Stop Playing the Bestselling Book Game and Start Building an Author Empire

All right. Hello. Happy Tuesday. I see you guys are having a blast in the chat. Bruce Wayne is in the house. Susan Montgomery, Beeline Bill, Kevin Hall. Welcome, Renee. So great to have Jonathan Jenkins is here too. Lots of people commenting on the fabulous weather that they are having. And yeah, we are too. It is glorious here right now. My dog was outside all morning sunning herself, so it was fantastic. All right, today we are going to talk about— stop talking about the topic of kind of stop playing the publishing game, why your best-selling goal is potentially killing you and killing your book. And this is inspired by a talk that I gave, actually kind of my opening talk Author's Empire Workshop, which happened last week in Las Vegas. Missed all of you guys. It was a fantastic event, and, and, and it was really, really great to get to connect with so many of our authors and YouTube besties and folks in our premium school group and our Self-Publish and Succeed class. So it was really, really great to get everybody together in a room, and I One of the things that I shared was, ooh, we have an 8th book soft launch yesterday. Congratulations. That's great, Shapiro Innovation. All right, so one of the things that I talked about at the event was that really the decision that a lot of authors need to be making is not what book to write or even, you know, even some of the angles. It was really, what is your book going to build? That was a big theme. Of course, it's the Author's Empire Workshop. So we're talking about building big things. But I also talked about how we're in a different era. And this is not new. So many of you have already heard me talk about this, how the world has changed a lot. And there's more books on the market than ever. And there's less people buying nonfiction books. And I never say that to be a downer. I say that to really inspire you to take the time to create something great that you can build an empire or build a big, big impact-building engine from. And a lot of this is, you know, there's all this AI stuff. And for me, I look at the AI stuff and go, that has created this really cool opportunity for us human generators to rise above and create this connection with our reader and then create this empire around our book. And I talked a lot about that and how, you know, book sales have long since been a metric for so many authors. But it can be kind of depressing for some authors who, you know, by and large, you know, they have a 300, 400 book launch, and that can feel like a bit of a downer. And yet that's a great launch. And it's not— for me, it's not about that one day. It's about what are you building, what are you doing day in, day out for the next 6 months, year, 24 months, because that's where the real build, the real value of this book comes from. And, and what I look at this is, is book sales can be a metric that you use, but authority is the asset that you're building as a nonfiction author. And that was a lot of what I was talking about. I also really discussed this whole bestseller goal because the idea of becoming a bestseller is one kind of goal. And as you peel the layers behind that goal, a lot of times you start to realize that it's not, you know, that's a one-day thing. And when you go, okay, why do I want to be a bestseller? Well, I want to be a keynote speaker, and I think that's going to be a credibility piece, or I want to be a higher-paid consultant. And again, my point for years now has been, how much of a differentiator is it really to be a bestselling author? How many authors out there actually introduce themselves as a bestselling author? In fact, let me put that a different way. Have you recently seen somebody get on stage or have a bio somewhere and it just says they're the author, they're an author, right? It almost always says bestselling author. So to me, that title has lost a lot of its credentials. And frankly, if you set things up and kind of follow a typical book launch formula, generally speaking, you're going to achieve at least Amazon bestseller in one or two categories. So you can still call yourself that bestseller. But what happens if you go after a big bestseller? So you're going after the USA Today bestseller list as an example. You have a big push ahead of you. There's so much work that has to go into creating that bestseller. And in fact, at our event, Imani Roberts was there. He did hit USA Today bestseller. We've worked with Judy Holler, and she did a video, uh, for us in our panel, I think in November, and she was on the USA Today bestseller list for 2 weeks in a row. And both of them said, oh my gosh, it was so much work, and they were so tired afterwards because the intensity that went into trying to push and push and push. And again, if that's a goal and you want to check it off, go for it. But that can be a game that doesn't set you up for that long-term success because you're so tired that when it comes time to actually do the things day in, day out that are going to build this beautiful authority asset and grow it and build the infrastructure around it, you're tired. And ultimately, I think that it's okay. I'm not criticizing. I mean, I talk about my number one bestseller. It was number one overall on Amazon in print books. But still, I still talk about it. And I think probably in the bios that my team's put together, I'm an award, a multi-award-winning I don't even know how many awards I've won now. It's 18, 20, right? That's the other thing. You can apply for and win a lot of different awards. Some of them are worth a lot more or have a lot more prestige than others. But ultimately, a lot of it is really what you're going to make of it. And that's the same goes for the USA Today bestseller, any bestseller list, any award. It really is what you are going to make of it because none of them are a magic button. And I think it's that mindset of what I'm building and why I'm doing X because in that X that you're doing, knowing why or how that's going to lead to your bigger picture goal. So really setting yourself up for success. And one of the challenges that I see with authors is they wait. They wait for somebody to choose them. They wait to be ready. And this was a story I told at the event, which was, you know, I have done a lot of really cool things. I've, you know, I've moved to different countries and started a business in a new country. You know, there's— the list is fairly long of the things I'm I wouldn't consider myself somebody that holds myself back very often. And yet I realized last year that I had been doing just that. And it was kind of a funny thing, right? If anybody— I don't know if anybody watching watches or watches who plays pickleball. You know, I play a lot of pickleball. And it was in pickleball that I kind of realized that I still hold myself back. I still kind of wait to be chosen and I wait to be ready. And I discovered this when somebody asked me to play in a tournament And, you know, I've, I've played, you know, I play an open where there's like you randomly play with a variety of people. And I know he was a lot better than me. And so when he asked me, I was like, oh no, no, no, I'm like not good enough. And he's like, I've played with you, you'll, you'll do fine. I think, I think we'll do well. And then he said, but we have to play at this level. And I was like, oh, definitely not. Like, I am so not ready for that. And, and, you know, he just said, well, look, like we can practice, you know, I think it'll be good. You know, just let me know. And I almost said no, but I didn't. I said, you know what, what the heck? Like, what's the worst that's going to happen? We get— I get crushed and I realized that I was right and I belong in this lower level and I have no business playing at this higher level. Um, but what I discovered was I actually could play at that level. And, and, you know, didn't win that first tournament, but we've gone on to do pretty well in some larger tournaments now. And. Still waiting for gold and a big, big one, but we've done silver several times and, you know, doing okay. But I can play at that level, and I realize that this is the same thing that a lot of authors do. They wait for a publisher to choose them. They wait to feel like they have the perfect idea. They wait, or they— some of the, some of the authors we work with, I will not name names, they will choose 45 different covers, or they will just keep editing and editing and editing and editing and never release the book or eventually release it, but they have taken years longer than they should have. And I think ultimately that is that waiting to be chosen and playing a different game. And so the game that I challenge everyone to play is not the traditional publishing game, but the empire-building game. Because when you shift your mindset, and even I think when you become an indie author, a lot of people really think this way because they realize that especially when you self-publish, I mean, all authors are business owners. Guess what? Maybe you didn't think you were, but everybody who is an author is a business owner. And I think the ones that go into it with that mindset and realizing and understanding that you are building a business, that those are the ones that really see long-term success. And so what I mean by play the different game, a lot of people are playing this bestseller publishing game where they wait to be chosen, they wait for that validation, they work with the gatekeepers, you know, and their metrics are book sales. But ultimately, the authors that I see having big gains, big wins, really cool stories nowadays, they take full ownership not only of the book but over what they're building and what they're creating and the success that they're making. They also use that book for leverage. They open media doors, they open— they get on stages, they, they get international deals. We actually have two books at the Frankfurt Book Fair right now. I I just saw pictures of them being represented by an international rights agency. And I say we have two books, they belong to the authors. So two of our clients' books that we worked on are at the Frankfurt Book Fair right now, getting shopped around for international rights deals. And we've had authors get international rights, quite a few. Nick Hutchison, who is one of the panel speakers, and he spoke at our event as well, did a really, really great talk. He's had his book translated into Chinese and French, and I think at least one other language, and he gets paid for that, and then he gets ongoing royalties from those. So that's leverage, but that's also multiple streams of income. It's leverage because you're reaching a lot of people in a lot of different languages, in a lot of different countries, in a lot of different ways. And it's multiple streams of income because you've made this one really cool intellectual property piece, and now you are able to grow from it. You're able to grow speaking or a business or services or sell products and do it in different formats. And that is a different game and it's a different mentality. And I think the more that authors own that mentality, the more success you're going to create. And like I said, you're not going to look at book sales as your primary metric, right? You're going to go, okay, what kind of authority act— like, what kind of authority signals have I built and what am I seeing? What's coming back after I build that authority signal. All right, let's see what you guys are talking about. Oops, wrong screen. Um, okay, let's see. I see a congratulations, Kevin. Let me go back up and see what is Kevin doing. Kevin, my fourth now is in pre-sale. Oh yeah, I knew that. Congratulations, that's exciting. Um, we've got Ancient Egypt and the Bible is here. Sage Lifestyle Press is also here. And, uh, what else are we talking about? Beeline Bill, I use the 3-time award-winning author. This number can go higher, but bestseller's harder to sustain. Yes, I do think the award-winning author is a little bit more, I don't know if prestigious is the right word, but I think it carries a little more weight now, like I said, than best-selling author because pretty much everybody says that now, which diminishes it, right? It just becomes another word in a bio. It doesn't mean that much. And then Kendy Mandela's here. Thank you, thank you. Stella and Kevin Hall and Kjo35. 75 from SoCal. All right, so that was really the essence. I don't have a ton of time today, we're keeping it short and sweet. We will do prizes here in a second, so if you have any questions, happy to chat about it, chat about anything you want to chat about for the next 6 minutes before I have to run away. Ultimately, I think one of the things that we talked about a lot at the Author's Empire workshop was just about having strategy so that you're— because if you don't have strategy, you're guessing. And inconsistent action doesn't build anything, right? So taking that consistent action is what builds momentum. And I've said this before, but if you do something every single day, after a year you've done 365 things, and surely you're finding some things that are working and some things that are building and that you can continue to build upon. And one of our favorite stories from last year, of course, was Jonathan Stanley. The author of Purposeful Performance, and how 8 months after his launch, he was still out there doing book signings at Barnes Noble, selling 12 books when, you know, luck happened to hit, right? But you have to be out there working in order to get that luck. And he went hyper-viral and everything kind of changed. And that's one of our favorite stories because for 2 reasons. One is it was 8 months after his launch that everything happened. And second thing is ultimately that he had the infrastructure so that when that happened, his websites, his media assets, um, his media prep, all of that was ready to go. So that when, you know, People magazine is interviewing him and Good Morning America wants to talk to him, he is ready for that moment. And that is that infrastructure that you need to build so that you've got those authority signals when, when stuff like that happens. Um, all right, my new novel has won a bunch of awards and it's social proof and validation. It is, it's only if you tell people about it though, because these awards themselves do not do a lot for you. And even the big, big awards, it's not like a whole bunch of books start selling once somebody wins one of those big awards. It is, it is all about what you do with it. So leveraging it, putting it on your book profile, on your author pages, in your media kit, those are all things to do to leverage these activities, which is why I think it's really important to understand what success actually looks like for you. And then these things that you do along the way, knowing how you're going to utilize them and leverage them in order to create that. Um, all right, so let me go— I will— I don't see any questions yet, so let me pop over and do a quick share screen of everybody who's here. And Angela doesn't have them yet, but I— for those of you who are in our school group— if you're not in our school group, come on over and join our school group— Angela can drop you the link. I'm sorry, I'm trying to open the other screen because I had to do— I had to use a different browser to get to you guys today. So Angela can drop the link to our free community over there. But the people in the free community, you have seen— oh, that's not the right link— you've seen Max. And Max is our Empire— Empire Authors Empire Workshop mascot, if you will. I called him the Sentinel because every great empire needs a sentinel. And the sentinel doesn't really do anything, so the sentinel doesn't build your empire for you, but the sentinel plays an important role because they are the protector of the vision. And in the case of a lot of authors, I think having somebody watch over and guide your vision and watch what you're creating can be really, really important. And so I'm sending some, some Maxes to Angela, so soon she will have another box for her closet. I'm sure if you could see the joy on her face right now as she thinks about her closet getting more boxes, but she will have some Max's and some other swag that was left over from our event. And I'm having a heck of a time opening. Oh, maybe I think I finally figured it out. Yes, I got it. I think this is going to work. No worries, Angela. Hopefully you guys are seeing that. Um, I think you are. So we have 13. There's quite a few people here, so not all of you have entered, so you got a good shot at winning if you've said hello. Um, and, and Angela can tell us what she has in her closet and what you would be winning today for saying hello and joining us live. Let's see. Shapiro Innovation, congratulations, you are our first winner today. You'll have to claim it by emailing team@booklaunchers.com, and I will have Angela come on in a second and tell you what you're choosing from. But I will draw one more time so we get our two prize winners for the day. And who do we have? And Bill, you have won today, my friend. Congratulations. Thank you for being here. Um, all right, let me stop sharing. And Angela, what do we have for prizes?

Hello guys, so we have— I, I didn't know about the Max that's coming, so that's a surprise.

Um, but that'll be—

those are awesome.

Yeah, I told you guys she was delighted at more boxes for her closet.

No, I was like, oh, I just know where. Um, so we have a lot of our classics. We have our hashtag NoBoringBooks mug. We have our oh so soft Journal. We have copies of Self-Publish and Succeed, Self-Promote and Succeed. Yeah, Julie's holding up one of the mugs right there. And then I do have some other copies of some of our other books, one of them being Nick Hutchison, you know, Self-Publish and Succeed. His book is Rise of the Reader.

Yeah.

And then I have a few other copies of books from our clients that we have been allowed to give away. I don't remember them off the top of my head. Very select few. I've only got one copy of each of these books. So if you're interested in one of those, like Bill, since I know you've won so many other prizes in the past, you're welcome to choose from one of those. So let us know again, team@booklaunchers.com. I will also need your mailing address. And if you're outside of the US, Shapiro was your handle, Shapiro.

I don't remember the full name. I think he's in the US.

I thought, uh, okay. I wasn't sure because I think we have a couple people with the last name of Shapiro in our network, and so I didn't know who was who. But if you're in the US, let me know. Otherwise, I will send you a digital gift if you are outside of the US.

Um, all right, and I didn't see any questions. Did you flag anything?

No, I was just scrolling up to see. No, I haven't seen a single one. Mostly just comments and interactions between, between people.

Yeah. All right, well, zero questions. Yeah, I was gonna say we'll cut it short so I can run to my next meeting, but thank you for being here. Next week we have a really cool guest speaker coming in with Sarah Bean. It's Karlyn Ancrum, and she is going to, I think, give you a taste of what you missed at Author's Empire Workshop. She was one of our speakers there. She— one of my favorite lines from the entire event was her line, and she's going to be talking about creating visibility without burning out. And her line I don't know if I should spoil it. I will tell you because she had a lot of great lines in her presentation. But she said, in order to be a thought leader, you need to have leading thoughts. And she shared a lot of tips and strategies around creating those leading thoughts, but then putting them out there into the world. So I think you guys will have a blast and I will not be here next week. But Angela, Sarah, and Karlyn will be here to take great care of you. And I will see you again in a couple of weeks. All right, take care.

Bye everyone.