I just finished a call where I listened to Jack Canfield talk about how he got published. Jack has sold 115million books. So he knows something about the process of writing and publishing and marketing books! Here’s some of what I discovered on this call.
- Join or develop networks that are aligned with your interested or plans. Get actively involved in those groups so you get to know people and find out who you could help and could help you. When you get into the right room you access the right people.
- Be prepared to give knowledge away free – speak at conferences and groups frequently and offer your book for sale there.
- 10% of the book is writing it, 90% is getting out from behind your desk and marketing it in as many ways as you can imagine
- Get the book “Speak and Grow Rich” – the ins and outs of the speaking business.. Find strategies on how to get opportunities to present.
- American Directory of Professional Associations – get on the phone and offer your services.. Direct marketing/Network Marketing groups.
- Selling a book one at a time takes a lot longer and is a lot harder than
- Get a directory of radio stations, call the producers and see if you can get on radio shows.
Make a commitment.
- M Scott Peck’‘s advice: The first year do 3 radio interviews every day. The next ten years do a radio interview every day. Drive time is great. The long one-hour spots are best so you can drill down and get in-depth.
- You can interviews from your office via the phone, via satellite.
- The key is you’ve got to keep getting out. Take a week off and sales will drop. So if you want to sustain sales, keep getting interviews.
- It doesn’t matter where the radio station is – they all count because people are listening. If your book is universal, it can apply to a broad group of people. You need to let people know your book exists. Even if that’s at 1 in the morning. Internet radio shows are also worth pursuing and accepting.
- Constant and never-ending PR is important. Whether you write books to get rich or to make a difference, you need people to know about it.
By-pass Marketing
- 1 out of 7 Americans go into a bookstore to buy a book. Therefore 6 out of 7 are not visiting bookstores. So, go to places people go eg bakery chains, service stations – anywhere where people have to wait, see if you can get your books in there. Pay commission to the store owners.
- Package your books with others. Selling one book vs selling a package of 4 books eg as a a “Success Package”
Think of Leveraging
- What are 20 things you could do for others? What are 20 things people could do for you?
- Have a co-author or two ie less effort to produce and market
- The more you are willing to share the wealth the bigger the field of influence you have
- Cross promote books with other people who have databases
One Key Thing
- It’s critical to have a great book – put the effort in to the writing style, proofing and editing
- Learn how to market your book – go to the seminars, do the coaching programs and find out what you can do to get sales. Don’t rely on your publisher. Spend your money on becoming educated and master the skill of marketing your book.
How to go further and faster with less effort.
Jack’s colleague Steve Harrison is launching a program where he explains all the details of what he has learned from Ken Blanchard, Ron Howard, Al Gore and more. How to apply the rule of 5, how to stay motivated when facing rejection, how to deal with 144 publishers rejecting you, how to avoid dud book signings, how to use the law of attraction in book sales, how to surface and eliminate limiting beliefs around marketing, how to use ezines, learn 50 specific strategies, how to get into airline magazines and airport stands. How to squeeze more from repurposing your book. Get free exposure. Set up seminars and workshops. How to create an event to get free publicity. how to get sponsorship. get a copy of forms, contracts and other resources from Jack’s private collection. All these things are promised in the program.
My advice:
Find out what you know. Find out what you don’t know. Find someone who you can learn from to fill the gap. Do relevant training and coaching to discover what you don’t know you don’t know!