In the years I’ve been in business, I’ve watched incredibly talented people stumble when it comes to where to invest their marketing dollars. To save a few bucks, they will spend hours and hours searching out an answer…for free. Basically, they are jumping over big money to save a little now.
I see this frequently with authors. They know they need to invest, but literally freak out when they think about parting with their money.
It’s one thing to be conscientious on how you are investing, it’s something completely different to not be willing to part with even $50 to save days, weeks, often months of time trying to piece information together.

Investing is a MUST

Here’s the deal… you have to invest in your marketing. If you don’t, you’re hindering your success as an author who might also be a speaker who might also be a consultant.
Granted, you can invest your own time to save money, but how much are you actually spending in lost productivity, stress, and overtaxing your time by trying to do everything yourself?
If you’re not willing to invest in your marketing, it’s difficult for people to find your books. If they don’t find your books, they can’t buy them. If they don’t buy your books, they may not fully understand your brilliance.

I’m on Amazon

“But I have my book on Amazon,” is a common response.
Great! You have your book on Amazon. Yours and millions of other books are listed. Have you thought about how to drive traffic to your Amazon page?
This is an absolute must to be successful in selling your books on Amazon. Not sure how to do this? Get my FREE report, One On Amazon by clicking here.
Have you thought about what comes next? Do you have a way for people to get on your subscriber list? Can they easily find you on social media? Do you have a long-term plan on how to serve your readers?
Most authors have never, ever given this thought. There are a handful of authors who have. The ones who have are usually making more than those who haven’t.

Maybe This Isn’t You

Granted, not all authors want to make money, but the authors I work with do. They often use their book as a way to position their expertise, raise their market visibility, generate leads and increase revenues.
If this is not you, no problem. There’s nothing wrong with writing and publishing books for the sake of writing, but if you want to make money, you do have to look at things differently.
Whether it be to offer something inside the book that encourages readers to opt in for a high-value gift or have a page in the book that tells your readers about other products and services you have available, the more you plan the journey the reader will take, outside of reading the book, the better.

Case Study

When my book, Power Up for Profits, was released, I offered a ticket to a live, three-day event in Portland, Oregon to those who invested in the book during a specific time period.
Not only did I drive sales during this time frame, I filled seats at my event and when I made an offer at my event, I enrolled serious entrepreneurs into my private programs.
All told, this equated to multiple six figures. Very few authors can claim that their book generates six figures, let alone, multiple six figures.
I don’t share this to impress anyone, but to impress on you, it’s about systems, goals, vision and implementation.
Currently, I am working on my memoir. As I write, I also work on the marketing plan. I have BIG plans for my book. Not only the sales of the book, but speaking engagements, private clients, interviews on radio and podcast shows, television, blogs, and anywhere I can reach my potential reader.
This takes more than wishful thinking. It takes discipline.
Recently, an author asked me, “If you market every day, when do you have time to write?”
A valid question. Marketing every day does NOT mean all day. It means a little every day.
My answer to her was, “I schedule in the time for both. For example, when I write a blog post that ties into the theme of a book, I can have links to the purchase page on Amazon. I then have a checklist of places to promote the permalink such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, my email subscribers and other social networks such as Pinterest and Google+. All of that is part of the promotions.
Recently, I wrote a blog post that shows how I linked up a book I mentioned directly to Amazon. That one post has been sent out with the list mentioned above to thousands of people all over social media.
Does that mean thousands will read it? Not at all. That’s why daily action is essential. Here is the post.
In the post, I have ways for people to get on my subscriber list, which gives me even more traction with the marketing.
Again, it’s not just what happens when you post your book to Amazon, it’s everything you do before, during and after.
Not sure what to do? Get the Book Accelerator Checklist to find out. No opt-in required. Instant download. http://booklaunchpower.com/processlist/

Think You’re Ready?

On August 24 – 25, 2017, I’m hosting a very intimate gathering in my office for serious minded authors who are READY to deep dive into their book marketing. This is NOT for those who are not willing to play full out and have a fully developed plan at the end of the two days. Limited to six participants. To find out if this is for you, please email me at kathleen@kathleengage.com. Subject line: 2 Day Author Deep Dive Inquiry.
Again, only serious authors respond. This is NOT for tire kickers.