In this episode, Jess Kotzer, of Sell with Collabs, will share how to grow your list, your influence, and your bottom line through collaboration and why if you’re not collaborating, you’re missing out!

Resources Mentioned:

Jess is hosting a very special summit/mixer in January that will bring together authors and industry experts with the mutual goal of generating your best-selling book!
Visit this link if you’d like to attend. If you have support services you’d like to offer, reach out to Jess here.

Contact and follow Jess:

Website: Self Pub Hub

Jess @Instagram

Jess@LinkedIn

Cashing in with a Book Session
Want to write a book that makes you money?
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help you nail down the right topic
and positioning to make it happen!

Summary

 Welcome to a mini-summit full of words of wisdom from two content collaborators extraordinaire! On this episode of Books Open Doors®, host, Ellen Violette, welcomes Jess Kotzer, whose expertise in all things automation and networking are featured frequently at Self Pub Hub, a creative platform dedicated to growing the author community creatively and financially. When it comes to partnering entrepreneurs with something to say and industry experts with tools to get their work published and marketed, Ellen and Jess have an incomparable breadth of experience to offer. They’re swapping thoughts on – and advice about – everything from building your strategic email list to the value of quality over quantity when expanding your network of collaborators. You’ll also learn about game-changing tools for outsourcing repetitive tasks and Words to the Wise  – top tips for making your publishing journey as creative, remunerative and enjoyable as possible. You’ll find yourself growing and strengthening industry relationships all along the way!

Ready to boost credibility, heighten exposure and open doors? Then you’re ready for The Books Open Doors® treatment. You can book a free consultation with Ellen here.

Key Quotes

 “I cannot help but gravitate towards the publishing space. Whether you’re a trade author or a self-published author, I just love working with creatives who love words.”

“We get trigger-happy but have to ask ourselves why – why am I collaborating with this person? Who is my ideal collaborator and who else serves that reader I seek?”

“If you have a big list, that’s influence and power. That means that maybe you could work out deals with other influencers.”

“It’s about building those relationships and finding the right people and then building that – not trying to be with everybody, because you can’t.” (Ellen)

“Marketing is making friends and networking/collaboration is about making friends … but how many people can you possibly build lifelong partnerships with? You can leverage technology to expand your network, but there’s only room for so close relationships.”

“I don’t have a team. I have robots. I turn my workflows into things that I can articulate to a computer and pay fractions of a penny on the hour to automate.”

Key Takeaways

• Jess’s career sweet spot is at the intersection of collaboration, workflow, creativity, words and marketing.
• Where to start, why and how: In Jess’s experience cross-promotions (like staging a Zoom summit) are a great starting place in particular for entrepreneurs who don’t have a lead magnet (i.e. a book) ready to go, but are still trying to build a persona.
• Leverage whatever your content by repurposing it for use in other media – from livestream to webinar to e-book to social media captions.
• Word to the Wise #1: Think about the why (and outcomes) instead of vanity metrics that don’t result in revenue.
• Word to the Wise #2: You have to constantly cultivate your lists to remain relevant and attractive as a partner who has something to bring to joint ventures.
• Word to the Wise #3: Market saturation has made marketing penetration ever more challenging. Hook your viewer or listener in 1.5 seconds or they’re on to something else.
• Word to the Wise #4: Because of the competition, giveaways aren’t what they used to be and don’t necessarily net that many new customers.
• Jess Observes a Paradox: The need to constantly widen your circle of “collab buddies” while maintaining a baseline of high-quality, sticky subscribers.
• Word to the Wise #5: Freebies can be a great point of access to the next level of engagement – over time and through evolving relationships!
• Word to the Wise #6: Having a list to exchange is a great asset, but don’t underestimate the value of other offerings – like introductions or expertise.
• Word to the Wise #7: Consider automating emails of introduction to speed up the process and foster as many connections as possible within your network.
• Word to the Wise #8: There’s room for only so many close relationships, and it’s important to have some business connections in your top 150 relationships.
• Jess’s Two-Pronged Approach to Building Relationships with People in Publishing:
  • Offering no-code marketing and automation services that authors might not have on the radar.
  • Building connections with connectors – other podcasters, prospects, influencers who promoting authors.
• All about How Jess Deploys Automation:
  • #1: Use it as a vehicle to marshal website traffic,
  • #2: Create an opt-in to collect emails, point it to a welcome page sequence.
  • #3: There are great tools to personalize email!
  • #4: Build out scheduling tools.
• Among the things automation can do at low cost:
  • Increase collaborations.
  • Increase reach and visibility.
  • Smooth onboarding.
  • Speed invoicing.
  • Link to/pull in important data about revenue, expenses, target audience.
• Word to the Wise #9: Tools and automation can be transformational, but they aren’t in everyone’s zone of genius. If your time is better spent cultivating clients or content, consider automating what you can and outsourcing the rest!

About Ellen

Ellen is a multiple #1 bestselling author, 3X award-winning book and business coach, including being named one of the Top 20 Book Coaches of 2022 by Coach Foundation, host of The Books Open Doors® Podcast, CEO of Create a Splash/Books Open Doors® Author Services and Grammy-nominated songwriter.

Follow Ellen and Books Open Doors®:

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