Today I talk with Mike Michalowicz (author of Profit First and many other books) about how he’s started multiple 7 figure businesses on the back-end of books he’s written. We also talk about:
– how he sold 700k copies of his book, negotiated double the advance, and why he decided to fire his agent and do it himself
– why audiobooks are where all the money is in book publishing
– the 2 types of people that will help you sell more books and grow your business
– A “backlist”; what is it and why is it important for long-term book sales
– Why you should self publish if you want to make money from the book
…and a lot more!
This interview is a blueprint for building a business using books. If you want to grow your business using a book…don’t miss this episode!
How Mike Creates Business Ecosystems Around Published Books
Mike is the author of several successful books, including Profit First, Clockwork, The Pumpkin Plan, and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. His most recent book, Fix This Next, is another book in his series that he is using to start and grow companies.
Being an entrepreneur his entire life, Mike is familiar with the challenges of starting a business. “I’ve had some great successes and was able to sell a couple of companies.” In addition to his successes, he has also experienced significant failure. After experiencing a life calamity, Mike had to regroup and restart his life, including his business. “I started writing everything down that I didn’t know about the business.” His list went on for several pages, and when reviewing his plan, he asked himself if there was a better way?
Mike started the process of backward design and started asking himself if profitability could be generated before the end? This journey started him on the research path, leading to writing for the Wall Street Journal, and his articles proceeded to become books.
“Ask people if you can make money writing books and people that say no, it’s crazy, don’t do it, most of them have never done it.” When he ran into Tim Ferris and asked him if he could make money writing books, his response was ‘you could be a millionaire writing books.”
Find out which lessons Mike wanted to learn, how he comes up with book ideas to start companies, and how he builds a business ecosystem around his published book. Learn why readers of your published book are better prospects for your business, why you shouldn’t write your book focused on leads, and how he organizes multiple companies on his back end.
Show Notes
- [01:46] Why Mike decided to write his first book.
- [03:11] Restarting his life as an author.
- [06:24] How to land a licensing agreement with a company.
- [10:12] Common mistakes authors make when writing books.
- [14:29] Perks to working with licensee companies instead of building from the ground up.
- [17:05] Why his first book is so profitable.
- [24:05] How Mike gets book deals without having an agent representing.
- [29:02] The breakdown of Mike’s book sales by type of book.
- [32:45] How to move the most books in different stages of your book marketing.
- [37:47] Why leaving video reviews on other people’s books helps your book sales.
- [40:29] The Penguin book publisher secret from Mike’s perspective.
Links and Resources
- Visit Self Publishing School Online
- SPS Free Training Course
- Visit Mike on the web
- Meet Mike’s books
- Check out his podcast Up In Your Business