There are a lot of lessons to be learned when launching a book. In fact, even though I've had 50+ book launches, I'm still learning new things.
This week Barrie Davenport and I published a book titled: 10-Minute Declutter - The Stress-Free Habit for Simplifying Your Life
Side Note: I'll be honest here… One of the reasons I'm writing this email is because I want you to check out the book. If you want to simplify your home, grab it now because it's only $0.99 (or the equivalent) until midnight Saturday (the 23rd).
Anyway…
Here are four lessons I learned while launching this book:
#1. Polling Your Audience is…AWESOME!
Nowadays I start every book with a simple question. When I think of a topic, I will email my DevelopGoodHabits list and ask a question like:
"What is your biggest challenge with _____"
Seriously, that's all I ask.
And the result?
My inbox will be flooded with 200 to 400 responses (some of these messages are more than 500 words long.)
The truth is it's easy to write a book when people describe, in specific detail, what they want to learn.
You can still apply this technique even if you don't have an email list. Simply join a Facebook group related to your niche, establish rapport with the members and then start a thread asking this question.
(Important: Make sure you've added value to the group before doing this. It's a tacky move to jump into a group and start asking questions when nobody knows who you are.)
#2. Create Product Review Pages
Some books have potential to generate income outside of author royalties.
We felt we could monetize the book by creating blog pages, which promote organizing supplies. This content is broken down into seven pages—each focusing on a different room in the house.
Here's an example of what this looks like:
Now, the Amazon Associates program doesn't allow authors to use their links in eBooks. But you can legitimately get around this by creating review pages or shopping pages on your website. The trick here is to mention the link once or twice, but don't beat readers over the head with it.
It's still more important to provide a quality (non-salesy) reading experience.
#3. Create Content Upgrades
I'm in the process of adding content upgrades to my books (credit to Chandler Bolt for this idea.) The idea here is to create a specialized offer that specifically targets the audience of that book.
My offer for 10-Minute Declutter is still being created, but Barrie did an excellent job with her lead magnet, which includes 10 different checklists that can be used while decluttering.
In theory, these content upgrades can dramatically increase your reader to subscriber ratio.
Think about the topic for your next book…
Ask yourself: "What extra content can I add that readers will love?"
This could be a checklist, a list of resources or a quick action guide. The important thing is to create something that's actionable and is directly related to the topic of the book.
#4. Split-Test Your Book Covers
There is a LOT of value to split-testing your cover images. What I mean here is you should take two completely different covers and run them by an anonymous audience.
Another option is Mechanical Turk, which is MUCH cheaper, but I'm too techno-stupid to figure it out, so I use PickFu because it's super easy to figure out.
So why am I recommending these sites instead of asking your friends or social connections?
It's simple…
You WANT people to brutally honest. When someone knows and likes you, they might not provide important feedback that you need to hear. It's better to have strangers tell you they hate your cover now instead of putting it into the marketplace and having potential readers ignore your book.
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Well, those are lessons learned for this book launch.
Hope you got value from it!
And again, here are the links to "10-Minute Declutter" if you want to simplify your life.
Talk Soon,
Steve
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