The Art and Science of Subtitles

(Posted on Wednesday, August 26, 2020)

If titles are hard to write, subtitles can be even harder. They are the meat of the title by telling the reader exactly what your book is about. While titles are short and creative, subtitles are longer and more literal. For example, the Amplify book The Age of Intent by P.V. Kannan has a title that is bold, attractive, and attention-grabbing. But what is the book actually about? You don’t know until its subtitle: Using Artificial Intelligence to Deliver a Superior Customer Experience. Now it becomes clear it’s a book about artificial intelligence and companies’ use of AI.

Subtitles establish a contact between the author and the reader. As an author, you’re promising a reader (or potential reader) that if they invest in you, they will increase their knowledge about a given subject matter, and by doing so, they will be better informed and will be able to achieve takeaways that will interest or benefit them. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, for example, offers three things to the reader: a better work schedule, freedom of movement, and wealth. Subtitles are nothing short of a promise, so crafting a good subtitle is crucial for your book’s success.

Tips for a Good Subtitle

1. Speak directly to your target market.
2. Differentiate your book by revealing its niche or speciality in the book marketplace. Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert Kiyosaki uses its subtitle to pinpoint its reader. Someone who wants to learn about proven financial philosophies is going to pick up this book. Remember, in order to speak to your target market, you have to have a clear understanding of who that is.
3. Keep Google and Amazon in mind. Thinking of the keywords and web searches readers will use to find your book and including those in your subtitle will maximize discoverability (a process called Search Engine Optimization, or SEO). Comparison titles can also be instructive in how to target your audience. Keep Amazon genres and subgenres in mind, too. For instance, Game Changer: The Story of Pictionary and How I Turned a Simple Idea into the Bestselling Board Game in the World by Rob Angel fits into the Amazon subgenres “Board Games,” “Entrepreneurship,” and “Actor & Entertainer Biographies.” His subtitle addresses each of those categories to increase hits.
4. Escalate in value. If your subtitle is going to say something like “How to Turn Unreasonable Expectations Into Lasting Relationships” (as does the subtitle for Marketing to the Entitled Consumer by Nick Worth and Dave Frankland), make sure it escalates in value. You want to start with something less valuable that the reader wants to lose—”unreasonable expectations”—and end with gaining something attractive—”lasting relationships.” Ensure you’re tapping into the reader’s desire to achieve something great. 
5. Pay attention to rhythm. A no-brainer, but critical. Subtitles should complement their titles. The famous title Freakonomics slides right into A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Read your title and subtitle out loud together. Does it roll off the tongue? It should—if not, get back to the drawing board.

Whatever you choose for your subtitle, remember a good subtitle markets your book and enters into a contract with the reader. Craft them thoughtfully and they can yield great returns.

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Promotion in a Pandemic?

(Posted on Friday, March 20, 2020)

The comparisons to life in the aftermath of September 11 to the current (and ever-evolving) challenges we face with the coronavirus COVID-19 are unavoidable. One of the post-9/11 moments etched in millions of American’s minds is the episode of Saturday Night Live that aired on September 29, 2001.

Surrounded by Ground Zero first responders, then-Mayor Rudy Guiliani opened the show, with Paul Simon performing “The Boxer.” At the end of this unprecedented cold open, show-runner Lorne Michaels asked Guiliani a simple question: “Can we be funny?”

Guiliani’s reply: “Why start now?”

In times of extreme uncertainty, it’s only natural to ask yourself if now is the right time to resume, especially when it comes to book promotion. The key is authenticity. Does your expertise lend itself to the situation at hand? Could it provide solutions? Or a path to much-needed distraction?

Last week, we gave an inside look into how Melissa Agnes, crisis management expert and author of Crisis Ready, turned on a dime to put her expertise to work. Our other Amplify authors are on the same path, leveraging their thought leadership and further rooting their platform and positioning.

BigSpeak Speakers Bureau compiled a list of top webinar and keynote speakers featuring Invisible Solutions author Stephen Shapiro. “Provocative innovation evangelist Stephen Shapiro knows all about creating high-performing teams that can think outside the box and tackle challenges that seem impossible. For organizations that fear falling behind in rapidly shifting situations, Stephen is an obvious choice. He’s available for pre-recorded keynotes, live keynotes and webinars.” As small businesses to global corporations shift to remote work, Stephen’s approach was made for this.

NBA Life Optimization Coach David Nurse, who’s debut book Pivot & Go will be out this summer, has worked with over 100 NBA players with personal and professional development on and off the court. Recognizing the sudden halt in all sports, from the pro’s on down, David’s offering one-on-one Skype/FaceTime coaching sessions for high school and youth sports coaches.

And not only was P.V. Kannan, author of The Age of Intent, featured in an MIT Sloan Management Review webinar on the future of artificial intelligence, his presentation is now available on demand for free, allowing users access to the content anytime. A working parent now juggling remote work and childcare, for example, has the flexibility to engage with P.V.’s expertise on their time, increasing eyeballs and, likely, book sales.

Our answer? Start now.

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The Crisis Ready Response to Coronavirus COVID-19

(Posted on Friday, March 13, 2020)

“Yes, over my weekends, because crises don’t sleep.”

That direct quote, from a webinar held on Wednesday, March 11, should give you all of the insight you need into the commitment crisis management expert Melissa Agnes has to her work. Melissa is the author of Crisis Ready: Build an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World and has been at-the-ready with her response to the coronavirus COVID-19.

Her answer to this now global pandemic could have been simply hawking her book on social media, relying on her audience to order a copy and to make their own conclusions based on that content. Armed with a Forbes top business book of 2018 and a work taught in higher education courses around the world (including Harvard University and Homeland Security), one could argue that anyone with a copy of Crisis Ready would be, well, ready.

But Melissa took her role ten steps further, developing and hosting a comprehensive webinar specific to the impact of COVID-19 in just over a week. It was free to the first 500 people who registered, and no assumptions were made that attendees were well-versed in the practices Melissa preaches. She solicited questions in advance, incorporated them into her presentation, and also answered questions in real-time to make it as valuable as possible to attendees.

If you ever find yourself asking how to expand the lifecycle of thought leadership books, take a literal page from Melissa’s book, released two years ago. At the highest level, it’s about applying your subject matter authentically and thoroughly to the national conversation with the same level of commitment it took to cement your positioning in the first place. Here’s more from Melissa on how she got from there to here:

When did you decide to put on the webinar?
Specifically, I decided on Tuesday, March 3, while speaking with my team, expressing my frustration on the current lack of leadership and the undeserved domino effect this has on businesses and society at-large. This situation is unprecedented and people are scared. Of course they are. But they don’t have to be alone and I have a ton of experience and knowledge that can help, so I gave as much as I possibly could within a short 75-minute window.How did you promote it?
Within 24 hours my team had a webpage up and we shared that to my newsletter list, on social media and we asked others to help us spread the world. I framed it as their form of payment for the webinar by saying:
The coronavirus is a global situation that calls for us all to come together and support one another. For this reason, we are not charging for this webinar. However, what we are asking for as a form of ‘payment’ is that you share this link and information about this webinar with your network, so we can increase the reach of this important information to all of those who will benefit from it.

I was very blessed to have—and continue to have—many shares, as the replay of the webinar, as well as all of the free resources that come along with it, are all still available for free to anyone who is interested.

How long did it take you to put the deck together?
It’s not just putting the deck together, but also figuring out the flow of the message I wanted to share, writing the copy for the webpages, setting up email automations, time promoting it across channels… all of which took about 4 days of my time, not counting my team’s time to actually launch the webpage for me, put up the Institute’s splash page, create new automation emails for those who registered, etc. All of this was forced to happen over the weekend and well into the early morning hours, since my day job consists of consulting and advising clients who are currently facing the impacts that COVID-19 are presenting to their businesses.

What else have you done related to COVID-19?
I’m advising clients and constantly trying to find ways to spread the Crisis Ready message to help others through this difficult time; I’m offering a very exclusive opportunity for companies through the Crisis Ready COVID-19 Coaching Program; the Monday prior to the webinar I hosted a Mastermind Session on COVID-19 for my Crisis Ready Community; today, I published this blog post, which I hope will also help inspire hope and provide access to helpful resources… And if anybody has any other ideas, I’m all ears and would be very grateful!

For more on Melissa, go to MelissaAgnes.com and order your copy of Crisis Ready on Amazon.

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The Big Ideas Coming Your Way in 2020

(Posted on Friday, January 17, 2020)

Thought leaders. Influencers. Disrupters.

How we label them doesn’t matter. It’s the ideas that matter. And our Amplify authors have the kind of big ideas that will change minds, shift perspectives, and—at the very least—make us stop and think this year. (Something we can all agree we need more of.)

Contract to Unite America: Ten Reforms to Reclaim Our Republic
Available February 18.
As an independent candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018, Neal Simon witnessed the destructive nature of modern American politics. He experienced firsthand the perverse incentives that push candidates and lawmakers to ideological extremes. He watched as party leaders resisted pragmatic solutions to our nation’s problems. He saw politicians prioritize loyalty to their party bases over progress for the American people.

In this comprehensive analysis of United States politics, Simon shows how degradations in party primaries, campaign finances, and election rules have caused American self-government to collapse into gridlock and divisiveness. However, the American promise is so much greater. As the first U.S. President, George Washington, noted in his famed address, “The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.”

Capitalizing on personal insight derived from Simon’s political campaign along with extensive research, Contract to Unite America provides specific, practical solutions for an improved government and a better tomorrow.

Invisible Solutions: 25 Lenses that Reframe and Help Solve Difficult Business Problems
Available March 3.
Unprecedented access to infinite solutions has led us to realize that having all of the answers is not the answer. From innovation teams to creativity experts to crowdsourcing, we’ve turned from one source to another, spending endless cycles pursuing piecemeal solutions to each challenge we face.

What if your organization had an effective and systematic approach to deal with any problem? To find better solutions, you need to first ask better questions. The questions you ask determine which solutions you’ll see and which will remain hidden.

Stephen M. Shapiro’s compact yet powerful book contains the formulas to reframe any problem multiple ways, using 25 lenses to help you gain different perspectives. With visual examples and guidance, it contains everything you need to master any challenge and will help you discover why we are hardwired to ask ineffective questions; learn to work through those barriers; understand the power and importance of well-defined questions; reframe any problem multiple ways to find the optimal solution; and move from idea-based innovation to question-based innovation that drives higher ROI.

Apply just one of the lenses and you will quickly discover better solutions. Apply all of them and you will be able to solve any problem—in business and in life.

The Conscious Marketer: Inspiring a Deeper and More Conscious Brand Experience
Available in April
The parameters of what constitutes successful marketing are shifting. In today’s increasingly competitive, global marketplace it is essential for companies and brands to not only understand what consumers are buying, but why they are making those purchases. That is where The Conscious Marketer comes in.

It’s one thing to be conscious, but it’s something else entirely to do something impactful with that consciousness. In this expansive guide, Jim Joseph breaks down the ways the marketing industry is changing to meet the needs of a more conscious, engaged consumer, and how those within the marketing industry can adapt to meet those expectations.

The Conscious Marketer provides readers with the tools to navigate the ever-changing landscape of effective marketing and branding, explaining how to market empathetically, actively, and with intent.

Our Future: The Basic Income Plan for Peace, Justice, Liberty, and Personal Dignity
Available in April
Politicians promise to bring us together, seek the center, and reach common ground, yet our government is broken and paralyzed by partisan conflicts. Americans have been in need of a plan to unite the country and renew the vision and values of our founders, and it’s finally here in Our Future.

In this conversational and thought provoking book, basic income expert Steven Shafarman presents a comprehensive history of related ideas—as well as offers a solutions-based compelling vision—with basic income as the key. It’s a concept millions of us currently support, with liberal Democrats endorsing it as a solid floor to replace the tattered social safety net, and conservative Republicans as a way to cut and simplify government. The core of Shafarman’s plan takes the best of both, updating proposals form moderate politicians and leading economists.

Our Future holds the blueprint to successful years ahead, to acting together as We the People and making history.

Pivot & Go: The 29 Day Mindset Blueprint to Redefine and Achieve YOUR Success

Available in June
Most of us run on an endless string of vague goals, should-haves, and “tomorrows”, with true, empowering change always just out of reach. Most of us feel stuck in a pattern or are unknowingly trapped in our day-to-day routine, without the proper tools to break the mold and live our best lives every single day. David Nurse, a renowned optimization and life coach of more than 100 NBA players and CEOs, knows it doesn’t have to be that way, and a powerful shift in perspective is the answer.

Pivot & Go is a compelling, hands-on blueprint to changing course and leading the life you want to live—today. In this energizing, adventurous, and actionable guide, David outlines a clear 29-day plan; not to living the life, but to living your absolute best life. His key is to make mindful mindset pivots, ones that allow you to shift your perspective by incremental, but profoundly powerful, degrees. Focusing on success, failure, passion, joy, and confidence, Pivot & Go is here to help you find your genuine rhythm—one that will carry you through each chapter of life with the energy and ability to make the most of every day.

Punctuated with stories from his own journey to leading a full and rewarding lifestyle, as well as featuring never-before-told stories of triumph from some of the top NBA athletes in the world, David has delivered a book like none other. Not only will it give you the power to change your life, it will give you the strength to do so. Get ready to banish negative thoughts, live to the max, and become energized and ready to tackle each and every day.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for updates on all Amplify Publishing books and publishing industry insights.

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When It’s Smart Not to Sell Your Book on Amazon

(Posted on Monday, July 15, 2019)

Customers love Amazon. The company started as an online marketplace for books, but it soon expanded into just about every product category, from A to Z, offering low prices and an incredibly efficient shopping and home delivery experience.

At Amplify, we love the access to potential readers Amazon offers our authors. However, that access comes at a steep cost. Amazon buys books from publishers at a whopping 55% off cover price. Amazon also requires that suppliers like Mascot pay freight to get inventory to Amazon distribution centers. Books are heavy, and therefore, costly to move around.

So why is everyone obsessed with selling on Amazon? Because that’s where the customers are.

We know that for every book sold direct-to-consumer, we have to sell three on Amazon to achieve the same level of profit. Let that sink in.

But every once in a while, we’ll work on a project that doesn’t need Amazon. It’s rare, but when it happens, it’s a beautiful thing.

We recently published Uncommon Grit: A Photographic Journey Through the Eyes of a Navy SEAL, an amazing coffee table-style book by 24-year Navy veteran, retired SEAL, and professional photographer Darren “McB” McBurnett. The book is a beautifully raw collection of photos taken during Naval Special Warfare Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL Training (BUD/S), which is widely considered to be the hardest nine months of all military training.

We priced the coffee table book at $49.95 and a limited edition collector’s version at $124.95. We launched it on the most patriotic day of the year — July 4^th — on Fox & Friends in front of a national television audience.

The only purchasing option we gave viewers was the author’s website, which was linked to the Mascot shopping cart. The response was incredible, and as a result, we’ve now sold out of the initial print run. A resounding success all the way around.

If Uncommon Grit has you rethinking your desire to sell your book via Amazon, you should know this approach isn’t right for all projects. It worked in this case because the book’s content is incredible, the subject matter struck a chord with the intended target market, and the national television exposure gave the project an unparalleled platform. It was a perfect storm.

Although McB only gave his website during the interview (and it appeared on the crawl at the bottom of the screen), we suspect most buyers first took a detour to Amazon to see if they could find the book there at a discount and with free shipping. Actually, we know this happened. If you go to Amazon and start typing “Uncommon Grit book” the title autofills (meaning it has been searched for numerous times). But once you get to the product page, it’s not there.

Of course, no need to feel bad for Jeff Bezos here. He’ll be fine. Instead, we should take notice that, in some cases, it’s a good idea to bypass Amazon entirely.

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Book Sales at Airports

(Posted on Sunday, June 23, 2019)

One question we get all the time: “How can I get my book into airport bookstores?” The simple answer? You have to be willing to pay for it.

When you walk by an airport bookstore and see stacks of a single title on front-and-center tables or highly visible displays, those books are occupying prime real estate. And like any prime real estate, you have to pay a premium to occupy that space. In retail jargon, it’s known as a co-op placement fee. And it’s expensive. So expensive that it’s rare for a title to earn enough in book sales at that location to recoup the co-op placement fee.

Then why is airport placement so coveted? More than 2.6 million people travel through airports across the United States every day, which makes the airport market a captive audience of potential book buyers.

It’s not uncommon to see someone pick up a book in Hudson News while waiting for their gate to be called, leaf through the pages, then take out their phone and purchase that same book on Amazon. This could be for a number of reasons, either they don’t want the hassle of traveling with a book, they prefer e-books, or they know they can get the same book for a better price on Amazon or another online retailer. Regardless of the reason, the consumer is still purchasing that book because they saw it in an airport bookstore.

So, think about co-op placement fees as a marketing expense, not a distribution expense. When calculating co-op ROI, it’s important to consider not just the sales at the store level, but also the sales that are later made because a consumer noticed a book in the airport then purchased the title elsewhere.

Some genres seem to fare better than others in the airport market. For example, given the number of business travelers at airports at any given time, business books are perfectly suited for this environment. One of our titles, Age of Intent: Using Artificial Intelligence to Deliver a Superior Customer Experience (Amplify, 2019) is presently at Hudson News locations all over the United States; it’s a book about a transformational technology that’s being discussed in corporations and boardrooms all over the world, thus a perfect fit for the airport market. In the summer, you’ll notice a spike in vacation or beach reads, around the holidays, you’ll come across a lot of “new year, new you” titles.

And there you have the secrets of the airport book market.

Naren

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How to Deal with Crippling Self-Doubt: Advice for Authors

(Posted on Friday, May 10, 2019)

By Josh Bernoff

This post originally appeared on WithoutBullshit.com, an excellent resource for writers, editors, and marketers written by bestselling author Josh Bernoff. View the original post in its entirety here and follow Josh on Twitter (@jbernoff), Facebook (@bernoffwobs), and LinkedIn for more wisdom on writing, editing, publishing, and business news.

Every nonfiction author feels it. That moment when you think “I can’t do this. I am not an author. I am helpless. I can’t move forward.”

That’s crippling self-doubt. It’s so common, it deserves an acronym. CSD.

Do you suffer from CSD?

Please have hope. ’m here to help.

First, here’s what doesn’t help

This is not a cheery post.

I’m not going to pay you on the shoulder and say “You got this. You can do it.”

Your friends may do that. It doesn’t help. Because the thing about CSD is: it is crippling, and it’s justified.

You feel CSD because you are not making progress. You feel it because you don’t know what to do. You feel it because the tasks ahead of you fill you with dread.

(Sorry, I know that’s depressing, but what the heck, you’re already depressed.)

Your well-meaning friends don’t understand. You don’t need cheering up. You need help.

If you want, go out drinking with them. You might enjoy that. Sure, your writing problems will still be there in the morning, but your mood might be lighter. (If you follow this strategy repeatedly, you might have a different problem.)

Here’s the thing about CSD. You might be right.

You might not have the stamina to be a writer.

You might not want it enough.

You might not really have anything to say.

If you read those words and agree, then I’ve solved your problem. Give up on writing. Do something else.

But if you read those words and object — “I really want this! And I certainly have something to say!” — then you are a writer. You’re just stuck right now.

Let’s take on one more objection. Do you have the talent?

Each of us writers, at some point, asks “Do I have the talent to do this?”

That’s a dumb question, mate. Because talent isn’t a prerequisite.

You write by typing words. If you you can do that, you can be a writer.

If the words are the wrong words, in the wrong order, in the wrong structure, then you need an editor. The editor will help you sort out what’s wrong. You’ll address their suggestions. And then it will be better.

Talent doesn’t enter into it. Talent just means you know how to take your experience and apply it to make writing that sounds better.

How do you get experience? By writing. So stop worrying about talent. It’s not something you can address (except by writing more).

So what should you do?

The biggest challenge in writing is that people start with writing. The biggest challenge is that people start with writing.

There are 20 different tasks you need to do before you start to write. If you skip some, then your writing will suck. You’ll feel CSD. And it won’t help.

Your CSD makes you feel you can’t write. So what should you do?

Don’t write.

Do one of these tasks (all of which you can do easily, even with CSD):

• Talk about your book or chapter with some friends. Get some perspective.
• Write a speech and build a set of slides about your book or chapter.
• Draw a diagram on a whiteboard. Get some friends to help.
• Do research. Do lots of research. Find articles about what you’re writing about. Clip useful bits out of those articles and put them in a bin — a big word or Google Docs file, or into Scrivener of Evernote if you use those.
• Find people to interview. Email them or send a Linked In message or contact their PR staff. Get them on the phone and learn their stories.
• Take a walk. Think about your chapter without sitting in front of a keyboard.
• Rearrange the stuff in your bin of research into an order that roughly seems like a story.
• Write two pages based on the stuff in bin. Write two more. You can do two pages, can’t you?
• Write a terrible draft, filled with repetition and poor turns of phrase and fragments and passive voice. Experience CSD. Don’t show the shitty draft to anyone. But eat a cookie or however you reward yourself for completing something.
• A few days later, read the terrible draft in the cold light of day and figure out what might make it better. Then revise it. Turning something into something better is possible, even with CSD.

Every one of those tasks are work that writers do. They don’t worry about whether they’re suffering CSD. They just do them.

Carpenters don’t have CSD, they just identify the tools and supplies they need, acquire them, and get to work.

Chefs don’t have CSD, they just assemble the ingredients, prepare them, and only then start cooking.

Writers have CSD, but they don’t need to. Do those other tasks for a while, assemble your content, write a shitty draft, and then make it better. Rinse and repeat.

Eventually, the crippling self doubt will recede and you’ll be working. And next time you’ll be able to do more without so much worrying.

If this works, let me know. I’d love to hear about it.

Josh Bernoff has been a professional writer since 1982 and co-authored the bestselling book, Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies (HBR Press, 2008), a groundbreaking book on social media that’s sold 150,000 copies worldwide. Josh is most recently the author of Writing Without Bullshit: Boost Your Career by Saying What You Mean (HarperBusiness, 2016) and has co-authored two other business books.

Josh was an analyst, senior vice president, and frequent public speaker at the renowned research and consulting firm Forrester Research for twenty years, following fourteen years as an executive in Boston-area startup companies. He has edited four books and works frequently with authors on book ideas and book proposals. His daily blog on writing, withoutbullshit.com, has generated two million views in just over two years.

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Traditional, Hybrid, and Self-Publishing: Pros, Cons, and Choosing Your Path

(Posted on Monday, April 15, 2019)

By Naren Aryal

Last week, I presented to a group of authors at the National Writers Union in New York City and had a great conversation with a group of motivated writers about the ever-changing market and the various publishing paths available to content creators. I’ve given this presentation many times and love giving it, so I thought it would be appropriate to share parts of my presentation here on the Amplify blog.

At a high-level, there are three paths to publishing: traditional publishing, self-publishing, and where we reside at Amplify: hybrid publishing. This post provides a brief overview of each path, including the pros and cons of each approach.

Traditional Publishing

Up until the early 2000s, traditional publishing was virtually the only way to get your book into the market. This approach requires securing a literary agent who shops your manuscript to large publishing houses, typically in New York. If your manuscript is sold to a large publishing house, congratulations—you’ve beaten the odds!

Agents and large houses generally look for authors offering (a) compelling content, (b) massive author marketing platforms, and (c) a track record of selling books. I’ve met plenty of authors that have amazing content, but just don’t have the requisite platform or sales track record to be a good candidate for a traditional deal.

Traditionally published books typically have high production quality (editorial, cover and interior design, premium book printing) and have access to large distribution channels. For authors, the upside of this model is the publisher bears all the up-front production costs—the publishing house assumes the financial risk. Some (not all) authors also collect advances against future royalties.

Potential downsides that come with traditional publishing include loss of creative control and intellectual property rights (including ancillary rights, like merchandising, film, etc.), an agonizingly long time to market (18–24 months on average), and smaller royalty percentages on sales (which may be offset by an advance, meaning you don’t collect any royalties until the house recoups its investment in your content).

Regarding marketing, there seems to be a misconception that all traditionally published authors enjoy overwhelming levels of marketing support. This is true if you’re an A lister that’s authored a book with runaway bestseller potential. For rank and file authors, however, meaningful marketing support only kicks in if sales meet or exceed projections. Authors have to be fully-engaged in book-related marketing efforts—and this is true regardless of the pathway to publishing.

I have simple advice for authors considering this route: if you get a solid traditional publishing deal with a reasonable advance (and this definition differs from project-to-project and author-to-author)—take it!

Self-Publishing

Many of the elements that make self-publishing attractive to some are exactly what makes other authors refuse to consider it. First, the barrier to entry is low (or non-existent, depending on the platform). You can become a published author today by simply uploading your content onto to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform—you and everyone else that fancies themselves an author—placing you among the masses clambering to stand out and get their content noticed.

On the flip side, you’ll have complete editorial control and will have final say concerning your book’s physical specifications, including its cover and interior design—a great thing if you know what you’re doing, but something that can easily become overwhelming. If you have no experience producing a book, you could end up with a book that’s riddled with typos and has a cover that “looks self-published,” a criticism you hear often in the publishing industry. If you do go the self-publishing route, and you’re intending your book to have an audience beyond your friends and family, invest in hiring an experienced editor and designer—it will be money well spent.

Distribution can be a challenge for self-published books, and even more so for self-published print-on-demand titles. Retailers work almost exclusively with their preferred distributors, such as Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and a few others that service specific account types—grocery stores, warehouse clubs, airport vendors, big box retailers, museum gift shops, hospitals, museums, gift stores, etc. Procuring inventory from these channels allows them to get inventory per industry terms, namely standard wholesale discounts, full returnability rights, lengthy payment periods, shipping and freight agreements, chargebacks to publishers, and any number of other terms, most of which are highly favorable for distributors and retailers, but not so much for authors and publishers. Most retailers won’t even consider POD and self-published titles for their shelves.

Self-publishing also places all the responsibility for the marketing and promotion of the book squarely on the author. While all authors should engage in marketing their book, self-published authors have a heavier burden. There are plenty of resources online, but it can be difficult to know what’s worth the investment, making increasing awareness of your book a challenge.

Hybrid Publishing

So what is hybrid publishing? Up until February 2018, there really wasn’t a universal answer. That’s when the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) attempted to clear-up lingering confusion by issuing their Hybrid Publisher Criteria, which is definitely worth a read.

The high-level takeaway is that a true hybrid publisher maintains the highest industry and ethical standards and produces books that are on par with traditional houses. Hybrid publishers have a vetting process for content, provide access to meaningful distribution channels, and offer book marketing services. In other words, there’s a commitment to creating high-quality books and emphasis on helping get those books into readers’ hands through distribution and marketing. Other benefits include speed-to-market (the average timeline is about half that of traditional—sometimes even less), creative control, and ownership of all intellectual property rights.

Unlike traditional publishing, there are production-related costs, and therefore the financial risk falls largely on the author. To make up for these up-front expenses, the author often receives a much higher royalty rate per sale than traditionally published authors. At Amplify, we pay our authors 85% of sales, and provide distribution and marketing services designed to maximize visibility and sales potential.

Every writer’s publishing goals are unique and there are benefits and disadvantages to each pathway to publication. I encourage you to investigate each opportunity available to you before deciding which path to choose. Do your research. Ask questions. Compare your options and then confidently pursue the publishing path that’s right for you.

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KILLER BOOK MARKETING SECRETS – SECRET NUMBER 4: BUILD ON WHAT YOU HAVE

(Posted on Monday, May 8, 2017)

Build On What you Have

Build your platform with what you already have before you start spending time and money creating new stuff.

Effective, long-term results can be free (or inexpensive)

It’s no longer the 1950s. You don’t have to spend big bucks to put an ad out in a big newspaper like The Washington Post to make your book known. In fact, there are so many more effective ways to market your book for free, and you most likely have all the tools right in front of you.

Yes, talk show appearances or a book review in a prominent newspaper will certainly boost sales and generate buzz. But that can last only a few days before people move onto another story. If you want to keep that buzz going, just log onto your Facebook or Twitter and start some conversation. Or better yet, post a blog or fun video to connect to your readers. Numerous bestsellers began as blogs, and if you formulate a smart social media strategy, you can grow your social network by more than 400 percent in as little time as six months – we’ve seen it happen.

Apart from your online network, look at your personal and professional relationships. Who has a big following that would be willing to share your book with their contacts? What organization or company do you have a connection to that could benefit from having you speak or sell books at an event? Reach out to these people. It doesn’t have to be tacky or commercial if they already know and care about your work.

To read more about Build On What You Have or to read all 10 marketing secrets now, send an email to marketing@mascotbooks.com and we will send you a free copy of How to Sell a Crapload of Books: 10 Secrets of a Killer Author Marketing Platform by Naren Aryal and Tim Vandehey.

Stay tuned for Secret #5!

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KILLER BOOK MARKETING SECRETS – SECRET NUMBER 3: The Rule of One-Half Million

(Posted on Thursday, February 2, 2017)

The Rule of One-Half Million

The potential reach of your platform should be at least ten times greater than the number of books you expect to sell during the first five years of your book’s life.

IT’S ABOUT POTENTIAL

It’s about potential. Your platform must have the potential to reach a big audience because at any given time, it will only reach a fraction of that audience,and that fraction needs to be large enough to sell a meaningful number of books.

“One-half million” means that when you combine all the components of your author platform, they should have the ability to connect with at least one-half million total potential readers. That’s not a hard, fast rule; you can have solid salesof your self-published book without hitting that 500,000 threshold. But it’s a good mark to shoot for, whether you’re trying to build a platform that will get publishers interested or turn your independently published book into a full-time income.

Look at every piece of your platform and take your best guess about how many people it could possibly reach. Then add those numbers together. If you get one-half million or more, shout “Yahtzee!” If you don’t, you have work to do…

To read more about The Rule of Half a Million or to read all 10 marketing secrets now, send an email to marketing@mascotbooks.com and we will send you a free copy of How to Sell a Crapload of Books: 10 Secrets of a Killer Author Marketing Platform by Naren Aryal and Tim Vandehey.

Stay tuned for Secret #4!

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Killer Book Marketing Secrets – Secret Number 2 The Rule of Ten

(Posted on Friday, December 2, 2016)

Ever wonder why it’s so hard to sell books? One clue comes in an Associated Press poll on consumer reading habits from back in 2007. According to the results, one in four Americans didn’t read a single book during the prior year, and the average number of books read was only seven. That doesn’t leave a lot of readers for your book, does it?

Even so, tens of thousands of fresh-faced, hopeful authors leap into the ranks of the published every year in the certainty that they will be the exceptions. Somehow, their books will surpass the dismal statistics and become huge successes. And therein lies the problem. By clinging to such misplaced optimism, 99 percent of those authors will become discouraged and quit promoting their books long before they have even a hope of turning a profit. That brings us to the second secret in our blog series designed to help first-time authors tackle book signings.

Secret 2: Selling books will always be ten times harder than you expect.

Often overconfidence and unrealistic expectations can cause authors to under-prepare and under- plan when building a marketing platform. You find your book fascinating because it’s your work. But it’s unlikely that anyone has been waiting with anticipation for the debut of your new novel. When you finally launch it on the Amazon Kindle store and send out emails and Facebook messages to your loyal fans, you know what’s going to happen on Amazon?

Not much. You might sell five copies, but even the people who claimed that they were excited about your new book probably won’t buy copies. It’s just not what marketers call “top of mind” for them. Unless you have a big platform—tens of thousands of Twitter followers, thousands of blog subscribers, etc.—and have created a big pre-launch buzz, the launch of your new book is likely to be a quiet, uneventful affair, and you’ve got to adjust your expectations in that direction.

Rule of Ten reflects this reality. It means that no matter what metric you have in your head for your book’s commercial success, the results are probably going to be worse by a factor of ten. So if you’re thinking now that you’ll be able to sell 5,000 copies of your book in the first year, you’re more likely to move 500. If you’re figuring that you’ll be able to book ten speaking engagements in the first six months, you should be happy if you land one.

By planning for the road to be steeply uphill from the beginning, you’ll steel yourself against early disappointment and build a long-term marketing and sales plan that will eventually yield results.

Follow this six-step process for creating a platform that not only accounts for the Rule of Ten, but turns it into an advantage. Note that these steps apply to the period after you launch your book:

STEP ONE: CREATE AND EXECUTE A LONG-TERM PLAN

Set up a platform plan that’s good for at least two years. That’s probably how long it will take you to find out if your book has “legs” (i.e., if it has an audience). This plan should include:

1. A social network posting plan, including contests, invitations to private forums, possible issues to tweet about, or Instagram photo campaigns.
2. A  blog/podcast editorial  calendar to cover about half your posts/episodes (the others will be real-time responses to news, requests, etc.)
3. A media plan—who you’ll send press releases to, talking points for a three-minute interview, a list of publications and broadcast outlets to regularly solicit, media outlets in your local metropolitan area that you can “carpet bomb” with information about your book over time.
4. A comprehensive list of all the potential speaking opportunities that might crop up in your metro area or your specialty. These might include professional associations, civic groups, nonprofits, your university alumni association, area companies, religious groups, or regional conferences like TED. This list should also include the names and contact information of the people who hire speakers.

“Work the plan” is the operative phrase here. You’re unlikely to see a glut of book sales or instant media fame, so don’t make your continued efforts contingent on big results. Marketing your book takes a little faith. You’re not seeing big results right away, but you keep going, trusting that your work and your strategies are solid.

STEP TWO: MARKET USING TOOLS YOU CAN SUSTAIN

When your book launches, you’re going to be excited. Marketing is going to be a pleasure because you’ll be talking or writing about your book. But that excitement will fade, especially as it becomes clear that you won’t be an overnight sensation. Remember, successful books are built over time, with repetitive, disciplined activity—doing the right things over and over.

But you won’t do those things if you don’t enjoy them or if they’re too difficult. So sustainability is key when you’re building your platform.

Sustainability comes down to three surprisingly simple factors:

1. Do what you can afford. Use as many low-cost tools as you can. You’re going to have to spend money on a few things like a really nice website, your cover design and so on, but let’s be honest: if you can’t afford to market your book, you’re not going to sell books. Create a budget and stick to it.

2. Do what you can manage. Do you have hours each day to post to social networks, write blog posts, send query emails to newspapers and do all the other things that a robust platform demands? We don’t. Think of your platform as a workout: if you do too much, you’re going to wind up exhausted and hurt. Figure out how much time you can spare each day for marketing activities and then choose the activities that have the maximum potential return on investment. Shelve the rest until you have an assistant…or willing kids who’ll pitch in.

3. Do what you enjoy. If you hate speaking and panic at the thought of doing 15 minutes in front of an audience, all the cajoling in the world won’t get you to do it. So don’t. We put in the most effort for the things we like, so choose platform pieces that you enjoy. Love writing? Blog daily. Love speaking? Great, get as many engagements as you can, large and small. Love talking? Consider creating your own podcast or webinar. Don’t love marketing at all? Find something you don’t hate and do it.

STEP THREE: CRUSH YOUR LAUNCH

Your book launch—essentially, the first 60 days after you make your book available for purchase—is the most critical time in its life. It’s fresh, it’s new, and people who’ve been waiting for it are excited to read it. This is when your marketing should be intense. You’ve got to leverage the enthusiasm about your book. Some of the best ways to do that happen months before the book comes out:

1. Build a tribe of fellow authors. You should be gathering a group of authors who all agree to cross-promote each other’s work. Find five, ten or 20 peers who all have books coming out in the next 12 months and have a plan. Agree to email, post, tweet and blog about each other’s books for the first 30 days after each comes out.
2. Build up the excitement by making “countdown” posts on your social network feeds. Ten days until your book come out, five days and so on. Offer discounts or special incentives for people who pre-order it.
3. Put on a publication party and book signing. It doesn’t have to be lavish, but it should be unique, because that will draw attention from the press and bloggers. We’ve seen authors put on scavenger hunts, haunted houses, costume balls, you name it. Invite local media types and bloggers to attend, sign books, and speak. After the event, post pictures and videos.
4. Make sure you get reviews. Weeks before your book debuts, get as many commitments as you can from people who are willing to buy your book and give you a positive Amazon review. The more legit five-star reviews you get, the better. Never, ever, pay for canned reviews or ask people to post who haven’t read your book. It’s unethical.
5. Arrange an “Amazon bestseller day.” This is a simple way to game the system a bit. Just get as many people as you can to agree to buy your book on Amazon on the same day. If 100 people buy your book on March 27, it will jump to the top of the Amazon rankings for its genre. Then you can legitimately claim that it’s an Amazon bestseller.
6. Ask your friends, family and co-workers to utilize their social media platforms to talk about your book.

If you have to choose where to invest your resources and energy, invest them in your launch. A strong launch will create opportunities for you.

STEP FOUR: ESCALATE STEADILY

Sadly, the excitement surrounding the launch of any book fades. In order to keep sales rolling, try to market more aggressively, not less, as the months go by. If you were tweeting six times a day for the first three months, by month six you should be tweeting a dozen times. If you were sending a weekly e-newsletter to readers, send two a week. If you were reaching out to journalists once a month about getting coverage, do it every week. Be the squeaky wheel.

STEP FIVE: KEEP IT FRESH

Given Step Four, Step Five’s a tough one. You’re going to increase the frequency and intensity of your marketing, but in order to keep potential readers interested, you’ve also got to vary your marketing content—keep it fresh, original and interesting. You can’t keep posting “Buy my book” messages on Facebook month after month, can you? People will get bored, or worse, irritated with you.

In your two-year promotional plan, be sure to add new types of marketing material, messages and tools as time goes by so you can keep your audience guessing, engaged and entertained. Some examples:

1. Contests and competitions. Something like “Come up with the best name for the main character in my next book”, perhaps?
2. Discounts and coupons.
3. Exclusive unreleased chapters for readers who share a special discount
4. A sneak preview of your next book as it’s being written.

There’s really no limit to what you could add to your blog, podcast, social feeds, emails or website to keep things fresh. One key: know your audience. Target your fresh offerings to what you believe will engage and delight your most likely readers, and keep it coming. Remember, you’re probably in this for at least two years. You need enough unique, memorable marketing schemes, deals and stunts to keep people coming back for that long.

STEP SIX: GET PERSONAL

While you’re entertaining and engaging potential book buyers with coupons and funny videos, don’t forget to step up the personal connection. The thing that readers want most is a meaningful relationship with an author whose work they admire. Arrange meet-and-greets with readers in your area. Do Q&A sessions on your Facebook page. Share stories from your writing career on your blog.

A word of caution: don’t create a persona for yourself. Be the real you. Anyone who reads your book and likes it will want to get to know you as you are.

Make People Care

Don’t assume people will automatically care about your book. You’re an unknown, first-time author, so set your expectations accordingly. You have to make people care about it.

You do that by sharing, reaching out and connecting with prospective readers relentlessly, again and again and again, over months and years.

Say it out loud right now: “No one cares about my book. I have to make them care.” Good. Now go out and make it happen.

Stay tuned for Secret #3!

Can’t wait? Learn all ten secrets in the book How to Sell a Crapload of Books: 10 Secrets of a Killer Author Marketing Platform. Enter promo code Mascot2016 for 25% off!

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CREATING A KILLER AUTHOR MARKETING PLATFORM- SECRET 1:PLATFORM BEFORE BOOK…WAY BEFORE

(Posted on Monday, October 17, 2016)

For first-time authors, the world of publishing can be an overwhelming abyss of unknowns, especially when it comes marketing yourself and your new release.  It takes a lot more than good content to make a book succeed. Mascot Books’ CEO, Naren Aryal, along with professional writer, Tim Vandehey, have compiled their own best practices when it comes to author branding and platform development. We will share them with you in this blog series designed to help both first-time and experienced authors effectively tackle book marketing.

The Secrets are guidelines for helping you master both the art and science of book marketing. Rather than tell you what to do, they’re about how to approach your author platform—mistakes to avoid, ways to channel your limited resources and so on. Use them as a sort of operating system for your marketing—always running under the surface, invisible but shaping everything you do.

Secret 1: Platform Before Book…Way Before

Start building your platform long before you publish your book.
There are Four Seasons of Platform Development to use as guidelines:

• Season One: Till. Start off by preparing the soil. Make sure you have all the tools you need.
• Season Two: Plant. Start seeding the world with content and messages from your blog, social networks, etc.
• Season Three: Feed. Just like with a crop, you’ve got to weed and feed your platform. You’ll create incentives and find allies.
• Season Four: Harvest. Your book’s almost our, and it’s all about promotions, coordination, pre-orders and media opportunities.

Setting up your platform is not the same as building your platform. Building a platform takes time and energy. You will not gain a sizable following over night. Keep that in mind as you venture into The Four C’s of platform development.

The Four C’s of platform development are guidelines to help you support your newly created platform and generate a following.

1. Consistency.  With consistency comes familiarity and comfort. Start thinking of your platform as an advertising campaign that promotes you and your book. Your messaging, key ideas, and brand identity should remain the same over time. For example, if you’ve written a historical romance novel, your Twitter feed might focus exclusively on little-known facts about romance, courtship and sex from the period you’re writing about.
2. Constancy. You build a platform like you build muscles: repeating the same activities over time. Once you have your strategy in place, put your head down and work the plan. Email, tweet, blog, speak, do interviews, repeat. Results won’t come right away, but don’t worry about that. Just keep going. Doing the right things again and again yields results.
3. Coordination. Your goal is to make your book inevitable—to make book buyers see it everywhere they look so that they think, “Man, that book is everywhere! I’ve got to read it.” To make that happen, coordinate your marketing activities. Schedule things like radio interviews, book signings, posters in the windows of local bookstores and email blasts so that they happen around the same time. It’s especially critical during the first 30 days after your book comes out.
4.  Connection. Know what your readers care about and connect with them about those subjects. If you’ve published a children’s book and you find that your audience really cares about bullying in school, have a substantial percentage of your tweets, updates and blog posts focus on that topic. Remember, sincerity, authenticity and genuine caring are the best way to sell.

Building a platform is about gaining traction, volume, and developing your skills as a marketer. It takes time. How much time? Other than to say earlier the better, there’s no golden rule. Naren and Tim put together a general guideline that will help steer you in the right direction.

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