Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Building Your Brand Through Book Authorship with Stephanie Chandler

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Building Your Brand Through Book Authorship with Stephanie Chandler · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  3, 10, 1, 0, ignition, liftoff, Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with a number 1 small business expert Melinda Emerson.
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  Bolinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you've dream of.
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  Now here's the small biz lady herself.
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  Melinda Everson.
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  Hi, everybody.
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  Well, come back to small biz chat.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small biz lady.
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  America's never one small business expert, and I'm so excited to have you here for 10 years.
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  We've been helping you grow your business because our mission is to end small business
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  failure.
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  Now we're gonna be talking with Stephanie Chandler.
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  Now I have to tell you I have been a fan of Stephanie Chandler for a long time.
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  Back in 2000, I think 2008, it was seventy wrote this book called from entrepreneur to
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  Infopanor that actually changed my life and made me become the small biz lady.
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  And I have been a fan of hers, and we have become very good friends over the years.
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  She is the CEO of the nonfiction writers association, but she is an author in her own
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  right.
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  One of my favorite books she has written.
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  It's called On Your Nicch.
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  And Stephanie Chandler, welcome to Small Vista Live.
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  Hey, Melinda.
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  I am honored to be here.
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  Happy 10th anniversary.
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  It's amazing.
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  Thank you so much.
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  Now you have become like the book Lady.
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  Right?
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  So tell me about how many books have you published and and how can a book help you
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  promote your business?
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  Well, I've myself have authored 10 books today.
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  I've published books for dozens of other authors But how can I help you grow your
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  business?
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  A book adds instant credibility.
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  The word authority begins with author.
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  Right?
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  So it will impress prospective clients.
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  It will help you get books for speaking engagements.
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  There is no other business card like writing a book.
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  Alright.
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  So you can use a book to generate leads then.
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  Right?
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  Oh, for sure.
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  You can mail books to prospects that are hard to reach.
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  I I've worked with a guy who's a financial advisor.
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  All he does is hand out books to prospective clients.
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  And think about that.
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  If you're gonna go and interview financial advisors, and you interview, they both have
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  pretty much the same pitch, but one hands you a copy of his book.
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  Which one do you think you're gonna hire?
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  It's amazing.
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  The impact it makes.
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  I think that's a great idea for all you guys out here.
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  I hope you guys are listening and writing some of these gems down because my guests are
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  dropping knowledge on here tonight.
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  Now For business owners who wanna land a speaking gig, a book how can a book help
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  somebody land a speaking gig?
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  Well, you and I are both members of the National Speakers Association, and every
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  professional speaker will tell you you have to have a book.
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  It gets back to that credibility.
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  Put it in your bio.
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  It shifts the whole prospect perspective of people who are gonna hire you to speak.
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  Absolutely.
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  I know for me, not only the first thing when I joined NSA in 2007, the first thing they said
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  was not only do you have to write a book, but you have to write a good book.
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  That's right.
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  It can't just be any book.
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  That was what I was told.
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  So I was like, well, but my general is a degree.
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  I think I'm safe.
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  I think I can do it.
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  My praise god.
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  I think I did.
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  So, you know, if you I wanna ask you sort of like a marketing question about So I know a lot
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  of times when people write books, they set up a book website and they do all this stuff, like,
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  for their book.
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  If they have an existing business, Does it make sense for them to put that book on that
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  existing website, or do you think it's does it make sense for somebody to get the Euro you
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  know, and and do another book website?
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  I am not a big fan of a book website.
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  I mean, if you plan to to do what I've done and write, 10, 20, 30 books of your career.
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  You're gonna be managing a lot of websites, and I say brand you.
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  Brand you is the author.
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  Drive all of your traffic back to one place.
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  That is your better long game.
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  Alright.
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  You heard to hear first.
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  The book guru said it.
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  Alright.
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  Now when should you start promoting a book?
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  Like, if as I know a lot of people say 12 to 18 months before the book's coming out, start
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  blogging about, you know, but is that true?
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  When should you start promoting a book when it's gonna write it come out?
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  Well, definitely not after it's come out.
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  You wanna do it before it comes out.
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  So, you know, as many months in advance as possible, but get your audience engaged.
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  Have them vote on your book title.
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  Have them vote on your book cover.
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  Our social media audiences love to be involved in those decisions.
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  And feel like they're a part of your your launch.
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  You know, bring in beta readers.
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  Those are people you give early access to your manuscript That's a great way to get people on
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  the ground running, talking about your book when it comes out.
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  So as far in advance as possible is my best advice.
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  Now when it comes to promoting a book, are you saying is it is it blogging?
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  Is it podcasting?
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  Is it videos?
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  What's the deal?
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  Who what is your best option when you're when you're thinking if you if you've got limited
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  time and limited resources, what is the best thing to do?
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  You gotta go where your tribe is.
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  So where are they spending time?
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  Where are you most engaged?
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  I mean, obviously, for you, Melinda, it's Twitter and Facebook.
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  Right, for somebody else that might be LinkedIn.
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  I just worked with an author who's got a huge presence on LinkedIn.
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  And so the bulk of his promotion efforts go there.
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  So the the key is find your tribe and know where they're spending their time.
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  Alright.
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  So how important is it to knit your book topic?
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  I mean, the the thing see right here now is that everybody in their mama's got a book.
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  So how how is it that you can stand out with a book now?
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  Because, like, is it are there any new ideas under the sun, really?
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  I mean, like, you know
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  No new ideas about new ways to stand out.
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  Right?
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  And it's the same for your business.
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  You know, the more you can niche down your topic, the better your chance of standing out.
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  Do you wanna write another financial planter for divorce women or baby boomers or people
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  planning for their kids, college education.
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  You know, I am Always been a fan of owning a niche.
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  I wrote a whole book on the topic.
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  So in your book is no exception to that rule.
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  It should absolutely speak to a really targeted audience if you wanna stand out in a very
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  crowded marketplace where you have millions of books competing
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  with you.
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  Absolutely.
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  You know, they've made it so easy now to publish a book.
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  Any fool thinks they can do it.
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  Alright.
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  Now tell me, what is the best bookmark any advice you've ever received?
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  Well, my best business of ice in general is delegates.
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  You know, we learn that through the E myth, right, with Michael Gerber book, don't try to
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  be the cook, the dishwasher, the janitor, the everybody.
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  And my motto has always been the more I hire, the more I earn, and it's the truth.
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  So, you know, go out and hire help.
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  Every author, every business owner needs a virtual assistant This is higher number 1.
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  Even if it's just 5 hours a month to hand up the task, you don't wanna handle, This will be
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  one of the best investments you make in your business and your book marketing.
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  I can't agree with you more.
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  I'm gonna co sign on that completely.
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  Now, Steph, I wanna put a pen in this because I know the next stop thing we're gonna get into
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  is self publishing versus traditional publishing because there's a whole big world
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  out here publishing.
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  So stay with us, everybody.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small business lady.
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  Stephanie Chandler's gonna be with us when we come right back.
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  Don't go away.
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  We see something like an 85% open rate of our outbound email sequences.
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  We see something like a 40 high rate to those cold sequences and outbound accounts for
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  something like 30% of our sign ups right now.
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  So we can directly attribute that to make sense.
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  I'm back with my guest, Stephanie Chandler, and now we're gonna be talking about the pros and
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  cons of self publishing versus getting an agent and trying to get a traditional publishing
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  deal.
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  Alright, Stephanie.
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  You've done all of it.
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  So let's let's jump into it.
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  How do you how do you make the decision to self published or not?
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  Well, it I guess it partly depends on how much of a control freak you are.
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  I'm very type a.
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  And what drove me out of traditional publishing was giving up all that control and doing all
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  the work and letting them reap all the rewards.
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  And the traditional published can change your book title.
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  They can change copy.
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  They can give you a book cover you don't like.
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  I had all of these things happen to me The final straw for me was when the publisher
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  called and said, we want you to remove a chapter from your book.
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  We don't care which one.
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  We're trying to cut costs.
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  And I swear I would never let that happen again.
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  So, you know, there's pros and cons on both sides.
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  No question But if you're a control freak, you probably wanna go for self publishing.
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  I've done both.
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  It's an interesting ride.
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  I mean, I think you gotta figure out what business you wanna be.
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  Because, you know, you really do have to understand, but the other thing you have to
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  understand is the only thing the publisher is gonna do for you is sell you paper and ink.
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  You are gonna sell every copy of that book, whether you self publish it, or whether you
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  traditionally publish it, know that.
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  So let's say I decided to self publish.
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  So what do I need to be prepared to invest if I'm gonna self publish because that's not a
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  cheap thing to do.
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  It's not if you do it the right way.
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  Right?
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  There's a lot of people trying to cut all the corners and saying you can get your book done
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  for $100.
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  Please don't do your book that way.
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  That's what gives self publishing a bad name.
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  You know, a minimum investment really should be at least $10 The bulk of your expense is going
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  to be in editing.
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  We all need editing.
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  My last book went through 4 complete rounds of editing.
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  So please make that investment a minimum of $10, but probably more if you really wanna do
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  your book the right way.
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  Alright.
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  So what are some of the advantages or disadvantages of pursuing an agent and and a
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  publisher?
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  Can you talk a little bit about, like, the timeline for that kind of stuff?
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  Yeah.
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  That's a great question.
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  So when you're seeking traditional publishing, the biggest benefit most authors focus on is
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  that bookstore placement.
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  Although you, you know, you've gotta remember most books aren't being purchased in brick and
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  mortar stores anymore so that doesn't have the cache that it once had, but there is a timeline
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  involved, right, because first you start by going after agents, agents have the direct
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  connection to the publishers.
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  The big five won't take pitches directly from authors.
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  You have to go through an agent.
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  So you've got the process of querying agents, and then you've gotta write a forty page book
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  proposal and and get them to sign off on that.
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  And then the agent begins their pitch process.
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  So it's very time assuming.
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  And then once you do, if you get offered a book deal, expect it to take another year for the
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  publisher to get the book out, It's a very long lead time.
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  There's really no reason why it takes them that long, except that's how they've always done it.
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  And that's how they continue to do it.
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  But one other point about traditional publishing is on average, authors make about a
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  dollar per book.
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  Dispitiful.
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  And if you self publish You're gonna make 5 to $10 per book depending on your sales outlet.
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  So just something else to really think about.
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  You may spend more money upfront.
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  But on the back end, you potentially will earn more revenue.
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  Alright.
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  So let's talk about investing in Publicis.
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  Now I know for me, every time we've launched a book, I'm always engaged to publicist
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  at least 6 months, 3 months before, and then 3 months after in the book promotion process.
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  But What is your advice and and rule of thumb for that?
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  My feeling is not every book is public city publicity worthy.
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  So not every author should make that investment.
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  The other thing about investing in PR is it's really hard to earn back that investment on
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  book sells, right, because we're earning it back 5 or $10 at a time.
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  So you really have to be sure that that media coverage is going to benefit you.
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  It's probably will not result in earning it back in book sales.
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  If you're looking to build your credibility, your media resume, you know, that kind of
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  thing, publicity makes a ton of sense.
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  If you're all about book sales and building that audience, you might be better off to spend
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  your money on marketing with a good marketing assistant or a smaller marketing agency where
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  your money goes further because publicity is expensive.
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  Yes.
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  It is.
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  Yes.
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  It is.
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  Alright, Stephanie.
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  What is the best book advice you can give somebody?
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  Oh my gosh.
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  Please just do it well.
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  Don't go to Fiverr and hire a book cover person.
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  Don't you know, skimp on the editing and let your sister, who's the English teacher, do your
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  editing?
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  Because she's not following the Chicago manualist style.
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  I mean, there's a lot of of details, your book cover should be designed by somebody who
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  designs book covers for a living.
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  So please, you know, do it the right way, hire experts, work with people who understand
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  publishing because this is gonna represent you in your business, and you want it to be the
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  best representation of you you can have.
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  I will co sign that.
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  So, listen, this has been an amazing 10 year ride.
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  I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be the small bus lady and to have giving you guys
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  small business advice for the last 10 years.
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  Special thanks to tonight's guest.
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  But, you know, for the past 10 years, it has been my pleasure to execute our mission to end
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  small business failure.
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  I am Melinda Emerson.
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  I am the small business lady And until next time, remember this.
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  You never lose in business.
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  Either you win or you learn.
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  God bless everybody.
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  Good night.
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  Thank you for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
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  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
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  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and join us next Wednesday.