How to Find the Secret Sauce

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Where is the secret sauce for success as an author? Your definition of success will be different from mine but each of us have a level of success that we are eager to achieve with our writing and our books. I’m constantly wondering if I am using all of the possible actions and steps to achieve consistent book sales and success. I’m actively looking for the secret sauce that will propel my book sales. 

Recently I reached out to one of my colleagues at Morgan James Publishing. Along with her husband, she wrote one of our top-selling books which is quite an accomplishment. Morgan James Publishing has been around over 20 years with over 200 bestselling books and over 6,000 titles and 20 million sold books. With each of the numbers in this last sentence, it is not easy to become one of those bestselling titles but this author has found the way into this elite group of authors.

As we spoke I asked what actions they were taking on a consistent basis to sell books. They were booking and recording podcasts, and during those conversations giving value to the listeners and pointing people to their book.While those steps sound simple, I’ve read this book and it is well-written and targeted to a particular business audience. The cover design is excellent and other elements in the creation of the book (foundational). In other words from the beginning this book was positioned for success and something many authors miss in the creative process.

I asked this colleague what they were doing to promote the book. The purpose of my question was to see if I was missing some secret sauce that would help me generate more sales. She affirmed they were booking and appearing on different podcasts using PodMatch and delivering value to the listeners with each appearance. I didn’t learn anything out of the ordinary that they were doing in this area.

Also during my conversation, I quickly ran through some of what I’m doing to tell people about my 10 Publishing Myths book. I’m booking and filming podcasts using PodMatch. I’m blogging and pointing to the book in my consistent, once a week newsletters. I’m also guest blogging on a regular basis. As I’ve been doing for years, I post on social media 12-15 times a day to promote the book and tell people about the benefits. Like my colleague, I continue to offer value to the reader with each exchange. Behind the scenes on PodMatch, I can see my number of downloads have increased to over 3,000 in the last two months and the social reach to over 1,300 (which is a good indicator that people are listening to these podcasts and getting value).

From my conversation, I did not find a secret sauce and in many ways I doubt such a sauce exists. As authors, each of us are on a journey. We need to take our own responsibility for our passion about our book and perservere with consistency. As I’ve written in these articles in the past, there is no exact formula to become a bestseller. In fact, the exact steps are different for every author and every book. 

For every author, there is always more to do but your consistent actions will pay off in the long run. That's why marketing expert John Kremer’s book, 1001 Ways to Market Your Books is over 700 pages. It will take continued effort and work to find your path so keep on keeping on.

What steps are you taking for telling others about your book and finding success? Let me know in the comments below and I look forward to learning from your efforts.

New Podcasts:

I enjoyed my conversation with Giuliano Grimaudo (@getmypineapple) on the How to Be a Person Podcast at: https://bit.ly/41cuuVp Learn more about publishing at: http://publishingoffer.com

 

Tweetable:

What is the secret sauce that authors need to find success and sell more books? This prolific author and editor describes his own search, then gives his conclusions. Read the details here.  (ClickToTweet)

rewrite 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.

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A Valuable Writing Skill

About 15 years ago, my phone rang and it was an editor for a publishing house in Chicago. He asked, "Can you write back cover copy?" The back of a book contains enticing words which sell the reader on the contents inside the book. To write these words involves a specialized writing skill that I have learned.

"Absolutely, I can write back cover copy," I said yet inside I was trembling because at that point I had never tried it. I received the assignment and the publisher sent the manuscript for the book. I had several days to skim the contents of the book, and then craft the words for the back cover. The payment was a modest $50 per book and in that period I wrote several dozen back covers. There was no publishing "by-line" or credit for my work but I gained valuable experience and increased the diversity for my writing.

Many writers have never tried copywriting or considered it. Possibly you are one of those writers and in this entry of The Writing Life, I want to give you some encouragement to learn this skill and a free resource with some additional instruction.

Brian Clark, known as copyblogger, defines copywriting as, "one of the most essential elements of effective online marketing. The art and science of copywriting involves strategically writing words that promote a person, product, business, opinion, or idea, with the ultimate intention of having the reader take some form of action. So, whether you’re looking to sell something or to build traffic by earning links from others, you’ll need to tell compelling stories that grab attention and connect with people so that they’ll respond the way you want."

Whether you are writing a book proposal or a query letter or an ad for your website or a sample back cover for your book or any number of other types of writing, learning copywriting will help you put power and persuasion into your writing.

I hope I've given you enough encouragement to understand the necessity for every writer to learn this skill. Yes, if you are a fiction writer you need to learn good storytelling skills--and nonfiction writers need to learn to tell stories. In addition, every writer needs to learn to add the power of copywriting to their set of skills.

This weekend I ran across this site from Alex Mandossian. It's been up for several years and some of the internal links do not work but the information in the Ebook is timeless--and well worth reading and studying.

Start 2008 With A Bang

I don't know about you but I have high expectations for the new year. But I have done more than simply dream about what I want to happen. I've been putting shoe leather to my plans. I've been working on one of my most complex product called Proposal Secrets.

For example, this banner is just one of several that I've had created for the product. What in the world is Proposal Secrets? It's an ecourse to answer the most frequent questions that would-be authors have about book proposal creation. I hope you will go to the website and check out every word on the page about the product. Notice an image of an audio postcard on the page and a little link next to it? It's a sample of what you will get with proposal secrets. The link opens a postcard where you will hear me answer a frequently asked question--but wait there is more--notice underneath the recording buttons, there is a link to the transcript. I'd encourage you to download this transcript. It gives the written version of my audio teaching.

Some people are audio learners while others prefer to read and re-read something and highlight it as they read it. You can use both methods of learning with Proposal Secrets.

Besides my hard work on the product, I've done something extra with this material--I've gathered terrific bonuses which will add even more value to this product. I've checked out these various bonuses and they are items which will help any would-be author.

What's the best way to launch a new product like Proposal Secrets?

I'm eager to get the word out to as many people as possible, so I'm holding a live teleseminar on Wednesday, January 9th with five editors and three literary agents. I hope you will check out the landing page for this teleseminar--and the various participants. These individuals represent many years of publishing experience and they will be talking about the characteristics of a book proposal or manuscript which they caught their attention and they championed to publication. The principles will help any author learn about what they need to do when they pitch their book idea.

I've got great dreams for what’s ahead in 2008. I love what Cynthia Kersey at Unstoppable sent out in my email today. She sent a quote from Robert Collier who said, "Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out."

Hope you will participate in the January 9th teleseminar.