089 - 5 Publishing Truth Bombs!

Wow Guys! What a week it was last week!

So much happening in the world right now! It’s an amazing (and challenging) time to be here!

I’m Nicole Gabriel, the host of the show. And, I’m happy you joined me here today!

I’m on a roll with the truth bombs, now it’s time I let you know that most people really don’t care to hear them! The publishing industry is a funny world. People have this idea of fortune and fame the other side of a written book. But, the success, like in many fields, is in the hustle.

There’s a wonderful quote by Mark Twain that says:

“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled.

There is another quote that says:

“If you repeat a lie often enough it becomes truth.”

There is another that say:

“Silence is the best reply to a fool.”

But…when you run a podcast and write books this last one stands no chance! In fact, as a self-published author you can write and write until those pages turn into healing.

I began doing this podcast, and wrote my book for that matter, to expose the truth. My subtitle from the Let’s Get Your Book Published book is “A Practical approach to self-publishing, aligning with your purpose, releasing fear, maximizing time, and making a profit.” My podcast tells you I’m going to give you the truth about the publishing industry and all the tips and tricks the other guys don’t. Yet, there is another quote that says:

“Truth—The pill that everyone wants, but can’t seem to swallow”

It’s hard to accept the truth when the lies were exactly what you wanted to hear. The publishing industry is a crazy game. It’s not really all that easy to write a book. There is the emotional component. These are the personal hurdles you’ve overcome that propel your why. These are the nudges that urge you forward. These are the late night talks and memories and pains and dramas and traumas. These are the massive personal accomplishments and the meat behind the story you are trying to tell. These are your personal truths. What you have accomplished thus far in your life is the very foundation of your book project so obviously the outcome and how well-received it is is important to you. But, it’s my duty here to give you what I said I would…the truth!

So here’s the first truth bomb…

BOMB #1: If it doesn’t do something for the reader no one cares!

The reader is going to, at the very least, want to be entertained. But, depending on your subject, it is very likely they will also want to learn something that has a direct correlation into a profit center for the growth of their business, enhances personal interests, or strengthens body, mind, or spirit. In other words, what you write has to provide value to the reader.


BOMB #2: You have to pay for exposure and beg for sales!

This is the greatest truth I can give you. There is no speaking circuit. There is no marketing list. There is no fast path to fortune and fame. It’s highly unlikely that as a self-published author you will ever become a best-seller, unless of course you play games on Amazon…that is - you pick an obscure category and ask all your friends to buy a book. For that week you might hit the list. No one comes and finds you unless you’re out engaging with them. What you sell in books is what you go after in person.


BOMB #3: Distributors don’t pay you!

In order to get into all retailers you have to be in the Ingrams distribution network. Once you are, you will send books out to distributors, at your expense, and they will put forth minimal effort to sell your books. It costs them money to try to sell them, so if you don’t get a check for a sale they are likely re-couping the cost they expended to try to market your book. If you do get a check, they will take a cut. Do the math…you will quickly see little profit.


BOMB #4: You are being watched!

Tech and media giants are censoring - Microsoft has a new project called C2PA. It claims to be “a promising step forward on disinformation”.

Apparently, this system that can track content back to an author and an IP address - this means anything you put up online will have a monitor on authorship! Those involved - Microsoft, Adobe, Truepic (used on smart phones), and the mac-daddy…Intel processors!

Imagine writing your own book….your typing and all of a sudden you’re getting a pop-up that says you better stop writing that! Wow! Free speech is being attacked! And if you do finally get it written, then if you try to print digitally, you will also be censored. These digital print on demand systems were designed for convince but they also begin the censorship process.

My guess is that large printers will be targeted at some point. We’ve already seen the decline of bookstores. This isn’t generally because of preferences as many readers spend too much time online and prefer the offline look, feel, and touch of a printed book.

I’ll put the link in the blog to an article on this: https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2021/02/22/deepfakes-disinformation-c2pa-origin-cai/


BOMB #5: There are no shortcuts!

If you don’t know how to market your book before you begin you certainly won’t know after your done either. There is no special list you can buy to sell your book. There is no quick solution for mass quantity sales. There are not going to be thousands of people lined up buying your book or hanging on every last word of what you have to say. If you don’t have an audience you need to create one. The more you put yourself out there the more likely you are to create an audience. People have to know how you serve them before they invest in you. The book is just a few dollar profit for each one sold (if you are lucky). This is not your profit center no matter how you look at it. So, as I’ve said many times over…use the book to advertise the thing that earns you an income.


In Conclusion
Many people really get the whole process backward. They write the book thinking it will get them noticed. But, if you first get noticed then introduce the book you will likely be even more successful.

So many people come to me to design their book and once they have a front cover they want to begin doing pre-sales. But, this puts unnecessary pressure on the author to market and sell the book sometimes well before they are even finished writing it. It’s best to have a plan and have a finished book to implement that plan. In the beginning, no one actually knows whether you have written a book or not or even where it’s at in the process. But, I know personally, if I want to buy something I have an Amazon mindset of instant delivery. The only time a book should be sold before it’s completed is if the author needs the income from pre-sales to finish writing it. In my opinion, this is a common novice mistake.

An experienced author would always look at this and think, hmmm…they must not be overly successful if they are trying to sell it before it’s complete. So, get it done and have several on hand and write a marketing plan to implement with the book as a token. Use the book release to gain interest in all the other revenue-generating things you do. The book is just another tool to create awareness, to re-invigorate something you’re working on, or to launch a new project.

Everyone you are already doing business or know personally with will support you when it’s ready. But, begin thinking through the places where you can provide additional value and use the book to showcase how these wonderful fresh new value propositions can enhance your followers lives. Sell that or give that away first. The book is more the token or memento as a kind of introduction or parting gift for your audience to dig deeper into a particular subject. It should never be released with the idea it’s a money maker as a stand alone.

With all that said let’s do a bomb re-hash…

BOMB REHASH:

• BOMB #1: If it doesn’t do something for the reader no one cares!
• BOMB #2: You have to pay for exposure and beg for sales!
• BOMB #3: Distributors don’t pay you!
• BOMB #4: You are being watched!
• BOMB #5: There are no shortcuts!

I’d be happy to share more with you. I always offer a complimentary phone or zoom conversation if you’d like to learn more about writing and publishing your book. It’s really important we chat well before you begin writing. So many times I get called when the manuscript is already complete. But, I can help get you focused in the right direction before you invest too much time going in the wrong direction. It’s my goal to get you aligned with not just why you are writing a book, but also to get you focused on how to best utilize a book to earn the greatest reward from all the hard work and effort you put forth.

OK guys, check out my other podcasts episodes, my blog, my videos, and be sure to download a copy of the Let’s Get Your Book Published eBook and other cheat sheets from my website. Good luck pulling it all together and happy to assist you when you’re ready!

As always, wishing you peace, love, and light.