25 secrets - how i wrote and marketed a new york times bestselling business book
TRANSCRIPT
25 Secrets How I Wrote and Marketed
a New York Times Bestselling Business
Book by Jay Baer
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help not Hype
Released June 27, 2013
Published by Portfolio/Penguin
#3 New York Times Bestseller List
#1 Marketing Book on Amazon.com
#1 Overall Book on BN.com
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
Book Deal Secrets
Writing Secrets
Production Secrets
Marketing Secrets
4 Types of Secrets….
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
Book Deal Secrets
1. I Had an Agent➥The book deal process and paperwork is
CONFUSING and WEIRD My first book (The NOW Revolution, 2011) was published
with Wiley (thanks Wiley)
This time, I wanted to talk to more publishers about their plans for Youtility, and how to position the book
But, Wiley had a right of first refusal clause in my original contract, so it was very helpful to have a literary agent to help navigate that and get me the best possible deal for the book
Agents take 15% of everything associated with the book
My agent, Jim Levine of Levine/Greenberg was introduced to me by Julien Smith and Mitch Joel (thanks guys)
Book Deal Secrets
2. I Used a Publisher That Loved My Concept➥Publishers are interested in making money, not
making you famous. That said, they are not all the same, and sometimes their deal
terms are different
Even if the deal is similar, you will get a different “feel” from publishers about you and your book. That feeling is ENTHUSIASM
Always go with the most enthusiastic publisher, even if the terms are not quite as good
ENTHUSIASM = SUPPORT = BOOK SALES
Youtility was published by Portfolio/Penguin, the business division of Penguin Books (thanks Portfolio!)
Other Portfolio Authors You Might Know:
John BattelleChris Brogran
Bob BurgJonathan Fields
Seth GodinJohn Jantsch
Guy KawasakiAmber Mac
Harvey MackayHugh Macleod
Pam Slim
➥I got introduced to Portfolio by my agent (of course), and by Sally Hogshead, speaker/author extraordinaire
Book Deal Secrets
3. My Marketing Plan Helped Me Get the Book Deal➥Lots and lots of books are pitched to publishers,
many by good writers
➥To make money, publishers must sell books
➥The person that will sell those books is YOU, not them
➥In your proposal (that you send to agent or publisher to get the deal) put a lot of time into how you plan to market and sell the book This reduces their fears of being stuck with a lemon
YoutilityBook.com
By the way…
Should you self-publish?➥If you’re writing a book to make
money, perhaps you should
➥With a mainstream publisher, you’ll keep ~ 15% of the book sales price in royalties = NOT MUCH
➥But, if you’re writing a book for credibility, or to advance your speaking/consulting career, the major publisher vote of confidence matters
➥Being with a publisher also helps drive media coverage of your book
Writing Secrets
4. I Made the Presentation First➥Unlike most books, where the presentation is
created after publication, the Youtility presentation was developed BEFORE the book was written. This enabled me to use the presentation as a narrative
backbone for the book, and makes the book “flow” well
The Youtility concept was first delivered publicly at Content Marketing World in September, 2011
First full keynote presentation was at Blog Indiana in August, 2012
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
Writing Secrets
5. I Used Transcriptions➥I recorded the live keynote at Blog Indiana, and
transcribed it, giving me a 15,000-word pool to use in the book manuscript.
➥I used (and recommend) Speechpad.com
➥I also recorded more than 40 telephone interviews and transcribed them using Speechpad, making it easier to listen (instead of having to take notes), and I could copy and paste quotes from transcript into manuscript
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
Writing Secrets
6. I Used Scrivener➥I used (and recommend) Scrivener software to
write the book
➥Scrivener is incredibly powerful, yet inexpensive, and allows you to use pin boards and other techniques to build the book, while providing in-line bibliography tools, etc.
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
Youtility manuscript in Scrivener
Writing Secrets
7. I Created (and adhered to) a Writing Schedule➥Based on when the manuscript was due, and
the number of words required (~50,000), I determined which nights and weekend days I could or could not write, and made a rigid production schedule.
➥For weeknights, I wrote ~1,500 words between 8pm and 10pm
➥On weekends, I wrote ~ 5,000 words between 10am and 4pm, one day per weekend
➥Based on this schedule, I wrote Youtility in six weeks
Instagram: 10/28/12On the way to the law library at
Indiana University to start writing
Writing Secrets
8. I Edited Before Giving it to the Editor➥Getting changes from your editor (employed by
your publisher) can be useful, but can also cause panic, and delays and drama
➥You will be much better off (on timeline and mental state) if you give your editor a “cleaner” manuscript
➥To do this, have friends/family thoroughly review and improve the manuscript before turning it in
➥My Mom (an English teacher – handy!) did the initial copy editing, and Tamsen Webster (a brilliant marketer – handy!) was the initial “does this make sense” filter for Youtility
My Mom (not on Twitter – what the
heck?) and Tamsen Webster (@tamadear)
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
Production Secrets
8. Titles Matter, and I Stuck to My Guns➥I wanted the title to be Youtility throughout,
because I believed it would be memorable, and could become a common marketing term
➥Portfolio was less sure, and initially rejected the title
➥Eventually, we determined that Youtility was the best option, and went back to that title for production
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
Youtility Might Have Been Called:
Need to KnowThe 2 Letter Difference
Winning the War of InformationAnswer Power
Give to GetThe Know WayInform Nation
Nowhere to HideThe Answers AllianceThey Ask, You Answer
➥I’d love your feedback on this, just out of curiosity. Leave a comment, if you have an opinion
Production Secrets
8. Covers Matter (I think) and are Hard➥Cover for this book is tricky, because it’s a
made up word, so you want to convey some sense of meaning with the cover, but not the wrong meaning. Also, because “Youtility” is a new word, the subtitle was
placed first on the cover
I don’t adore the wrench, but it has grown on me
I used my designer friend Chris Bohnsack of Bohnsack Designs to come up with some other options, but Portfolio wanted to use their designs, and we did
➥I tested semi-final covers on Facebook, and got AMAZING feedback that really helped
Semi-Final and Alternate Covers
➥The final subtitle “Why Smart Marketing is About Help not Hype” was suggested by my friend Billy Mitchell from MLT Creative, on Facebook!
Production Secrets
9. I Made the Book “feel” Accessible➥All trends point toward shorter information.
People don’t have time to slog through a giant, boring business tome Youtility was purposefully written a bit shorter than most
business books (50,000 words vs. 60,000+)
I made the physical size of the book smaller, so it would feel easier to hold, put in a briefcase for a flight, etc.
I chose to not have a book jacket on Youtility, again to make the book feel less stuffy and more accessible and approachable
➥It’s also easier/faster to sign books with no cover, and they don’t get wrinkled/ripped in shipping
Book Size and Jacket Comparison
Production Secrets
10. I Read My Own Audio➥On my first book, Amber Naslund and I decided
not to read the book ourselves, and the “pro” reader was not very good
➥This time, I decided to read Youtility myself, and I convinced Marcus Sheridan (@thesaleslion) – who wrote the exceptional foreword to the book – to record his part, too
➥Feedback has been very strong on the audio version of Youtility
Production Secrets
11. I Made the Data Look Consistent➥Inspired by Youngme Moon’s Different (a great
book) I wanted to make all the charts and graphs in Youtility feel the same
➥I commissioned my friend Michael Hale from Michael Hale Designs to hand draw all the data tables in the book
➥We created them in two colors, but ended up using them in gray scale only
Sample Charts from Youtility
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
Production Secrets
12. I Built Marketing Into the Book➥Photos are the currency of the social Web
➥To ensure a steady stream of Youtility photos, I created an Instagram/Twitter #Youtility photo contest, and added a page at the back of the book to promote it Best photos of Youtility “in the wild” each week receive free,
limited edition T-shirts
Shirts were designed by my friend Doug Cholewa from Catywampus (also the inventor of ScreamingGuys.com)
You Could Win a Shirt!
➥Here’s my son modeling the shirt design
➥Just take your best photo of the book and upload to Instagram or Twitter with the tag #Youtility and you might be hearing from me, asking for your size!
Marketing Secrets
13. I Started a LOOONG Time in Advance➥Because the book is based on a presentation, I
had been talking about the Youtility premise at events for nearly nine months before the book was launched This “seeded” the concept broadly, and tens of thousands of
people had been exposed to the message before the book was available
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
Marketing Secrets
14. I Spoke for Books➥I give a lot of presentations as a keynote
speaker. For Youtility, I often reduced my speaking fee in exchange for bulk purchases of books These events were both live and Webinars, and will continue
for five months after book launch
For bestseller list purposes, you want all of your pre-orders to run through in the same week, so Kim Corak on my team at Convince & Convert closely coordinated bulk book purchases and timing
I sold approximately 9,500 books in the first day that were somehow tied to speaking
YoutilityBook.com
By the way…
Does it make sense to take less money as a speaker, in exchange for book sales?
➥It depends. If you’re in it for the long haul, and want to help ensure your book/concept is sticky enough that you can speak about it for 2+ years at your regular fee, it may be worth it (at least that was my calculus)
➥But, there is no doubt it’s an expensive, time consuming approach that may not be right for all
Marketing Secrets
15. I Built My Own Store➥To make the New York Times (and other)
bestseller lists, you must concentrate your book sales into one or more specific weeks
➥In addition to the bulk orders tied to speaking, I created a robust online store and asked blog readers, podcast listeners, email subscribers, clients and friends to purchase books in advance, directly from me
➥I used Shopify for the store technology (I recommend it), and my friend Neal Lumantara from Crefio designed it
The Youtility Pre-Order Store
Marketing Secrets
16. I Incentivized Pre-Order➥I created a litany of content available first (on a
temporarily exclusive basis) to people who pre-ordered the book
➥These bonus items (like this one!) eventually became marketing assets, post-release
Official trailer
Executive summary
Interactive, online workbook
21 Quotes from Youtilty
Live, Q and A session with me about the book
Marketing Secrets
17. I Had a Video Trailer Made➥Because Youtility is a new concept, I wanted a
concise, innovative video that explained it and built demand I worked with the team at Simplifilm (I recommend them), and
they created a terrific trailer for Youtility
We cut several versions to use in pre-order and post-release phases of the marketing campaign
The Youtility Trailer
http://ar.gy/YoutilityVideo
Marketing Secrets
18. I Had a Music Video Made➥My amazing friend, Chuck Kent from Creative
On Call wrote an original song about Youtility! I asked people who pre-ordered the book to send in photos of
themselves helping people
Those photos were used in the music video for Youtility, which I use as my entrance music at presentations now
The Youtility Song and Video
http://ar.gy/YoutilitySong
Marketing Secrets
19. I Deployed Aggressive Pre-Order Advertising➥To build demand for Youtility ~6 weeks out from
release (and to generate pre-orders) I launched a comprehensive online advertising campaign
➥Total budget was approximately $20,000, split between banner ads and email newsletter ads Social Media Explorer Social Media Examiner MarketingProfs Social Fresh Retargeted ads to Convince & Convert readers Facebook and Twitter ads
Pre-order Ads
➥Pre-order ads drove awareness, but few direct sales
➥Best source of pre-orders was personal emails from me to colleagues and supporters – this took many hours, but paid off in more than 2,500 pre-order copies via my online store
Marketing Secrets
20. I Hired a Publicist➥To keep demand for the book high, even after
the launch, I knew I needed robust media outreach After conversations with several firms that specialize in book
launches, I retained Fortier PR to handle press for Youtility
Between Fortier and my own outreach, I have done more than 50 interviews and podcasts since Youtility debuted, and the book has been covered in FORTUNE, Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Success, Huffington Post, MarketingProfs, and dozens of other blogs and publications
Marketing Secrets
21. I Organized the Launch on Basecamp➥To keep track of the many facets of the pre-
order and launch campaigns, I used Basecamp Projects, To-Dos, and owners were set up for each element of
the program
This was critical, as more than 30 people were involved in the production and marketing of Youtility in some capacity
Marketing Secrets
22. I Deployed a Launch Advertising Campaign➥Given the relative lack of success of the pre-order
advertising in terms of actually selling copies, the launch advertising campaign was scaled back to ~ $5,000 Primarily, this was a “it’s finally here” approach that leaned
heavily on retargeting
The retargeted ads – using the Google retargeting network – were augmented by ads on Facebook and Twitter
My Mom – who wasn’t clear on how retargeting works – was surprised to see a Youtility ad on a large sewing website!
Marketing Secrets
23. I Used Guest Posts as Currency➥Bloggers and other online influencers struggle
when asked to read an entire book and review it – some will do so, but it’s a big request
➥However, bloggers always need good content for their blogs, to fill their editorial calendar For Youtility, I worked with Peg Fitzpatrick of 12Most.com, who
took an advance copy of the book and chopped it up into 30 different guest posts and excerpts
Jess Ostroff, the amazing managing editor at Convince & Convert took Peg’s posts and polished them up
I then approached friends and colleagues in the blogging community about running the posts, and placed more than 25!
Marketing Secrets
24. I Built a Freestanding Website➥I’m very proud of the website for the book
(http://www.youtilitybook.com) built by Neal Lumantara from Crefio It’s a scrolling, one page design that includes much of the
content and bonus items, such as the trailer, video, excerpts
Plus, the site includes reviews, information about the photo contest, and links to new, recently discovered Youtilities that didn’t make it into the book (but might make it into the next version)
The site is built on Wordpress (Genesis platform, which I wholeheartedly endorse), and hosted by Synthesis
The Youtility Website
➥I tried to buy Youtility.com – but never heard back from domain owner
Marketing Secrets
25. I Atomized the Content➥Originated by Todd Defren of Shift
Communications, the idea of “atomizing” your content is included in the book
➥It’s about taking an idea or an execution and repurposing it, to maximize efficiencies (Ann Handley and CC Chapman cover this well in their book Content Rules) The guest posts were drawn from the book
I created a free excerpt of the book that’s downloadable on the website and is embedded in many of the guest posts
I created an ebook of the 21 best quotes from the book (thanks to Carrie Morgan for helping on that project), and those quotes became Facebook ads and Pinterest/Instagram fodder too
YoutilityBook.com
So that’s how I wrote and marketed a New York Times bestselling business book. It wasn’t easy, or inexpensive. But it’s doable.
Many, many thanks to everyone involved, especially those who pre-ordered and continue to support Youtility by leaving reviews at
Amazon.com and elsewhere, and telling their friends.
Stay useful! And if I can ever help YOU, please let me know.
~ Jay Baer