August 2019
Recently, I’ve been listening to a podcast that I am finding very meaningful, called On Being, by Krista Tippett. The mission of the podcast is “pursuing deep thinking and moral imagination, social courage and joy, to renew inner life, outer life, and life together.” In particular, I am finding it beneficial for learning how to hold a dialog that helps enable people to get along with others who have diametrically opposed views to their own, or with people whom they fear or hate. I heartily recommend the podcast, which can be accessed at https://onbeing.org/.
1. The SkillBites Show
The SkillBites Show is taking a break for the summer. We’ll resume in September.
If you would like to listen to any of the past shows, click here, or you can read a summary of the shows on the SkillBites blog at http://resources.skillbites.net/blog/.
Do you have expertise that you believe would benefit the SkillBites community of entrepreneurs and authors? If you would like to be the guest on the monthly SkillBites Show, contact me at judy@skillbites.net or 610-783-4519.
2. Tip of the Month: Launch Strategy Part 1: Build Your Audience
The second habit in Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People is to begin with the end in mind. This is certainly true for successful authors. When you have a clear vision for what you want your book to do for you, you will write a better book to help you achieve the objective you seek and you can plan the steps to take to reach your objective.
For most SkillBites authors, the main objective for writing a book is to be perceived as an expert, leading to greater credibility and visibility for the author and ultimately more prospects and customers for the author’s business. This can only happen if the author is able to make it known to many people in the author’s target market that she has written a book that is worth reading. One of the best means of doing that is to conduct a book launch. In this series of articles, I will describe a set of steps for a book launch that will help the author get the word out about her publication.
The first step is to build an audience of the target readers you want to read your book when it is ready to launch. The larger and more focused your audience is, the better able you’ll be to gain more prospects and customers when your book comes out. It takes time to build an audience, so it is worth taking steps to cultivate an audience while writing a book.
This step begins with identifying precisely who you want to read your book. This should be the people you want hiring you for the expertise you plan to share in your book. Thus, by thinking of this up front, you make sure the thrust of your book is on the issues you want people coming to you to solve for them.
There are various ways to grow your audience. You can buy lists, for example, and send out mailings or run email campaigns. You can seek guest appearances on podcasts or radio shows followed by members of your target audience, and provide guest blog posts to bloggers whose audience is the audience you are seeking. You can do a give-away, such as a free consultation, webinar or article to anyone who provides their contact information. You can post on social media, join groups, invite people to follow you, run contests. And, of course, you can combine several of these tactics.
Whichever tactic or tactics you decide to employ, you need to map out how you will accomplish them. For instance, if you want to do guest blog posts or appear as a guest on podcasts, you need to research bloggers and podcasters whose audience is your target audience. You might want to set a threshold number of followers of the blogger or listeners of the podcast, and make sure you are the type of guest they want. I have a pdf file of bloggers and podcasters. If you’d like a copy of it, email me at judy@skillbites.net and I’ll send it to you.
Next, you need to create a message to send to them. Include your bio, what you want to talk about and how that will help their audience. For those that accept your proposal, find out as much as possible any parameters and restrictions, such as the length of blog posts or the time limit of the podcasts, and whether you can make an offer. Then you need to prepare the guest blog post or talk. If allowed, identify something you will give away, so you can get people’s contact information. Figure out how to provide the give-away item to those who desire it, and develop a follow-up campaign for those who get the give-away.
If you don’t have the time or interest in carrying out these tactics to build your audience, then consider hiring someone to help you. If you don’t have the budget to hire someone, you could try bringing on an intern, or possibly barter for the services.
The next step is to obtain reviews from members of your target audience as well as influencers to provide social proof of the value of your book. This will be discussed in next month’s newsletter.
3. Ready to Get Your Book Published?
I have recently completed the development of an online course called Publish It! This course provides guidance on the steps needed to go from manuscript to publication, as well as how to get your book on Amazon, and how to promote and leverage your book. I am seeking beta testers to review the course for me and let me know if there is anything in it that is confusing, or that I need to explain better, or that is missing that should be added. If interested in being a beta tester, email me at judy@skillbites.net, and I’ll fill you in on the details.
4. It’s About Time
Earlier this year, I ran a 4 week workshop on book writing. The reviews were so favorable that I have decided to run the workshop again. As one participant exclaimed, “Wonderful program and enjoyed the group energy! Gets the momentum going!” If you’ve wanted to write a book but are struggling with finding the time, or aren’t sure what topic you should write on, or don’t know how to proceed, this would be a perfect program for you. The workshop is virtual, so you don’t need to go anywhere. If you miss one of the sessions, you can listen to the recording. The fee for the 4 one-hour sessions is just $197. To sign up for the upcoming workshop, contact me at judy@skillbites.net. Only a limited number of spots still available.
5. Earn Commissions For Referrals
Do you know anyone who has been wanting to write a book but has been stalling? Let them know that SkillBites offers a variety of services to make book writing and publishing easy, quick and convenient. When you sign up to be a SkillBites affiliate, you can get a commission for each person who signs up to purchase SkillBites services through your unique referral link.
Thanks for supporting SkillBites. If there is anything you think we ought to be doing better or anything we should be doing that we’re not, please let us know. We value your input.
Cordially,
