The Art of Book Design

Hi Friends! Although the podcast is still paused, I'm dropping into the feed this week and next with two very special conversations :)

Today is a bonus episode from February for paid subscribers with Todd Sattersten, publisher and owner of Bard Press, and next week features Seth Godin and his new book, This Is Strategy.

If you haven't already listened, check out part one here (episode 261) first. Todd is so committed to helping his authors succeed that he only publishes one book each year. Today he's sharing how to investigate and possibly reposition a book when a launch isn’t gaining traction, his three-sentence problem statement to attract ideal readers, and why the Table of Contents and first chapter are essential parts of the marketing process.

🌟 5 Key Takeaways

• Advance copies are a marketing event: Will they do something with the physical book?
• Two B’s for categories of people that can be most helpful: bulk and broadcasters.
• Most book launch activities don’t scale: You are the beacon for people to find the book.
• Title should always be a change function: show the change that they will experience reading the book with the title, subtitle, and book description. 1) State the truth. 2) What's the surprise? 3) Twist to drive the point home.
• The Table of Contents is marketing copy! It should read like sales copy to draw people in. Chapter one is also marketing copy, and be sure to include a quick win, because most people won’t finish (sadly). Write short chapters! Give the reader payoffs.

📝 Permission

Drop the idea that your launch day is 24 hours. Taking a page from Tim Grahl’s Your First 1000 Copies, just do one thing a week. Use the HBO model of a little bit every week, not the Netflix binge release-watch.

✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next

With the Free Time book approaching its three-year bookiversary on March 22, 2025, help 🎁 give the gift of free time :D

• Don’t miss the handy Chapter Summaries and Leader Kit (PDFs)
• Want to try before you buy? Read the free excerpt here » (Web)
• Check out my author toolkit here »
• Take the Free Time reader survey I sent, whether you’ve read the book or not
• VIP Day with Jenny: via Free Time Operations Dashboard

🔗 Resources Mentioned

• Todd on the web, IG, X, LinkedIn, Bard Press
• Todd's Articles: The Magic Number, and The Few, The Many, and the Reality of Power Laws
• McSweeney’s: MY COMMENTS ARE IN THE GOOGLE DOC LINKED IN THE DROPBOX I SENT IN THE SLACK 
• What is Net Promoter Score (NPS)?
• Book Indexer: Michelle Guiliano — Line by Line Indexing (web) and This is indexing. (Substack)
• X thread by Jason Colavito: Publishing stats for 2022
• EPJ Data Science: Success in books: predicting book sales before publication

📚 Books Mentioned

• The One Thing by Jay Papasan and Gary Keller
• American Kingpin by Nick Bilton
• Your First 1000 Copies by Tim Grahl
• The Snowball System and Give to Grow by Mo Bunnell
• Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business 
• Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 
• Life After College 

🎧 Related Episodes

• Self-Publishing School: The Engineer Approach to Millions of Copies Sold with Todd Sattersten
• Billion Dollar Creator: 018: How to Write a Book That Sells for Decades with Tim Grahl
• Free Time: 268: Strategies for Surpassing “The Magic Number” of Book Sales
• 064: The Vulnerability of Launching
• 084: Sprinkling the First 1,000 Serendipity Seeds of a Launch
• 103: How to Land a Literary Agent and Publisher with David Moldawer (Part One) and (Part Two)
• 203: 🎢 Riding the Emotional Rollercoaster of Launching with Natalie Lue
• Pivot: 207: How to Develop Your Book and Big Idea (Part 1) and (Part 2)
• 49: The (He)art of Book Publishing Excerpt: Land a Traditional Publishing Deal — Q&A with My Editor at Portfolio/Penguin Random House

✍️ Check out my personal business essays at Rolling in D🤦🏻‍♀️h with Jenny Blake

💌 Subscribe to Free Time with Jenny Blake for access to the Free Time Toolkit

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices