Tips for Authors from Scott Clancy and Book Launchers Review

So I'm Scott Clancy, retired Major general from the Royal Canadian Air Force. My connection to the great United States of America is I was, I served seven years in the NORAD Enterprise North American Aerospace Defense Command. Finished as the director of operations defending the continent. After my 37 years of service, I wanted to try to figure out a way in which we could add coaching skills to teams so that because the best leaders I saw were coaching their teams well and the best coaches I saw, and I was coaching basketball right up until the, right up to the university level, they were leading their teams well. I want to develop fundamentals and real pragmatic, you know, tips and tools that people could use to lead their teams well and add coaching skills where we're focused more on development within the teams. That's what the book's all about. You know, it applies, applies to just about anybody but really the focus was on leaders that wanted to move away from just that performance related stuff where they were having interactions that were just about what their teams were aspiring to and performing to developing the individuals on those teams and developing the teams themselves. I'm military guy, so the whole business thing and earning money was foreign to me. So not a business guy would rather have had Nick as the talking head to launch my book and then I would have been just fine. Julie could have written it and then we, you know, we would have gotten much further than I did. So I was focused on content and the content that I was still pushing out to those people that I was, you know, I had executive coaches and senior leaders in both nations that seek mentoring and mentoring for their teams and this kind of stuff. So I'm focused on the content, focus on the book sales, but I didn't market the actual launch event. And that's what I would do differently is I would focus on those events. Secondly, I went, oh really? It's a more virtual world. I'll do all my events virtually. Bomb, bomb. Because it's a workday whether we like it or not. There's certain hours in that workday and most people are going to be at work, they're not going to be doing your stuff. So that's a real problem if you do all of your stuff virtually. And what I've had since then is so much more benefit to the live events. And so, you know, if I go back again, I wouldn't focus on virtual events and I'd want to know exactly what it is that you wanted to get from those events. So for me personally I went a little bit of humility here. Hey, this isn't about me, this is about the reader. Going back to Julie, a little bit of this is about you. Okay. You want to celebrate those wins. So thinking about what you want to do, thinking about it. Spend a little bit of time in that space, what it is that you want to get out of those launches. And to me I would have focused on a physical event because if I had a focused on even a local one, I think it would have fundamentally been. I don't sure that it would have drove in any different sales, but it would have made me feel better about that. I did the right things in leading up to that. So market the launch as much as you market the book and the content plan for that piece. Spend some time thinking about it. And I would do a mix at least, but at least something live as a celebration of your launch. Content on social media and content on podcast guesting and then writing articles. So basically it's all focused on that content alongside of speaking and that stuff. That's what I'm doing to market. I was very happy with the pre order stuff that I did and the work and the team, Nicole, Angela and all them set that up well. But I didn't focus enough on the actual launch, the event, but the events around that to create enough hype during the launch. So it just fizzled. I think a little bit of that was personal burnout. There was a lot of other things going on around the news and stuff like this. It was drawing my attention and focus around on other stuff. And so that launch event to drive sales almost didn't happen. And I really wish I had a focused on that and understood how much effort that was going to take to do that really well and maximize that in order to drive people to purchase the book. Focus on that book army. That baseline book army gets you to those pre sales, enables you to have a platform and an audience that you know you can count on. I still struggle with driving them towards an email list, to driving them towards, you know, my leadership forum. So, so that I can, you know, give them content that's good. Social media can help with that. But that book army reaching out at a personal level, that's what drove initial sales inside the launch, which you know, I was relatively happy with. So that would be my one piece of advice surrounding the launch and marketing. Yeah, live events can be really good. I haven't actually done a just a uniquely book focused live event because and we've spoken about this, you know, I've got this military career with all the Rest of these. And now people want me to comment on the news, on everywhere else about Palestine, Hamas, balloons, you'll pick that kind of thing. So, so, but the. What I've done is I've tried to morph that where I will always have whoever it is, not national tv, because they won't do that, but try to market a little bit of the book either on the front end or the back end, and then have them available at the back. So when I'm shaking hands or meeting people elsewhere, I always have those associated with it. That's a way that I can kind of bridge that gap to try and do that. And from that live event point of view, that allows me to do very little prep. But I can have the books available at the back and I pick a round number. In Canada, it's the $20 bill. So, yeah, books are $20. Why? Because I don't want change and I don't want anything else. And that's about it. And that's so. So that's one. That's the only tip I would have from live events. There's another thing in there that was. That's associated with these live events that, you know, for me, especially being in the news, being asked to comment on very controversial topics. This is having a polarizing event or a polarizing influence on. On following on people and everything else. And there's no real good way to get around this except I go back to what Sarah said and what Nick and Efron have both said, be authentic. So I, I provide advice to government. So I provide that same advice. You know, it's balanced. It's what it is, but it's. It's who I am. Because in the end, you're going to have people that are going to, especially with controversial topics, you know, channel you into one side or be willing to attack you as a person. So be one, be prepared for that. But there's no real easy way around that other than to remain calm and get past it. My last piece of advice is to surround yourself with people that can see through that, that can provide that balance for you, that, that can provide that support to you when those things happen. Because, you know, once you publish a book, you're in the public eye. Those things are kind of the reality you have to deal with. Book Launchers has a process, and that multifaceted process involves videos and calls and advice and answer emails, prep for calls, all the rest of the stuff, do the homework. You know, from a guy who tried to do absolutely everything to make sure that all y'. All. And that's an American term that I learned over the years. All y' all are safe all the time. You do the research. So I would listen to all the videos and associated videos from Book Launchers. You read Julie's book and then imply all of that stuff in there and decide what you didn't want to apply. I did some of that to prep for the calls so that you're doing your homework, so that when you walk into those marketing calls, you're set. You're not learning them. They're not giving you information that's new for the first time. You're kind of reviewing it and then tailoring it to what you need for your stuff. Know where you are in the process. They give you a sheet of that. Know where that is in the process, so that you can prepare in advance. You know what's coming that allows you to be. And I wish I had known that a little bit better, especially as it pertained to the launch. And then, you know, everything on those topics that they give you, oh, you could watch this video. You could do that, do those things. If it's like a job, you do those things. That is what's going to set you up for success. And those. That's my advice. And made all the difference in the world in being extraordinarily well prepared so that I wasn't wasting Book Launchers time, but I was maximizing their advice they could give to me. So I arrived with a manuscript that I already had and engaged. Found Julie in Canadian Connection. So there we are. Scheduled a phone call with her, and her first reaction was, yeah, I don't think this is going to work with us. It's not a topic we're kind of interested in. I went, oh, that's a little surprising. And then she said, yeah, but. Oh. And we talked a little bit about stuff that was going on inside the company and leadership things. And she said, well, maybe, but, you know. So I went away and I read her book, and then I rewrote the first three chapters, like verbatim. Took another month away and then came back. Julie magnanimously allowed me to join Book Launchers and everything's history from there. So to me, focus on translating your content. Because that translation of focusing on the reader, the things that I didn't know and understand, translating your. Without losing your voice, that's what I would say was the number one piece of advice that I would give.