How John Horvat Sold (or Distributed) Over 90,000 Books

This is episode 40 of Author Audience.

Welcome to the Author Audience show, the podcast that helps you reach more people with your message, create a book, connect with your audience, change lives. Here's your host, Shelly Hitz.

Welcome to Author Audience, where I'm on a mission to help you reach more people with your message, and it's time to let your light shine. Today I'm rolling out the red carpet and inviting you into my community for a behind the scenes look at what's working for authors just like you. My name is Shelley Hitz and I'm the owner and creator of Author Audience Academy. And one of the most rewarding parts of my job is helping others get results and reach their goals. So in this episode, I'm going to position the spotlight on one of my members joining John Horvat. Hi, John, how are you?

Great. Great to be on.

I'm so excited for you to share because you've had incredible success. And I'm just going to share just a little bit about your bio here. But just as we dive in, just so people know that you're speaking from experience, how many books have you been able to really sell and distribute?

Well, we're at 91,000 books.

Yeah. And this is for one book, Right?

We've gone through four printings as well.

Yes.

So two hardback and two paperbacks.

Yeah. So this is really gonna be a great interview. But I just want to tell you a little bit about John. John is a scholar, a researcher, educator, international speaker, and he's author of the book Return to Order. So this is the book that he was just talking about. That's they've sold over 90,000 copies, and he's appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Christian Post, American Thinker, the Blaze, Fox News, Washington Times, and so much more. He has a great variety of things that you can read on his bio, but he also enjoys jogging and fencing, so that was kind of cool. And he lives in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania. I grew up in Pennsylvania, Western Pennsylvania. So I'm so excited to have you on this episode today because I think you have a lot of insight and wisdom that you can share with other authors. So in this week's Center Stage Spotlight training, I'm going to have John share some of the strategies he's used to be able to sell and distribute his book to thousands. So, John, welcome.

Yes, thank you very much.

So tell us a little bit, like, what kind of techniques have worked the best for you to sell your book?

Okay. I'm in a sort of privileged position because I have A lot of help. That's a team that works together with me to sell books and to distributed books. And so I have people that do my statistics, do my everything. So I actually have a spreadsheet.

I know. I was impressed you told me you had this spreadsheet.

You can see it's a big stretch chase that has. I've categorized some 20 different ways in which we've actually sold or distributed books, and probably 20 subcategories that definitely are part of that.

Oh, wow.

So as the categories, I'm sure you know that these. The best ones are email, for example. Email is a very good avenue to sell and distribute your books. And.

I have access to several large email lists and also return to order. The website that is for the book has its own email list. And so we are constantly adding to that list. It's a very, very important thing. You can't stress that enough, the importance of email and the importance of getting a list of emails and sharing lists with other people as well.

Yeah, And I love that you say that because I teach this all the time. And so many authors are hesitant to really invest time and. Or money, you know, in an email subscription service. But it is so powerful when you have that list of people that you can then continue to grow relationship with and promote to. Have you been able to. I know you have, like, you're really good with knowing your numbers and stuff. Have you been able to know from your email list like. Like the sales that you've gotten from that? I mean, I know it's hard to always say exactly.

Right. It's trackable and I've, you know, on the spreadsheet, but let's say, I would say of that, 91,000, let's say 12,000 came from email, which is really great.

Yeah, that is very significant.

Right, Right.

Yeah. And what would you say would be, like, some of your other top methods that have worked well for you?

Well, I have. Well, I have, again, a very privileged position. And.

There are people I have contacts with, people who actually do sales in homes and things and make presentations. And so, again, it's personal. And so, of course, you sell a lot of books that way. And so.

They are actually members of my organization as part of their outreach. They do reach out to people in their homes and talk to gatherings. And so when they emphasize the book, they sell a lot of books.

So it's kind of like a speaking engagement in a way.

It is. Yes, exactly. And there are some of my friends of my organization, which is tradition, family property.

There's One that has sold 2,000 books.

Wow.

And another one has sold a thousand. And we had two or three have sold a thousand. So, I mean, you can't beat that. It's personal. It's, you know, and engaging. And so I'm privileged in that respect.

Right.

It's definitely any way you can make a personal engagement. You're gonna sell books.

I love that. So I want authors that, you know. There may be some authors in your position, but a lot of them may just be on their own, you know, doing this. But think of it like a speaking engagement. So anytime you're able to be in front of people, sharing on your topic, educating them on your topic, it's more than likely that they're going to be interested in buying your book. But what, like if. Let's say somebody has a cause. Like you have a cause, you have an organization that people really want to get behind. Let's say somebody's book is similar to that. They have a cause. They have something that they could maybe recruit some people to help them. Do you have any tips on how you've been able to do that with the people that you have on your team?

Well, the people on my team are very, very enthusiastic. And that helps.

Yes.

They've gone through the whole process with me, and they really cooperated. And you cannot replace enthusiasm.

Exactly.

When you have that enthusiasm, it's contagious. I mean, there's someone out there that's addressing these people, and I would buy the book.

Yeah.

He's so engaging and so convincing. So if you can get those. If you can get that enthusiasm going, you've got really helps.

I love it. So how do they just set up these meetings on their own, or does your organization help them?

It's a type of outreach that is already in place. So we just added this book to.

It and so awesome. I love it. Yeah. What are, you know, what are some other things that you've done that have proved to be successful?

Well, of course, book signings and books presentations. Those are always very, very good. They're not always. You're not going to get huge amounts, as you know, you probably. But you'll never really go wrong in going to a book selling and selling books at a signing because you make a personal connection with the audience, you make a personal connection with the reading, and you also make contacts, exposure, and you can often get another contact, another engagement from that. So I've been very, very. Every time I can do something like that, I do. And sometimes you sell one. Other times you sell 20 or 30. So, you know.

You never can tell, but it should not discourage you from going ahead.

Yeah. And so what I hear you saying is that it's like the momentum builds. Like the more events you do, you, you know, it's. It might be 30 here, it might be two here, it might be four here, but it's like it builds. And then if you can get referrals, like, do you have any tips for how you've been able to get referrals for other events when you're at something?

I've never really formally asked for referrals as such. I do get into contact. I do talk to the people when that, when there is a signing, if I see an opportunity, I say, well, would you be interested? Don't be afraid, you know, say that. Because if they are interested in buying the book, obviously they're interested in spreading it to others. So I just simply, I follow up a lot on these people to see.

I think that's, I think it's key. You've mentioned a couple things so far. The personal connection, whether it's email, it's, you know, personal, like speaking engagements in people's homes or book signings, it's like that personal connection. And I think that is so key, you in our marketing efforts. Like, sometimes we just want to be this billboard, you know, we just want to be advertising and just, you know, build it and they will come. But what I'm hearing you say is a lot of your success has come from those personal contacts. And I found the same thing to be true as well. And then the other thing is follow up. I mean, a common phrase in marketing is the fortune is in the follow up.

Absolutely. No, you just can't. I'll follow them until they say no.

Sometimes even a year or even longer. You just keep going after it and you finally do get your event or you do get success.

Yeah. And so I think a lot of authors get discouraged quickly and easily. And instead of continuing on, booking that next book signing, following up with that lead, following up with that person that showed interest, you know, it's easy to get into this mindset of, oh, I feel like a failure instead of saying, okay, that didn't work this time, let's try something else, or let's follow up with them, you know, you know, maybe they didn't call me back right away, but I'll follow up again and see where that leads. And so I think there is some persistence.

Oh, yeah, it has to be that. You have to have and you have to get To. We're used to the idea that you can have the best team in the world and the most enthusiastic team in the world. But when push comes to shove, you are the person that has to really get involved. If you don't get involved and you say, well, I'll leave it to the team, it's not going to go ahead. I learned that in the beginning of this campaign when I was doing the book, some people were in charge of doing certain things. And all of a sudden I realized I really have to get involved. If I don't get involved, this isn't going ahead. So you just get involved.

Yeah. And I think that is a really good tip. You have a team and you have a lot of volunteers and a lot of team members and a lot of people in your organization, but you're still very involved. Like. Like you're very involved in everything.

Right. I even have a spreadsheet of my involvement. I spend time in which I study.

Yeah.

A certain amount of hours that I do study every day, but I also. A certain amount of hours I promote. Because you have to be constant. You can't just. You have to constantly be working on it. You cannot just let it go for a week or a month. You have to be there, and just little by little, you'll get results.

Yeah. And I often encourage authors that it's the consistent actions over time. It's not necessarily those big things, but the little things. And one thing I've heard you saying recently is you've gotten into a habit of writing content and writing a little bit every day or consistently every week. And that's really helping you in your marketing because it's blog posts, it's content for social media or for your email list and, you know, for other products. Like, I know you're creating a workbook, and so, you know, you've seen success with that. Right. Just the small, you know, very much.

I did one of your workshops where you stressed that, and that really helped me because my metric was hours of study.

So I would read books and read and do the types of study, but I didn't necessarily think in terms of actually writing. And when I said, well, wait a minute, I have to establish a metric for writing too, that really, it just. A light bulb came up and said, well, this is the way you're going to have to. I'm going to have to go. Because writing is very important in the promotion and blogs and all the things that you need to do, and writing of speeches and writing of articles. So it is very important.

Yeah. And for those of you interested, you can Sign up@writingweek.com for the first free, free, seven days for free. And get more information on that from me. But John, is there any other things like where our time is going so fast, but is there any other strategies that before our time is up that you want to share that have really worked well for you or advice or something like that?

Well, I mean, I do have a very aggressive campaign about radio show.

I think I almost close to 300 interviews on the book itself or the pitch of the book. And that has been very helpful to get the word out. It's two or three interviews a week. And it really.

You can sense that it's hard to measure that because there are not really ways you can see why they bought it. But you definitely, as you go along, you hear people say, oh, I heard that on the radio. I saw this on the radio. I saw this, this interview, that interview. So it, it definitely has an effect. And so you shouldn't get discouraged if you give an interview and you don't see a spike. It's. It's not, it's not. You're getting out there. You're getting your exposure. I think that's very important.

Yeah, and that's a lot like, that is really impressive to me. I, I've said this before to you, but I'm like, you have so much content just from your interviews that you've done. But I know you have someone that helps you get those interviews, right? Like, do you have any tips for authors that may not have, you know, access to that? Like, you know, as far as booking things for maybe radio or podcast interviews, things like that?

Yeah, I definitely have. There is a company that does schedule them, but in the, in the course of promoting the book there, I also meet people who are on radio and I've got, I have solicited on my own and got a lot, a number of good interviews who just. You.

Don'T only think in talking in terms of your book, but how your book relates to current events and make it interesting for them. Don't make it look like a promotion of your book. And if you are able to give an angle to your book that will frame the book in those terms, you'll get interviews. And I have gotten several, A lot of interviews that way.

Yeah, I love that because that is so true with basic publicity, you know, if you're trying to get on tv, radio, you know, whatever, that. What is the hook? You know, how can you connect that with current events? Do you have an example of a recent interview that you've done of how you connected it with something that was of interest versus just promoting your book.

Yes. I've been doing a lot of interviews about the election cycle.

Yeah.

The title of the book is Return to Order. And so order and election cycle, especially this disordered election cycle.

Oh, man.

Has been a winner. I've been getting a lot of interviews about.

Just different angles. I call it the cookie jar elections, where everybody's getting their hand in the cookie jar. Different aspects of disorder of our society and how it plays into that and how Return to Order definitely has something to say about it.

Yeah. So what you're doing is you're taking the fact that it's an election year and you're capitalizing on that with the media, tying it into your book. And for those of you that may be listening, that might be interested in what you have to offer, like, just give a little bit of an overview of what it is that you share in your book and how they can connect with you.

Okay. I do have a book here. I can show the book. Oh, yeah, that's one thing you should do, is show your book.

Yes, this is my book.

It's Return to Order. It's a book that helps people understand better where we went wrong in our society, in our culture, and. And where we need to go. It really describes a society, a healthy society, especially from a Christian point of view and a Catholic point of view. And it really addresses a lot of the problems. It's a very broad study. It's written in layman's terms. You don't have to be an economist to understand it. I'm not an economist. So it is a book. I think that I can talk about elections, I can talk about technology, I can talk about morality. I can talk about an enormous amount of subjects that this book addresses. And so that's. This has been very helpful in getting interviews and places to speak as well.

Yeah. And if you're interested in checking out his book, his website is returnto order.org and you can get all of the information there. Now, you do offer interesting twist, where you offer a free paperback version. Tell us just a little bit about that.

Well, I mean, obviously, we're not only interested in the book. It's more of a movement, developing a relationship.

With our audience. And I know authors have a problem. I had a problem. Free book.

Yeah, yeah.

Free this, free that. But it does actually build up momentum and it does help sales when you do give away free books and free things. So the Free paperback is something that we arrange so that the person signs up and signs up for the newsletter and they receive the free paperback, we ask them for Amazon reviews. It's been very, very successful and it's beginning to develop a relationship with an audience and I think it's been very helpful in cementing that.

Yeah. And so I think it's good for authors just to think outside the box, to hear different methods, different ways and strategies. You know, different strategies work well for different people, you know, depending on the topic of your book. And for you, getting the message out, gathering your tribe, those people that are passionate about your mission, that is so important to you. And so it's really worked well for you. How many paperbacks have you given away? Would you say?

About 10,000.

Okay, awesome.

Maybe a little less than that. Okay, we've sold 10,000. Yeah, we've given out and sold at 10,000 at this point.

Okay, yeah.

9,000. 10,000, yeah.

Awesome. Well, as we're coming to a close, I always like to have a take action tip. Now I know you, I think you have a few to share, but share some take action tips that those that are listening, that are authors could take as a result of listening to this training.

Okay. I have three. And it's, it's all follow, follow every avenue. Don't be afraid to try something new.

I like it.

Somebody told me that my book was on, it was on the Staples calendar catalog. And so I went into a Staples and said, can I do a book signing? And they said yes. Oh, some said no. But I mean I got a book signing in Staples of all places. I don't know why my book's on their catalog.

Why not do that?

So follow up every avenue that you can. Don't be afraid to follow up, to try. The worst that can happen is they say no. So that's it. Follow up every contact right away. Don't give up. Every interview, every radio interview, send an email thank you. Because they remember every single interview I try to send a thank you and I do thank them. I'm honestly very thankful for the opportunity. Yeah, but they do remember that. And you just follow up. This weekend I was at an event in Charlotte and I met somebody. I sent him an email. He automatically said, I'm coming to your book signing in Milwaukee and I'm going to try to arrange a signing in Madison.

So I mean, awesome.

And do it right away, don't tear it. And finally, follow advice of experts. That's where you come in. Because.

I've done so many stupid things. But you've already made the mistakes for me. And so if I can talk to the experts and see what has been done before, it's just an enormous amount of it helps enormously and it has helped me a lot to have people like yourself who have helped very much and you've already trailblazed and so it's just falling in the past. So I definitely think that is is very helpful. So follow every avenue, follow every contact, follow up every contact and follow advice. That would be my takeaway.

Awesome advice. Take that advice and go to John's website, returntoorder.org you can get a free paperback or order other versions of the book. Sign up for his email list and just connect. You know, I think it's good to really connect with other authors, see what they're doing and it may be topic that you're interested in as well. So thank you, John, so much for being here and for sharing your insight and your wisdom. I appreciate you.

It's been great and thank you for all you've done.

You're welcome. Thank you again for joining us on this episode of Author Audience, and I appreciate you. I appreciate you taking the time to spend with me each week and I'll see you next time.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Authority, the Author Audience Show. Connect with us online@authoraudience.com where you'll find all the resources mentioned in today's episode. While you're there, grab Shelley's free video training on how to write and publish your book using her six Step Ascent method. Join us again next week to learn how to reach your audience with your message.