When it comes to talking about publishing and promoting a book, there is no one better to learn from than my dear friend, Michael Drew. He has had 88 books on the New York Times Best Sellers List, which happens to be two more than oprah. Because of his accomplishments, I really wanted to pick his brain to figure out the best ways to go about successfully selling books.
In this episode, Michael tells all about how the New York Best Sellers List has recently switched up their requirements to involve much more business intentional marketing done by the author, when choosing which books are on the list. He also will walk you through the distribution and publishing world and help you decide which avenue is best for your book when it comes to the success you desire. Michael truly stands behind his belief that the purpose of promoting a book should be to grow a platform and not a status. Learn how this belief can help you get books sold and get yourself on the New York Times Best Sellers list.
To learn more about Michael Drew, his company, and how I used Michael’s advice for my book Moonlighting on the Internet, go to businessintentional.com/podcast/promotabook.
Points of Interest From This Episode:
2:30 - Benefits that authors get from having their books on the New York Times best sellers.
3:00 - A book for business owners is used to grow audience size, grow credibility, increase speaking fees.
3:40- the growth of democratization of media online and how that affects bookselling.
4:15 - Book marketing may not be direct revenue generating, but it is a great way to expand your audience size.
5:00 - Publishing a book with a platform versus not having a platform is a completely different situation.
5:54- Recent rules that go with the business of publishing a book.
7:05 - The publisher only prints, and distributes the book it is now completely up to the Author to do the promotions.
8:00- In order to play the book sales game, you must get your book in brick-and-mortar retail stores.
8:40- What criteria determines whether a retail bookstore is going to carry your book title over other titles?
9:00 - How your book’s grade level determines how many of your books a store will carry.
9:20 - The marketing and advertising that the author brings to the table is the only way to increase a book’s grade level.
10:00 - How to improve the risk mitigation mindset of publishers and retail stores for your book through intelligent marketing.
14:40 - What authors can do to really increase their ability to get their book distributed
15:25 - The New York Times best Sellers List is not a real best sellers list.
16:30 - The value of being on the New York Times Best Sellers List is not in the status but rather in the activity it takes to be on the list.
17:12 - What to think about when leveraging a book campaign. Focus on building a platform rather than the status.
18:00 - New changes to the New York Times best Sellers requirements like social proof and ebooks. What does that mean for those who would really like to be on that list?
21:10 - The purpose of a book should be for the promotion of the business.
24:50- Michael tells why the benefit to self publish vs. traditional publishing depends on your existing platform and desired outcome.
25:50- the reason why, If being a best seller is your desired outcome then you must go the traditional publishing route.
26:25-  the reason why If you go the self publishing route, don’t try and force your books onto retail shelves.
27:30- if you are publishing a book to make money, self publishing is the way to go.
27:52- With the bestsellers list, you need to keep engagement in mind.
28:55- How to determine the correct publisher for your book.
30:20 - to learn more about Michael Drew’s company go to www.promoteabook.media