Do you wonder, now that you’ve survived the Amazon self-publishing challenge, how do you get your book in front of potential clients? Or, if you used a traditional publisher, how do you let your audience of ideal clients know about your book?
Note: I’m splitting this post into two parts. It was too long, and I still wanted to add growth tactics with a published book that you can use.
If this is you, you’re not alone. Not by a long shot. The first few times I heard this; I was surprised. I quickly learned, that the reasons were pretty consistent. Many people believe that just publishing a book should magically boost their business growth. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works!
After self-publishing on Amazon, working to get your book to a Best Seller or #1 Best Seller doesn’t automatically lead to business growth. If you expect your book to help you grow your business, then you must take advantage of ways to use it that will help your growth.
There are a number of ways to use your book or even Amazon to help you. I’m going to cover a few of the most effective tactics in this post and in Part 2.
Create Your Amazon Author Page
Let me share an easy one first, as a Bonus. Here’s one sure-fire way Amazon will help you by bolstering your visibility and credibility as an expert. When you put your book up for sale on Amazon, they provide you with the option to create an author page on Amazon Author Central.
You can read about it at https://authorcentral.amazon.com. When you sign up, you can create your biography and let people know more about who you are and what you do. You can add multimedia (videos), blog feeds, or events that you’re planning.
One important thing about Amazon Author Pages, as of a couple of years ago, these pages are now findable via Google Search. One of my mentors, Mike, in the book creation and publishing business, received a call one evening from someone who was putting together his company’s annual event. They were looking to hire an Internet Marketing expert speaker for their keynote presentation.
Mike’s first question was, “How did he find him”? The caller said that they just put “Internet Marketing Expert” into Google and Mike’s name came up first. Mike then asked, “Which of my sites did it take you to?” The answer was his Amazon Author Page. The caller then said that from everything on his author page, it was quite clear he was an expert because he had:
- Multiple #1 Best Sellers on the subject
- Numerous training courses and events on Internet Marketing
- Ongoing speaking engagements
It was clear from his online presence that Mike was an expert. The caller then said that he was authorized to offer a mid-five figure fee for a one-hour keynote, all expenses paid.
For those of you who haven’t heard of Amazon’s Author Central and your personal Author Page, you now know you have access to new marketing sites that support your credibility and expert status.
Choosing Tasks to Outsource for Your Amazon Self-publishing
Let’s talk about additional ways you can use your book to grow your business. Before I start, I want to mention one of my working practices. It comes from Dan Sullivan, The Strategic Coach. Dan advocates a version of the 80/20 Rule where he believes that when starting a new program or project, 80% of what you need, you already know; it is in your Core.
The remaining 20% is not in your core and most people get screwed by starting on the 20%. Dan’s says this 20% is not in your core and probably will never be. So why waste your time trying to master this 20%.
I add to this a key maxim I learned years ago in my corporate life, and it’s served me well as a business owner. “Training Produces Trainees” so would you ever hire a trainee to take responsibility for a major part of your project? You probably wouldn’t.
So, our solution is to find someone who views your 20% as being part of their 80% and outsource this to them. In case you’re interested, by doing this you combine your 80% with their 80% of your 20% which equals 16% and combined that equals 96% of your project under control.
On a personal note, I was always someone who didn’t want to rely on someone else. Consequently, I was constantly learning new things like:
- How to embed printer info into a document so that it would look great when printed by a laser printer back in 1981.
- Or, how to create my own style sheets using Microsoft Word 95.
- Setting a document up with desktop publishing software (back when it was a thing).
These things took a considerable amount of my time, but I did get things done quicker than waiting for an administration pool to turn things around. Also, people began to come by and ask me questions about how things worked or help fix their problems; I did not like being considered tech support. Of course, I was getting a paycheck.
All this changed when I started my own business. My time became more valuable to me and I looked at ways to make the best use of it. Outsourcing became my best friend. One of my main goals with this blog, is to share why you should outsource too!
Now let’s dive into the 8 ways you can put your book to work and help with your business growth. I realized that this is a long post and decided to break it into two parts.
1. Run a Campaign to get Your Book to #1 on Amazon.
People like to work with people who they believe are experts in their industry. Creating and publishing your book provides an awesome level of credibility. After all, your book is about your business and you’ve filled it with information on you, what you know, what you do better than anyone else, examples, maybe some testimonials, etc. You then packaged it up and wrapped it in a great cover and got it published!
You might want to add additional credibility, along with authority and celebrity, by getting it to a Best Seller or maybe even #1 Best Seller status.
You can then update your marketing, your LinkedIn profile, your website, and more to include your Best Seller Status and even show it on the cover of your book.
I have several stories of friends who became Best Selling Authors and how it helped them in their business; not just a little bit, but a lot.
Example of Getting New Business from a Book
Here’s an example, I met John Cote at a course on creating books and Amazon self-publishing. John was great at Podcasting and published a book that became a #1 Best Seller. He was invited to a national meeting of a group focused on Medical Tourism where he talked about podcasting. As an aside, if you’re not sure what Medical Tourism is, well neither was John. He was invited to attend a meeting of the leadership team and after listening to them, he said that he thought this would make a great podcast.
Although they thought it was a great idea, no one raised their hands to take on the project. John agreed to take it on under a few conditions. They had to:
- Find the guests for the weekly podcasts
- Make sure that everything he said was correct since he did not know anything about Medical Tourism.
Over the next six months, the podcast became #1 on iTunes and had 500,000 downloads. John decided to take the top 16 shows and have them transcribed and turned into a book, “Healthcare Elsewhere”, which became an International #1 Best Seller.
Because of this book, he was contacted by a Central American country that was planning on developing a significant piece of land into a city focused on Medical Tourism.
Today, John is the Director of Business Development at Belize Business Zone, all because John:
- Created a #1 Best Seller book on Podcasting
- Took advantage of an opportunity to work with a group and created and delivered a wildly successful podcast on iTunes
- Relied on subject matter expertise from the medical tourism group
- Created a book using the content from these podcasts, and it became an International #1 Best Seller
- The book was discovered by a foreign country who sought him out and hired him to consult on their major project
- This led to his being hired as the Director of Business Development
Remember, John created a book on his podcasting business and made a #1 Best Seller on Amazon. The big differentiator was that John took advantage of opportunities that opened up to him. His book gave him the authority and credibility for the medical tourism group to have him create and operate a podcast for them. His creation of the #1 International Best Seller added a level of celebrity that got him noticed by Belize.
Now you might be thinking that this is a one in a million story. It’s not. I know of many others that started with a self-published book on their business that began opening doors. Here is a short one of my own.
How I Got on Stage Because of My Amazon Self-Published #1 Best Selling Book
I learned how to self-publish on Amazon and got my first book up in 2014 and got it to a #1 Best Seller. Around the same time, I had a Master Coach from Tony Robbins who knew I had a #1 Best Seller and introduced me to someone who had a large group of followers and was planning on having an event focused on creating and publishing books. We exchanged a few emails and he invited me, as his guest, to a three-day event where we got to know each other. His new book event was about 6 weeks away when we met.
While attending his event, I heard him respond to someone who wanted to know what it would take to be on his stage and make an offer for a product or service. He responded that he was very cautious when it came to allowing people to be on his stage. He needed to both know and trust them over a period of about two years.
On the final day of the event, I told him that I would be glad to support him with the book event that was coming up shortly. He immediately responded, “You’re going to help me alright, I want you to put together a program on Amazon self-publishing and sell it from my stage!”
Now remember, I’d only just met him, and he generally has to know and trust someone by getting to know them over a long period of time. The difference was that I had created a book, self-published it on Amazon and gotten it to be a #1 Best Seller. I also understood how Amazon’s publishing worked. I created a program and sold it from his stage.
So, find someone who knows how to run a #1 Best Seller Campaign on Amazon and off-load this responsibility to them. This is not as hard as you might think when you engage an Amazon expert who knows how to do it.
2. Hand Out Copies of Your Book at Events
Always bring copies of your book when attending live events! Order 50 or so copies of the paperback version of your book and take some with you when you attend networking events. You may have heard people talk about how a book that you’ve created about your business is much better business card. After all, if your book is about your business, you have as many pages as you need to explain what you do, how you do it, and why you do it better than anyone else.
If you do this, ensure that you stop at Staples, Office Depot, or order from Amazon and buy a few Black Sharpies. As an author, you should always have a Sharpie with you to autograph your book. You impress the potential clients you meet because you are organized and professional, as a published author. Also, you can slip in your business card in the book.
Maybe, place it where you would like someone to land when they open your book! You do not have to give a copy to everyone you talk with. You only give it to those who you want to better connect with. Although it is pretty inexpensive to get author copies of your book to hand out. Last time I bought author copies, I paid around $4.00 per book.
How You Can Make an Impression with Your Book
Now think about this scenario, you are attending a networking event. You’re sure that you will meet someone who you want to make a lasting impression with, so you can follow up with them later. You want them to remember you, right? You have a published a book, which gives you the flexibility to use a different approach than people with just a business card. When you meet a prospect you want to followup with, pull out a copy of your book with a #1 Best Seller Badge on the cover.
Explain that your book is about your business and how you help folks like them solve the problems you’re expert in. Next, you pull out your Sharpie and autograph the book. You might even recommend which chapter they might check out, given your short conversation. You can place your business card on the chapter they should look at. You then recommend a quick follow up call in the next week.
Other competitors will also be looking to impress people they meet and want to connect with. It’s likely they will use the traditional method of engaging in a short conversation where they will attempt to get attention and possibly a follow-up call/meeting and give the potential client their business card. You’ll stand out when you not only hand someone your book, but then autograph it for them. Most people feel special when this happens.
Who do you think this prospect will remember? When you meet a business contact, who gives you a copy of their published book, how do you respond? Wouldn’t you be likely be open to a follow up call with that expert? Yes, you would!
The next two I cover have some similarities but enough differences, that I’m going to cover them separately.
3. Mail Autographed Copies of Your Book to Prospects
Get more copies of your book, identify your top 40-50 previous customers or prospects and send them a copy. Include a personalized letter to each person. If you are doing things right, you’ve already identified your top 2 to 3 Ideal Client types. You’ve researched their top concerns are and what’s important to them. Using your book, you can easily point out the chapters that are relevant to them and their problems.
Keep in mind, it’s highly likely that the prospect you send your book to won’t read it cover to cover. That’s why you want to point each person to a specific section that’s key to them.
This technique is probably one of the least expensive marketing initiatives you will use. It will likely cost you around $10.00. That includes your cost for the book and postage to deliver to your potential client.
This is the end of Part 1.
Check back next week. I’ll have Part #2 of the post published. Then, you can learn about additional impactful ways to Grow Your Business with Your Amazon Published Book. Additionally, if you are not familiar with Amazon Self Publishing, check out their website at KDP.amazon.com
Recommended Reading:
How Amazon Book Publishing Helps You Grow Your Business