Free Time with Jenny Blake 271: Specific Road-Tested Tips for Book Sales and Marketing with Todd Sattersten (Part Two)
Todd Sattersten, publisher and owner of Bard Press, shares invaluable insights from his journey in the publishing world. He emphasizes that advance copies are a marketing event, not just a preview. Discover the significance of the Table of Contents as a sales tool and how to attract ideal readers with a concise three-sentence problem statement. Todd discusses innovative strategies for engaging audiences pre-launch and highlights the importance of brevity in chapters to keep readers captivated. His approach is a roadmap for authors aiming to amplify their book’s impact.
53:40
Physical Galleys
- Consider sending physical galleys of your book to key people.
- A physical copy can be more impactful than a digital one and can influence bulk purchases.
Pre-Launch Audience Building
- Build an audience before launching your book by focusing on two groups: bulk buyers and broadcasters.
- Create a spreadsheet and personally reach out to each person; don't rely on generic emails.
Invest in Your Book
- If your publisher restricts physical galleys, buy some yourself to distribute strategically.
- This investment can lead to valuable engagement and other business opportunities.
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Intro
00:00 • 2min
Mastering Book Sales and Marketing Strategies
01:56 • 7min
Innovative Strategies for Advanced Book Copies
08:43 • 5min
Building an Audience Before Publication
13:29 • 27min
Navigating Book Marketing with Systems and Amazon Features
40:03 • 3min
The Art of Book Design
42:52 • 5min
Embracing Conciseness and Long-term Marketing in Book Publishing
47:38 • 6min
Your First 1000 Copies
Leslie Watts
Tim Grahl
Your First 10,000 Copies: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Successful Book Launch is a guide for authors on how to market and sell their books. Author Tim Grahl provides a practical, step-by-step approach to building a successful book launch, emphasizing the importance of a long-term strategy. The book covers various aspects of book marketing, including pre-launch activities, launch strategies, and post-launch promotion. Grahl's approach is data-driven, emphasizing the importance of tracking results and making adjustments based on performance. The book is a valuable resource for authors seeking to maximize their book sales.
Pivot
The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One
Jenny Blake
In 'Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One', Jenny Blake introduces the Pivot Method, a four-stage process (Plant, Scan, Pilot, and Launch) designed to help individuals navigate career changes effectively. The book is tailored for anyone seeking a new career direction, considering a second career, or looking to use their talents in new ways. Blake draws from her experience at Google and her own career transitions to provide practical advice, case studies, and interactive exercises to help readers manage the risks associated with change and find new opportunities. The book emphasizes the importance of doubling down on existing strengths, identifying new skills to develop, running small experiments, and taking smart risks to launch in a new direction.
Give to Grow
Invest in Relationships to Build Your Business and Your Career
Mo Bunnell
In 'Give to Grow', Mo Bunnell emphasizes the importance of relationships in long-term business success. He addresses common mental roadblocks that hinder business development and advocates for a growth mindset grounded in generosity. The book teaches readers how to solve clients' problems, invest in their success, and build a system to integrate these practices into their busy work lives. It blends the science of selling with the art of human connection, promoting business growth through meaningful and enjoyable relationships.
American Kingpin
The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road
Nick Bilton
American Kingpin tells the story of Ross Ulbricht, a libertarian-leaning programmer who built the Silk Road, an online marketplace for drugs and other illicit goods on the dark web. The book details Ulbricht's transformation from a college dropout to the mastermind behind a billion-dollar drug empire, and his eventual capture by law enforcement. The narrative is filled with twists and turns, including the involvement of crooked FBI agents, murder-for-hire plots, and the complex interplay between technology, libertarian ideology, and law enforcement.
Free Time
Lose the Busy Work, Love the Business
Jenny Blake
The One Thing
The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
Jay Papasan
Gary Keller
The book discusses the benefits of prioritizing a single task and provides strategies for overcoming distractions, building productive habits, and maintaining focus. It challenges common productivity myths such as multitasking and the idea of a balanced life, and introduces the 'Focusing Question': 'What's the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?' The authors also discuss time blocking, habit-building, and aligning short-term actions with long-term goals to achieve success in various aspects of life[1][3][5].
This Is Strategy
Make Better Plans
Seth Godin
In this book, Seth Godin provides a framework for effective and elegant strategic thinking. He challenges readers to identify their 'smallest viable audience' and make remarkable work, understand and influence the systems shaping our world, prioritize long-term thinking over instant gratification, and make smart, purposeful choices that shape a better tomorrow. The book is designed for leaders, entrepreneurs, and change-makers seeking lasting transformation in their careers and communities.
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
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