You Need a Valuable Bonus

    

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Through the years, I’ve purchased a number of products online. Many of them include a bonus or several  bonuses as an incentive to buy the product. From my experience, often these bonus items are disappointing and not useful to me. In this article, I want to emphasize how I took a different path with a bonus and why you need to get this book--and the bonus.

In early 2020, right before the pandemic, I was one of a small group of authors who took a three-day book funnel bootcamp in Boulder, Colorado. At that time I lived in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, but during the bootcamp I stayed in a hotel in Boulder. Before arriving at the event, I filled out a detailed questionnaire or advanced homework to make sure I brought what I needed to the bootcamp.

 At this practical bootcamp, we learned how to create an attractive offer for our book along with adding bonuses to the offer. As a group, we worked long hours to get feedback and refine our offer. 

Throughout the bootcamp there was a great deal of learning to use new tools, short lectures from the leaders then practical application of the instruction to your own book funnel. The book funnel involved signing up and using some behind-the-scenes tools to process the book sale. While I’ve seen several of the participants drop the product they produced, I’m still working and promoting my product. Throughout the process, I gathered a large folder of questions that I answered and tools that I can use when I create my next funnel (which has not happened). 

As I brainstormed my bonuses for the book funnel, I recalled interviewing one of my author friends who has sold thousands of his self-published books to public libraries. There are over 9,000 libraries who have budgets to buy books for their patrons. Online this author located a public list of the contact information for libraries. Taking several hours each day, my friend spent several hours a day calling the library and connecting with the reference librarian on the phone. Then he pitched the benefits of his book with some persuasive bullet points. As he closed his oral presentation, he asked the librarian for the sale and got the information he needed for his invoice. Each day, he would fill out the invoices, package his books and take them to his post office. Throughout my interview, this writer gave me the specifics of what he did to sell thousands of his books to libraries. These details are included in the audio bonus from my book funnel. It is a valuable bonus because any author (no matter how they publish) can use this system to sell their book to libraries.

As you read these details of selling books to libraries, you may be thinking: making all those phone calls and selling my book is a lot of work. From my experience there is no simple way to sell books that does not involve a lot of hard work. To achieve these sales, you will have to step out of your comfort zone, develop an oral presentation about the benefits of your book and sell it to the reference librarian. Your persistent and consistent effort will pay off and sell thousands of books. 

It’s another reason for you to order my 10 Publishing Myths book directly from me for only $10 including the shipping along with over $200 in free bonuses (including this audio about how to sell to libraries). 

Through the years, I’ve written a number of articles about libraries and the importance for authors. Check out these articles: Get Your Book into Libraries or Learn How to Reach the Library Market. I encourage you to follow these links to the article but also to the additional information and lnks in each article. It is not easy or simple for any author but the opportunity and the possibility is there for you--if you do the work.

How do you determine the free bonuses that you offer with your products? Do you brainstorm them with other writers or do it on your own? Let me know in the comments below.

Tweetable:

When you create a product, you need a valuable bonus. This prolific author and editor gives an example and the details here.  (ClickToTweet)

My Writing In Other Places:

With these articles, I encourage you to publish your work beyond your blog in other places. Below are two articles which were published in other online locations than this blog. 

Once a month, I guest blog for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference blog. This month I wrote about A Critical Element of Publishing at: https://bit.ly/4lTPV5H

Also once a month I blog for Writers on the Move. This month I wrote about The Hidden Costs of Publishing. Read the details here: https://bit.ly/40ghu05 

In addition, once a month I blog about book proposal creation for Almost An Author. This month I asked, Trying to Get A Literary Agent? here: https://bit.ly/4f8e3Pb

New Podcasts:

In these articles, I’ve encouraged you to use PodMatch or some similar tool to book and record podcasts. Last week another podcast recording launched: 

CJ Johnson (@cj_moneyway) and I spoke about Publishing Success Starts Here: Terry Whalin on the 10 Myths Every Aspiring Author Must Break on The CJ Moneyway Podcast. Listen at: https://bit.ly/4fc2nev 

A great deal of the publishing process is outside of our control as writers. When I speak with authors, I find many of these authors have unrealistic expectations. I wrote 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help. You can get decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses.

Subscribe to Terry’s Newsletter:

During the last year, once a week I’ve been sending a short free newsletter. Just follow this link to subscribe. When you are added to the newsletter, you will receive a FREE 87-page Ebook which is packed with insights for every writer.

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Since 2004, I have blogged about The Writing Life over 1,700 entries and one of the top 27 content writers. With this simple form, each week you can get my new articles, encouragement and insights at: https://t.co/W6uU64u6aA

Don't Overuse This Word and Get Blacklisted

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Words have incredible power to influence and affect our life and work in the publishing community. There is a common word which authors will often use but in this article I want to give specific examples and discourage you from overusing this word and having the retailers blacklist your book.

Years ago when I was on the faculty of the San Francisco Writers Conference, I spoke with a bookseller and learned not to use this word in my conversation. I showed this retailer the first edition of Book Proposals That Sell and in my pitch I told him the book had over 100 Five Star Amazon reviews. Instantly he frowned and told me that he didn’t care about Amazon reviews. Yes the single word not to overuse is Amazon.

Instead of touting that you have an Amazon bestseller, you can say your book was a bestseller in _____ category. Instead of saying you have 56 Amazon reviews, you can promote your book has 56 Five Star reviews (or whatever number of Five Star reviews you have received). It is a slight revision but a significant one.

Amazon is a large player in the book retail market but many bookstore people believe Amazon has destroyed their business. The book market has made dramatic shifts and Amazon has been a factor in those changes. For example, at Morgan James Publishing, Amazon accounts for about 24% of our overall business. When I meet an author who has only published on Amazon, I tell them they are missing 76% of how Morgan James can distribute and sell their book. Our books are in 98% of the bookstores in North America including the brick and mortar bookstores. Recently I was looking for a book cover image on one of our novels and the first place I located it was at Target.com. Morgan James sells our books at Target along with over 180 other online retailers.

Give Your Readers Options

When you set up your website and the page to sell your book, what link or links do you include? I was looking at the books from a long-time author friend. He writes a new blog each week and sends it like clockwork. I admire and respect this type of consistent action from any author. Today I checked his book sales page. Each book had a single button that said, “Click Here to Buy on Amazon.” He used a publishing company to create his book and I didn’t recognize the name of his publisher. Yet he was giving his readers one option to buy the book: Amazon. As I’ve been saying in this article, it’s the one word you don’t want to overuse. 

Instead of sending your readers to a single place like Amazon, I encourage you to give them options like Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, their local independent bookstore or getting it directly from you (even encouraging readers they can get a signed copy from you). It’s how I set up my sales pages and here’s a couple of examples for some of my books. The sales page for Book Proposals That Sell is here. The sales page for 10 Publishing Myths is here. The sales page for Billy Graham, A Biography of America’s Greatest Evangelist is here. The reader is going to buy the book where they normally purchase books. As an author, you want to give them options and don’t just send them to a single place. 

A Little Known Bookselling Fact

While on the surface, the community of booksellers looks large with thousands of bookstores from chains like Barnes & Noble and independent bookstores. Most of the sales people for these chains have been in the book business for many years. As a part of their work, they cultivate and maintain relationships with owners, authors, editors and many other people in the industry. These sales people know each other and have developed friendships. On one level they are competitors but on another level they are colleagues. These colleagues speak together and share information. When an author is only focused on sending readers to Amazon, these sales people notice and can blacklist your book from the brick-and-mortar bookstores. According to my recent conversation with David Hancock, the founder of Morgan James Publishing, such a blacklist practice is happening.

Sometimes You Can’t Avoid the Word

In 2019, Morgan James Publishing released Steve Anderson’s book, The Bezos Letters: 14 Principles to Grow Your Business like Amazon. Even before the release date, this book garnered a great deal of attention. The Morgan James foreign rights person sold the book into multiple languages including the highest advance received in this area for a book in the 21-year history of the company. The Bezos Letters has hundreds of Five-Star reviews and a USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller. It’s unusual for a book to achieve this level of success which translates into many book sales. 

Yet this book could not avoid using the word Amazon. According to David Hancock, “The brick-and-mortar bookstores blacklisted The Bezos Letters from the release in 2019 until this year. Now in 2024, the brick-and-mortar bookstores began to order and sell this title.”  The success and continued sales of this title eventually removed it from the blacklist. At the end of the day, retailers want to stock and sell books which will move off their shelves and into the hands of buyers. The steady and continued sales of The Bezos Letters eventually won over the retailers who want to serve their customers and sell books.

What actions will you take?

I’ve written this article to encourage you as an author to take action for your website and sales pages. Will you remove the word Amazon in your social media and promotion efforts? Will you give your readers a wide variety of bookstore options to purchase your book? What actions are you going to take? Let me know in the comments.

 

Tweetable:

There is one word authors should avoid and not overuse or their book will be blacklisted. In this article, this prolific writer and editor gives the details and specific action steps. (ClickToTweet)

Much of the publishing process is outside of the writer’s control. 10 Publishing Myths helps writers have a realistic perspective and take action. Get 10 Publishing Myths for only $10 +FREE shipping + over $200 of free bonuses.

When An Event Fails Your Expectations

I've had it happen a number of times and it usually surprises me. I'm talking about an event which fails to meet my expectations.  Several weeks ago, I learned of an author library event in Fort Collins.  Located about an hour and a half away, the sign-up information looked interesting so I committed to the event and scheduled it. The day before the event, I learned that over 60 authors would be attending.  I had the impression it would be an active event with a lot of potential book buyers.  It wasn't anything in the information that I received but I was hopeful. It was not.

Yes the authors came with their books and marketing materials but few people walked through the event and spoke with the authors. Later I learned it was the first time for this library to organize and hold this event.  I have no idea what tools or marketing efforts the library made to encourage people to visit with the authors.

After I drove to the event and set up my books and other materials, I could almost immediately see that few people would be coming to this event. The foot traffic was minimal. Yes the authors were there but not readers and book buyers. When I am in this type of situation, my first step is to adjust my own expectations.  Obviously I was not going to be selling many books at this event. In fact, I did not sell a single book throughout the day.

This experience wasn't my first time where my expectations were disappointed.  For example, I've taught continuing classes at a writer's conference and had two or three people in my class. Other times at the same event (different year), I've had a packed and overflowing room. When you schedule and plan for these events, you never know what will happen—another lesson from the event.

As I shifted my attitude about what was going to happen at this library event, I looked for other opportunities (something else you can do).  Over 60 authors were at this event, could I make new relationships at this event? 

Yes was the answer.

I learned one of the authors also hosted a podcast. I made a point to meet this author, ask about the podcast (and learn he also has a broadcast radio show), and we exchanged cards and books. In the next day or so, I will be following up with this author to see when we can schedule this podcast or possible radio interview. The real fruit from such an event it is the follow-up of these types of opportunities.

During this event,  I met another author who leads a writers group in Denver. We exchanged business cards and spoke about the possibilities of my presenting a program to this group. It will take some additional follow-up on my part but it is another unexpected opportunity that turned up from this event.

Also as an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing, I met authors who are looking to publish a forthcoming title. We exchanged business cards and with follow-up, this exchange could turn into future business.  Were there authors at this event who need my help or the information that I have on my blog or in my freeteleseminars?  I answered this question with a yes and made a point to exchange cards with a number of authors at the event—and I will be following up with these people. Notice the repeated theme in my article about follow-up?

As I sat and spoke with different people, I read the name tag of one of the people.  She was the executive director of the library.  Immediately I began to discuss how an author could donate a book to the library collection. She gave me the name and email of the head of collections along with her own email. It's something else I can do to follow-up. If I can work out this detail, I will send them a complimentary copy of my books. Why? Because I've seen in the past when I do this, the library will often order additional copies of the book. The only hardcover version of my Billy Graham book, I saw in my local library. I gave them a copy of the paperback and they ordered the hardcover version.

Authors have to seize the opportunities around them. It might not be the opportunity which you see on the surface. Possibly the opportunities comes from making the right connection with the right person at the event. Have you attended an event which did not meet your expectations? How did you turn around that event and make an opportunity?

Like A Kid In a Candy Store

For the last couple of days, I attended the Mountain Plains Bookseller Association Fall Discovery Show in Denver. The various regional associations divide the United States and the Mountain Plains area is one of the smallest in the country. I went to this event many years ago and it was fun to return to it again. I was like a kid in a candy store.

While not as massive as Book Expo event, this trade show brings many booksellers from the western states together to see old friends and learn about new products. The exhibit hall was mostly books but also included related products. Publishers were giving away Advanced Reading Copies (ARCs) of books which will be in 2015. I enjoyed walking around and meeting new people and learning about forthcoming books from different publishers. 

One of the interesting non-book products was Rolli Stamps from Funny Bone Muse. Check out this little video:



At another exhibitor, I learned about Woker, which is a word card game. I'm not much of a game player but with coaching from Lisa Teore, the creator of the game, I managed to play one hand of Woker—which to me is similar to Scrabble yet with cards. Booksellers throughout the country carry Woker in their stores. Lisa mentioned that the local Tattered Cover carries this game.

I'm always interested to learn what publishers are doing to promote and capture attention for their forthcoming books. At the Penguin Random House booth, I picked up an Advanced Reading Copy of The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. This book will not release in the stores until January 2015. The ARC came wrapped in a cover sleeve with a window which said, “You'll never look out the window the same way again.” It captured my attention and I carried it home to try out this novel.

Friday night, I attended the Author Banquet, which featured four authors from well-known publishers. The room only held 150 booksellers and others from the show so this particular ticket was a “hot” item. Every chair had the four books from each of these authors—and each of these books were signed. Two of these books were nonfiction and two were fiction. After the meal, each author spoke for a few minutes giving background about their book and hopefully intriguing the publishing professionals in the room to buy and hand-sell their books in the days ahead.

Each of the four speakers were entertaining and interesting in their presentations. One of the four writers had not done his research about what booksellers think about Amazon. This author opened his presentation with a joke about Amazon which fell completely flat in the room with booksellers looking at each other wondering if they should groan or politely chuckle. 

Whatever you think about Amazon, they have forever changed the business of selling books. The Author Banquet was filled with booksellers from the west and many of them have strong negative feelings about Amazon. To even mention Amazon during a presentation revealed how little this author understood booksellers.

I gained a tremendous amount of new friends and learning from a couple of days at this trade show. If you get the opportunity to attend such an event, I encourage you to seize it.