Publishing Books for More Opportunities
Phil Jones says that books are the sprinkles at the top of his business, allowing him to do more of what he does best. “Books have allowed me to develop authority into wider angles” as his books create leadership. Living in an informational age where people worldwide can easily access information, books take the content and value that consumers will pay for.
Writing a Book in Seven Days
He claimed that he could write a book in seven days, so Phil took content he had previously created, made a seven-page pamphlet, put a cover on it, and wrote a forward and author page. One week later, he had 120,000 downloads on Amazon with a free promotion.
From this point, Phil took his success with his small book and blew it up into a full-blown book. He wanted to own his book and wasn’t interested in traditional publishing for his first book, so he turned to hybrid publishing. “I wanted a publishing partner that would help with distribution space, that could give me access to quality editors and help me with pagination.”
Purposefully Marketing Your Book
“You take your thing you’ve poured your life and soul into and turn it into a commodity on someone else’s shelf.” If you’re packaging your legacy work into your book and you remove your freedom of flexibility with that asset, you need to realize the limitations that go along with that type of agreement. Phil recommends not going the traditional self-publishing route if you want the flexibility in marketing your book and keeping control over your asset.
Listen in on today’s episode to find out creative methods to distribute your book, how he decided which type of distribution to use with his books, and what marketing tactics gave him the best ROI on book sales.
Show Highlights
- [01:47] Why put books at the center of a business?
- [03:45] How Phil decides what type of publishing route to take for his books.
- [08:32] Why he decided not to give away his first book rights to a traditional publisher.
- [09:50] Publisher interest depends on the size of the investment they are making in your book.
- [11:34] Details of working with a hybrid publisher.
- [14:57] How to achieve getting on the short list.
- [17:15] Which marketing tactics proved the most book sales.
- [20:45] How to make your book easy to read and share with others by increasing your book’s readability.
- [24:08] Applying sales and marketing “magic words” and how to use skills to sell your books.
- [26:56] Success lies in being a marketing agent for the book that you’ve authored.
- [31:23] Getting paid from a hybrid publisher.
- [34:49] Your success metric should be to read your book.
Links and Resources
- Visit Self Publishing School Online
- SPS Free Training Course
- Phil Jones on the web
- Follow Phil on Instagram