In this episode, I share my experience from my second 5 Day Bestseller Breakthrough Challenge and eleven BIG takeaways from the event that I have discovered working with hundreds of authors since 2004.
Resources mentioned
5 Day Bestseller Breakthrough Challenge
Masterclass: The 7 Biggest Mistakes Authors Make Writing a Book and How to Avoid Them
Access code: !U6.kUef
3 Key Points
Clarity is key.
Know your audience and solve their problem.
Having a writing system is essential.
Transcript
Hi, and welcome to Books Open Doors Insights #20,
I’ve been doing the 5 Day Bestseller Breakthrough Challenge. And I wanted to talk about some of the takeaways from it. But first I wanted to share some of my thoughts about the process, and also to apologize, because I said last week that I was going to be coming in all week and sharing with you guys, but it turned out to be just too much on my plate. So I only got two of them done, so I apologize for that. The truth is that I thought it would be more dialed in this time than it was and I had some communication issues with staff and ended up doing more of the work myself than I had planned to do, but you have to do what you have to do in these situations, so I hope you’ll understand. The first time I did it, it was in January of this year. And we did a lot of setting up in campaign builder in infusion soft. And so I thought we’re ready to go.
([00:51]): but all of a sudden I realized like we didn’t even have the sales setup done and a few other things. So that was an issue, and we wanted to add handouts and more graphics and make them nicer.. So I found out there’s still a lot to do, and it takes, a couple or maybe even three or four times before it’s really dialed in. And I really should have known that because I’ve been doing my Write Your Bestseller in 7 Days Bootcamp since 2004, this is actually the 32nd time that I’m doing it. So I know that it took a while before I dialed it in the first time when I started it many years ago.
([01:43] ): So, next time I will have the podcasts planned out in advance so I don’t have to drop the ball on the podcast. – it will be all figured out in advance.
The next thing I want to talk about is the challenge itself.
So, I was very happy that it went over really well. People were excited about it. One of my colleagues and friends, Pearlette Cassells said it was absolutely amazing. Betsy Hall said “Great job”!
And on Day 5’s Q and a, they were just saying how amazing my energy was and they really loved it and this was so gratifying because I was terrified of doing it live.
In January, I had actually recorded it. It was so much more fun to do it live and get that feedback in real-time.
[2:34] So, there were a lot of great takeaways and that’s really what I want to talk about today.
I forget how impactful this information can be because it’s second nature to me and I’ve been doing it for so long, but it’s always fascinating to see what are the things that resonate with other people.
[2:49] So, the first one was “Know your audience and solve their problem.”
Yeah. That’s what I ‘ve been saying; you have to know who they are, and then you have to give them what it is that they are looking for.
Another one was “the experience creates the value”. I was talking about how my mentor has a $140,000 program, and it’s really pretty much the same content. It’s just that the experience is different. And it’s so funny because I was talking to another colleague of mine the other day, and she was saying the same thing. She happens to live in Hawaii and so she was talking about creating a hundred-thousand dollars experience for high-end clients. So, that’s what that takeaway was referring to. You can go as big as you want, it’s just that you have to provide an experience.
[3:46] And then let’s see, “reasons for not always looking for the least expensive option”. So, what that had to do with was I was talking about, when you go into different programs and you try to take the least expensive option or in publishing a book because I see so many times that authors want to get an editor on the cheap so they’ll say they are looking for “an affordable” editor.
But it’s really important to spend the money on the editor, spend the money on formatting, spend the money on your cover because those are the things that make your book stand out and make people want to take the next step, look inside and buy your book.
And the other thing I was going to say about that is that the cheapest offer, can actually end up costing you way more money; it can end up being way more expensive. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people come to me and they’d been to an editor. They’ve spent all this money and it’s terrible. And then we have to redo it. Or, they’ve spent a lot of money on a cover and it’s terrible, or they try to format the book themselves, and then we have to strip it and redo it, and that runs up the cost, so that’s not good. And the other thing is it just doesn’t look good usually.
[5:02]: So, you’re spending all this time writing your book and it’s your baby. And then they get to the end and they don’t want to spend the money on it. So, that’s what I was saying is don’t look for the least expensive options, look for the best people you can get. And then, of course, if you’re one of those people who likes everything done right the first time and you don’t want to mess with it, you just want it done and you want it done right, that’s what we do. So, I’ve been able to find really great people and put it into a package. And that’s why we’re able to do what we do the way we do it.
So, another takeaway was work with people you have an affinity for, in other words, it’s very difficult to write marketing copy if you don’t connect with your audience, if you don’t understand your audience, if you don’t have something in common with your audience. So, that was what I was talking about. There is having affinity-it’s working with people that you connect with.
So, for instance, I don’t connect very well with corporate types. As a matter of fact, one of the people in the challenge called me quirky. And it really stunned me only because I had another client call me quirky. And so I was like, “Well, what does quirky mean?” She said, “Well, that means you’re artistic and you’re not corporate. And I said, “Oh yeah, yeah, well then I’m quirkly, because I’ve never been corporate.” And so, those are not the people that I relate to unless they’ve left corporate, and then it’s a different ball game.
[6:33] We also talked about how you can have your books transcribed. I use rev.com. They were also suggesting otter.ai. I have used that as well, but one time I did a comparison where I had the same transcript transcribed by both of them and Rev did a better job, but it was brought to my attention that if you do a lot of transcribing, then Otter is a really good option because it’s like 10 bucks a month. and then you can have as much as done as you want-that’s what they said. I’m not sure that’s exactly true, but it’s a lot of minutes per month. as opposed to rev which charges per item.
[7:14] We also talked about categories and keywords and that was on Day 4 four. And one of the takeaways was finding out about a keyword analyzer, which I use all the time for my books and for my clients’ books and that’s Word tracker.
[7:31] Another takeaway was doing the research on your market before you sell your book. I preach this all the time; it’s part of my core message. Always do the research before you even write your book because your marketing starts the minute you decide that you’re going to write a book.
[7:50] And then I love this one…” cook a turkey until it’s done”. So, you don’t keep cooking it once its done but that’s what many authors do with their books. When they should be done, they keep writing and rewriting and they don’t put it out. I even had one author come to me who was writing his 5th book but had not published the first four! And when I asked him why not, he said, “I don’t know.”
Anyway, I hope that you’re finding these useful. And what else did we have?
[8:24] We had “deliver on the promise”. Whatever you promise in your title is what you need to deliver in your book.
People will ask me ,”How many pages should that be?” And I tell them, “However many pages, you need to get it written and have it deliver on the promise.”So, I have a book, Turn Your Book into 10K clients is only 30 pages, but it’s based on clients who will pay you $10,000 each.
[8:53] Another one was “clarity is key”. It’s easy to write the book once you’re clear about what you’re writing, who you’re writing it for what their problem is and how you have a solution that will work for them.
Also, having a process is essential. One participant said that I make it seem so manageable because it is manageable when you have a process, a system, and having that is what I’m all about. And that’s what I’ve been teaching all my clients, all my students since 2004; It’s really my process for writing books that you will not find anywhere else.
So, I hope you find some of this enlightening and helpful.
These are just some of the takeaways from the week.
[9:33] One other comment about the challenge itself. My Grand-prize winner from the last time went through it again (to write a different book) and she said that it was 2000% better than the first one. So, here’s the deal…I just want to be completely transparent, on the first one, , they had just changed from units to guides and I didn’t know that so I couldn’t find the updated information on how to organize the materials once I presented them. so people were having to scroll through all the posts and were having trouble finding what they needed.
It was very disorganized, but you know what? I still made money. So I just want to say that, you know, your first is always your worst, so you have to just allow it to be messy. And that was my first challenge ever. fAnd or us perfectionists, that is like a really hard thing to do. I get it, but that’s what you have to do. And yeah, it can be very nerve-wracking. So, that’s all I have to say about that.
[10:33] But, if you’re finding value in this and you want to learn more, I want to invite you to go through the 5 Day Bestseller Breakthrough Challenge.
It’s still up until Tuesday, August 10th at 11 a.m. PDT/ 2 pm eastern
And you’ll get all the details on how to get it at
https://bestsellerbreakthrough.com
You’ll also get access to the masterclass I presented after the challenge on The 7 Biggest Mistakes Authors Make Writing a Book and How to Avoid Them.
Access code: !U6.kUef
And I think you’ll find this useful whether you’re a new author or you’ve already published books. I think there’s something there for everybody that they can improve.
So, that’s it for now until next time…
Bye-bye.
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