How To Make Your Next Book Launch Ridiculously Awesome!
If you’re an Author, then maybe you’ve noticed how frustrating it can be when you try to sell your books? If that’s the case, then this document is for you, because we’re about to brainstorm some clever and under the radar ways to sell your books!
Because face it, it can be super frustrating being an Author. Especially if you hate selling!
Often times you spend entire weeks, months, or even years pouring your very heart and soul into the written word of your books.
But, what happens when the frightening truth comes to pass, that truth, is that nobody is buying your book?
Even worse, what if you can’t even give it away? I’ve realized these fears time and time again, which is why I’m so passionate about the content found within this document, and I’m very excited to share it with you.
But before I do, let me ask you this one question…
Have You Ever Spent Years Of Your Life Writing, Only To Have Your Hard Work Totally Flop?
It can be one of the saddest and most frustrating things in the world.
And, I’m not just blowing smoke. I’ve published many dozens of books on Amazon Kindle (look me up lol), and unfortunately, many of my books totally and dismally flopped!
So, I’ve spent much of my life trying to figure out some cool ways to sell my books, and not in a “pushy” way.
See, I’m not really a great marketer. I’m shy, and prefer to hide behind my computer screen. In fact, I’m more of a tech nerd than anything.
The idea of trying to “pressure” someone into buying my book, especially if they think that I’m feeling desperate, is quite frankly, a fate worse than anything else that I can imagine, to be frank.
So Let’s Brainstorm Some Under The Radar And Non-Pushy Selling Methods That Are Perfect For Authors.
I don’t like to be pushy, I don’t like to be a marketer, and I loathe the idea of selling. Can you relate? Because I think that perhaps, you can.
And, many of my colleagues are the same way. They just want to write awesome literature, e-books, reports, and other written content, but maybe they just have no clue, or despise the action of, selling and promoting.
Rant aside, I’ve been brainstorming some very clever, and very powerful ways to help sell your books without being a pest, a spammer, or an annoyance.
One of the easiest, and least stressful ways I know to sell anything, particular books, is through a sales funnel, or an email marketing funnel. Yes indeed, these are two of my favorite methods to sell, under the radar, without reeking like desperation.
That’s Why I’m Such A Huge Fan Of ClickFunnels. It Makes Creating Awesome Marketing Funnels Super Easy.
It doesn’t matter if you want to launch a webinar to sell your book, or if you want to draft a really cool book funnel, or maybe you want a fully fledged product launch funnel.
ClickFunnels makes it super easy to launch beautiful marketing creatives, without the need to write a single line of code.
But maybe you’re wondering how ClickFunnels can actually help to promote your books? Well, let’s spend a few minutes brainstorming…
Selling Your Book Under The Radar Via A Product Launch Funnel…
A product launch funnel is when you send related “preview content” to your audience before you actually ask your end user to buy.
So maybe you could create three different videos, and each of those videos could “tease” or “preview” the main topic of your book.
In my humble and honest opinion, a product launch funnel is one of the coolest ways that you can launch your book.
Maybe you’re still not 100% sure regarding how the strategy of a product launch funnels? Well, think of it this way. In a product launch funnel, there are a series of videos that teach cool content related to your book before you even ask if your end users want to buy.
In fact, the idea is to lead your end user to the conclusion that they want to learn more, and the goal is to accomplish that by providing valuable content beforehand. 🙂
In my opinion, this can take the edge off of your job as a “book seller” so to speak, because the idea here is to deliver massive value, and awesome content before you even tell anyone that you have a book to sell.
This is hugely important to me, and many of my friends that I have spoken to over the years. Because so many of my colleagues have been SCARED to sell! Creating and giving value first can definitely take the edge off, and even help you to fly under the radar.
Let’s Brainstorm A Nifty Product Launch Funnel For A Book…
So let’s pretend that you’re launching a book on the topic of “How To Start An Awesome Blog”.
The traditional way to sell your book, might be to create a sales page of some type or sell it through an online retailer of some sort.
But, what if you want to take the initiative to sell the book on your own? And, what if you want to be more creative at the same time?
Well, you could start a product launch funnel! And for this situation, maybe you could have a “launch sequence” of three different videos that are related to your book.
Since in this hypothetical situation, your book is in the “Blogging” niche, you could brainstorm some cool related videos. Let’s brainstorm a few sample videos that might make sense for a “Blogging” book.
Product Launch Video Idea # 01 – The Top 5 Benefits Of Starting A Blog This Week!
This could be a great topic to start your product launch sequence, because it helps to presell the idea that blogging rocks, and you can sell the benefits of blogging big time during this video, so hopefully the end users agree and think “Heck yes! I want to start a blog!” 🙂
Product Launch Video Idea # 02 – How To Choose The Perfect Topic For Your Blog… Without Any Second Guessing!
This is another hypothetical topic that might be strategically smart for this product launch because a lot of prospective bloggers might be stressed out because they have no clue what to blog about. So you could use this video to give your end users confidence and a clear way forward.
Product Launch Video Idea # 03 – The Top 7 Ways To Promote Your Blog, So You Never Suffer From A Lack Of Traffic!
The third video in this “make believe (lol)” product launch could be the perfect video to give your end users confidence, and to make them excited. Because, one fear that the prospective blogger might have, is the fear of promoting their blog posts. So you could use this time to give your prospects a ton of courage, inspiration, and yes, confidence.
Why Product Launch Funnels Rock…
The name of the game is to provide awesome content before you even launch your product.
Notice in the video samples above, that the topics are designed to be very helpful, educational, and hopefully entertaining. While at the same time, one could see how they would “lead” the end user to become excited about the prospect of starting a blog.
After you share your final video, you could either announce your book, or you could otherwise inform your end users when your “cart” opens.
Another option you have, is to include a call to action under EVERY single video in the product launch funnel.
So maybe you could have a tiny button under each video that says “Want To Learn More? Then Check Out My Brand New Blogging Book By Clicking Here!”.
Is A Product Launch Funnel Overkill To Sell A Book?
A product launch funnel might be “overkill” to launch a book, however, I honestly believe that if you love to create awesome content, that it can be a ton of fun, and actually quite worthy for your end users.
Personally, I think that by sharing awesome content, at the very least, you can warm up your leads and create some type of authority in your niche. There’s also the possibility that you could promote your future books to your new leads, or you could even have an upsell if you want to. (I’ll talk more about this topic in a few moments)…
If you’re frustrated because you’re not sure how to setup a product launch funnel, then it might be worth checking out ClickFunnels because they have a ton of done for you templates. The templates are super easy to customize using their drag and drop editor, so yes, I’m a huge fan of ClickFunnels.
Selling Your Book Under The Radar Via An Email Course.
I personally think that email courses are one of the most underrated marketing methods. And this goes far beyond mere book selling, I think that with a little creativity, one can promote nearly anything with an email course!
The reason why an email course rocks, is because you can offer tremendous value to your end user for a period of 7, 14, or even 21 days if you want to.
(Heck, you can make your email course as long or as short as you’d like lol, there is no law to this, however, in my experience, 7-day email courses are arguably the most popular).
In any event, there are a ton of benefits to promoting your products via an email course.
First of all, when you launch a cool little email course, you’ll be aiming to create and provide massive value. So, even if your subscribers DO NOT want your book, hopefully, if all goes well, they’ll still receive value from your efforts, and hopefully as a result, they’ll at least stay subscribed to your email newsletter.
You might be thinking, “But Mike, if they don’t buy the book, I don’t want them on my email newsletter!”. However, my honest philosophy is that, if you ever recommend any affiliate products down the road, or maybe if you launch a new book in the future, then maybe your appreciative subscribers may be more interested in that?
The Number One Reason Why Email Courses Are Super Powerful.
There are actually many reasons, including the idea that email courses can be a really great way to build an email list.
Aside from that though, an email course allows you to share powerful training content with your email subscribers.
Then, at the end of the emails that you’re writing, you can easily insert a call to action that promotes your book.
This is totally under the radar in my opinion, because the main “meat and potatoes” of the email course should be the actual training content.
If you wanted to be super under the radar, you could even simply add a “PS” at the end of your email.
So Maybe Your Call To Action Could Look Something Like This:
“PS: If you appreciate this email course, then be sure to click here to learn more about my brand new blogging book. This book will teach you everything you need to start a beautiful looking blog, without breaking the bank, and I guarantee that if you don’t have your blog up and running by next week that I’ll personally help you or give you a full refund, your choice”.
Obviously, that call to action is a little long, so you could shorten it if you want, however, I’m just trying to help you brainstorm some cool ideas!
Another nuance about the email course, is that email courses can also be a really cool way to generate a lead.
In fact, at the time of me writing this, email courses are one of, if not the single favorite way to generate a lead.
And then, you also get to share awesome content, and of course, promote your book, without being pushy, in every single email, if you want.
If the idea of setting up a cool lead capture page, an email automation is enough to make you curl up into a ball and cry (lol), then please don’t stress!
Because ClickFunnels makes it super easy to setup awesome lead capture pages, and their email automation software can definitely handle a 7-day email course, which is probably easier to setup than you think!
Another Important Thing To Think About Selling Your Books…
Ask yourself this one very important question…
How else can you serve your customers? How can you provide more value?
Another way to look at this question… Is what else can you sell? What else can you sell your readers?
Do you have any upsells? Or any cross sells?
Do you have any courses, or other books you can sell?
Because one thing I learned in my time as an Author, is that it can be VERY expensive advertising, especially if you’re only selling a $5, $7, or even $10 book.
Because, a click might cost you anywhere from ten cents, to ten dollars.
So, if you’re advertising a $10 book, and your clicks cost $5, there isn’t much room for error, right?
So, if you can have an upsell, maybe an online course, then it might be a tad bit easier to afford advertising fees, right?
Let’s pretend that you sold 100 books. What happens if you did not offer your readers any more service?
Well, you’re almost guaranteed not to sell any additional services, right?
But, what happens if you tell your new customers about your newest and latest course?
What if only 10% of your customers bought? The way I look at it, is that’s an extra 10% conversion that you would not have otherwise.
So, as an Author, always ask yourself, do you have any other books that you can sell? Another option that might be cool, is to promote a related affiliate offer to your readers.
This is just food for thought.
Thanks So Much For Reading This, You Rock!
In any event, I do apologize for this super long rant lol.
As an Author, I know how frustrating it can be when you spend countless years writing, and then nobody reads your stuff.
That’s why I’m so passionate about ClickFunnels. Because it’s a super powerful tool that will enable you to create amazing marketing creatives.
The best part, is that those marketing creatives are designed by some of my favorite marketers on the planet, and I trust their ability to design awesome marketing pages.
If you ever have any questions about this nerdy marketing stuff, then please never hesitate to give me a buzz.
I’ve been building all kinds of websites since I learned HTML in middle school, so needless to say I have a lot of experience creating all kinds of projects lol.
I’d love to help you with your next project, so never be too shy to contact me.
Thanks again for reading.
I wish you the best, truly.
Cordially and humbly…
Mike DeVincent
MrComputerScience.com
