John Corcoran 13:50
Yeah, that’s such a hard one, isn’t it to like, sort out who you think is going to be able to make it to the finish line, it’s like predicting who’s going to make it to the end of a marathon, you know, like you don’t really know until they get there.
Julie Broad 14:02
The person that has clarity of goal and vision as to why they’re doing it, though, is more likely. And I’ve definitely seen that over the five years when somebody comes in, and they’re just like, I want to be a best seller. And that’s their vision. They’re usually the person who drops off halfway, versus the person who’s like, Okay, I’m going after this type of person, this book is going to help them do this. And here’s how it’s going to fit into my bigger business vision. That person I wouldn’t say always finishes but they’re much more likely to get across the finish line.
John Corcoran 14:33
Tell me about the vision for the client who came in and you ended up with the title marijuana haters guide to making a billion dollars in hemp best title ever. It’s really interesting story. Tell us about that one.
Julie Broad 14:46
Yeah, so I mean, the title says a lot of the story is he was somebody who was very anti marijuana, his entire life like was really against it. And as he was getting into more and more investing in business He kept coming across these hemp opportunities. And so we ended up traveling around the world learning all there was to learn about, you know, growing hemp, you know, cultivating it and investing in it, financing it, because that’s been a whole, it’s been a whole journey to figuring out how to finance businesses in the hemp industry. And yeah, and he brought all of that to a book that he wanted to use, essentially, as a calling card, but also to kind of share what he had learned in that. And it’s been really fun, because from the minute that book came out, he’s been so busy, he’s barely had time to market the book. But the book sells, I think, partly because of the catchy title. And also, you know, it’s a new industry that he had really cool information and knowledge and expertise to share it.
John Corcoran 15:40
Yeah. And then I’m curious, like, did he have the vision that you would wrap it around this idea of a marijuana haters guide? Or is that something where you’re like, you know, this is something really unique about it. You know, we’re gonna take the fact that you hated marijuana. And now you know, you’re helping others to make money in this industry, or in the extension of it.
Julie Broad 16:03
Yeah, honestly, I don’t remember where the ideas come from, because we have a brainstorming process. And so some of this will come from our clients, some will come from us, and it’s a joint effort. I do believe he had the haters I like he came in kind of saying I was a marijuana hater. And I think the idea evolved from there i And and that’s how everything is with us is we’re fairly organic. And we work with the client to, you know, to brainstorm and to uncover things. So I would never say this was us that I would, you know, I rather give the credit to him, honestly, and say it was all him. Because at the end of the day, he had to pick it.
John Corcoran 16:38
Right. Another interesting one is you have a client that was an accountant who wrote a book about creativity, that’s very different to so talking about that one.
Julie Broad 16:47
Yeah, that’s Robert Belle, Blow the Lid Off. And this was a fun one, too, because again, like you said, he’s an accountant. He comes in, he’s talking about creativity, which is, you know, you don’t usually think of accountants and creativity going hand in hand. But the book itself isn’t necessarily the story. It’s what he did with the book. And so he’s, he’s actually in South Africa. And he was doing these interviews, mostly through podcasts, because that was the easiest kind of form of book marketing for him. And little bit as he did these interviews, it wasn’t just that he was doing all the podcast interviews that he could find, and that we brought up, he was also listening really carefully to things that people would lean into and go, Oh, that’s interesting. Tell me more about that. And he also ran into a podcast that kind of opened the door to pitching a TEDGlobal ideas talk. And so the combination of listening to what people had been interested in and this, you know, just this little opportunity, he ended up pitching the idea of us having emotions behind our money as a prop for TEDGlobal ideas, and he got it. And he’s his videos been viewed more than 2.5 million times. And he’s doing all kinds of incredible things in Africa. He’s won all kinds of awards. And it’s been a really fun thing to watch, because it wasn’t necessarily the book, but it’s what he did with the book.
John Corcoran 18:01
Yeah, I’m a big fan of listening to books on audible. And my business partner, Jeremy, kind of really turned me on to that. He’s a huge audible fan. So I love that you also focus on turning books into audiobooks. You also help people with turning books into online courses. So let’s talk a little bit about that about some of the ways of taking it from book and then taking the further into other applications or other channels.
Julie Broad 18:27
Yeah, I mean, that’s the beautiful thing about books is it can create the foundation for a lot of other formats and a lot of other content. So a lot of our books also become workbooks. And that can be supplementary, it can be part of the you know, the course that they may or may not teach or workshops. I think, you know, as a side note, audiobooks, I didn’t used to say it was a must. But I would say now, it’s it’s really becoming a must, especially if you have an entrepreneurial audience, they’re largely buying in audiobook format. Now in some of our business focus books, we’re seeing them 40% of their sales are in audiobooks. So if you’re not creating an audio book, you’re missing out on a big, big chunk of the market. And that’s actually part of the market that’s growing. But of course, wise, I mean, my background is, you know, I created a training and education company, and I licensed off all the courses when I exited. And so I get kind of that course structure. And books naturally lend themselves most books, not all, but most books naturally lend themselves to be becoming a course. But the format has to change because it a book is designed to be consumed. Of course, you know, we want our readers to take action, but it’s designed to be consumed versus a course should be designed to have somebody take action. And so how you deliver that is is slightly different and how you have them teach it and go through it or how you have to learn it and go through it is slightly different. So you’ve provided different resources and different tools and slightly different format, but the content can be almost exactly the same and people will pay for it because it allows them to take the next step which is taking out should not what they’ve just read.
John Corcoran 20:01
Okay, so take me through, if you have a new client coming to you who says, you know, I’m not that much on social media, I haven’t built these channels, I don’t have an email list. But I want to put a book out into the world. Where do you start with someone like that? Where do you where do you what do you tell them to do? The first thing I want to
Julie Broad 20:20
understand is their goals. Because if they’re coming to me saying all of these things that they don’t have, and at the same time, they’re saying, I want to be a Wall Street Journal bestseller, they have a gap that is really big to fill. Versus if they’re saying they want to use the book is a tool to get on media to get speaking engagements as a lead generator for their business. Now, that’s something that you don’t need social media for, you don’t need to have an email list to start off with, because the book will be the thing that helps you build it. So that’s the first most important thing, because if I have somebody that doesn’t have anything as far as an audience or platform, but they’re expecting to sell 10,000 books in there, you know, seven to 10,000, in their launch week, I don’t know how they’re going to fill that gap unless they have a really, really strong network of people who do have those those readers in their audience already. So that’s, that’s where we go first. And that’s where we’ll see where the gap is that we
John Corcoran 21:13
have to fill. Yeah. And then as far as the actual launch of the book goes, you know, it’s funny, we get some clients who are so fixated on the launch of their podcast. And a lot of times, we have to kind of tuck them back from that and say, you know, it’s a long game, it’s a marathon, not a sprint, you know, don’t worry too much, it’s probably gonna be crickets, or, you know, your mom, your grandma listening, and the first in the beginning. What do you say to people that come to you that are kind of focused on that launch piece? Or is that, you know, do you say that we gotta be all out gotta put all our effort into that.
Julie Broad 21:47
Again, it goes back to their goals, and the intention behind the book. But I mean, our best clients are the ones that are going to use this book as a tool, and they’re not, they may want to have that big launch, which is great. It builds momentum, it can help. But they’re, that’s not their number one focus, right? They’re not all about being the best seller, they’re all about the book, getting them those other things. And that’s where we tend to focus. And most of the time, if you do the right things, I mean, at the very least, you’re gonna see the Amazon bestseller flag, because that’s pretty actually quite easy to get if you line up a few pieces in the beginning, you know, the bigger lists are a little bit harder and take more orchestrated efforts to achieve those. But yeah, I would say I’m a big I’m a longer term kind of goal person. So by nature, I find a lot of our clients aren’t, they like to have the best seller, but that’s not the most important thing. That’s not how they’re measuring success. Success is coming in, what’s it doing for my business? And my speaking gigs and those things?
John Corcoran 22:44
Yeah, then are those you know, I’ve known a lot of people over the years that have aimed for the New York Times bestseller lists, Wall Street Journal bestseller lists, USA Today. List, I haven’t kept tabs of it recently. Are they still achievable? With any, I guess, with endless resources? Or is it something that is, you know, kind of a wild card, because I’ve known some people that put a lot of money into it, and then they still haven’t hit the mark. But for whatever reason, even if they’re not, even if they sold, the crazy stories, you hear people have sold more books in a particular week than others, and they didn’t hit those lists.
Julie Broad 23:19
Yeah, I mean, New York Times if you’re self publishing, it’s not a it’s not a factor. You’re it’s an it’s a curated list. It’s a, you know, the editors choose which books go on it. So there’s a lot of books really good books out there that never make the New York Times bestseller list that they outsell the ones that did by, you know, sometimes a four factor. So it’s, you know, that’s not a factor for self published books. And even if you’re not published with the top five, or if you lean the wrong way, politically, like, it’s very much a curated list. The other lists, though, are more sales lists, and they still, you still do have the opportunity, but it is one of those things where you it’s, you know, it’s relative to who’s coming out that week. So you know, if you’re up against a big, you know, cereal book that people have been waiting for somebody else, you know, I’m trying to think of what some of the big ones coming out here are drawing a blank. But if you’re up against, yeah, the non Yeah, we’re even in the nonfiction space, like, if you don’t? Yeah, exactly. You’re coming out at one of the big names or one of these big memoirs that everybody’s waiting for, you know, you’re going to have a tough fall to compete against them. And sometimes you can plan for those because you can see where the publishers have the big launches, but they can move and launch on you. All kinds of things. So there’s luck involved. You can make it we’ve had, we’ve had authors getting it 7000 copies in a week. You know, 5000, even sometimes can do it on some of the lists, depending on timing and things like that. But you have to really understand what you think it’s going to do for you to put the focus solely on that event, because you’re right, you don’t have control over whether you actually hit it or not.
John Corcoran 24:57
Right, right. I want to wrap things up Um, the question that I always ask is, I call it my gratitude question. But books have an acknowledgement section. And I always love reading the acknowledgement section because I like to see who are they grateful to when they put out their book. So who appears in your acknowledgement section as it just thank you, who do you want to call out and thank for helping you along the way.
Julie Broad 25:21
I mean, my my team at what conscious is they’re phenomenal. And again, I mean, I was a real estate investor, who started a book publishing company. So clearly, I had to hire people who knew what they were doing. So that they could help me create this. But I mean, there’s, I mean, I know you’re a part of EO too. And I’ve had so many people in that organization that have helped me, you know, Chris groats has got me in it. He’s the founder of pod fest, he got me into it in the first place, and introduced me to some really great people there that, you know, from that, you know, there’s so many people inside them, you know, that just had a tremendous impact on my life in a short period of time. So my acknowledgment would be many pages long, but those are,
John Corcoran 26:03
Chris is great. I’ve had him as a guest on this podcast. He’s a great guy. Well, thanks, Julie. This has been great. Where can people go to learn more about you and your YouTube channel, your website, all that kind of stuff? The books too.
Julie Broad 26:16
Yeah, booklaunchers.com will get you most of it. And then booklaunchers.tv Is my YouTube channel. And that’s where I hang out. So if you want to leave a comment there, it’s me that replies. That’s my that’s my hangout.
John Corcoran 26:29
Yeah, and self publishing succeed is one of your books, right?
Julie Broad 26:34
Yeah, it’s the latest one it’s our hashtag no boring books process to write a book people want to read and that will sell. Yeah, and we have a new one coming out next year. On book marketing. It’s it’s untitled as of yet, but it will be out in 2023.
John Corcoran 26:47
Maybe the the book, marketing haters guide to one of those types of format. Cool, Julie. Thanks so much. Thank you.
Outro 27:01
Thank you for listening to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast with John Corcoran. Find out more at smartbusinessrevolution.com. And while you’re there, sign up for our email list and join the revolution. And be listening for the next episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast.