ever.My guess — and it is only a guess based on the jacket — is that this book has a great story to tell, but where is it? Stories involve people, not ideas. Focus first on people. Then focus on the plot. Only then can you move on to tell stories about those people struggling with ideas or conflicts.Besides better descriptive copy, the back cover needed a few testimonials or reviews. The copy was too sparse to sell the book to most readers.Website: https://www.BookMarketingBestsellers.comWebsite: https://www.BookAuthorAuthority.comBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

As you may know, I critique book covers as part of the consulting services that I offer. A number of years ago I had the challenge of reviewing a number of book covers for a client. One of the books was titled Power and Petroleum. Now, the front covers of the books were okay, but the back cover copy was terrible. In this episode, I'll critique the back cover of Power and Petroleum.First, the title is boring. It has no power to convince people to pick the book up.The back cover of this book was too focused on abstract ideas rather than immediate impact. Here is the original back cover copy:A Wake-Up Call!Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is the successor to Fidel Castro as the enemy of the United States in the Western Hemisphere!!Read quotes from Chavez's speeches to know his intentions: To absorb Colombia and form La Gran Colombia, with Castro as his guide; and with China assisting in future adventures!This warning is by a former resident of Venezuela, and former advisor to the Venezuelan oil industry.In writing the above copy, the author used four exclamation points. There's only one reason why the writer used so many exclamation points: The copy was weak.Note: Exclamation points do not create excitement. Details create excitement. If you don't believe me, read my rewrite below:In the coming years, gasoline prices will triple.Cocaine will be on every street corner.Cuba will dictate U.S. policy in the Americas.South America will be ripe for revolution.Mexico will fall.Communists will be knocking at our door.Terrorists will be streaming in through our porous borders.You will be sitting in jail—along with three of your children.No one will be safe.Are you listening?If Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, has his way, the above headlines will be the norm in just a few years. Venezuela and Columbia will join with Cuba and China to create a new reality for the Western Hemisphere. It's time Americans woke up.In Power and Petroleum, Emma Broussard, a former adviser to the Venezuelan oil industry, reveals the hidden intentions of Chavez and his cohorts. You have a choice: Read this book, or learn how to speak Spanish and keep your head down.Notice how the details above created more drama, more urgency. Now that's drama (whether it's a true projection or not). It gets attention. And it's not out of line with what the old cover copy hinted at.Whether the book matches the back cover copy, that I don't know. I didn't read the book. But I could certainly sell lots of copies with a back cover with the drama outlined above.How is your back cover copy?Ask yourself:Does your back cover copy get readers excited about picking up your book and buying it?Does it make them want to start reading the book right away?Does it create urgency and excitement?If it doesn't, rewrite it. Add more details. Create more urgency. Give people reasons to open your book.If your back cover copy does succeed, congrats. You've take the first step in selling more copies of your book.Website: https://www.BookAuthorAuthority.comWebsite: https://www.BookMarketingBestsellers.comBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

I've just published a new book on why you should write a book. It's called The Book Authority Guide on Why You Should Write a Book by John Kremer. It's now available on Amazon in Kindle ebook format ($2.99), paperback ($12.99), and hardcover ($19.99).But you can get the book free as a PDF by clicking here: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Book-Authority-Guide-on-Why-Write-a-Book.pdf.Enjoy. It's my gift to you! It's a full-color ebook as well as a full-color print book available on Amazon. The PDF, of course, is also full-color!Want to know more? Just call me at 928-767-4022. Or email me at JohnKremer@BookMarket.com.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

I just loved this video I created and then pinned to Pinterest:It combines a testimonial video from Jack Canfield along with a gif of my 1001 Ways to Market Your Books. I think it's fun.“We love 1001 Ways to Market Your Books. We followed it to the letter. Without his book, we wouldn't be where we are today at the top of the bestseller list.” — Jack Canfield, co-author, Chicken Soup for the Soul seriesAnd here's the transcript from Jack's testimonial:Read books on marketing books.John Kremer wrote a great book called 1001 Ways to Market Your Books.When we did Chicken Soup for the Soul, we took about 900 of those ideas that we thought were relevant, made a post-it for each one. I had two staff people writing them for days.We put them on a wall about 12 feet long. Every day we took a post-it off and did it. It took us two years to get through all those post-its.But by the end of that, we were #1 on the New York Times list and we stayed there for three years.When the second book came out, it was #2 on the list. At one point, we had #1, #2, and #3 on the New York Times list because we kept doing those things.You can watch this video on Pinterest as well. Check it out here:https://www.pinterest.com/pin/57983913942730196Or watch another video on Rumble:https://rumble.com/vg2xaj-jack-canfield-on-1001-ways-to-market-your-books-by-john-kremer.htmlBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

On January 16, 2024, John Kremer hosted his 75th Birthday Bash with a Book Marketing Q&A session. In this session, he answered participant questions on marketing books, publicizing books, and more.Sources: https://www.bookauthorauthority.com and https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.comFree Book OffersFive of the participants in the Q&A webinar made free offers to anyone listening in. Here are their offers.Freddy Niagara Fonseca offer a free ebook for poetry lovers, Nature Poems for a New Dawn. It's packed with witty and mystical poems you can read on your phone wherever you go. When you join Freddy's email newsletter, you can download his book here: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/427947/107845540909155533/share.You can download a free copy of Explore Vancouver Washington by Patty Grasher by going here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/uo5x82nbrjKeith Wilhelm offers a free ebook, Self-Love Unleashed. You can have and give all the love you want. Download it here: https://parentinghappydance.com/free-stuff.You can purchase a free copy of Sara Freeman Smith's Action Planner and 30-Day Gratitude Journal by clicking here: https://www.urgems.com/store/p/action-planner-30-day-gratitude-journalJohn Kremer offers a free ebook, Marketing in 501 Words or Less. Download the free book here (at the bottom of the page): https://www.bookauthorauthority.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

In mid-December, Judith Briles and John Kremer recorded a podcast episode on How to Market More Books in 2024.I thought I posted this last week but, alas, the tech zombies chewed it up. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

To celebrate my quarter century on Earth (75th birthday!), I'm hosting a free Q&A session on marketing, promoting, and selling your books.What? - John Kremer's Birthday Bash Q&A on Book MarketingWhen? - Tuesday, January 16th at 4:00 p.m. Pacific, 7:00 p.m. EasternWhere? - https://meetn.com/bookmarketingsuccess (nothing to download, just come to the website and join the meeting)Join me tomorrow for a good time, great questions, incredible answers, and a celebrity event of wonder and delight! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

The key to getting what you want is really simple. If you want love, you have to give love. If you want happiness, you have to give happiness. If you want abundance, you have to share abundance. If you want money, you have to give money.But there is one caveat.You can't give with larceny in your heart. You can't give with an expectation of reward. You must give with a generous heart. You must give freely and openly, without pause, without hesitation. You actually must be a genuinely good person.You might remember the one question that Santa asks every child when they are sitting on his knee, giving him the list of what they hope to receive for Christmas. What does he ask? He asks them just one question. Have you been good this year?If you become a genuinely good person, miracles happen. When you give generously, everything comes your way. I call this the multifold secret.It's very simple.Whatever you give out to the world will come back to you multifold. The universe is generous if you are generous. It's a fundamental law of the universe. It all comes back to you in ways that multiply what you give out.When I was a child, my mother would plant gardens wherever anyone would let us plow a part of their lawn. And we planted many things, but the one thing I remember so vividly is what happened when we planted a kernel of corn. That kernel grew up into a plant that gave us two to three ears of corn. And each of those ears of corn featured hundreds of kernels of new corn, delicious corn, sweet and juicy corn.That's the multifold secret at work.It's how nature works. It is a universal law. Go with it.So this has been the introduction to the Book Authority Guide to Getting What You Want.In the coming lessons, I'll be sharing tips and secrets from some of my friends and mentors. People like Zig Ziglar and Jack Canfield, Jim Rohn and Tony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey and Earl Nightingale, Les Brown, Marcy Shimoff, Phil Town, Lisa Nichols and Stephen Covey.You're going to love the course. I hope that you'll join me in the rest of this course.You can sign up for the course at https://bookauthorauthority.com/why-you-need-the-book-authority-course-to-getting-what-you-want This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

You can make anywhere from $5,000 to $150,000 before your book is published if you know just a few secrets. Here are four ways that you can make money before your book is published.One, you can coach or consult. Focus on the topic of your book. You can make anywhere from $30 per hour up to $1,000 or even $2,000 per hour. I charge $600 an hour for my consulting and I get it.Two, you can make bulk sales to corporations, associations, and catalogs. You can make anywhere from $200 for a case of books up to $200,000 if you're somebody like the authors of Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul which sold over a million copies to one of the pet food companies before the book was even published.Three, you can make pre-sales of your book to your tribe, subscribers and fans. When I first came out with 1,001 Ways to Market Your Books, when it was called 101 Ways to Market Your Books, I sold over $50,000 in books before I'd even written the book.But then I had to deliver. But it was nice because I had the publication of the book all paid for by the pre-sales. And I told people exactly when I would deliver the book, and I did deliver it. It took a lot of work, a lot of typesetting and writing and proofreading, all at the same time essentially. But I got it done and I delivered the books on time to the people who had bought ahead of time.Point four, you can sell sponsorships for your book or advertising in your book. In many editions of a 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, I sold sponsorships. I sold between 20 and 30 sponsorship with each edition. Companies and services paid to be featured in the book. They also wrote an article for me and got a credit line at the bottom. And I made over $30,000 on those sponsorships. And that paid for the printing of the book.So essentially, I was making money from the beginning when the book started to sell because the books didn't cost me anything. Because I had sold $30,000 in sponsorships.I've used these four methods to make as much as $50,000 per book before my books were published.You can too!Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Last month I reported the results of just one pinned image I shared via Pinterest on August 21, 2023. Since that time, the pin has received more than 4 million impressions! Yup, that's correct: over 4,000,000 impressions. In fact, the pin has received 4,150,000 impressions and counting!Plus, it has generated 115,070 clicks (interactions) as well as 19,810 saves and, most important, 19,110 clicks to my main website.Check it out at: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/everybody-somebody-anybody-and-nobody-who-are-you.My previous article: 2 Million Impressions and 11,000 Clickthroughs: https://bookmarketing.substack.com/p/2-million-impressions-and-11000-clickthroughsBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or, better yet, paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Several weeks ago I shared the story of how Terry McMillan promoted her first novel, Mama, when her New York publisher failed to do much for her book. If you remember, the key action she took was to promote her book to more than 3,000 bookstores, libraries, organizations, and other groups.My question to everyone who listened to that episode of my podcast: Did you act on this advice?Did you contact people who might be interested in your book—especially people who could influence other people to buy your book?Did you contact more podcasters?Did you contact more bloggers?Did you contact more booksellers?Did you contact more librarians?Did you contact more social media influencers?If you really want your book to sell, you must do the work. You must reach out to a number of key influencers, friends, or helpmates.In my experience, most authors start by reaching out to 5 or 10 people and then give up because they received no positive responses. That doesn't work. You have to stick with it. You have to continue reaching out to people who can make a difference with selling your book.Check out the articles referenced below. Choose at least one action to carry out.* Reach out to 3,000 influencers by following the Rule of 3,000.* Carry out the 6-week book marketing program described in the I-Don't-Have-Any-Time Hour-a-Day Book Marketing Plan. or …* Ask your friends to help you. Show them 51 ways they can help you as a book author to sell more books.ReferencesThe Rule of 3,000: How to Become a Bestselling Author: https://bookmarketing.substack.com/p/the-rule-of-3000-how-to-become-aThe I-Don't-Have-Any-Time Hour-a-Day Book Marketing Plan: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/the-i-dont-have-any-time-hour-a-day-book-marketing-plan51 Ways to Help a Book Author You Love: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/36-ways-to-help-a-book-author-you-love This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

In marketing your book, product, or service, you can't be afraid to approach famous people or busy people or even untouchables. It's better to go out of your comfort zone and out of your way to reach out to people. It's even okay to be strange.We're all strangers until we are friends.Why not take the chance today and make some new friends? Reach out to a stranger and make that person a friend.Then reach out to another stranger and make that person a friend as well.In my experience, we can never have too many friends. I have friends all over the world: in Australia, in India, in Italy, in Switzerland, in Ecuador, in South Africa, in England, in Norway, in Russia, in Ghana. And so many thousands of friends here in the United States and Canada.Those friends are my storehouse of wealth, my storehouse of happiness, my storehouse of meaning.Reach out today. Make at least one new friend today!Never be afraid to stand up and advocate for yourself. This is your life. You dictate which story is told. — Admiral Horace Kilbride, character in NCIS: Los Angeles TV show1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAsBook me as a podcast guest or be a guest for my podcast. Connect here: https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/john-kremer-bd46ecWebsite: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.comOr just buy me a cup of coffee! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BookMarketingOr become my patron for all good things - https://www.patreon.com/bookmarketingSnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing - Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, please become a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Today I want to talk a little bit about what really matters in marketing a book. And I'm going to do it by telling a story that I've told before, but apparently people haven't gotten the message. So I want to tell it again.It's a story about Terry McMillan, now a bestselling novelist who had several movies done with Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back.But her first novel was published by a large New York publisher, but they didn't do much with it. This was in 1987. They sent out press releases. They sent out some review copies. But Terry was a first-time novelist, so media didn't care. Nothing much happened.The publisher did their normal low-level promotion for first-time authors. So Terry decided that she would take her promotion of the book into her own hands.What she did, the thing that really is vitally important for all of you to hear, and I hope you'll actually take it to heart, was simple: She wrote 3,000 letters. Actually, more than 3,000 letters. She wrote them to bookstores, college stores, chain stores, African-American groups, college professors, other groups, all asking them to either stock her book or promote her book.Now, this was before the internet. If she were to do promotion in today's world, she probably would have asked bloggers and podcasters, social networked with others, and creating Youtube videos.What she did, however, was write 3,000 letters to the key audiences for her book. She offered to do readings wherever they would give her space and she'd be happy to give a talk. She would ask different actions of them depending on what audience she was addressing at the timeAgain, she wrote 3,000 letters.The response was so great that she ended up doing a 39-city book tour. Her efforts gained her plenty of rave reviews for her book as well as two reprintings in six weeks. That's a major success for a first-time novelist.Her publisher got behind her once they saw that the book was selling, and it was worth reprinting again and again.The key point to this story is not who Terry sent letters to, but how many letters she sent. It's a numbers game, and what happens with most authors, even though I've told them this story many times, is that they ignore this crucial advice.Write a lot of emails.Write a lot of letters.In today's world, I would have at one point told you to send out emails to people, but my experience in the last six months is that emails don't do the job. People aren't reading their emails anymore. So you should send out real letters via the post office.Obviously, it takes time to write 3,000 letters. It takes a lot of time to write even 100 letters.Now, most of the letters can be the same thing. Or if you're writing a postcard, it's just a short little scribbled note on the postcard to your directed audience asking them for something specific.You should write 3,000 letters. That is the most important thing you can do in marketing a book. Nothing else can replace that personal attention from you to people that could have an influence in the marketplace, who could potentially bring your book to the readers you want to reach.Again, write to bookstores, college professors, African American groups, in Terry's case, other groups that you might want to reach out to depending on what kind of book you've written.Now, she promoted a first-time novel. I want to encourage you, every novelist, especially first-time or second-time novelists, to take this advice to heart.Write letters. Write 3,000 of them.If you write 10 letters a day, it'll take you about a year to write 3,000 letters. If you write 30 letters a day, it will only take 100 days. And, if you take some time off for good behavior, it would take you about four, maybe five months.If you wrote 50 letters a day, obviously, it would go much quicker.Maybe you could get your friends involved with this so that it's not just you writing letters. They could help you write some of the letters or stuff the envelopes and put on the stamps.And again, your letters have to be handwritten. Escept if you did a postcard, it should be handwritten.In today's world, you might be writing to bloggers as well, bloggers who write about books like yours, review books like yours, interview authors like you.Sent letters to podcasters as well—podcasters who might be very happy to interview a new first-time author or second-time author.Writing letters is really a strategy that even applies to people who have published 10 or 20 books.When you're launching your new book, really think about writing a lot of letters. Take it to heart. Do more promotions. Write to the people that you think could make a difference in your book—even if it's only 10 letters a day,It's going to take you a long time to write 3,000 letters. That is a year's worth of time if you write every day 10 letters.Make your letters personalized. Even a handwritten note even on those letters would be worthwhile. You can easily customize 20 or 30 letters a day if you take a half hour to an hour to set aside to promote your book.It's a numbers game. It really does matter.I know this is not an easy ask. I know that it's hard to write that many letters. I know it's hard to find that many addresses. I know it's not an easy thing at all. But it's the most important thing you could do to promote your book.Terry's novel Mama did not become a New York Times bestseller, but Waiting to Excel and When Stella Got Her Groove Bac become bestsellers and movies.But Terry had to start somewhere. She was a first-time novelist. Mama, that was her book. That was the novel that she wrote. That is the one that she chose to promote right from the beginning.  She was a 36-year-old first-time novelist. She was trying to reach out to people who could make a difference with her book. In her case, that was bookstores, colleges, African-American groups, and other groups that she thought could help to promote her book.In today's world, that list would also include podcasters, bloggers, people with websites that address an audience you want to reach out to. It might be people that do YouTube book reviews. You might reach out to social media influencers that might make a difference, reach out to them, write them a letter.I would, if I could, try to get people's addresses and send out a letter, a physical letter that will have much bigger impact in today's world. It's hard to ignore a beautiful postcard or a handwritten letter hand-addressed to that person.That can make a big difference. So try it.Maybe you can't do all 3,000. Maybe it becomes overwhelming. So start with 300.300 you can easily do in a month. Once you've done that, the next month, do another 300. And the next month, do another 300. And pretty soon, you'll have reached 3,000 people.It really is a numbers game.It really does make a difference how many people you reach out to.It's not a simple thing of emailing somebody and going, oh, okay, they didn't respond and that's it. And I did it to 10 people. Or I made phone calls to 10 people and I didn't get through, so I gave up trying to reach out.It doesn't work. You have to reach out. It's hard. Absolutely. It is very hard. But writing your book was also hard. Getting it published was also hard. Formatting it, editing it, getting cover design, working with a publisher, working with a publicist, etc. All of that is hard.Some people have spent five or ten years writing a book, and then they don't want to spend a year promoting that book. Why not? Is your book important to you?If it's important to you, do the work. And I know it is work. It's hard work.Now I'm going to give you one little tip. It's a sort of selfish tip on my part, because if you want to reach 950 independent bookstores, I have a database of those bookstores. And I'll sell it to you for $50, really cheap. But it'll give you your first 950 stores to reach out to with addresses, phone numbers, emails, social media, people's names. You can order it here: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/top-900-independent-bookstores.Now I didn't do this video to sell that database. I did this video because I really want you to succeed. I want you to create an impact with your book, whether it's your first book, your second book, or your tenth book.It's a numbers game. You really have to reach out to people and knock on their doors. Terry did it with 3,000 letters. You can do it with 3,000 letters and it's worth doing. It really is worth doing.It could make the difference between you having the opportunity to write a second book or a third book or really get the notice that your book and you deserve.But you have to put the work in. I'm not going to sugarcoat it.I'm telling you now, if you've watched this video, and you've listened to it, please take it to heart.Contact 3,000 people. Write 3,000 letters.It'll make a difference in your world.It'll make a difference for your book.It'll make a difference for you and your authority as an author.It could set you up as an expert. It could make a big difference.Besides writing letters as Terry did to bookstores, colleges, and other groups, write letters to major newspapers, book review sections. You can get their free addresses at https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/newspaper-book-review-editors. That's free. There's about 50 newspapers there with their addresses and you can just say, attention book review editor.You can do the same with Google searches to discover the key magazine editors you want to reach out to, TV producers you want to reach out to, radio producers you want to reach out to.There are over a thousand live local radio shows every day in the United States). These radio shows are looking for people to interview, interesting people to interview. An author is almost inevitably an interesting person to interview.So you have bookstores, you possibly have colleges, you have groups you want to target, blogs, podcasts, radio shows, TV shows, magazines, newspapers.The world is open to you, but you have to knock on the door to get it answered.Write those 3,000 letters. Start today.Source: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/the-mama-bestseller-video.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Five days ago I shared the results of one of my most popular pins during the past two months. See the detailed results in the graphic below:In the first 60 days of this pin (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/57983913939285987), it received 2.1 million views, 67,860 pin clicks, and 11,250 visits to my main website at https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com.Well, I just checked the Pinterest stats for this particular pin and over the past 5 days (while I was away on a medical checkup trip without internet access), the pin has generated the following additional results:As you can see by the Pinterest stats, this pin has received 220,000 new impressions in the past five days, more than 5,000 new pin clicks, and more than 1,000 additional clicks to my main website at https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com. Again, all in the past five days!In the next ten days (through November 2nd), the number of impressions increased by another 360,000 to 2.68 million views. The number of pin clicks increased by almost 9,000 clicks to 83,110. And the number of visits to my main website increased to 14,060 — more than 1,800 additional visits to my main website!I can't guarantee similar results, but during the past week several people have asked me if I offer Pinterest Marketing services. So, I decided to offer a limited time service where I will create 10 Pinterest images/videos for you, your book, your product, or your service and then pin them to my Pinterest profile which gets 1.8 million views per month. And do that all before the holidays!My fee for this incredible Pinterest Marketing service is only $300.You will have full rights to the 10 pins I create for you. You can pin them to your Pinterest profile (if you have one) as well as to TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and other social networks. You can also use them in other online or offline promotions you do for your book, product, or service.If you are interested in this unique and effective Pinterest Marketing service, email me at johnkremer@bookmarket.com and I'll let you know how to sign up for this new service.Please note that because of the time required to create unique powerful pins, I can only offer this service to the first ten people who sign up.The Book Marketing Success newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Pinterest has sent more than 11,000 people to my main income website (https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com) in the past 60 days. How did Pinterest do that? Because one of my pins has gone viral during the past two months. It has received more than 2 million impressions in that time.1.4 million views in the past month and more than 2.1 million views in the past 60 days:And here are the Pinterest numbers for the past two months:As you can see from the above statistics taken from Pinterest, since I pinned the image on August 21, 2023, it has generated 2.1 million impressions, 67,860 pin clicks, and 12,860 pins (saves). And, most important, it has generated 11,250 clickthroughs to my BookMarketingBestsellers website—all for free! All that traffic goes to one page on my website where I encourage people to buy my 1001 Ways to Market Your Books via Amazon.com.How many of your social media posts have generated that kind of activity. And it's not the only Pinterest pin I've created that has generated traffic to my websites. While most of my pins don't generate millions of impressions, they do generate thousands of impressions and anywhere from 200 to 500 visits each and every day to my money website as well as my hobby websites.I get 1.8 million monthly views for the pins I've generated over the past few years. That's a lot of views (which are more than merely impressions) that generate tons of clickthroughs to my websites. That's big traffic!You can generate similar traffic with a consistent creation of interesting pins linked to key pages on your website where people can sign up for your newsletter, buy your books, and inquire about your other services. Join me on Pinterest today: https://www.pinterest.com/johnkremer.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

I was recently invited to do a podcast interview with another author. But, when I tried to give her some kind critiques of her book cover (something I do as a paid consultant all the time), she turned me off completely. She decided not to interview me and essentially stopped talking to me.I didn't mean to offend her, but I obviously did. I was just trying to be helpful.There were what I considered major problems with her book cover.* The cover design was not related to her topic. It didn't address the expectations of her target audience. You would not know what the book was about by glancing at the cover. My advice: Meet the expectations of your target audience.* It violated a basic principle of cover design by having each word of the title single file down the front cover, making the title hard to read at a glance. My advice: Make the book title easy to read.* The colors of the cover were not dynamic. The cover would fade into the background in any placement of books on a shelf. My advice: Don't let your book cover fade away.* The typeface was not a strong display typeface. My advice: Use a strong display typeface.* The book title was not brandable or memorable. My advice: Whenever possible, create a book title that is memorable and brandable.I would have been more gentle in critiquing her book cover if she had been willing to listen. But the above critique features advice that any author should follow to create an effective book cover.As it is, she has done some great book marketing, so I hope the book sells despite the cover.The above, of course, is not the actual book cover I've been discussing. It's just a place holder.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Website: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAsSnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing - Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video.Or just buy me a cup of coffee! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BookMarketing This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

In 2020, almost $68 billion was spent on cosmetic surgery in the U.S. That same year, only $25.7 billion was spent on books.What does that say about our priorities in this country?One thing it says is that we place more value on looking good versus thinking well.In marketing your books, you might be able to take this comparison between looking good and thinking well to promote your book more effectively.Because a good book is worth a lot more than a good nose.1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAsBook me as a podcast guest or be a guest for my podcast. Connect here: https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/john-kremer-bd46ecWebsite: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.comOr just buy me a cup of coffee! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BookMarketingOr become my patron for all good things - https://www.patreon.com/bookmarketingSnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing - Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, I want to talk a little bit more about creating Pinterest videos and TikTok videos from YouTube videos.Here's an example of one that I just imported. One of the criticisms I got from one of the listeners was that, well, you're distorting way too much. And as you can see in this one that I just imported, that it clearly is distorting people.Some videos you could get away with distorting by just simply stretching them. But you can't get away with it every time.Sometimes you want to have a video that's literally a YouTube size video and you can bring it in or you could possibly stretch it a little bit but you don't want to stretch it a lot because then you get the distortion, people don't look right, things like that.But here's an example of how you can take this YouTube video, horizontal in appearance, and still create a Pinterest or a TikTok video by putting in some headlines.You can insert some text just like we did yesterday in the video that I made using a talking head video. Add a headline via text and then additional text below the video to explain it more.After adding the text boxes, you can adjust the video and text boxed to give them all some breathing room. And then add your website URL at the bottom of the slide to brand your video.Note: The neat thing is that I have found the Pinterest really showcases videos and that videos with headlines get more views, repins, and clickthroughs to your website.So you have the value of a video on Pinterest, but you also have the headlines that people can read.Two Key PointsOne is, this reformatting of videos for Pinterest and TikTok allows you to recycle content you've already created. So you don't have to create new content to have good posts on Pinterest, TikTok, and so on.You can recycle videos you've made before.Now the neat thing is, and I wanted to show you this, this is what's happened with these three videos in less than 20 hours on Pinterest, one of them got over 472 views, 8 pins, and 8 click-throughs to my website.Another one got 213 views. It doesn't have any repins yet, but it does have 4 people that clicked through to my website.And then this one, which was the first video I did, the stretched one. You can see that it doesn't have a good presentation because there's no headline, there's just a blurry image there. So it's still got 170 presentations and a couple click-throughs, but not nearly as much as ones with headlines.So I uploaded these three videos last night to Pinterest, and I already have 850 views from just these three videos.That's because Pinterest favors videos. And that's why I want to recommend that you repurpose some of your previous YouTube videos to make them into videos that work on Pinterest because you'll get a lot more views.Check out the video I made on TikTok. So far my four new vertical videos have had more than 900 views on TikTok in just one day (24 hours).Check out the video on Pinterest here: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/57983913945856728. My four vertical videos on Pinterest have gotten 1050 views in under 24 hours! So, between Pinterest and TikTok alone, I've had almost 2,000 views in 24 hours!Book me as a podcast guest or be a guest for my podcast. Connect here: https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/john-kremer-bd46ecWebsite: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAsBecome my patron for all good things - https://www.patreon.com/bookmarketingOr choose to Venmo me at https://account.venmo.com/u/bookmarketingsuccessSnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing - Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Today I want to show you how you can take a talking head YouTube video formatted in horizontal format and make it into a vertical Pinterest or TikTok video.I showed you one example where basically you took a video and you stretched it to fit in a vertical PowerPoint template.I'm going to take a talking head YouTube video that I just made and I'm going to bring it into a PowerPoint template. As you can see, it's a small video right now but what I'm going to do is make it into a talking head Pinterest video.You can drag, drop, and stretch your video to fit the size that you want it to fit.The PowerPoint video template features just my head, not all the background. I'll place the YouTube video at the bottom of the template featuring only my talking head and then I'll insert a text box at the top of the new vertical video.First rule, always give more than you get. And that's what the video is going to be about. I'll make the text box colorful with white type.Now, what I'm going to do is the same thing I did in the previous podcast, which is to save as this PowerPoint slide as an MP4 video.You can take other videos where you're not just distorting them to be tall and thin, but you're actually taking a part of the video, a part of the landscape of the video, and putting that into the new vertical video that you're creating.PowerPoint offers a very simple way to take a YouTube talking head video and format it to a vertical Pinterest video. This is a very simple way to take a wider video and still make it tall and narrow.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Check out the new video on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/57983913945853248And check it out on TikTok as well: Book me as a podcast guest or be a guest for my podcast. Connect here: https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/john-kremer-bd46ecWebsite: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAsBecome my patron for all good things - https://www.patreon.com/bookmarketingOr choose to Venmo me at https://account.venmo.com/u/bookmarketingsuccessSnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing - Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video.Check out the video on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/57983913945852328 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, I'm going to show you how to take a typical YouTube video, 1280 pixels wide by 720 pixels tall, and turn it into a TikTok video that's 1080 pixels wide by 1920 pixels tall.First I show you a sample of a video I created for YouTube.Then we're going to use PowerPoint to take that YouTube video and make it into a TikTok video.Now, I have PowerPoint open, and what you do is select a slide size using the design function.Now, normally, the slide size is going to be a simple horizontal slide size, generally speaking, widescreen, 16 by 9.But what we're going to do is use the custom slide tool and create a slide that is 1080 pixels wide and 1920 pixels tall.That turns out to be 11.25 inches wide and 20 inches tall when translated from pixels into inches.Now, obviously, on the screen, it's definitely not 11.25 inches wide and 20 inches tall, but that's because PowerPoint fits it into the window you are using, and that's fine.Now this is, again, 1080 wide, 1920 pixels tall, the standard size for a TikTok video that also works really well for a Pinterest video.So now what I'm going to do is take the video that I made for YouTube, and I'm going to drag and drop it into the PowerPoint slide. Then I basically just stretch the video until it fits.Now the video is going to be slightly distorted but not so much that it really matters. You've now stretched the YouTube horizontal video to fit a TikTok vertical video.Note that you can now play the video in PowerPoint to see how it looks. Then you save the video by going to the option File, Save As, and save the slide as an MP4 video.It take about 5 minutes for PowerPoint to save the slide as an MP4 video. Once saved, you now have a tall thin video that you can upload to TikTok and Pinterest.And once you have it saved, it becomes an actual MP4 video that you can upload to Pinterest and to TikTok as a tall, thin video.See how simple and easy it is to change video sizes using PowerPoint!Here's the video of this podcast:Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Book me as a podcast guest or be a guest for my podcast. Connect here: https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/john-kremer-bd46ecWebsite: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAsBecome my patron for all good things - https://www.patreon.com/bookmarketingOr choose to Venmo me at https://account.venmo.com/u/bookmarketingsuccessSnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing - Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video.Check out the video on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/57983913945852328And here is the resulting video: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

We are all descended from kings. You got to live your own life. Be your own man. — Carl Elias's stepmother in Person of Interest TV seriesJohn's book marketing tip: I love this idea. We must all feel like we are worthy of being kings and queens and emperors and more. Market your book like you are the greatest author around, worthy of the attention, worthy of the sales, worthy of the impact your work can make on others.Writers are the ultimate rulers. We are the ones who can truly change the world. We are the ones who can truly make a difference. We are the true rulers of time and space. Never forget that.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Book me as a podcast guest or be a guest for my podcast. Connect here: https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/john-kremer-bd46ecWebsite: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAsOr just buy me a cup of coffee! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BookMarketingOr become my patron for all good things - https://www.patreon.com/bookmarketingOr choose to Venmo me at https://account.venmo.com/u/bookmarketingsuccessSnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing - Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Find something you love to do, and figure out a way to get paid for it, and you will have a third of your life kind of solved. — Dennis Quaid, actorJohn's book marketing tip: Writing books (and selling them) are a great way to spend a third of your life. If you love writing and sharing, become an author.But don't become a silent author. Do something every day to sell what you write.And a few other of my favorite quotes from Dennis Quaid:All of us have a relationship with God, whether you're a Christian or not. — Dennis Quaid, actorLove. Families need a spiritual bond with one another and with God. God is the only way you're going to make it in life, the glue that holds everything together. — Dennis Quaid, actorBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Website: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAsSnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing - Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video.Book me as a podcast guest or be a guest for my podcast. Connect here: https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/john-kremer-bd46ecOr just buy me a cup of coffee! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BookMarketingOr become my patron for all good things - https://www.patreon.com/bookmarketingOr choose to Venmo me at https://account.venmo.com/u/bookmarketingsuccess This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Lazy is a very strong word. I like to call it selective participation. — Snoopy and WoodstockJohn's book marketing tip: You can't be lazy in marketing your books, but you can be selective in what you do. And you should be selective. Do the things you love to do in marketing your books. Do the things you can afford to do. Do the things that you have time to do.Note: You can't do everything, so do the things that make you happy and actually result in helping you sell more books and change more people's lives.Source: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/selective-participation-find-something-you-love-to-doBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Join Gerald Leonard, John Kremer, and Celeste Jonson for a Book Launch Streaming Event! On August 1st, we hosted two book launch events streamed live to LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and StreamYard.We answered questions about Gerald's new book A Symphony of Choices and the book's relevance to business leaders, evidence of the book's effectiveness and unique value, as well as how the book addresses the specific needs of the primary audience, i.e., anyone interested in optimizing their decision-making, project management, and workplace engagement skills and improving their overall performance at work and in life.You, too, can launch your new books using StreamYard.com to stream a live video event to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Twitch, and other RTMP platforms. Streaming a live event to multiple social media platforms can be very effective at getting attention for your books, courses, and other creations.1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAsBook me as a podcast guest or be a guest for my podcast. Connect here: https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/john-kremer-bd46ecFollow me at . . . GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/173511.John_KremerWebsite: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.comSnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing — Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video.Or just buy me a cup of coffee! — https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BookMarketingBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Today, I'm featuring a podcast episode from Amy Porterfield of Online Marketing Made Easy. Listen in!Imagine this scenario. You're an author who works one-on-one with clients. You love what you do, you have a lot of knowledge to share, and you're making money. Most of all, you love the feeling you get from helping your clients achieve their goals. But the thing is, you're starting to get the feeling that one-on-one work is holding back your growth potential. I'm sure you've heard the phrase time is money—and in a lot of business models, this old saying rings true because your ability to change more lives and make more money is totally dependent upon the number of hours in the day.But the thing is, it doesn't have to be like this—and creating a digital course is one way that you can significantly scale your impact and your income without maxing out your calendar.In this episode, Amy Porterfield shares four telltale signs that one-on-one work is holding you back, along with true stories of how some of her students have scaled their businesses with a digital course. [04:16] The first sign 1-on-1 work is holding you back is that you technically work for yourself, but you still feel burnt out. [07:09] Online courses allowed me to step away from my laptop and live the life I truly want to live. I can continue to make money even when I walk away.[10:10] Jessica Burke had so many 1-on-1 clients that she became burnt out. She realized she could put all of her sleep knowledge into a digital course.[16:19] Even if what you're doing is working well, imagine how you could serve in an even bigger way.[16:58] The second sign is that you feel there's a cap on your income, because you've completely maxed out your time. [20:21] Yoga teacher Kelly McHugh was limited by her studio space. She started a course showing other instructors how to set up a successful yoga website.[23:10] The third sign is if you have an extremely inconsistent workload. A digital course is a great way to even out your revenue.[26:23] Dog walker Corrine Gerheard leveraged her Goldendoodle expertise to scale her business. She started a podcast and a digital course.[28:15] The fourth sign is feeling discouraged that you're not able to help more people. [30:35] Casey McGuire Davidson wanted to help more women with their sobriety issues. Creating a digital course enabled her to scale. [31:26] Darcie Milfeld was a coach helping people break the paycheck to paycheck cycle. With a digital course, her impact was 2 to 3 times more.[33:36] 1-on-1 work could be holding you back if you feel burnt out and overwhelmed, you've hit an income cap, you have an inconsistent workload, or you feel discouraged that you can't help more people.Learn more about Amy Porterfield and what she offers at https://www.amyporterfield.com.1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAsWebsite: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.comSnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing — Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video.Book me as a podcast guest or be a guest for my podcast. Connect here: https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/john-kremer-bd46ecFollow me at . . . GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/173511.John_KremerOr just buy me a cup of coffee! — https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BookMaBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

Listen in as John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, and Judith Briles, host of Your Guide to Book Publishing, discuss what you should do for 2023, 2024, and beyond to better market your books!Your takeaways include:More book marketing tips for 2023 to start doing nowWhy your core message is an essential component in your book marketingHow to take advantage of being a featured guest on a podcastWhy authors must be proactive in marketing their booksWhat sparks the interest of book readers3 essentials that every book cover must have and doHow to be a social media powerhouseHow to test social media adsEasy peasy way to become a guest on even the best podcastsAre you ready to start?Listen in and get ready to rock the rest of the year AND sell more books.1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAsWebsite: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.comSnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing - Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video.Book me as a podcast guest or be a guest for my podcast. Connect here: https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/john-kremer-bd46ecFollow me at . . . GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/173511.John_KremerOr just buy me a cup of coffee! — https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BookMarketingBook Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

A year ago I wrote the following post in answer to a question from several authors. Last week I decided to test the post below against a number of websites that claim to be able to tell whether a blog post, article, student paper, or other writing was written by a human or created by an A.I. engine. Below my blog post, you'll see the results of my little experiment on the questions: Am I a human? Or am I just an A.I. bot?Book Marketing Question: Why is marketing my book so hard?During the past few weeks I've had a number of authors write me to complain about how hard it is to market a book. Well, gosh, it is hard.It's hard to write a book. It's hard to publish a book. It's hard to carry out a book marketing plan. It's hard to do Internet marketing. It's hard to keep up with social media. Life is hard.If it were easier, everyone would write a book. If it were easier, everyone would publish a book.Thank God, it isn't easy. Otherwise there would be so much competition that marketing would be even harder. Social media would be even harder. Everything would be harder.Thank God, it's just hard, not harder.Now, having said that, don't forget that I'm the Book Marketing Ambassador of Fun!If you don't want writing a book to be hard, then write from your heart.If you don't want publishing a book to be hard, then publish from your passions.If you don't want marketing a book to be hard, build relationships from the heart.Share with others. Accept their offerings of help. Help others in return. Give, give, and then give some more. That's the most fundamental law of marketing books.A.I. ResultsBelow are five highly touted websites that are supposed to be able to tell whether something is written by a human or by an A.I. bot. How did these five website view my blog post above? See for yourself:Content Scale: https://contentatscale.ai/ai-content-detector reported that my blog post is 100% human created. Give Content Scale an A!Copy Leaks: https://copyleaks.com/ai-content-detector reported that my blog post is human text. Give Copy Leaks an A!GPTZero: https://GPTZero.me reported that my blog post is almost all written by A.I. Give GPTZero a big fat F!Undetectable: https://undetectable.ai reported the following: Your content is detected as written by A.I. Give Undetectable a big fat F!Zero GPT: https://www.zerogpt.com reported my blog post as 23.15 A.I. generated, Give Zero GPT a B at best! But probably a C would be more appropriate.Do you write as a human? Or as an A.I. bot? You can use the above websites to find out how your writing rates. Just beware. 3 our of 5 of the above services judged my writing as A.I. created. A big mistake. I am not a bot!1001 Ways to Market Your Books: https://amzn.to/3ICjpAsWebsite: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.comSnipFeed: https://snipfeed.co/bookmarketing - Check out this service I offer via SnipFeed: Ask me a question and I'll answer back with a personalized video.Book me as a podcast guest or be a guest for my podcast. Connect here: https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/john-kremer-bd46ecFollow me at . . . GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/173511.John_KremerOr just buy me a cup of coffee! — https://www.buymeacoffee.com/BookMarketingBook MarketingSuccess is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

In this podcast episode, John Kremer interviews Mustafa Ammar, author of Time to Move On: The 7 Career Myths Keeping You from Finding Your Dream Job, And What to Do About It.It's never too late to pursue your dreams—you just need to know when it's time to move on. Welcome to the future of working: career shapeshifting. Career shapeshifters pursue life on their own terms, based on their individual circumstances and passions.Just because you have spent years in one occupation doesn't mean you can't pursue something new, something you are truly passionate about. Time to Move On is the roadmap you need for your journey.Note: The audio and video end a little abruptly, but all the content from the interview is featured in the audio above.ResourcesBook website: https://www.MustafaAmmar.comAuthor website: https://www.thepassionmba.comAuthor email: DreamCareer@ThePassionMBA.comHow to Be a Career Shapeshifter: https://thepassionmba.com/become-a-career-shapeshifter-how-to-be-a-career-shapeshifterBook Marketing Bestsellers by John Kremer: https://www.bookmarketingbestsellers.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe

This first-time novelist forced her publisher (against their normal practice) to reprint her book twice within six weeks of the novel's release. The novel became a New York Times bestseller, won the Doubleday New Voices in Fiction award, and also won an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation.Her subsequent novels became #1 New York Times bestsellers, sold millions of copies, and were made into top-grossing movies.Who was this author?What was the title of her first novel?And what was the one thing she did that any first-time book author can do?Terry McMillan was the author.Her first novel was Mama.Terry played the numbers game. She wrote thousands of letters to all sorts of people to get readers and stores excited about her new novel. Any unknown author can follow Terry's example by playing the same numbers game.When Terry McMillan's first novel Mama was published in 1987, her publisher only sent out press releases and review copies—their standard low-level effort for first-time authors. So Terry took the promotion into her own hands.She wrote more than 3,000 letters to bookstores, colleges, chain stores, African-American groups, and other groups asking them to stock and/or promote her book. She offered to do readings wherever they would give her space.The response was so great that she ended up doing her own book tour to 39 cities. Her efforts gained plenty of rave reviews for her book as well as two re-printings in six weeks.The key point of this story is not who Terry sent the letters to, but how many she sent. It's a numbers game, and few book authors or even Internet entrepreneurs make full use of the numbers game.For an ebook (rather than a print book), you would send 3,000 emails or letters to online book sites, ebook reviewers, book bloggers, potential JV partners, and other authors who write books like yours.If you send out 10 emails or letters per day, you'd reach more than 3,000 people in one year—and that's with time off for good behavior!First rule: The Numbers Game. Send out lots of letters and emails!Second rule: Create relationships with those people, websites, and stores who respond.Third rule: Build from there.The above story has been excerpted from About the Author by Alfred and Emily Grossbrenner.A friend on Facebook shared this information after seeing the above video: “My friend got books in nearly 100 libraries by sending approximately 400 emails.”Website: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/the-mama-bestseller-videoAgain, note that during the next week or ten days, I won't be reachable via email, phone call, or social media. But I will be back! — John Kremer This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe