From Invisible to Influential: Dale L. Roberts Unleashes Author Networking Hacks

All right, we're live. Hello and welcome to our special live stream today with our special guest, Dale Roberts. He is here launching another book, which for some people, if you know Dale, it's not that big of a deal because he's written, I don't know, 70 books.

That's actually accurate.

So, you know, it's just another day when you launch a book when it's one of 70. But I am personally very excited about this book because if you've been watching book Launchers TV for very long, you know that whenever I need to meet somebody, my first call is Dale because he always knows everybody. And so if I call Dale and I go, hey, do you happen to know the guy that runs this company? He goes, oh yeah, I just had a call with him last week. Let me introduce you. It is, it's very accurate. We've had this conversation I don't know how many times, but it's been a lot more than once, I can tell you that. So anyways, so it's fantastic that you put out a book Networking for authors, which is what we're talking about today. But before I go too far, Dale, why don't you take a moment and just introduce yourself to those who have not yet had the privilege of meeting you.

Ian, it's so funny that I swear, like our channels almost just has so much crossover, but I sometimes take for granted that there are probably some people who've never seen or heard of me before. But I am Dale L. Roberts. As you shared before, I have been in the self publishing industry for the past decade now. I left my full time job as an activities director to pursue my life as an author. Little did I know that I would be on YouTube and growing this massive following, sharing what I've learned in the process and it's just been fantastic. But yeah, she's not exaggerating. 70 titles in the last decade now, quite a bit of them were done in the first years. I've slowed down a bit. Although now, yeah, it's, it's a monthly basis again. For some reason I decided, you know, let's just jump back on that hamster wheel. Let's pump out some of these books. But I had started working on these books that right now the series is coming out. I started in late 2021, so a lot of people are like, oh, he probably had AI right? And I'm like, no, talk to my editor, she'll tell you it's definitely not AI written. It's sounds just like me. And I can't Get AI to duplicate how I sound and all the mistakes that I make. But yeah, I kept stockpiling them and stockpiling them and stockpiling them. And then finally in 2023, I was like, I gotta get these off of my hard drive and get them out into the world because it's doing absolutely no one any good by staying over on my computer.

I wish, I wish more authors would realize that, that the book that's either up here or on their computer is not helping anyone. It's not helping them and it's not helping the readers that could really use a book like this. And speaking of that, I'm going to drop your link here so people can start checking out your latest book, which is 4 of 12. So it says book 4 of 4, which I was asking him before we went live, confirming that this was not book 4 of 4. It is book 4 of a series of 12 books that are coming out, which I think is a great place for us to start. Before we talk about this particular book, tell us about the whole series. What, what, what is, what are we going to get if we grab all 12 books in this series?

You are going to be literally getting everything that is in my brain from a decade of experience. Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot. I've removed some of the things like pro wrestling and heavy metal music, but everything that I've learned over the past decade is it's just been kind of boiled down to this. And some of them are quite a few of them are going to resonate with a lot of people out there that are wanting to write in self publisher books. Whereas there are some. For instance, the next book in this series is how to Write a Nonfiction book in 24 hours. Perfect for the folks that tune into book launchers. By the way. That's actually going to be launching next month. So that's probably not going to resonate with fiction authors out there. However, the systems and processes that are put in place place on that book might help out some folks in the fiction world. But yeah, it's just a case of rather than me having to record and produce the next video time and time and time again I was like, let me put together like the omnibus of everything that I know in this business because there is actually a little bit of an exit strategy I haven't shared with you, Julie, and this is probably going to be a first for everybody here, is that I wanted to kind of have it to where I had everything that I know put it out into the World in book form. That way I could finally pursue my passion for writing fiction books. I've wrote a lot of nonfiction books. You can wake me up out of a dead sleep, I'll write a nonfiction book for you. It's something that's just second nature for me. But fiction is truly where my heart has been leading me since I was like a boy. I literally dreamt of growing up to become like the next Stephen King. And here we are. I'm just, I said finally, I'm like, let's just do it. Everything that we need to do, get it all done all at once. Come July 2025, I'm going to do a Kickstarter campaign for the omnibus of the entire collection to go out there. It's going to be a special collector's edition and everything else. But as soon as July 2025 comes along, I'm done with nonfiction books for, for a little bit.

Oh, that's epic. Are you already started on the fiction or is this nonfiction right now?

Yeah, I, I, well, it's, it's a little bit of dabbling on the fiction because I do have to have blinders on. As you know, writing a non fiction book is, it's, it's very involved, it's very taxing. And it's not so much work like right now, because, I mean, I've already done all of the rough drafts and got all the writing complete. But as you know, you got to go in, get all the editing, proofreading, beta, get it out for arc readers, things like that. It consumes your time and then add on to it. This is something a lot of people don't realize, and I think something that a lot of viewers and subscribers of book launchers need to understand that, sure, Julie's got a team that helps her out with her publications, but it's still a lot of work. Even when you're working with a team, like when you're trying to put out a book, it's not just something as simple as you just publish and pray for the best. You're out there and you're doing, you're getting in the reps. You're going and hitting a lot of local media. You're doing podcasts, you're doing YouTube channels, you're doing guest blog posts. You're doing a lot there. So I wish I could spend more time on fiction. Usually it's whenever I kind of hit that wall for non fiction where I'm just like, okay, eff it, I've had enough. I'm just gonna Go ahead. And I'm gonna sit down and do some fiction. So there's been a couple nights that I sit down and I'll just plop out, like, a page or two of content. Now, don't tell my editor this, because she's probably like, oh, you have been working on some fiction. I have. It's a little bit. It pales in comparison to what I've been working on with the nonfiction work.

Fantastic. That's exciting. And so, I mean, you're just about to cross 100,000 subscribers on your channel. You're just, like, sitting there waiting for that play button, because any day now, that play button is yours. So is that going to change what you do on your channel at all? Is it going to start shifting towards fiction content? Is. Is your channel gonna stay alive? Are you gonna get a spokesperson like Dave Chesson did?

No, no, no spokesperson for me. I think with a channel name of Dale L. Roberts on it, it's. It's gonna be forever saddled on me. No, I. I plan on to continue sharing a lot more about the industry insights and intel that I get here on a regular basis. Basis that I can share with fiction or nonfiction authors. I imagine, though, that since I'll be a little bit deeper in the space of fiction writing, that I'll probably start to share some of the insights that I pick up in the process, because there's so much exciting stuff that you can learn in fiction writing. It's so cathartic. For me, I. Nonfiction is cathartic, yes, but there's something different. There's like a different itch that you scratch when you're writing fiction. But, no, it's going to be the same channel. I don't plan on changing my orange shirt. Yes, this is the same one orange shirt that I've been wearing for all these years. No, totally kidding. If you guys. You should see my closet, by the way. I've got an entire rack of orange shirts. It's ridiculous. I just go in, grab one off the rack, throw it on, and I get on camera.

It's a perfect thing because I just put out a video on author branding, and I was showing all the ways that people use color in their brands. And I should have used you. I didn't even think of it. I was showing the COVID and how there's orange in the COVID which is a great example for what you do with your books, too. So, speaking of which. So I want to say hi to some of the people who are here. Some names that you'll absolutely know. And then I want you to tell us about this new book and give us some tips from it. So, of course, Self Pub with Andy is here. Darla Mondragon is here. Kevin hall, we've got Ms. Blogger, we've got Rusty Knox, who says Dale knows his stuff. Listen to him, Rusty. And then KJ Is here. And of course, Efren is here. And Efren is also working on some fiction. And having written his Giant the Opposite Is True nonfiction book, he's now shifted over to fiction writing as well. So he's probably happy to hear he's got some camaraderie there with you.

Two peas in the pod.

That's right. And then Richard Rugen. I'm gonna butcher it. We'll just call you Richard. Richard R. Says hello, everyone. Emily Romero's here as well. Susan Montgomery and David Briscoe from the uk David. Yeah. And he's looking forward to reading some of your fiction. So you're going to have an audience for your fiction books, which is always nice to know that you're going to have people ready to read that book. But before you guys get too excited about that, let's talk about networking for authors. Now, first, before. Before I get into exactly what's in the book, and this might even be there. But why do authors need to network?

It's. I was, I had a conversation with, I believe, you know, SD Houston. Shannon's just a sweetheart. She's got a great YouTube chann, and she's a close friend of mine. And it was probably a handful of months ago, she was like, I don't know about that title, Dale. It's. I see nothing appealing about this whatsoever. And I totally get it, because as soon as you say networking, especially to an introverted author, extroverts, they're probably like, I'm in. Let's do it. But introverts are like, that sounds like I gotta talk to people. And you'd be right. And I, I was trying to put a little bit of, as I usually try to say, I. I try to put a little bit of cheese on the broccoli. You know, there are some people out there that won't eat broccoli unless it's got a little bit of cheese smothered over top of it. But this time around, I just didn't want to disguise what exactly this was all about and what networking has brought to my business, not only as an author, but as a video creator and online business owner. Like, networking is. Is absolutely huge. And a lot of times and a Lot of the authors, I mean, I've met thousands of authors now in the past decade. It's just crazy the number of authors and a vast majority of them kind of function as an island in themselves. And, and that is a great disservice to not only you and your brand, but also your readership by just trying to go it alone. And so if I were to smother cheese on the broccoli, I think the different title would be how to Sell More Books by Being Friends with People. It literally is, it's, you know, and I mean, I think here's a great case in point. I mean, how many years ago have did we meet? I mean, gosh, it's been six, seven maybe. I've been following you for longer. I sound like a complete creepzoid. I know when I said that that, that probably didn't sound right, but you know, Julie and I have been fantastic friends and we both have grown our businesses by sharing people within our network. The people that we know like and trust, the people that can bring value to not only our business, but also other friends within our network. So that is the big thing about networking is just understanding that it's about building relationships and fostering those relationships, nurturing those relationships and being of service to those folks that are within your network. So that way everybody grows. And I, I always kind of use this whole analogy of the rising tide raises all boats, but it is true, so long as you've got your boat in the right harbor. Because if you got your boat over in a harbor where there's no other boats, there's not going to be a rising diet at all. You need to get yourself over into those other ones. And it seems very nerve wracking at first to put yourself out there, to become vulnerable, to break the ice with somebody you don't even know. And I, I totally get it, but boy, does it pay off in dividends. It is just so fantastic. Great example. Oh my gosh. Your guest, I think it was, might have been the month before last, or maybe it was last month. It was Jason Jones. I introduced you to Jason Jones from Jones Literary and I met Jason a while ago as well. Fantastic guy, but he knows his stuff when it comes to book publicity. He's been in the business for nearly two decades working with athletes, celebrities and the like. And I just remember, I was like, hey, hang on a second. I was like, have you met Julie Broad yet? I'm like, you absolutely need to meet her because here's why. And that right there didn't help me directly at the point that point, it helped you too. But the beauty of helping you two helps me because it grows everybody's network together. I mean, you have the pooled resources of your company and book launchers and the people that you know. And then we have Jason Jones's pool of, you know, people that he knows and all the contacts that he have. And so when we pool all these things together, we're working together as one. We're able to grow our businesses and our reach and able to sell a lot more books and reach a lot more readers. And that's ultimately what we're shooting for. And I know there's some people out there that just do this business because they have a passion for the craft. And I appreciate that. If you're a hobbyist, please don't ever think that I'm hating on you. I think that that's so awesome that all you care about is putting words on a paper and putting it out into the world. But there are some people out there that really do want to reach readers. They want to be in more readers hands. They want to positively impact someone's life. And that's what this is all about, is how do we work together and grow. Now, keep in mind, there's a lot more of a blueprint, a step by step, practical, you know, guidance when you're reading Networking for Authors, my book. But that at least gives you a broad overview of what you can expect in this book.

Book, yeah, for sure. And I love that example too. And Efren said karma is real. So. And I feel like that all the time when I help somebody. I feel like doesn't matter if I'm getting something from this because it actually feels good when you help somebody. And in the end, I think it does all come back. Which is I think why you've had so much success growing your channel and with your books and so many things is because you do give so, so willingly and support other people. And I think that that comes back in turn and, and I'll be staring longingly at your play button because now my son having a kid makes you want to play button. Just so you know, I didn't really care about the play button when I started my channel, but now my, my, my son is like, well, mom, you know, at this pace, by the time you get your play button, my channel will probably already have a play button.

Oh, no you don't.

He doesn't even have a channel yet. He doesn't even have a channel. But he is confident that he is going to grow his channel to get a play button way faster than his mom is growing her channel.

I hope he does. I, I hope he does. Yeah, it's, you know, success in the household is definitely success either way. But yeah, it's. And, and that's. By the way, that's a good call to action here, folks. Julie's not going to say it, but if you aren't subscribed already, subscribe to Book Launchers. And I'm going to say this and hopefully I won't embarrass you by saying this, but when I broke into the business in April 2016, there was this channel, this book launcher's channel and I studied all of the videos. It wasn't very many, but I studied.

There was five then. That's it.

Yep. And you know, the funny thing is I, I studied it and I wanted to be just like you so much to extent. When you started doing green screen backgrounds. When I launched my channel, I was like, I'm doing green screen backgrounds. That's it, I'm gonna do it. Now you fast forward to now. Don't even put a green screen behind me. I, I just can't even stand. It's a lot of work, isn't it?

Yeah. And it never looks quite right. It' a little off, which irritates me.

A little bit off. Yeah, for sure. I, I always used. I just loved your channel. So folks, make sure you subscribe to Book Launchers and share it with other people too as well. You don't even have to be a non fiction author to be subscribed to this channel. Fiction authors will pull a lot of information from this and I continue to binge any of the videos that come out on a regular basis because your videos are top notch, high level, very high value productions. That's, it's impressive. It makes me work even harder over here. I'm like up to like three in the morning. I'm like, maybe I'll be just as good as Julie.

I'll, I'll take that clip for my son, my 7 year old. He's like, you know, he's making a cameo on a video coming up. So he, he really, he really is like, he loves YouTube. He loves everything about it. He loves, he, he just loves supporting other people's channels. Should I subscribe to that one, Mom? Of course. He's subscribing using his dad's YouTube. But I'm like, yeah, go ahead. So my husband's his, his YouTube channel is full of lego building. You know, Minecraft tips, you know, all of those things. But anyways, back, back to networking. So one thing, because you're right, you know, I want to go back to kind of what you started with, which was, you know, a lot of authors write a book and want to hide behind their keyboard and sell their book. And, and, and I want to kind of say two things. Like, one is I am an extreme introvert. I know it doesn't seem like it, but, you know, I don't, you know, it's one of those things where I, I would much rather hide in a cave, a quiet cave, quite, quite for quite some time. I would be very happy in that cave, all alone, doing my own things. But that's just not how life works. But I can also tell you, getting out of that cave and finding other people, even if you find other introverts, can be so fulfilling and, and open doors that you didn't even know were doors that could be opened for you. And so if somebody is kind of venturing out and I'm just going to take a tangent because I just saw a comment about somebody, Nate said he's going to pick up the, he's picked up your book and he's going to read it before he lands in Vegas for Author Nation. So, yeah, and speaking of a great event, which, you know, I think everybody here should tell Dale to come because right now he's not committed to coming to this event. And so everyone here, and if you're watching the replay, you can post it in the comments as well, tell Dale why he needs to be here. But to me, I think if you, if you are not somebody who has done any networking before, well, Author Nation can be overwhelming. There's a lot of people. It's also a lot of kindred spirits. And so you can come and show up and find a couple of other people and hang out with them and make friends and slowly start your networking and pace it out because you don't want to try to do all the. If you really are an introvert and you haven't done any networking before this, and it may not be the thing for you, but on the other hand, it's a room full of authors where I got to tell you, a lot of them are going to get what you're feeling. So they're going to know and they're going to be willing to talk to you and start to make friends and introduce you and kind of guide you through it. So, so Author Nation could be one of those things. But if, besides that, what would you recommend to somebody when they're, they haven't done any networking, how do they start?

I would say probably go with the path of least resistance. There are a ton of online virtual conferences that you can probably attend first. That'll kind of remove a little bit of that anxiety that you would normally have. There are some that will have like zoom sessions where people will network with each other and other times they'll have zoom sessions where you're just kind of listening to a speaker. You can shut off your mic, you can shut off your video. That's at least the first step in the right direction and start to engage with people. Here's a great example. Right now as we're live streaming, there are live viewers that are commenting right now and hopefully these live viewers are noticing other people that are commenting. This is another way that you can kind of break the ice with somebody. In fact, let me go ahead and I'll make an introduction here with you guys right now. Nate Gillick is actually the marketing director over at Later Press. Great, fantastic website that you can get 100% royalty of your ebooks and such. Nate is fantastic. You guys need to have Nate inside your Rolodex. Being able to chat with Nate, he's a fantastic guy. I'm not sure if Nate's an introvert. He seems like he might be, but he is a prime example of just seeing a name that pops up there. And by the way, subscribe to his email newsletter. Fantastic read. Really good. But look at those names. Chat with them, show up on a regular basis. I know that Julie has at least one monthly stream every, you know, every month. There we go. She has a monthly stream that you can tune in and you're going to see a revolving cast of people and some regulars and such chat with them. The self pubs with Andy, the Rusty Knox's, the Efren Delgados. Get in there and just chat. That right there is going to take a little bit of that anxiety away that you would normally have from an in person event. Now as an introvert, I would recommend. Yeah, Author Nation's great. It can and will be very overwhelming for me. When you and I were at 20 books Vegas, I think I even shared it with you that when I got in there I felt very overwhelmed. Like so much so that it just, I kind of freeze up. And it was funny because I got picked out by some people. They're like, oh my gosh, Dale, it's great. I was just like, I'm just like just slowly just getting really nervous. So what I would say is you can look at an Author Nation. Please go for it. If you think that you can be able to handle that large stimulus, stimulation, if you will. But you can also look at smaller events, something that's a little bit more craft specific. So let's say you're a science fiction writer, go to a Sci Fi Writers Conference. If you're a horror writer, go to the Stoker Con for Horror Writers Association. There are so many more smaller like venues. You can go into Inkers Con. Fantastic. It's run out of Dallas, Texas by Alessandra Torrey. Great conference. When I went there and I actually spoke there a few years ago, it was just right. There was a couple hundred people. I didn't feel overwhelmed and I felt like I kind of take it one bite at a time. And the tough part is always going to be what's inside your head. You're going to have this inner dialogue that's going to tell you either I'm not good enough or I'm too scared, or that person might not talk to me, or, you know, things like that. Get rid of the inner dialogue. Make your icebreaker just as quick as possible. Someone's sitting next to you. Left or right, doesn't matter, someone's sitting across from you. Break into that conversation. Unless of course, it's right in the middle of somebody's talk. Like, definitely don't do that. But get it to where you just break the ice. And even something as simple as saying like, hey, I'm an introvert, I'm super nervous. I wanted to come here and meet some people. This bald headed guy and this blonde woman, you know, called the book broad was telling me I needed to break the ice here. So this is my ice breaking. It doesn't matter how awkward it is. Everybody's awkward in some capacity. So just try to get past that point and break the ice. Talk to somebody. Because as soon as you get those first couple of sentences out, it starts to flow really nice and smoothly. Like, hey, what are you working on? What type of niche do you write? What books do you have out on the market? What kind of tips could you give to me for writing and promoting my stuff? It just doesn't matter how you start it. Just get it started and then you'll find it'll start to flow. You might even find someone who's just like you. That might be just as awkward going, I thought I was the only person in this room that was just freaking out. And by the way, even if you see an author who you might perceive as being big name. Or you see a video creator that's like, oh my gosh, that person's got 40, 000 subscribers. I never will be able to talk to Julie Broad. Believe it or not, they put their pants on one leg at a time, just like you do, or skirt in some instances. Just make sure that you don't let that be a hurdle. Go over and talk to them now if you're a fan of them. Don't make it weird. Don't be like, hey, I love your stuff and I'm, I'm wearing your orange shirt every day and I've got your phone number, gonna call you. Definitely don't make it weird. But you know, just get it to where you understand that everybody, everybody is on the same level playing field when it comes to writing because we're all doing the same thing. Our whole end goal is to reach more readers. And so when you know that we share that, it's going to make it so much easier when you try to break ground and talk with somebody for the first time. And I don't even remember how you and I cross paths initially, Julie. Like, did I send you an email or maybe you sent me an email one of the way or the other.

It's through YouTube somehow, I don't remember which. Yeah, I don't remember who, who wrote who or how it all began, but I, I'm certain it was through YouTube and then, then we connected through email and then we met in person multiple times now. So. But yeah, I don't remember exactly when. One thing I was just thinking of, I made a person, I call her my conference bestie. And I was at this event, I don't know, four or five years, I guess it was five years ago now. And I was super awkward. I didn't know anybody at this event and it was a business related event and I was there kind of with a very specific intent. And I'm standing in the wall looking at this, you know, the cocktail hour kickoff, you know, before the keynote. And I'm literally leaning against the wall watching people just thinking like, can we just get this over with? Like, can the keynote go on? And I can go to, go back to my hotel room. And she comes over to me and she goes, can I, can I hug that wall with you? And it was the funniest thing as she was just the most amazing person and. But it was just really funny because she felt so awkward and uncomfortable too and she sought me out and then we spent the entire event together. We ended up friending two other people. So the four of us spent the three days together and then she and I ended up connecting at. I think we've been to four or five events together now and still keeping touch. But if, that, if you're feeling uncomfortable, I would say do what Aaron did, which is find that other person who looks uncomfortable and like they're hugging the wall. Like I was. If, if I could have, I would have pushed myself into the wall. Like, you know, the, the Homer Simpson going into the bush. Like that's what I was trying to do with that wall. And, and then she became my, my, my crutch for the rest of the conference. But that can be a great strategy too, is just find that person that's sitting alone or that's hiding against the wall and, and start a conversation.

It's it, it really does help out. It's almost like a comfort blanket to have one additional person there that has your back and so you start to feel a little bit better and a little bit more at ease. I bring my wife with me on some of the events and unfortunately becomes a bit of a crutch for me because I'm like, well, my wife's here, I don't need to talk to anybody else. But don't get into that thing. And the other thing is, you brought up a good point, is like, you know, keynote speakers getting ready to talk. Let me just blend into this wallpaper until they get ready to start, you know, their stuff. You go to conferences, folks, definitely go, go listen to the keynote speakers, go listen to the presentations, but don't feel like you're married to those things. I think the most invaluable part about any in person conferences is the conversations you'll have in the hallway. I had blown up my YouTube business, of course, a lot of support from viewers and folks like you, of course, Julie. But to a certain extent it has a lot to do with the fact that I used to go to a lot of YouTube events, a lot of video creator events, and I started to network and speak with other YouTubers within the space. And so I started to kind of learn a little bit more about how to optimize my YouTube channel and make it better, make the videos better, how do I produce better results. And so surrounding myself in that environment of video creator conferences really changed my life in so many ways. I know so many really fantastic folks out there from the Evan Carmichaels where they got millions of subscribers to the Dan Couriers, who's, you know, about what, 80 or 90000 subscribers, fantastic folks from all realms. And never take any one person for granted because they may not be a big deal right now, but they could be a big deal eventually. Or maybe they're just introverted and they haven't been able to break out of their shell. And now you've just discovered someone who's just fantastic and open up a treasure trove of possibilities in your author business. So, yeah, I, I feel you on so many levels where it's. You just blend into that, that, that woodwork and you want to just. It's my natural inclination sometimes too, where I'm like, I'm gonna go up to my hotel room and do what? Like just lay and sleep, watch some tv. You can do that at home. Like you're at an in person conference. Be as present as possible. Get as much out of that event as you can. And one of the best ways is to network in the hallways. That is so, so good. And if you find yourself like, okay, I'm not really sure. There's a bunch of people coming and going in the hallway. Who do I talk to initially? Go into one of the presentations, eye up the people that are inside the crowd, and then as you're starting to leave, go for it. You see someone go, hey, what'd you think about that? Talk. Boom. That's it. And you're going to start off that dialogue. Now, if someone doesn't want to talk to you, obviously you'll know by body language, but for the most part, usually someone's going to have something positive, negative, or something to add on to it. But you're asking someone of their opinion. People love sharing their opinions. There's your icebreaker. Boom. And you can go ahead and start that up and go, hey, you want to go grab a coffee? Let's go ahead and chat. Talk it up about the business. I want to hear a little bit more about your books.

Yeah. Fantastic. All right, folks, if anybody has questions for Dale, now's a great time to put those questions in. And speaking of a question, here is Butcher's respawn. How do we go right for the heart of customers to get them to decide to buy our books? Networking wise.

Threats, Threats.

I'm thinking bribes. You're going violence. I'm going candy.

Let's find somewhere in the the middle. How about we bribe? And if they don't follow through. The only reason why I'm saying a joke here, because Butcher, he's such a active part of our discord community and I, I kid. Folks, please don't don't do violence. There is just this tight wear walk that you're going to need to do because you don't want to go into networking with the in the sole intent of I want to sell books. So for instance, when I approached Julie about coming on and talking here on her channel and such, I wasn't like, I got a new book out, let's go promote it on your channel. What I did lead with first was so many years of just working with Julie of building that know like and trust and then also telling her of what value I could be to her audience. So it's always just a case of when you're networking, you people are going to know what you're all about. They're going to, you don't even have to say it because if you've been of service to people within your network, they're gonna automatically, they're gonna be like, hey, this cyberpunk author, his name's Butcher, which actually I think his actual name is Carter Holland. But either way this, this author, Carter Holland, fantastic. He does some cyberpunk books. You have to go check it out. They become advocates for you, they become ambassadors of your brand because you've done so much goodwill that they're willing to go ahead and bend over backwards. So it's never anything that you have to directly do. But when you do need to pull on your network, do so with intention, do so with a strategy in mind. So let's say for instance I want like networking for authors. With the only book that I put out right now, I would probably dig into my network and sorry for the name drops but I'm going to name drop them anyways. I get a hold of Julie Broad, I would do a Dave Chesson, I would get a hold of Mark Leslie Lefebvre, I'd get a hold of folks over drafted digital. I get a hold of Marco Motino and Natasha Motino. I would get a hold of everybody that I know and say hey, I've got this book. It would really mean the world to me if you could share it with your following. It would just absolutely make my day and I would owe you a big time. Now when they come to collect on their favor or if they're not even asking for a favor, let's say for instance Julie were to say hey, self publishing succeed is getting ready to launch. I'm super excited about it. She won't even have to ask me. I'm just going to go ahead and promote that thing to the moon because she's been of so much value to me that it would just be silly for me not to do it. Let me give you a good example. Now, this is not necessarily within the author business. Good friend of mine, Keith Wheeler, he actually runs a very successful YouTube channel called Keith Wheeler books. Highly recommend you guys go check it out. Keith was getting ready to hit 10,000 subscribers, and I was super excited for him. Like, Keith is my boy. And I'm like, 10,000 subscribers is a very big milestone here on YouTube. Only, like, I think 1% of all channels ever make it past 10,000 subscribers. And so we were getting into that home stretch and I was like, man, I want to see him hit 10,000 subscribers so badly. So I reached within my network and I reached out to some folks who I had helped. Now, I'm not going to mention this YouTube channel because, well, it's not one that I endorse at this point anymore, but these two individuals, I help them get past that 10, 000 subscriber part. And I reached out to them, I said, hey, could you do me a favor? Could you share Keith Wheeler books like channel with your subscribers hopefully? And they said, nah, nah, yeah, it doesn't align with our brand at all. What do you. Are you kidding me? You guys are talking about literally the same damn thing. And I, I was furious. Guess what? They didn't ever get again? They never got a single favor for me again. Because what they did was they took from me and took from me and took for me. But when I came to ask for a favor, not for myself, but for somebody within my network, they rejected me. So there's so much that you need to kind of think about is when you do come and ask somebody for a favor, expect to pay that back tenfold in some capacity. Now, this doesn't mean that you need to donate blood or sacrifice your firstborn or anything else like that, but be very aware of the fact that there is a little bit of a give and take relationship. It's never required. Reciprocation is not a requirement. But just remember, that could eventually close the doors that you would really want to be open when you need it most. And to say the least, those two YouTubers that, you know, I worked with, yeah, I'm done with them. There'll never be an instance where I will give them a single favor once. And all I asked them to do was just, hey, share Keith Wheeler's channel. The guy's fantastic. And guess what? He still hit 10,000 subscribers. All they had to do was just briefly share. They could have just tweeted it out to like 5 followers and I would have been a happy man.

Yeah, I know who you're talking about.

Yeah. Yeah.

So, but we'll move right on. And actually, I'm going to post. Speaking of your book, I'm just going to put the link in here again because I know there's new people. I've seen some new people talking. So this is the book we're talking about, everybody. The Networking for authors book, which I think your cheese on the broccoli is a good point. I think we should say it's how to sell. Sell more books by making more friends. And I have one other little. It's not a reader story. Not quite addressing this question, but years ago is before I put out my second book and I was talking to somebody, I was introduced to somebody and they said, this person is in your space. She'll be able to help you, you know, go meet her. And so I, I invited her for lunch and we went for lunch. And as we were talking, you know, it really wasn't a good fit to go for the ask that I was, that I was told to talk to her about. So I didn't ask her, but I told her about my book and we brainstormed and I got some good, you know, good ideas from her. But fast forward 12 years, she's one of my closest friends. So, you know, it's kind of a cool thing sometimes where you go into situations, you get introduced to, to somebody, you may have an intent for that situation, but the intent may not be the fit that you hope it is or just doesn't feel right. But that's why I say you never know the doors that could have been open. And, you know, at the time I lived in Canada and she was in. She still is in California. And now we've seen each other a ton because when I moved to the States, she was, you know, my first call, like, hey, I'm coming to this foreign country and I need friends. And she's, you know, she's not quite like that, but, you know, it's been, it's been a phenomenal situation. So I think networking is so underrated. And I think whenever you go into a situation, if you're going into it thinking, this is what I need to get from this situation, if you're not fluid and flexible with that, I think it's going to become a story that Dale tells two years from now about why he doesn't help you anymore. But if you go into the situation going, hey, like, how can I help this person person? How can I support? Can I create a great relationship? Right. Like, I kind of look at it not even as how do I serve somebody, but can we create a relationship of some kind? Because to me, a relationship for it to work is, is a give and take kind of thing. And that's what makes relationships great. Even if you're giving more than you're getting from it, you know, that's still a good relationship. And somebody put something here. Where was it? Oh, so it works both ways, really. The takers need to take a hike.

Well done. That's it. Bring back my book. I want to put that quote right inside there.

Right? Isn't that good? All right, I got another couple questions for you before we wrap. So Gary said, what is your advice for networking when the subject that you write is a touchy subject? He writes for the firearms world and that seems to shut down a lot of conversations.

Look at, look at where you at. Wherever you're, you're speaking about that type of thing, chances are very likely you're probably in the wrong environment to talk about it. And I know there are a ton of people out there that are very pro firearms. It's just finding the right place. So yeah, it can be very touchy. But in the same instance, don't be afraid to be your authentic self. Don't be afraid to embrace that. If somebody doesn't accept you for who you are and your beliefs and you're probably not talking to the right person, there's going to be a number of people out there that absolutely shame and dislike self publishing. So that conversation can probably come up at some point. Someone could be like, oh, self publishing. And if I'm ever around, I'll be like, oh, well, that's their viewpoint. Chances are very likely this might not be the best relationship or the right time for me to mention what I'm all about. And that has happened a couple of times where I've had some, you know, people talking about trad pub and they're like, oh, self publishing, that's horrible. So we're just nothing but hacks and such. But put yourself in the right circumstances and situations that really would benefit you. So in instances like yours, I mean, anything that would involve like the nra, any type of conferences surrounding that, any type of websites and forums, put yourself into a position that you're going to win. So for instance, if I were to, I don't know, I'm going to throw out a random one here. If I were to go to a conference on wear bear shapeshifter romance. Like writers, I could probably go in there to talk about myself publishing, but chances are very likely they don't want to hear about. They only want to talk about were bear shapeshifter romance. And as soon as I start to talk about, oh, yeah, I want to go ahead and publish that where bear shapeshifter romance. You got to look it up. Oh, yes, it is a thing. Believe it or not, it actually used to be very popular. It's, it's, it's coming back, folks. You, you mark my word. Wear bear shapeshifter. And, but, you know, it's just kind of knowing when you're in the right room, and intuition is going to go a long way. I would say that my gut instinct is a lot better today than what it was 10 years ago when I came into the business, because now I'm able to know how to read the room and how to know when to talk about what and, and why as well. So, yeah, if you ever find that, you know, it's a touchy subject, then chances are you're probably in the wrong room. And if you're starting to talk about it and you get a crowd of people coming around you and supporting, yeah, you know, here's my thoughts about it, then you're probably in the right room. So it's going to take a little bit of work, but I promise you, if you stick with it and don't, don't feel discouraged, don't lose heart. There are a ton of people out there that love firearms. Just come to Ohio.

Yeah. And I mean, this was, this was my exact thought. Efren. Efren, a long time YouTube bestie over here. Your book is not for everyone. And exactly that. And if you try to make your book everyone by dulling down or toning down some of your viewpoints, it's going to be boring. And you're not going to find the readers who would advocate for you and support you and, and tell other people about you. So. I completely agree with what you said, Dale. There was one other question here. I think we got sidetracked by the werebear romance. Apparently there's a lot of people reading some funky romance out there. People. So there's definitely a market. And we know where Dale is launching in his fiction when he starts writing fiction. Expecting some wear bear romance here. But besides, don't. Don't want to get distracted by that. Where was this? Oh, here's Susan's question. Here it is. Is the book Specifically about networking with others in the interest industry or info on networking with anyone for the purposes of our book projects too.

Both. It's a lot more broadly encompassing. I know we just talked about your book can't be for everybody, but when it comes to networking, I, I really looked at it a 360 degree view of addressing not only the introverts but also the extroverts. Because extroverts is going to be dead simple for a lot of people. Like, hey, go talk to this person. Great, I'm going to go on over there. But yeah, it's, it's going to be in regards to all that. In fact, one of the things that was so much different about this book, and Julie had the opportunity to read it as well yourself, is that it's much different than my previous publications. There was a lot more heart that was put into this. In fact, I would like to think that it's more memoir than what it is an educational book. You get to learn a little bit of the stories and some of the trials and tribulations that I went through because it hasn't all been sunshine and roses and rainbows and such. There have been some bad instances and there have been some great instances and there have been some amazing mentors that I've had along the way that helped me out tremendously. So yeah, you could be able to take those practices and put it in many aspects of your life as well. In fact, I think even so, more people probably could read Networking for Authors and just remove the for authors part and just learn about networking in general. They can be able to apply it. But since my audience is primarily authors and writers and self publishers, that's why I marketed it towards them because I wasn't looking to grab a broad audience. But hopefully that answers your question, Susan, which by the way, I thought I gave you a copy of that already. Susan, my apologies.

She might be just seeding your conversation.

Ah, yeah, there we go. Love me some Susan. She's so fantastic. She's an Ohio gal.

So I was just gonna say we have some fabulous viewers here who like to kind of seed the conversation with great questions. So I don't know if she did that or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if she did. Which is also a great thing, right, about networking. Kind of going back to what you had said at the beginning is you become known, you can get. No, it's. I still think in person is the best way to network. However, you can start the conversations and start to become known so that it's comfortable. So if Susan was at Author Nation and she came up to me, as soon as I knew who she was, I'd be like, oh, my gosh, yes, I've seen you on the channel a lot. Thank you for all your comments. You know, that kind of thing versus her just coming up to me. And I had this happen at the pool at my gym the other day. Somebody came up to me and they were chatting away like, oh, I love. And I'm like, I'm like, I'm so sorry, I don't remember your name. Oh, we've never met before. I just watch your YouTube channel.

Tremendous. Congrats.

And I was like, oh, that's great. Thanks. But, you know, then it all ended with a little a weird moment where she's like, can I get your number? Can I call you? And I was like, maybe not.

Yeah, there is a time to phone numbers and the first date. It's almost like going on your first date and asking for a kiss or, hey, let's just go back to my place. Like being creepy. Yeah, you'll know. An intuition wise. And if you ask for a phone number upon first meeting somebody, it's a little bit off putting.

Yeah. Especially when you know, you've just been shocked by the fact like thinking, oh my gosh, where do I know this person from? Right. Where have I met them? Especially because it was at my gym. I'm thinking, I cannot believe I do not remember meeting this person before.

You know, it's, it's. Here's a little bit of a tangent, and this is something actually I just tweeted about today. And folks, if you ever want to meet somebody like Julie and you see her at her conference, by the way, she has an intense look to her when she's at some of these conferences. But trust me, as soon as you go over and talk to her, she melts. Like, she is very, very approachable. So don't let her scare you away. But all joking aside is I today received a call and a text from somebody and an email. What is not okay is looking up a video creator's phone number and calling them directly. Now, if it's a business line, I totally understand it. But getting their personal phone number and calling and texting and emailing them, not okay, folks. Not okay. So one of the best ways to approach them is in a public facing way. So that is for video creators just know that there is a boundary that's invisible, boundaries that's put up in place just because you can find somebody's Information online doesn't make it okay to reach out to them. It comes off as super creepy. And it, you know, with the young kids, say, gives me the ick. You know, it's. It's just. It's. It's super like, oh, it gives me, like, goosebumps just thinking about it. And I had actually reached out to a pro wrestling friend of mine, Sammy Callahan. I was like, does this happen to you? He goes, all the time. I was like, what do you do? He goes, I just block it and I ignore it. He's like, don't respond to him ever. And I was like, oh, yeah, no problem. I didn't do any of that. But yeah, so just, you know, if you're ever meeting somebody for the first time, whether it be a big video content creator or whatnot, don't assume that searching up all of their information is going to be okay. It's going to not play out right. It seems okay in your mind, like, o, oh, I'm going to go ahead and track this person down. That's one way to shut down any networking possibility or any conversation whatsoever, because it does come off as super creepy. Look at that. Alan smith just dropped 10 bucks and.

He said, happy Canadian Thanksgiving. Thank you. Yes. Yesterday was Thanksgiving in Canada for everybody.

Gosh, is it already Thanksgiving?

Good lord, it is. We always celebrate in October. So thank you, Alan. That's so kind of. Oh, and then Christopher Mattish asked about the painting behind me. So these paintings, they are soundproofing because I am in a wework office, and anybody who's familiar with we work. It's like a glass. You're like, in fish tanks, right? There's glass all around me. So what you don't see is there's glass in front of me and glass to my right. And so I put these pictures up. They're just soundproofing paintings from Amazon that help just, you know, dull the. The glass sound. So I don't sound like I'm going to. I'm going to blow bubbles in my fishbowl. Anyways, I do have to run. Thank you so much for being here. I'm going to. Let's see if I can put your. Thank you. Let's put your book down here again. One more time, because, again, for those of you who weren't here at the beginning, I was thrilled. I mean, Dale could say, basically, hey, Julie, promote my book. And I absolutely, 100% would. He doesn't. You know, we're good friends for a long time, but this topic is pretty perfect. Because I am not kidding when I say if there is somebody in the publishing industry that I want to meet, Dale is my first point of contact. Or if I also want to know if they're good people or not. Dale is also my first point of contact. And. And that has been true for years. So for me, if there's one person I want to get networking advice for authors from, it is absolutely Dale. So 100% I'm supporting the book. And I. I don't have the copy and paste anymore, so now I'm typing it out. It is dalelinks.com forward slash, networkingbook. Right. Did I get that right?

More networking. Yep.

Perfect.

I made it easier because after I'd sent that email to you where it says that networking book, I was like, why don't I just put networking? So, yeah, Dale, links.com networking or networkingbook will take you on over to the Universal book link and feel free to grab it at every major online retailer right now. And print books are. It was a little bit delayed, but at least it's on Amazon and payhip right now, and it'll start to propagate over across all the different platforms in the next week.

Awesome. Thank you. And if you are coming to Author Nation, you can absolutely come and say hello to me. I do look serious. I do look serious at times, but that's just my. My introvert shell. And I'm probably thinking 4,000 thoughts all at once. It's a combination. But I would love to say hello to anyone at Author Nation if you were here. And Dale, when he's here, I'll. I'll be. I'll be. I'll be hiding him for you. I'll be like, okay, Dale, you've had enough of this. Let's go put you over here and shelter you for a while because gotta.

Go plug me and recharge.

That's right. I'm still hoping you come. But anyways, thank you so much for being here, everyone. And, Dale, thank you again for writing this book for all of us authors and for everything that you do to support me here on the channel. Can't wait for book 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. Awesome. Thanks, everybody. Have a good day.

Thank you. Boy.