Julie Broad recommends seven tools for authors to build a business around their books: ConvertKit for email, Thinkific for courses, KDP Rocket and KDP Spy for Amazon research, Draft2Digital for distribution, Rev.com for transcription, and Findaway Voices for audiobooks. She argues authors must keep promoting or risk being forgotten, using Dr. Seuss's estate as an example.
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Lots of people have been asking what kind of resources we recommend to Book Launchers clients to help them build their author business. So today I'm going to share seven resources we recommend for your author business and why. Hey there, I'm Julie the Book Broad award winning author and founder of Book Launchers, a professional self publishing team that will help you write, publish and promote a business building non fictional book. Before I just dive into these resources, two things. One, I've linked to them below in the description and some of the links are affiliate links, so we may get some sort of kickback if you buy through the link. Obviously that's not why I'm doing this. We'd much rather have you work with us as a client to write, publish and sell your book than make five bucks if you use one of these things below. If you do want to know more about working with Book Launchers, this is the link to use. 2 A little context for these resources because most of them aren't directly related to creating a book at the end of 2018, Audrey Gazelle, the widow of Dr. Seuss and and the keeper of his estate, passed away. The New York Times posted a fascinating article on all that she did with his estate since he passed in 1991. Her drive to keep the memory of Dr. Seuss's work alive means that 25 years after he died, many expectant mothers are still getting gifts like this. This is one I got when I was pregnant. And we have some fantastic movies like Orton Hears a who and Dr. Seuss's Grinch who stole Christmas. So that's thanks to her. In the article, she was quoted as having said, if we're not out there, if we don't keep up, the reminders and remembrances of you fall off. And as long as I'm here, that isn't going to happen. She understood that your book can be the centerpiece of what you sell, but it isn't the only product to be sold. And if you stop creating, marketing, and getting in front of as many people as you can, eventually your work won't matter anymore. People will forget about it. So these seven resources are going to help you not with writing your book, but building your brand and business around the book. Because at Book Launchers, we give as much support and guidance to our authors as we can to do that. And that's what these resources are for. Number one, ConvertKit. It's the single most important thing every author needs to do. Build your author platform. I have at least six different videos on this channel about that because that will help you sell books, services, products, land speaking gigs, media opportunities, podcast interviews the foundation of a good platform is your newsletter list, and ConvertKit was built by an author to easily set up and build your newsletter list. So if you don't already have a great way to collect emails and send regular emails, it's a Great Service. Number two think iFic. Building an online course around your book will increase your impact and income dramatically. And if you want a simple platform to build your course on with great support, this is the company to work with. They're Canadian too. We've partnered with them, so you'll be hearing a lot more about Thinkific from me in case you're interested. Number three KDP Rocket Amazon is moving to more of a Pay to Play model I'll be talking about this a lot more in the coming videos, so make sure you've subscribed to this channel. But KDP Rocket is probably the best way to produce the hundreds of keywords that you need for great Amazon ads, and they have a great free course to help you get started. Number four Draft to Digital Amazon Moving to a Pay to Play model means other platforms like Kobo and Apple Books become more appealing. Uploading your book and managing the metadata across multiple platforms is a giant pain in the butt. That's why we recommend Draft 2 Digital. We also like that it gets your book into overdrive, which is the library system. Number5rev.com if you need anything transcribed fast and accurately, this is the service we use. At $1 per minute you can get a human to transcribe your work or you can use their sister company Temi for and AI translation at 10 cents a minute. It's what we use to transcribe our YouTube and Facebook videos for captioning and recommend it to folks transcribing their presentations, voice notes and any other voice related content that might go into your book or other materials. Number six Find a Way Voices this is where we upload our clients audiobooks. They're also an aggregator like Draft 2 Digital, but there's so many cool and innovative things happening at Findaway Voices, I continue to get more and more excited about working with them in 2019. Now when you deliver your audiobook to Apple Books through Findaway Voices, you set your own list price and earn 45% of that list price for every sale. Previously you were earning 40% for exclusive audiobooks with no control on your list price and only 25% for non exclusive. They've also added storytelled distribution which is particularly exciting for anyone with an audience overseas, especially in Europe, because Storytell has a big unlimited listening platform for consumers, letting them enjoy as many audiobooks as they'd like for one monthly payment. And finally, KDP Spy. This is another software app we use to research book keywords, pricing and categories for our clients. KDP Rocket really excels in setting you up for Amazon ad success and combined with KDP Spy really sets you up for being an Amazon Category and Keyword master. Because over time you will have to update your keywords in your description and make sure you're staying in the right category. That's a lot to know and to use. And again, that's why book Launchers may be the perfect solution for you because we do so much of the work for for you and have strong relationships with many of these providers to help you connect and answer questions when you need help. Whatever you do, remember the words of Audrey Gazelle and find creative and value add ways to stay in front of your readers and clients now and in the future. Because when you stop making an effort, people will stop finding you. Now I'm curious. What are your favorite author resources for your author business? Comment below and smash that thumbs up button because it feels good. Really try it. You'll see. And then make sure you've subscribed to the channel below and turned on the notifications so you get notified when a new video comes out. Every Tuesday and Friday now. Yay. And everyone who comments the day a video is released will be entered to win some prizes. Because I love and appreciate my YouTube community, here's a couple of videos that you will surely enjoy. Go ahead, click on the one with the coolest looking thumbnail and I'll see you there.
