These are my notes from Chris Maselli’s breakout session, “Selling Well for Non-Fiction Writers” on Saturday, October 24, 2015, at the Write Well, Sell Well Conference in Oklahoma City. Chris is a children’s book author as well as a phenomenal teacher/coach on book/ebook marketing for authors. Last year his sessions motivated me to launch the PlayingWithMedia.com Video Library. He also convinced me to setup an “email capture” form on several of my websites. (See this post for more details.) Last year Chris focused on creating and using a “lead capture” offer on your website. This year he took it further and explained the rest of “the marketing funnel” as it applies to authors and writers. Follow Chris Maselli on Twitter: @cpnm. This was his session handout.
Why marketing for your book?
– you want to think about the trajectory of where you are going / can go / want to go with your book
– common psychology is at play here
I’ve been on a journey as a writer for years
– children’s writer
– online marketing editor
– I’ve been doing this about 20 years, you see how publishing and marketing are changing
People ask: What is your self-publishing plan for the next 5 years?
– that’s not just self-publishing your book
– that’s ultimately your plan for taking yourself to the next level with your writing career
– I’ve struggled with this
– I’ve been published traditionally, but I’ve now seen self-publishing is part of the world we need to go to
Common threads at different marketing conferences
– I look at this in a ministry environment in my day job, and personally
– common word is: experience
CREATE AN EXPERIENCE
– story of a family fun magazine: no more presents for Christmas and birthdays, they decided to go on trips / have experiences together
– we tried this with our family
A lot of the books we write are like one time gifts, kind of like Christmas presents
– what if we could turn our books into experiences that could last a lifetime
Today we are going to create an outline for a marketing plan we can immediately start using
Marketing funnels are a lot like relationships
– open the dialog (noise breaker)
– provide value (lead magnet)
– build trust (like a first date: trip wire)
– make a commitment (core offer)
– do big things together (profit maximizer)
most marketers don’t do all these steps
– they equivalently meet people and immediately ask them to marry them
1. Noise Breaker
– lots of noise out in the world and on the Internet
– how do you get people’s attention?
– reach that “cold audience”
– this opens the dialog
– grocery stores may use a billboard
– for my children’s books, I’m going to put a 2 minute video on YouTube about making a stronger connection with your kids
– others might create a facebook ad: goal is to break through the noise
– get the attention of someone who might be interested in your topic
– YouTube is a great way to do this: create little videos on your phone
– then make a transcription of the video and make a blog post of it
– then share that on social media
– included Linked in
– only about 11% of your Facebook followers see your post
– now take that transcript and submit it on someone else’s blog
– then take quotes from that video and make a pinterest post
— use Canva for the poster
– then create an audio podcast of the video
– put video podcast on iTunes
– then put several of those stories together and put it into an eBook and put it on Amazon as a Kindle eBook
All of these things increase the likelihood of people finding you “in the wild”
Take time to write answers
Write down what channels you are comfortable with breaking through the noise
[MY IDEAS]
– YouTube
– Twitter
– Facebook
– Blog: WordPress/Blogger
– Kindle
What topics can you speak to that relate to what you are writing?
[MY IDEAS]
2- Lead Magnet
– everyone needs a lead magnet on your website
– a magnet attracts: people have seen your material on the Internet / YouTube or somewhere else
– this captures a person’s name and email so you have it now
– this is called a “warm prospect”
– don’t just say “subscribe to my newsletter” because if people don’t know the value you offer, that is just an invitation to spam
– Kroger grocery store has a Shopper’s Card
– these are now an exchange of value, this is vital for the lead magent
– has to be something people really want: sometimes it isn’t for you
As a fiction offer what are you going to offer: a 5 minute mystery you can read to your kids tonight before bed
Someone else might create a personal leadership quiz of 20 questions, to see your results you need to submit your name and email
– each one of these is an exchange of value
– must be FREE / no cost
– this should SOLVE A PROBLEM
– it should be quickly consumable
– it should be SPECIFIC
– If a video, keep it short / under 10 minutes
Now brainstorm: What could you offer as a lead magnet that follows all these guidelines
[MY IDEAS]
– VIDEO: 7 Tips for Creating Higher Quality iPhone Videos
– EBOOK: 10 Tips for Creating Higher Quality iPhone Videos
Videos connect with people in a way eBooks don’t
– eBooks require people to engage a bit more / actually read what you’ve written, videos are easier for people to just CONSUME
When you create videos, it’s more about the content than the quality
– but you can
– get a $20 lapel microphone on Amazon
3- TRIPWIRE
– turn a prospect into a buyer
– studies have shown when someone makes a micro-transcation with you, they are 10-20 times more likely to make another transaction with you in the future
– that is why the tripwire is SO important
– psychology of this: if someone is willing to spend a little money with you, they are a good prospect for you
– you think differently
– for a fiction author: I’m going to offer my latest book free
– this is a tripwire: one of my fiction books is not a “core offer”
Email addresses are where you are going to build relationships and get to know people
tripwire is:
– low cost
– high value
– something someone wants
– easy to explain
Don’t offer the first chapter of your book as a tripwire
– people can get that online free on Amazon already
– yes some authors are doing that as a noisebreaker on Facebook
– that isn’t your lead magnet or tripwire
Your tripwire might be your book
– this can be an impulse buy
An audiobook is small so that may be more of a tripwire rather than a core offer
4- Core Offer
– not an impulse buy
– this is something people may have to sleep overnight to think about
– cost is medium
– value is amazing
– a natural extension of what you’ve offered before
– this is your MAIN product
– this may not be your book!
This is where Chris offers his video library
http://www.writingmomentum.com/
IDEAS
– can record a video series directly for kids to teach them something (writing – doing Hopscotch coding!)
5- Profit Maximizer
– we are doing something big together
– people who have done your core offer may want to get to know you more
– Kroger started selling furniture
— why? Kroger build that trust, they are used to selling there
— they don’t make much selling eggs, probably more selling a futonf
Example: I will offer a club, for $15 per month I’ll share a fiction book for your kids that I will sign each month, and include knick-knack so
Profit Maximizer for Donna Stuart: offering mentoring and coaching
– for $2000
– this is thinking big
Shannon Ethridge has most of this in place
– has books
– has seminars
– BLAST is online
– Women at the Well is a 4 Day F2F intensive
What could your profit maximizer be?
[MY IDEAS]
Maybe iPad Media Camp?
http://www.ipadmediacamp.com/
Use graduated discounts for subscriptions:
10% on 3 months
15% on 6 months
20% on 1 year
Big takeaway: You need to do some selling and engagement
MY THOUGHT: NEXT YEAR FOR WWSW16 I NEED TO DO A SESSION ON SELLING YOUR OWN EBOOKS ON YOUR OWN WEBSITE: OPTIONS LIKE E-JUNKIE, ITHEMES EXCHANGE WITH WORDPRESS, ETC.
When you first send emails, send two at once
– let people know who you are and what you do, blog post people’s like, tomorrow I will send you an email with a blog post that has changed people’s lives
– send people value, value, value
– you also need to send people an email about the tripwire when people are excited about you and your ideas
– if people don’t respond to it, have 2-3 emails: just in case you missed it, latest book series for $6 shipped, etc.
Most modern email services can do this: Mailchimp, Constant Contact probably
– most authors are starting with Mailchimp because they don’t charge for first 2000 people
I recommend going with “Active Campaign”
– better than MailChimp or Constant Contact
– also has ability to create a flowchart of how you want your emails to go out
– when I capture a name I want…
– then 2 days later…
– and if they open it…
– you use bubbles to create it, like creating a flowchart!
– you can tag people’s emails when they sign up on a particular lead magnet
Also lets you “drop a pixel” on a page and send a response
– can trigger something on the email client
Recommended authors share at least 2 blog posts per week
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On this day..
- Sharing My Learning via Twitter from Write Well, Sell Well 2015 – 2015
- Writing for Greater Impact by Shannon Ethridge – 2015
- Avoiding Digital Disasters: Video Is the New Pen – 2013
- Awesome Brickfilm – 2011
- Deterring bag shoplifters and trash depositors – 2008
- Voicethreads about favorite books! – 2007
- Elluminate moderation: First impressions – 2006
- Firefox 2 and Skype 2 – 2006
- K12Online06 Presentations links, comments – 2006
- Talking Science Podcasts – 2006