How to Use Gumroad to Your Advantage with Amy Young

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. It's time to let your light shine. Today I'm rolling out the red carpet and inviting you to join me for this expert interview with Amy Young. Welcome, Amy.

Thanks, Shelly. It's such a pleasure to be here. Yeah.

And I first met Amy at the Writers on the Rock Conference, Amazing conference, if you ever get a chance to go here in Colorado. And she's one of the main organizers. Right. What's your title?

Yeah, we're title list, but we all work hard.

It's an amazing conference and so we have developed a friendship, gotten to know each other, and so I'm excited for her to share with you today. And I'm just going to share with you a little bit of her bio and we're going to dive in because this is going to be a juicy one. I think you're really going to enjoy this interview. Amy Young is the author of Looming Transitions, Starting and Finishing well and Cross Cultural Service. She lived in China for over 18 years. Wow, that's awesome. When she first moved to China, she knew three Chinese words. Hello, thank you, and watermelon. That is so funny.

But she's known to jump in without all the facts and blogs regularly at the Messy Middle. She also works extensively, extensively with Velvet Ashes as content creator and curator, book club host and connection group coordinator. So for this week's Center Stage Spotlight training, I'm going to have Amy share with you all about how to use Gumroad to your advantage. So welcome, Amy. And starting off, tell us a little bit of what Gumroad is and how you got started with it.

Well, let me first of all just say, like, I'm not an affiliate. I don't know anybody who works at Gumroad. So. So if anyone is an expert and they're like, that's not really what we do. This is my understanding of what Gumroad is. Gumroad is a website that allows you to sell all kind of products, whether they're digital or physical. They could be books, they could be mugs, T shirts. And I found it because I, as you mentioned, I wrote my book. And probably like many of your authors, one of the things Shelley, I appreciate about you so much is how you're always encouraging people to think I'll say beyond the covers, like, really the covers. I think too often the enemy wants us to see that as, like a boundary line of it's done. I think God encourages us to say, it's a starting line. This is a starting line.

I love that.

Isn't that like. And it's just such a mindset. And I hadn't even realized how much I had fallen into it. Like, I thought the book was kind of the finish line and didn't realize. Oh.

And probably, like many of your writers, I've heard you say it. And I keep saying it because it might take, oh, say, 400 times for someone like. Because I think you think, well, that applies to everybody else. And then you think about your book, but whatever mine is about, whatever little thing yours is about, and you just think, this doesn't apply to me. And I think that is just one of the great lies of the enemy. And to have us think, and we have the most creative God. And if he the idea for your book, and maybe he does want it just to be a book. And I don't mean just maybe your product is that book. And that's fine. But I think for more of us, there's more to our books than we realize. And so as you encourage people to do, just pray about it. And so I wrote a book, and I thought this is. And probably, like many of you, when you get to the end of a book, you're kind of tired of it, right?

Oh, my goodness. Like, so much. You've, like, proofed it, edited it. You've, you know, formatting everything. You're like, I'm done.

And it's sort of like asking someone right after they've given birth or come out of surgery, you know, do you want to do that?

Yeah.

That was. That so much had gone into it, and it had been such a process because it was my first book that I thought, you know, this. Nope.

Good.

Because if it took that much effort to get this done, any other future products, I just didn't have it in me. But after it was birthed into the world and people started reading it, I got two recurring questions. And I think that could also be one way that God speaks. Encouragement. We don't have to come up with. This is also what is so wonderful. It's not on us.

I love that.

Yeah.

And the questions people are asking you on a recurring basis. Ding, ding, ding, ding. That's either something you can create, free content, lead magnet, other products. I mean, those are things. They're asking you those questions for a reason, and you can help answer. And Solve those problems.

Yes. And I think for each of us, you know, each person listening to this has their own product or their own book and will know what's kind of right for them. But one of the questions I got repeatedly was, Amy, do you mind if I print off those Questions from chapter 10? And on 1 hand, you know, I didn't because I really made this book to serve people. And yet I also thought, you know what? But I also did put a lot of time, money and effort into it. And I also believe if someone pays for something, even if it's a little bit, they might be a little bit more invested in it.

Exactly.

And so I thought to myself, on one hand, no, I don't mind. But on the other hand, I saw an opportunity because you could take those questions. Sort of what they were asking indirectly was, do you have a workbook that goes with this book?

Yes.

And they didn't use that language. So that's, I think, another thing for people to be listening to. Maybe your readers aren't using exactly the words, but what's kind of the idea, the bigger idea? And so I wanted to make a workbook, but because I did live in China and my book is for people who are on the we don't use the M Word mission field.

Because it was for them. Most of my readers or a significant percentage don't actually live in the US So going a traditional route for a workbook wasn't going to be cost effective or really even time effective for them by the time they ordered it. And let's say they did. Let's say they're in India and they do print on demand out of England. It just takes too long and it costs way too much money.

Yeah.

And they have that felt need right then. So I was like, how can I get the material to them in a timely fashion, in a cost effective fashion and in a fashion that they'll actually use it. Because again, I'm not making this. Neither are you just to fill bookshelves or just to create stuff. We want to get material and just truth into people's hearts that God wants them to have to meet them where they are, wherever that is. Now I'm going to play the role of people listening to this and think, well, I don't have people living overseas, so I'm not going to need this. That's not true. Stay tuned. Stay tuned. So Graphic Artist and I made a downloadable PDF and with the PDF, why I really like PDFs is you can have text boxes. So if someone wants to do it on the type in, or if they want to print it out, and then where the little text boxes are or blank spaces, they can hand write it in. So it gave different options for those who either wanted to do it sort of digitally or. Or those who wanted to have a physical product and then they could just print it out. Because everyone has a printer. Somewhere in the world, everyone has a printer. And then another question I kept getting asked was, well, what resources do you have for children in Transitions?

Interesting.

Yeah. And I was like, oh, and again, what's so humorous, and this is what I just love about God, is, you know, I'm actually single and I don't have any children, but that mean I don't have something to offer to families in transition. And so I wrote a companion guide. I pulled out Looming Transitions and I just kind of went through chapter by chapter and I thought, okay, if this is the advice for mom and dad, how can we take this and create activities that will help mom and dad to take what they're learning and incorporate it into their family at different age level, age appropriate levels, and helping the family then to create their own family vocabulary and their own going through this together again, I think the enemy wants us to kind of go journey separate. But as much as we can have at least a shared vocabulary, you know, the journey is going to be different. And so I made that, and now it's also a downloadable PDF up on Gumroad. And then that one got converted into a Kindle book because that was not like a fill in the blank kind of a thing.

Yeah. Awesome. So you created now how many products?

Well, I kind of then got Gumroad excited.

Oh.

So this is not the end of the story.

No, but I don't need it. What I also really like about Gumroad is you have as with other means, but you have pricing control, so you can make it free. So I've made some Bible studies that are free on there. So then you can just get good quality material into people's hands for free through Velvet Ashes. And I then wanted to have my book also be an Audible book. And I know many people love Audible and it's a wonderful venue. However, what I'm not the keenest on Audible is their pricing, I think sometimes can be exorbitant. And I just thought, well, there are ways to get quality material into people's hands at a reasonable rate. So I hired a voiceover artist. She happens to be my sister, but.

That'S handy. It was handy. She recorded the book and Gumroad has an option so they really, you can upload all kind of products. So I uploaded each chapter. Gumroad has two different apps. One for me is the seller. And then if you're someone that uses Gumroad, then they also have an app for the person purchasing.

So.

So on the app someone can listen to the book exactly as if it is. I mean, that's what I love is they do all the professional stuff and they handle the pricing or they handle all the financial stuff. So it's kind of, I think, ideal for those of us who have products but aren't ready or don't want to invest our time, money and effort into like setting up a store and tracking all the finance and answering technical questions.

Yeah, so I have a lot of my author writings, academy members that want to get started and are not very authors typically are not very technical savvy. We're creatives. I am technical savvy. I don't love it, but I can do it. But Gumro is actually what I chose and recommended for my members to get started. Just, I mean, I literally, I have a step by step training inside author audience academy, the whole process, how to set it up. You can set up a product literally in 15 minutes. It does not, it's, I mean, it's not rocket science. And some of the, some of my members that did it, they're like, Shelly, I don't know why I've been waiting so long. And you know, and it's just like, it's so much easier than I thought it was. There's always these, you know, mind blocks and these things and you know, so yeah, I mean, it just, it's such an easy way, low barrier to entrance to start selling products. And yeah, Gumroad takes care of most of it for you. They have an affiliate program so you can have other people promote you. I mean, it's really, it's really great. You pay the most small percentage to do all that work for you, so it's definitely worth it.

Well, and if people are already selling on like let's say Amazon or Kobo or other places, you actually get a higher percentage from Gumroad. And I'm like, I'm very willing to pay you to do the parts I don't want to do. And then it me up to do what I want to do.

I have people that will tell me, okay, Shelly, I'm taking payments through PayPal and then I'm manually sending this out. I'm manually doing this. I mean, I'm like, don't you know, I mean, you can automate all of that. And when you set it up on Gumroad, it's all automated. You don't have to be sitting behind your computer delivering, you know, even digital products or whatever, looking for sales. You can actually just. It's like passive income, you know, you can relax and it's all automated. So that's the thing that you must, you know, if you're selling products, you must find a system and Gumroad is the easiest one to start with. I'm not saying that it's going to be the solution for everyone, but. But yeah, I mean, it's automated. They do it for you, they deliver the product, they handle the money. And so it's just, it is, it's a really great option.

And when you create a product, you'll see on your product page there's, you know, three tabs product and then the second tab, I just want to briefly look, I'm not seeing it on my list, but is I think options. And on options they give you options. Like for example, you could set a percentage off, 25% off or a dollar amount off, $5 off. So they'll give you code for that. You can also set a number like the first 100 will pay this number, this price. And then on the product page It'll have the countdown. 87 left. At this price, 17 left. Oh, I better buy my product. So they again, they build all that in that helps you as a newish author or just kind of learning about selling products. Get started and look really professional.

Yeah, and anytime you do a promotion, you're giving them a reason to buy now. If you've heard any of my podcasts in the past, I'm always talking about with even book launches or whatever, give them a reason to buy now. Give them an incentive, a reason. And if you have some sort of timer or countdown or something, that's even better. But coupons, all of those things work. Really, really. And so I love that it's all built in. Well, as we're kind of coming to a close, do you have any last things that you want to share about Gumroad before we get into our last really quick thing?

Is another advantage is you can upload multiple things. So let's say you're a fiction writer and you're thinking, this has nothing to do with me. You could make a PDF map of the town where your thing is placed in, your story is placed in and record a brief tour. So then you can upload the PDF of the map and the MP3. So that's what I love, is a lot of options for bundling. And then you could bundle all of your books or all of this. So if people want to buy it separately, they can pay more, but if they want to bundle. So it's fun to play around. At first, it just feels intimidating. But Gumroad is so user friendly. And so if this is triggering things in you or the spirit is stirring in your heart, I just want to encourage everyone to try and tell Shelly what you tried.

Let us know. I love it when someone takes action and puts it to action. And yeah, it's definitely for fiction or nonfiction because, you know, I've told all my authors you can sell PDFs, you can sell the audiobook version, you can sell even if it's just your book, you know, but fiction, there's so much other things that you can also offer. And so I love that you shared that. Well, what is your Take Action tip for us today?

My Take Action tip is take one of your books out that you don't have any other products and brainstorm a few and just see where the spirit leads and then try one of them. Try one of them. Whether it's on Gumroad or somewhere else, try to create another product from one of your books.

Awesome.

Yeah.

And I have a couple other podcast episodes all about products.

So.

So you can search my website, shellyhits.com I have where I am brainstorming products for Christian nonfiction authors just for other authors. So definitely look for those resources too. If you're stuck, I'm available in authoridanceacademy.com to brainstorm with you. And we also have that step by step training on Gumroad in there. But thank you so much, Amy, for sharing your experience and what you have learned. And are you making sales?

I am. Again, I love it. Every two weeks I get you've been earned this much from Gumroad.

So you're making consistent income.

I'm making consistent income.

Awesome. How awesome is that? I love that. And so what is the best way for people to connect with you online if they're interested in what you're doing and your books and your products?

The best way would just be my blog, which is messy middle dot com.

I love it. Messy middle dot com. So thank you so much for joining us and sharing and thank all of you for being here for listening. We truly do pray that you don't just listen to this, but you actually put it to action. You actually pray about it. Ask God brainstorm and do something with this information. It's powerful. I mean so powerful when you really grasp a hold of this concept. So thank you all for joining us today and I will see you next time. Bye bye. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Author Audience. I would like to invite you to attend one of my free trainings all about how to sell more books without being pushy or self promotional. It's called Amplify youy Message. Plus I will give you two free gifts just for attending. No credit card required. First you'll get my best selling book 9 Strategies to Build and grow your Author Platform. And you'll also get my ebook titled List Vend 5 powerful emails you can use immediately to grow your business. These are basically fill in the blank style templates and and they are yours at no charge when you join us for the training. You can sign up for my free training by going to shellyhits.com/ that's shellyhitz.com s h e l l e y h I t z.com amplify this training and the two bonus ebooks are free and I would love to help you sell more books.

Thanks for listening to this episode of 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.