- Non-fiction authors, I think it's often a bit
of a problem when you're just focusing
on writing a non-fiction book
and then just marketing and hoping for the best.
So today I brought in non-fiction author,
professional, expert if you will, Julie Broad,
so stay tuned to today's video.
This is self publishing with Dale,
where you learn how to publish books
and sell and build an unstoppable author brand.
And today folks I have
very special return guest, Julie Broad
of Book Launchers.
Now, Julie, you and I were just chatting about
non-fiction books, that's your wheelhouse.
This is your jam.
And something I commonly see a lot
of authors doing, they write the book,
they put it out and they hope for the best.
That the book's gonna do all the heavy lifting.
What's something, what's the best practices
when it comes to being a non-fiction author
that they can kind of level up things, if you will?
- I mean the first thing is to just not write a book
and do nothing before that.
I mean really there's a bunch of heavy lifting
that should happen before you even write that book,
like what is your goal?
Who is your audience?
And what are you gonna talk about
that's a little different
and focuses on the reader?
Too many people write a non-fiction book
and they're like it's my story, it's about me.
This book might be about you,
but it's not for you.
It is for your reader.
And, you know, one quick test,
if you've written a book already,
you're kind of going I don't know
if my book is for my reader.
How many paragraphs start with I?
How many chapters start with I?
- [Dale] Does everything live and die by just that book?
- Oh goodness no.
I mean I think your big, when you're a non-fiction author,
the book is a tool.
It isn't the thing.
And a lot of people see authors
and they think that the book is everything.
But the book is really something that opens doors
and opens opportunities to media,
to speaking, to even sometimes TV and movies
and those kinds of opportunities.
The book is a tool.
So you wanna figure out,
that's why I say figure out your goal.
Because what is this book going to do for you?
And I know some people who have sold
less than 500 copies of their book,
but it's led to selling their business
for multi-million dollars.
That book was a huge success
because it got somebody that didn't otherwise know
about this business to find out about the business
and then contact them,
and then they sold the business.
So what is your book intended to do?
- What if I'm brand new non-fiction author
and I don't even have a business to sell,
I'm not even thinking six figures,
it seems really overwhelming.
What's probably the best first step
that I can kind of build from my book
to get to larger items?
- Ah, yeah, good question.
Platform.
It's all about building a platform.
You wanna build an audience.
And a really good example comes from my own life.
I'm a real estate investor by background.
When I decided to change my business
and focus on helping people
write, publish and sell non-fiction books,
the first thing I did was send an email
to my 12,000 newsletter subscribers
to my real estate newsletter
and basically said hey, I'm gonna start helping
people publish books.
Anybody wanna be a beta client?
And that's how I got my first 10 clients
for my company Book Launcher.
So don't underestimate the value in building a platform.
It will help you today sell your product and service,
but it will also help you in the future
should you decide to do a pivot like I did,
you may find that you have people there
that just know, like and trust you
and they go hey, you know what
we know you're gonna do right
by everything you say that you're gonna do
so we'll follow you.
And that's, I was very fortunate to have 10 people
say hey I wanna write a book
and I trust that you'll help me right from the start.
So platform building.
And so the book is a great tool for that,
taking it back to that.
- Yeah.
- 'Case you can give it away for free,
but you can also, inside of the book,
if you're really clear on what benefit
you're going to offer the audience,
you can give them something
of value to go and download.
And then they will sign up for your newsletter that way.
Also connecting with you on social media,
but I'm a big fan
of building a newsletter list
'cause you actually own it.
You know Facebook changes.
Everything social media changes.
I mean everybody here we're talking Tik Tok right now.
(laughing)
- Yeah.
- So I mean if you've banked on Instagram
and now all of a sudden everybody's on Tik Tok
or whatever it is,
everything changes and your access
can get pulled from social media,
but newsletter lists you always own.
So, when I talk platform I'm typically
saying build a newsletter list.
- I think that this is something
that a lot of people get very overwhelmed right there,
and I was hoping to get that out of you,
was getting an email newsletter,
or an email list, which is an insider term
some people feel overwhelmed.
What are the best first steps
to doing a good email newsletter.
- Yeah, I mean keep it simple.
To start with just get a program like Convert Kit,
Lead Pages or something, set up a simple,
they call it a squeeze page,
but really it's just a picture
of whatever you're offering,
a slight benefit title
and an opt in spot.
And then email them once a month.
And if you're writing a book
or you've written a book,
you've got content to send them
'cause you can just pull a tip
or pull a section out of your book,
and then you've got that.
And that can be your newsletter.
And if you're working on your book
that's a great way to test the content
that's going to go in your book
so you can put it in.
It doesn't have to be perfectly edited.
And now you've got your newsletter content.
The big thing is don't get people's email
and then never write them.
So you have to at a minimum
be contacting them once a month.
I like to do it every two weeks myself
just so people don't go who's this?
And if you wait too long that's what's gonna happen.
- I think the part that a lot
of people get kind of hung up on,
and I think if you agree with me,
please let me know inside the comments on this one,
what do I say to them?
What do I do?
Am I selling things to them?
'Cause I don't wanna be salesy.
- It anybody checks out Book Launchers,
which is our company,
and gets our newsletter,
we don't sell almost ever.
It's like a one mention.
Like hey, if you're interested in working with us
here's a link,
and that is it.
So you don't have to be salesy for this to be good.
In fact, you want people to get to know you.
So always, again, always think benefit.
What is a reader gonna get out of reading this newsletter?
But then think about how are they gonna get to know you.
So mix a personal, kind of a little personal tip
with a personal story,
and now you've got something.
It doesn't have to be complicated.
Seth Loden's tips sometimes are like this long
and people subscribe to him
and get a newsletter from him every single day.
So, you know, it doesn't, keep it simple.
And, again, you can repurpose content
that you've already created out there in the world.
Nobody has seen everything you created.
- What if I'm brand new to things?
How do I put out more content into my email newsletters?
Let's say I just have a book.
I don't have a blog, I don't have a website,
I have barely any social media,
do I curate information?
- You could do that.
I mean you could do exactly what we're doing right now.
- [Dale] Okay.
- We're creating content together.
So find people that are in your industry,
or even not in your industry,
but might have something of value to offer your audience,
and interview them, get guest articles from them.
When you're building your platform,
you wanna build that relationship with your audience,
so you don't want it to be all other people's content.
If you've got a book, just pull a tip out of that.
And by the way, that tip can be repurposed
or that story or those five steps,
or whatever you've put in your book
can be repurposed over and over and over again.
Create a video, do a podcast interview.
You know, do an article.
It doesn't have to just be the excerpt in your book
or an excerpt from your book,
it can become something you use
over and over and over again in different formats.
- So there's a good possibility that I could
shoot out an email newsletter, let's say January,
and then I can take that same email newsletter
and repurpose it say in June.
- Of course, yeah.
I mean some people might still be on your list.
Whether they remember they read it or not.
What I would typically do
is I would create a video,
take that content, create a video from it.
So I would email it out in article format in June,
or January in your example,
and then in June I'd give them a video.
The exact same thing,
but in video format now.
- Very good.
- That's how I would do it.
Speaking of building your platform,
we've got a whole playlist over on Book Launchers channel,
so you can click that right here.
And while you're here, this is super fun,
go ahead and smash Dale's face.
I mean gently, but that will
subscribe to the Book Launchers channel.
And we can talk about writing, publishing,
selling nonfiction books together.