Zero to Book

Despite some challenges surrounding her launch, Pamela s book has been released into the wild and has garnered positive reviews. What’s next? Pamela and Jeff convene one last time to look back on where Zero to Book started and discuss the launch and long-term plans for Pamela s new book on content marketing. They share insights about... Listen to episode

Having a powerful launch is important, but it isn t everything. The biggest danger to an author, says Jeff Goins, “is spending all their energy on a launch. Publishing your book is the first step in a long game. A published book isn’t urgent, so authors need to get out there, start banging the drum, and... Listen to episode

The timing of your book’s launch is important. But how important is it? Here’s what really matters when you’re ready to launch your book. In the words of Jeff Goins, “It’s really hard to launch too late and it’s really easy to launch too early.” A good launch can make a book, while a bad... Listen to episode

Reviews can make or break your book sales. Here’s how to get reviews lined up before you launch your book. There’s nothing sadder than a book sales page with no reviews. Book reviews help your potential buyers decide if your book will have what they need. Few reviews = meager sales = few reviews. How... Listen to episode

Once your book is written, you’ll turn your efforts toward giving it the best possible chance to get attention, engage readers, and sell. Launching a book happens in three stages: pre-launch; launch; and post-launch. All three stages have an effect on the long-term sales success of your book. In this episode, Pamela and Jeff talk... Listen to episode

If you want your book to have robust long-term sales, you’ve got to find a way to encourage Amazon to show it some algorithmic love. To help understand how to make this happen, Pamela and Jeff welcomed The Kindlepreneur, Dave Chesson, to the Zero to Book clubhouse. Dave is an active duty member of the... Listen to episode

Images connect on a different level than the written word. By including illustrations in your book, you have the potential to engage the reader s full brain. But do you speak sketch? Meet D.J. Billings, a.k.a. Sparky Firepants. Sparky is an illustrator who s worked with big names like Nickelodeon and MTV, and is now creating illustrations... Listen to episode

Time to bring your self-published book to life! What are your options for making a tangible object out of the pixels you’ve created? Your book is written and edited and it s down to the fun stuff: designing the book layout and getting it printed. What are your options for creating the final product? In this... Listen to episode

Writing a book will force you to dig deeper than you ever have for previous writing projects. To get the most out of the process, tune in to what’s really motivating you. Pamela s received her first draft back from the structural editor and she s turning her eye toward the more philosophical aspects of writing a... Listen to episode

Finding a name might seem like an art, but in this episode we’re sharing a way to apply science to the process. The wrong title can kill your book. (No pressure!) Pamela is impatient to get her book named so she can start sharing the title with people. She’s got a lot of questions for... Listen to episode

Most nonfiction books follow one of two predictable structures. When you know what these are, you can choose the one that works best for the information you want to present — and avoid having to re-write your book (a painful lesson Jeff learned recently). The two main structures we cover in today’s episode are how... Listen to episode

According to the guest on this episode, “We are at our most vulnerable when we are working on books.” No kidding! Sending your book off to an editor feels like taking a leap into a dark abyss: you don’t have a clue what you’re going to land on at the bottom. Writing a book is... Listen to episode

Publishing a book is like anything else you do for the first time — tough at the beginning, easier as you gain mastery. Jeff sums it up as, “The sort of difficulty which brings freedom with it.” This week Pamela hits a major milestone in the book publishing process — she’s wrapping up her first... Listen to episode

Surprise! The most important part of writing a book may not be the writing itself. There’s intrinsic value to the things that inspire the writing process — but happen away from the keyboard. Pamela is nearly done with the junk draft of her book and has some questions for Jeff about the wind-down of this... Listen to episode

Getting your first draft written isn t where your book’s journey stops. It s just a stop along the way to presenting it — fully formed — to the world. Jeff Goins is back on Zero to Book! In this episode, Pamela Wilson asks him a couple of questions she’s been pondering while he was away. Questions... Listen to episode

Will you confront challenges while writing your book? Definitely. Life doesn’t stop while you work on your first draft. Here’s how to deal with the inevitable when it happens. In this brief episode, Pamela Wilson shares a few of the ways life has thrown a wrench into her first draft process, and what she’s done... Listen to episode

When it’s time to actually write your book, what processes will you put in place so you get all the way to your final sentence in good shape? It’s down to you, your keyboard, and your goals for your book. And somehow you have to stay on track so you can write the final sentence... Listen to episode

You have your Big Idea ready to go and like Pamela you re itching to sit down and get your book written. What are some final considerations before putting fingers to keyboard? And how can you keep your main argument at the forefront while you write? As a soon-to-be-author, you’ll have to strike a... Listen to episode

The key to a successful book launch is to build the appetite for your book early and often. Here’s how to stir up interest and grow an audience of hungry readers. Your existing audience helps you in two ways: they provide feedback on the ideas you plan to write about, and they build anticipation for... Listen to episode

Should you trust your audience s input on your book, or trust your own gut instead? Your audience can help craft and refine your book, but how involved should they be in that process? There s a sweet spot between culling and keeping feedback that Pamela Wilson and Jeff Goins explore here. Here s another question: while in... Listen to episode

We know — you’re not a mathematician! But you need to calculate if you should pay attention to your audience’s feedback (Jeff thinks you almost always should). And if you want to get your book written, you re going to need to compute your deadline … but how? When you re in the planning stages, is some... Listen to episode

The kind of book that transforms a reader goes deeper than most authors are willing to go. But are we going to go there on Zero to Book? You bet we are. The best way to back up your big idea is to support it with research. But research can be a rabbit hole you... Listen to episode

You’ve got your big idea. But is it any good? That’s where Pamela’s at, and now we’re asking you to weigh in. To discover whether your idea is any good, you’ve got to put it out there and get feedback. Most people think, “I’ve got an idea, and now I need to hide it so... Listen to episode

Coming up with the Big Idea that will drive the approach to writing your book might make you break out in a cold sweat … A new Big Idea may mean giving up some of your old ideas. But it’s part of the process that will give your book an identity and a ‘hook’ that... Listen to episode

Stop right there: don’t write a word of your new book until you are absolutely sure you’ve got your Big Idea figured out. The title of your book can sometimes change as you write it. But what shouldn’t change are the big concepts you want to cover. If you don’t have those nailed down, stop... Listen to episode

Should you look for a publisher or self publish your book? Jeff Goins says that might be the wrong question to ask. Instead, he and Pamela Wilson chat about a better approach you can take when you’re ready to bring your book to life. Has your book stalled before it even started? You know you... Listen to episode