063 - Converting Your Book Into An Online Program

Quite some time back I knew I wanted to turn my next book into an online training program. Of course, I went to the leader in online training programs to learn how this is done…Amy Porterfield. I went through the class and learned how she recommends structuring the content and began writing my Let’s Get Your Book Published book accordingly.

So, the wonderful thing about writing the book in conjunction with building out the online training is that you begin to get uber clear on the kind of content you want to speak or teach on. And, of course, you never run out of content!

Hey guys, Nicole Gabriel here!

Let's talk about what it takes to turn your book into your online training program. And honestly, I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to create this podcast! After all, this is what runs in the back end of all of my communication—website, podcasts, and all training material.

First, let me tell you what I have created so you have a better understanding before we begin.

I started with the one thing that I know best and have been doing in my career for the last decade—book publishing—and identified all the functional components. I also identified all the things people wanted to know about the book writing process…and the things that hold them back from moving forward.

I then identified my target audience. In all reality you can be your target audience—at least to begin with. What challenges have you had in your growth process to getting where you are in your career or life? How are you an expert? Where did you struggle. What inspires you to do the thing you do…in other words, if you were talking to yourself in a marketing campaign, how would you grab your own attention? This will help you speak to your target audience. In fact, I like to imagine in every communication that I’m speaking to myself.

Ok, so now that I had identified all my functional components I began to flush out the topics and details into a few main content or process buckets. The book publishing process is pretty straight-forward. Each book has a unique energy of it’s own, but there are a pretty logical series of events that need to happen in a particular order. So I looked at the process from concept to marketing. I identified the following as key components or buckets that would house the content. These buckets became modules in my training program and they are:

• The Publishing Industry
• What Is A Book—Really?
• Defining Your Purpose
• Organizing the Book Structure
• The Publishing Process
• The Manuscript and Editing Process
• Cover Design
• Interior Layout
• Printing and Production Costs
• Marketing and Sales

Most everything about the book publishing process can get placed into each of these categories and expanded. I wanted to begin by identifying a foundation or platform about my approach…explaining the publishing industry, the functional aspects, and how I believe a book can serve each author. By laying this groundwork I then walk trough the phases of book publishing with these foundational pieces in mind. Then, once we’ve walked through the functional pieces, we move into the marketing and sales processes with more clarity.  

I found that not many authors write with an understanding of their “why”…the reason they wrote the book in the first place. In fact, most don’t even think about this and just have a story to tell.

I did a podcast a few episodes back on the authorprenuer…you can listen to that one to begin thinking about this in more detail. But, the fact is that it isn’t until most authors have already written and published their book where they begin to understand why knowing the why is so important. Coming up with the content is tricky enough and most authors are proud of simply having enough cohesive content to bind it into a book. Most don’t think about strategy. I know I sure didn’t with my first three books!

When you think about writing the content for your book so that it is leveragable for an online training program the voice and content shift to become a bit more relatable rather than “memoire-ish” experiential author stories told. If you start thinking in terms of the environment in which you will be communicating, teaching, speaking, or training then you write with more action-oriented engaging material as the end result.

When you are positioning content to be teachable material you might want to organize it in functional components, systematic processes, or in a timeline or step-by-step way. You want to define the audience you will speak to, teach, or train and give them relatable and valuable content and easy-to-follow instruction.

When the book steps outside of self-serving and into providing value to the reader (whether in the form of a story or self-help) then you’ve reached a new milestone. Readers want to know their investment of time returns something worthwhile and the way you write and the content you share builds a platform for how you communicate in all other environments….or whatever environment you are already active in might transfer over to a book.

Whether you are a coach, a consultant, a doctor, a healer, a blogger or podcaster, you run workshops and retreats, you are a public speaker, or transformational leader…writing a book allows you to share your life purpose and leave a legacy. But, turning it into an online training program allows readers a deeper, richer, and more integrated experience into the world you have created. And really, the content is quite circular. You are repeating your message congruently throughout all your material. Both a book and an online training program allow you to hone in on one specialty that further defines you as an expert in your field. So, what is that one thing you want to become an expert of?

As you further blow out concepts, begin to build an outline. Come up with 10-15 high-level concepts. Once you have idefined these concepts I want you to take them into sub-categories. Next I want you to identify what goes in the book (the higher-level concepts) and what gets blown out further in the online training program. You don’t want to give everything away in the book. But, think of it like this…what awesome material can I give away for free that blows my readers away and what can I take into an online training program that is either an extrapolation of that topic or another key component you only gift to those who make the investment. You have to reward those that sign up, but also keep in mind that once things go digital they may get shared. So, then, what can I take to group or one-on-one calls that’s little bit harder to be shared.

You know, in my case, I don’t give out vendor information with my readers or listeners until they invested in my coaching or publishing programs. Otherwise, not only will they go direct, but they will go to these points of contact and take up their valuable time without being properly trained in how to engage with them. I need my points of contact available to work with me, so I keep them under lock and key. But, I might share what can easily be found on the internet, like how to sell a book on amazon.

So, once you have your core topics, have broken them down into more detail, and identified what goes in the book and what does into the supplemental downloads or the online program, then it’s time to start flushing out the details.

An experiential book is far different than a teaching book. When you have written your book with the idea that it is a working and functional tool to run as a kind of satellite of your business it will begin to become far clearer that is no longer just a book you are writing.

What I love about Amy Porterfield’s online training content is that she has you identify your audience and your values and how those intermingle in your marketing message and content. But, when it comes to knocking out specific content it’s hard to give a general guideline that is a one size fits all approach.

When writing a book you not only have to get clear on all this but you have to generate enough content to create a book…some fifty thousand words or more! It sounds cumbersome I know, but when you are clear on your topic and who you are speaking to, generating copy is far easier.

So, how would you generate content for your online training program? What is your teaching style? As you write your content imagine the perfect environment where you will teach and how you will relate to your audience. Identify if you are able to teach in stages and what those are. Is it easier to teach in some kind of chronological order? Or perhaps there is a process approach. Can you build out a timeline or project plan for students to follow along with? What would serve best as an instructional video or better as a download?

So the great thing about turning your book into a new communication tool like an online training program is that now it leaps off the pages and you get to create a brand, a statement, a message, and an interpersonal relationship with the readers that bought and liked your book. You already know they like you when they are engaged, so now you get to become friends. It’s really an exciting opportunity to take your book to the next level!

We’ll keep on this topic in later episodes. I’d like to talk to you a bit more about how to structure, price, build, and market your online training program around your book.

As a super exciting bonus…because you listened to this podcast I want to offer you a gift. My online training program has been priced at $2495 since I introduced it, but because of the current times I’d like to offer you the very same online program with a whopping price reduction! I’ve discounted the price down…are you ready? Down to $495! What?

There are more than 600 pages of downloads, a free copy of the Lets Get Your Book Published ebook, guided instructions grouped into 3 core phases and 13 core modules with gobs of downloads and extras! There are so many enhancements to come and don’t worry, I’m always assessable via zoom for a conference call at any point in the program. So, it’s not like you gain access and I go away. I’m only as successful as you are, so I’m here to hold your hand through the entire process.

Go on over to the store on the website at LetsGetYourBookPublished.com and you’ll also get all of my disclosed pricing. I do book layout, design, coaching, eBook conversion, and can even get you a New York publishing imprint through a small New York Publishing company I created. I’ll guide you on the process to match you with the right editor and printer. I’ve been doing this for well over a decade now and I’m the author of four books of my own. I’ve also spent the first decade of my career working for all the top ad agencies and big automotive companies. I truly get how this all works on every level. I can promise you that I will give you the truth about every step of the book publishing process.

OK guys…a long episode today, but as always…I’m wishing you peace, love, and light!