6-time best-selling author, 500+ paid keynote talks, 300+ episodes of podcast hosting w/ sponsorships.
Something not going viral and you were "sure" it would? Word of mouth, but the mouths aren't moving? I'm the creator of the No Button, www.Nooooooooooooooo.com with 30,000,000 visits and counting. Also ran one of the most successful online viral video companies in the world back in the day of dial-up and Flash was new. I speak around the world on it and have written four books that talk about...well....people talking and spreading content. Let's talk.
I live in social media. Have written six books that revolve around the topic, speak around the world on the subject, 178,000 followers on Twitter, 70,000 fans on the UnMarketing Facebook page, 24,000 LinkedIn followers and I can't even impress the barista at Starbucks.
Not one follower bought, not one Like was circumvented, and every one of my 110,000+ tweets were done manually, by me. I know this space. Let me save you some pain. A lot of pain.
Six books on the market, still on book store shelves (that's harder than you think). Over 100,000 units sold.
From paying to be on airport bookshelves, to how people game the best-seller system, I can give you the advice you need to avoid falling for the author traps.
For an inside scoop about being paid to speak at events... when they were happening. Moved to virtual and changed my approach.
I've published 4 books (Wiley) and sold around 100,000 copies total. There is a reason why publishers ask you for your sales and marketing plan for your book before they publish it... you have to have a platform to sell to. A built in audience.
It is almost impossible to sell any copies of a book from someone that doesn't have a following, let alone make a living from it.
There is no quick fix/tool. You need to create a following/audience based on your subject expertise. I'm not talking about a Twitter following, but a reading following. Do you currently have a site/blog? You need a way to capture readers email addresses and build and nurture that list. If you don't you can use a place like Medium to start posting and put out consistent quality writing, but make sure they have a place to go to at the end to sign-up to hear more from you.
I'm an "influencer" some would say and we get emails all the time. The only ones I've ever worked with when being pitched is ones who knew what I would and would not be involved with, personalized their approach and didn't write a cheesy template email like the Jennifer Lawrence ones.
