129: How Authors Can Leverage Their Books for More Impact and Income

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Welcome to the Course Creators MBA podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Destiny Kopp and I help business owners increase the revenue with digital products and evergreen sales funnels. In this podcast, we go deep into product and marketing strategies for digital product creators. We cover everything from digital product creation, how to market and sell your digital products, and just as important, how to find your ideal customer. Let's jump right into our show.

And today my special guest is Parshell Tashi. And Parshel is an award winning creative educator who partners with authors to help them repurpose and monetize their their best selling books as premium and profitable online courses that create impact and additional income. And today we're going to be talking with her about how authors can leverage their books for more impact and income. And Parchell, I am so excited that you are joining me here today and I have a ton of questions for you. But before I jump into all of the end, can you tell the good audience a little bit about you and how you help people?

Absolutely. And thanks again for having me. I'm super excited for this conversation. I'm a former school teacher and I got into the world of entrepreneurship through video and media production and always had that background in teaching education and I had a master's in curriculum and instruction. So when I got into production, I thought, oh, what a waste of time, this education degree, this piece of paper on my wall. And I hang it up proudly now because it really informs our ability to help authors, as you essentially believe. And we see that, you know, today's published experts remain underpaid and their ideas really aren't spreading as far as they thought it would. And so it's really been a privilege and an honor to step into this space to help authors essentially repurpose what they've already produced in their, in their book. Because the same way movies are created, you know, how we can repurpose movies into all kinds of other experiences. Authors today have that same ability today. And so we help them identify and create and publish, you know, other products that are companions to their book.

And I love that what you said, repurpose what they've already produced. And I think we all want to do that, right? We all want to take what we've already done and, you know, put it in maybe different formats. It'll help us impact more people long term. So let's talk about this in a little bit more detail. Why do you think a book is a good candidate to repurpose into a course?

Oh my gosh. I think that a book is great to be repurposed into a course because one, you know, a lot of the, a lot of the nuts and bolts of what you're teaching is already there. But it also lends itself to your readers asking the question, what do I do now? What's next? How can I actually implement what I'm reading? There's a lot of opportunity that is there that your book creates. So think of it more is that your book is like the Eiffel Tower. It attracts people to your world, but once they're there, they're not just going to see the tower. In fact, a lot of their dollars, their time is going to be spent in other places that surround that main attraction. And so without that, you're kind of leaving them hanging in a way. And really today a lot of readers want and need the support and facility, you know, the implement in some regards, handle for them. And so maybe that's what your book is pointing towards. But just think that you can, you can essentially create a playground around your book that really allows people to not only get more from what you've written, but also become fans for life because you're actually creating the conditions for them to be successful with what you put in your book.

So you said create a playground around what you've already written. I love that. I love the playground concept there, you know, and I was, as you were thinking about that, I was thinking about my book that I have on Amazon. It's a digital product. I know a lot of people who are listening here either want to have one or they already have a book like that, like a digital product type book that maybe they're selling on Amazon or their own website or what have you. And you're right, you can just. It's a way for them to take what they've learned in the book and take it to the next level. So let me ask you this. What do you look for when turning a book into a course or, you know, maybe saying it differently. What, what kind of book makes a good course?

Oh, this is such a good question. The books that do really, really well, we're looking at the genre of, of that book and who it's written for, you know, that audience. And what we find is that the topics that do really, really well when it comes to online courses is in the areas of wealth, health, relationships and personal development, or even leadership. So these are the topics that generally are going to perform very, very well in companion products for the author and their book. So I always recommend taking a look at that and if you've written a book that you're not sure how it ties in, find a way you can have a your book and what you've written in that nonfiction manner can really support people in ways that you haven't even considered.

So would you say most nonfiction books make a good course?

I would say so. And it really depends on when we look, when we think about course. There's all different types of courses as well. There's self guided courses, there are membership courses, there are, you know, other, you know, a number of different types of products. And so it can take on a lot of different forms and it really depends upon your, your reader and what's going to be the best condition for them to be successful with, with the learning.

So let me, let me ask you this. How can authors monetize their books today, you know, to go outside of Amazon, I should say, or you know, that book publisher?

Oh, absolutely. There are. To me, this is the key of seeing monetization within your book is really thinking about the experiences that you can create with it and answering the question of how can I bring my reader even better results? And even further, how can I help them implement what they're learning as well. These are the things that really come into matter when you're creating what I call a vre. This is something that I just developed recently. But a VRE is a valuable repurposed experience and it really speaks to a high tech, high touch experience that you want to have with your readers beyond your book. So these can, these can take the form of something like an online course. It can be an audiobook, which most of us are familiar with, a workshop, a mastermind, a membership, you know, maybe a tool kit, workbooks, things that are physical, maybe even an exclusive interview of you speaking more in depth about a story or about something that maybe your readers didn't get in the book. There are so many experiences and we kind of put that lens on it. You really see a lot of potential with again, being able to monetize your book, you want to repurpose it. And in today's day and age, experience is so, so important. I mean, think about the ease in which you can use an app, for example, that's user experience, the designers of that app, a lot of time and consideration for how can this be a smooth experience? And so you want to think of the same when it comes to your readers. Right? How can I create for them an experience that is going to get them real results and they have some support in ensuring that it gets done? And sometimes if you're, if you're an author who doesn't really want to be, let's say, on calls all the time and things of that nature, you know, you can create the way in which you can engage with your readers. It's really up to you and what's going to be, you know, best suited for them. And it could be a community. So many communities serve themselves in a way. So there's so many options available when it comes to, you know, how can I repurpose this? How can I monetize this book? You really want to put on that lens of, okay, if my book is an Eiffel Tower, what are the, what are the other attractions that are possible to create other experiences outside of just reading this book?

So I love that vre valuable repurposed experience. I've never heard that before, but I love how you kind of tie that in to taking the books to the next level. And, you know, I'm thinking about my book that I have on Amazon and, and if somebody purchases on Amazon, they also get access to my private audio feed that goes along with the book and it has a workbook. So a couple of things that you mentioned there, but you're right, there's a lot of different ways that you can kind of take that experience and, you know, keep engaging with your community that's reading, reading your book. So another question that I have for you, and I think a lot of people out here can relate to this. They have this book or they want to have this book, and. But they don't really have a large email list or even a large social media following. What do you have to say about that? Do they need a large audience to be successful?

No, no, not at all. I think that it's really, I mean, essentially you have different options when it comes to. Based on where you are, if you will. So if you're an, if you're an author who doesn't have a large audience yet, you can use your book. And again, these other vres that we discussed, we can use them as means to build up your lead generation. To build up your list is really, it becomes more of a, you know, essential, like a chess game. How can I set up the pieces of my experiences from my book to attract people, bring them into my world, have an upsell for them, you know, as they go through this journey with me. So what I love about, you know, even if you are an author, you don't have a huge list. You can use the content of your book to be something with which to attract people to your world.

Parchell, if somebody is wanting, if they have a book or they're launching one soon and they want to take it to the next level. With these other VRE experiences that you talked about, what would be some of the first steps that they would need to take?

Yeah, absolutely. The first step in this process is really to look for and talk to your. Look, you know, get it, get in touch with your community, your readers, and ask from them what's next or what are the challenges they're experiencing. And I think from there it's going to be such, you'll be in such a better position to determine what kind of experiences you can create on the back end. This is something that I also feel that, you know, some support is going to be needed. So the same way that a lot of authors have been able to publish their books, you didn't do it alone. So we, we provide on our end as what we recommend is an audit. Right. Do an audit and a strategy of your book to help us, you know, we can help you identify essentially what are, what options do you have? Right. We're going to take a look at how much time and availability that you have, the resources that you have, what, what currently are we working with? So that way we can develop a strategy with you to determine, you know, what those next steps can be. So I guess it is an invitation to come and have a conversation with us to, to figure out what those next steps can be, but that's what I would recomm recommend. Get in touch with your audience, understand where they are, where they're at, start to consider what experiences you can create for them and then talk with a professional, talk with somebody that can help you put the pieces together to see, oh, wow, there is a way I can not only sell companion products, but I can sell more books in the process.

So can you tell us about some of the clients that you've worked with in the past that had a book and they did some of these extra experiences around it? And no, not giving us maybe any names if that's confidential, but kind of give us some ideas of what some of your, you know, current clients or past clients have done?

Yeah, absolutely. So I'll, I'll share this one story. I'm really excited because his book is just released for the holiday season. What I loved about his, his book releasing, the strategy that he implemented was that he only released this to his existing membership. His book did not go on Amazon, but essentially it was a gift to his membership to really be the spark from within to attract more people through referrals and through just the ambassadorship of his community. So first of all, I love that strategy. But nevertheless, he had this new book and this book that he released is actually the answer to his first book. And so together we were able to create an online course for both of these books. We also conducted an exclusive, an exclusive interview that's going to be essentially used as a lead magnet within his campaign. And also we were able to develop a toolkit with him. So this toolkit is essentially MBA level for business and decision making and growing and selling and exiting a business. And so we also developed a toolkit of, I think we're over 60 different tools, tools within this toolkit that are digital, that can be purchased along with a membership. So it's, they've utilized all of these VREs and beautiful fashions and I'm just so, so excited. So his, his is a new, a new release as I mentioned, but as a gift to his community and as well as a way to spread the word further, we were able to connect with that and develop these other VREs with him to again create that journey and make it more valuable for his audience.

So Parchell, any last minute tips you have for the audience before we wrap it up here?

Thank you. Yeah, I love talking about this stuff. I'm happy to continue further, my team and I to have a discussion with anybody who's interested in this and what we can do and help other authors. But what I want most of us to walk away with from this conversation is something I love to say a lot and I've heard it and kind of tweaked it as my own. But publishing creates credibility, but products create cash. And the digital products that you create on the back end of your book can not only create the impact that you want, but again create the opportunity for you to have more income to show for it. And so I'm really excited as we go into the next year and going forward, what we're able to do to help authors. And one of those is with developing what we're calling a book revenue stream. This is a source through which an author and earns additional income through a suite of VREs that are based on their book.

So Parchell, where can people find you if they want to get in touch?

They can go to theauthorsleverage.com we're also on all social media platforms and you can find us at the Authors Leverage.

And I will make sure that those links are in the show notes so people can find you. And thank you so much for joining me and sharing your knowledge about how authors can monetize their books.

Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for having me. Destiny.

Thank you.

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