Publishing a book using a launch company… to ensure it'll be a true hit.

[Justin Gesso]

Hello everyone, since we have a lot of self publishers here, I thought I'd share the "behind the scenes" and results of my own book launch.

What makes this book publication different?

I want to make a big splash, so I hired a book launch company to help me through. It's Epic Launch and you can check them out at epic-launch.com.

They’ve worked with Brian Tracy and a bunch of great author entrepreneurs, so I’m looking to ultimately turn my book into a growing business.

What's the timeline?

We are on countdown to release the book on August 9.

What's the book about?

It's called Leave the Grind Behind and is about everything you need to quit your job and start making money your way. It's about leaving the W2 world and chasing down what you like to do via freelancing, consulting, and entrepreneurship. Making more money and living life on your terms.

I consider myself a successful graduate of The Millionaire Fastlane . This is my take on how you can excel on that journey. See more at grindbehindbook.com.

What can you get out of this thread?

I am going to share as much as possible about the tactics, practices, and actual results. Hopefully this becomes a blueprint you can use for successful book, website, and product launches.

Why did I pay for a launch service?

I have a lot of background in marketing and even managed products for a Fortune 500. My work included launches. I've helped others with self publishing, but this is my first book. I want to squeeze everything out of it I can. I also want to learn from some pros so I can apply that to future book and products launches. Basically, I don't want to throw my book into the black hole of self-published Amazon books.

What are the goals?

1. Be an #1 international bestseller on Amazon
2. Pay back my investments within 6 months
3. Open the door to offshoot products I can sell
4. Build a personal brand
5. Open the door to media appearances and mentions

Overall strategy

1. Do a pre-launch of the book that will include free download and discounted print version…. With a major focus on building my email list (email is always the best way to sell online, hands down).
2. Get as many people (by email, phone, social, etc...) to buy and leave reviews as possible. Have them then share the book to help it go “viral” within my niche.
3. Raise the price based on triggers to achieve milestones.
4. Be on "Amazon's radar" and move to full price; have Amazon start to promote my book for me, by including it on the different bestseller pages, on related books, and also ranking high for certain key phrases related to my topic.
5. Manage the lifecycle of the book to ensure continued success.
6. Build an email list and audience that can then turn into different offerings that are more lucrative than a book sale.

What has been completed so far (along with the Epic Launch team)?

1. Book is complete and professionally edited
2. I've created a marketing website and am starting to add in content: grindbehindbook.com
3. A new fancy logo
4. Create lead magnet items (free downloads), professionally formatting
5. Final editing and structural changes to the book were finalized
6. Book formatted to mimic a New York Times quality book
7. Lots of professional 3D graphics, advertising and social media images

What's coming?

1. Get endorsements from some big names that my audience will know
2. Test landing pages (we’re using ClickFunnels) and ads
   1. Core landing pages:
      1. Email optin for book pre-launch
      2. Email optin from book for bonus resources, free training, book guide
      3. Additional lead magnets are to be created
3. Facebooks ads fully engaged and optimized
4. Social media blitz - Epic Launch tries to get a book in front of many hundreds of thousands of people during the launch via social media, forums and websites, email lists, etc.
5. Have a launch team set up
6. Build up my email list big time
7. Pre-launch the book, throttling the price
8. Hit initial review count stages - we aim for some reviews before the book is officially launched, and then try to get as many reviews as possible
9. Email blitz and free promo
10. Then rise up the paid charts.
11. Confirm #1 international bestseller status. Bam.
12. Then leverage the heck out of that success into more business momentum, program sales, continued book promotions, and more.

What's the technology stack?

1. Wordpress website
2. SociallyViral theme
3. OptinMonster for email opt ins on website
4. Buffer for Twitter and Facebook social media queuing
5. Zapier for Twitter auto-replies to new followers
6. Getresponse for email marketing
7. Click Funnels will be used (not setup yet)
8. Facebook for advertisements
9. Google Analytics - currently only goal of website is email subscribers
10. Potentially SumoMe for heat maps, and other tools
11. More to come...

What are my current advertisements?

1. $5 per day retargeting with Facebook post of one of my blog posts.
2. Spend of $5 to $15 per post on Facebook to boost. Still trying to gather data on my audience. Literally just started.
3. More will come, especially once ClickFunnels is set up.

What are current results?

1. Email opt-in rate from site is 5.6% (but it's early). This is from content marketing, not landing page marketing.
2. Website views of about 150 per day (it's early)
3. Email list size of 1,018 (again, early)
4. Much much more to come...

You tell me...

• What do you guys want to see or know?
• What recommendations do you have?
• Has anyone here used a launch team?
• Have you published a book? What are your best strategies that you’ve found?

PS - Epic Launch has graciously agreed to me posting this information here. There are some proprietary components to their success plan--naturally--which I may not be able to share. Fire away with questions and if I can't answer something, I'll just let you know.

 

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[Yoda]

What's your value proposition here? Why are you different?

 

[Justin Gesso]

What's your value proposition here? Why are you different?

Great question. To be sure, there are a lot of books, programs, etc... in this area. Many people enter the workforce and get stuck there, despite wanting to do something bigger or better. This book's value is that it's a highly actionable and tactical way to make that transition from the W2 world to one where you're making money as a freelancer, consulting, or entrepreneur doing something you enjoy and excel at.

If the question is the value of this thread...a lot of people here self-publish and may be wondering if it's worth engaging a company to help launch the book successfully.

 

[TheGrind]

Just curious, how much are you actually making per sale? I know publishing houses take MASSIVE cuts. That's the one reason self publishing has always looked more attractive to me.

 

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[Justin Gesso]

Just curious, how much are you actually making per sale? I know publishing houses take MASSIVE cuts. That's the one reason self publishing has always looked more attractive to me.

Hey, love the username.

This is still self-publishing. This company is there to help make it a successful launch. I pay them a set amount upfront.

They'll load it into Createspace and KDP for me...not that that's hard to do.

Their value really comes in terms of making sure the book gets noticed.

 

[Justin Gesso]

Closing this down and moving over to the self-publishing section: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...launch-company…to-ensure-itll-be-a-hit.69240/