Lessons

Lesson Info

The Impact of Books

I want to ask a question and I want a new emotional response right? So I'm not looking for definitions I'm looking for what are the emotional things that come to mind when I say the word marketing how do you feel when you think about marketing especially marketing your books anything come to mind complicated, complicated, very pushy all right actually let me add award to that to sales, marketing and sales as a book you know, a lot of times my wife tells people I'm a book salesman I'm not a book salesman there's actually people that have that job do not do that but so sales so the idea of like, um sales what does that bring them on? What a words that come to your mind we've got a lot of people jumping in online we have melissa f who says overwhelmed we've got eve who says fear but aaron laura who says anxiety and we've got zam who's just sliming their head down on their way very negative no one's really coming up with anything positive we've got melinda's saying irritation you're a tast...

y enters with joining us in germany's saying complex, complex, obnoxious, annoying vicky sleazy pushing there you go not a lot of fantastic worse yeah, I like that I like to chat room because I think they take their filters off a little bit I know you guys were thinking stuff carrie emery is saying advertising, so I suppose that in itself is a positive reaction plus to me, it's, just so time consuming your writing, you're trying to create this and at the same time I got to get out there and that just seems so time consuming. Michelle I've worked a bit in marketing and public relations and opportunity is then they what came to mind for me? Because, you know, you can't spend all this time writing and creating something, but if you don't connect with the people who wanted the people who need it and, you know, what's what's it all for anyway and and, you know, so from in terms of marketing, I kind of think of it more in terms of connection and the best possible sense of the word not banned the sleazy, you know, connection it's all about connect positive are you about who you know what it's about the human connection and connecting with people who can benefit from your work so a little bit different take yeah, this let me show you this one about to show you is actually a slide from one of my clients um day in pink, he wrote a book called to sell is human, and it came out last year and before, when he was doing the writing in the research for it, he did this big survey and sir, I forgot thousands and thousands of people took the survey and when that thing's was what come, what words come to mind when you think of the word sales and this is what he came up with this is the word cloud so the big words mean people said it a lot the small words said they barely said it. So biggest word by far pushy yuck difficulty this is I think my favorite part of this no is these two tiny words that you can't even see here is essential and important, but it is mostly painful. Swarm more me yuck! Sleazy, boring, tough, right? This is what comes to mind when we think of this stuff and no wonder that we don't like it, right? If this is what's coming to mind when we think of marketing and sales, of course we don't like it. And, you know, I think of the same thing, you know, my oldest son is seven years old. So three months after he was born, we made the decision that so many parents make, we're going to go buy minivan. And so we went to the mini van lott and the guy came up and he could not tell us enough good things about their brand new models of minivans and he's showing us all the features and I'm looking at the price, and I have a three month old son. I just quit my job to start a new business about a week before, and we decided now we should buy a new car, and so we're looking at all of the all of the things I'm like, you know, I'm looking at the price and doing the math of the payment, I don't know how I'm going to cover that, and then I look across the lot toe last year's models, and I'm like, well, what about those over there? And, you know, the salesman's face kind of falls, louise, I want you to look at those, you know, and so we walk over there and I'm looking at it, and I'm like, I can't really tell the difference between the two years models except that it's ten thousand dollars cheaper, and he didn't really have much to say, and so I'm looking at it, I'm like, can we buy this one he's like you can buy that one, you know? And so that's, the one we ended up getting, that was the good decision for me, but what was the problem? I didn't trust the guy, right? I didn't trust him, because why he's not looking out for my best interest? That probably was really loud when I have the microphone he wasn't looking out for my best interests right hey was looking out for his best interest and that's why we hate sails thats why we hate marketing is because people push stuff honest and they tell us to buy stuff even when it's not in our own best interest, right and so that's what we want to get away from and that's what I'm hoping to convince you of over the next couple days that we can look at marketing a different way and so one more question um I want to ask what comes to mind when you think of author marketing when you see when you I want you to think of what you've seen out there of author marketing anything come to mind snoozer all right? Anything else let's see about author marketing? Yeah let's find out what they have to say on steve over the top over the the ones that sort of hit the radar and maybe that's the an undercurrent here you know, the ones that are effective, the ones we don't really perceive is marketing it's just you know, someone happens to be talking to me in a way I want to be spoken teo and it makes sense and I by the book and and I love it right but it's the ones where you get in the mail some box that has a thing and makes a noise and it's you got a couple of those yeah one time I got a book in the mail and it went to my p o box so I know they didn't actually know me right? So I get the book out and I opened it and theirs is just a book I've never heard of with nothing in it no sh no one cheat no anything so I'm like who is this so now I'm frustrated I'm all my phantom like googling the book I find the book I go to the contact page and I see on his contact page is a publicity firm that I know has my name and so they just like had my name and sent me some random book and I'm like what you know yes so I feel like it's it's one of two things it's either over the top or kind of that's fam let's be honest right if you get something that you didn't request that spam whether it's a book or whether it's an e mail or it's completely quiet all through zone or what to do so they just don't do anything is there anything online? Icy says clue miss clueless yes, yes I see actually says she puppet or he published their first book in august it was a rude awakening but as john b was saying it's necessary as well it's confusing yeah, so were we thinking marketing? All of these bad things come to mind but thing is that I don't love marketing and I'm a nice guy so how can a nice guy just love marketing, right? And, um I was actually talking to a friend of mine the other day and she's an author we're chatting and she's like I love the content and load the marketing that's what she said just hates the marketing and I'm like on the opposite like writing anything for me is like, you know, reaching in and extracting something, but, you know, when it comes time to market, I could do that. I liked that part, and so so what I want to do, what my goal is over the next two days is to turn all of you and everybody online from thinking of doug when they think of marketing and thinking of yuck and sleazy and turn it into I love mark annie, this is exactly what I'm doing this is what I want to do is an author, so by the end of tomorrow, that's my promise to you is you're going to look at marketing and you're going to think good thoughts, you're going to think fun, you're going to think this is what I do as a writer so let's look at the definition of marketing, so this is from dictionary dot com the total activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer of cellar to the consumer buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing and selling so that's, you know, your typical definition, which is not really helpful on dh so let's, forget that definition. That's we're not doing that definition. I got my own definition and this is what we're going to talk about. Marketing is only two things. The first one is the act of building long lasting connections with people, right? So we're not hawking products here. We're building long lasting connections with people, my readers, other writers, people in the publishing world, that's all we're doing, we're creating long lasting connections with people, and the second thing we're doing is we're being relentlessly helpful. Those two things do those things sound horrible? No right? So long lasting connections with people, I promise you that if you create long lasting connections with people built on trust, like we talked about and you focus on being relentlessly helpful, book sales will naturally follow. So when we talk about selling and we're gonna have a whole section on selling and I've saved it to the end, so you actually like, hang on with me and not just check out. But when we talk about selling it's a very natural part of the process, it's no longer going on saying buy my book by my book by my book and like just sending out form letters to anybody that will listen, it becomes a natural part of the process of look, we've created a long lasting connection together I've worked on being relentlessly helpful and adding value to your life, and so as part of that, I would like you to join with my next project and actually pick up a copy of my book, right? Because if we think about it, what are we asking people to spend here? Fifteen bucks, right? You know that to me is one of the cool things about books and you're not even asking for this huge investment you're asking for a few dollars to give some really great value after you've already invested with them a long time, you know, um when I was, um so I graduated college and I was heavily trained to sit in a cubicle and turnout computer code and then, like once a day they would slide hard candy under the door to me and that's what I was trained to do, and so I get out of college and I got my first job and I hated that job, so I quit that job and I found another job and I should have known from the beginning I should have just quit that job and walked out the first day when I walked in and they're literally cleaning out a closet for my office like on dh then they put a desk in there and the death was so like tight in that area that to get behind it I had to move my chair out of the office, sit down in it and then like roll back into because there wasn't space to like get in there and so I'm sitting in this I'm sitting in this this tiny office in this outside of this room with this giant printer and like I won't get into the technical specifications of the type of kodi was doing but it was the coding equivalent of digging ditches like it was the worst job and it was not what I was told I was going to do so I'm sitting there and after a few weeks I'm like is this my life like I went to college for four years I got my degree and pretty good at what I do I had one job that was horrible and I switched to this job and I'm now sitting in a closet and is this my life? And so I went out and I just started searching around online right and this is gin was right when blogging was really coming on and I found two blog's that changed my life if I found human clouds gaping void dot com and I found seth guns belong, and I started reading them. And then I picked up a copy of seth jones book purple cow, and I read that and I realized for the first time something could change in my life. And it was three years until I finally quit my job and start doing what I really loved. But that changed my life and what really got me there was the fact that on a regular basis and for somebody like seth godin it's every single day, he put something out online, that's, helpful, that's inspiring. That adds to my life. And when he comes out with the book, he doesn't have to ask me to buy it. He just says, hey, I got this book and I go and buy it at least one, actually, his last book, I think I have ten copies of it because he did this kickstarter thing, which we can talk about it later, but and so and I don't do it because I feel like I owe him something, or because he liked you. Bug me here I don't even know the man, you know, so it's not like I'm doing a favor to him I'm doing it for me and after he has created this long lasting connection with me where daily he's giving me great content and he's been relentlessly helpful when he comes out with a book it's a natural thing for me to buy it right? And we've all been there, right? Like we've all been in that situation, and if you think about it, you don't buy books for other people, you buy them for you, you about whether it's a fiction book or a non fiction book, you're buying it to make your life better and so have you, as a writer are out there trying to make people's lives better, the natural result will be book sales. We're going to talk a lot about that, but I need you to start thinking of yourself that way. I really need you to think about your riding this way. Why are you writing? Why are you doing this? Are you making the world a better place? I think you are. I haven't met a rider yet that's actively trying to make the world a bad place through the right they believe they're trying to make the world a better place, and so the natural result is the more people that buy your book the better this world is going to be and a lot of times you know if you're listening to this ah fiction writer doesn't really put themselves in that place were well, I'm not helping people like you lose weight or make more money or anything how am I making the world a better place? Let me tell you I read a lot in fact, on the plane out here I was trying to finish up this giant slide deck we're going to go through over the last the next two days and I was reading a book and I had to like I convinced myself I need to put this book down just so I can finish the slide deck and my present to myself for finishing the slide deck was continuing to read the book right every night I fall asleep reading fiction, I love writing and so fiction writers make the world a better place if you're a writer, you're tryingto actively make the world a better place. So when you're doing marketing you're helping people be a part of you actively making the world a better place. And so I want you to think about that now not about yourself but about somebody else tell me a book that has changed your life good just just from a business perspective of book that is absolutely changed my life was robert sheldon ease of influence science and practice ok, you hold it you learn there give me a whole new vocabulary of how uh how we process requests. Okay? It was fascinating for me um when I was a kid my parents were really strict and they wouldn't let me watch I think was allowed to watch like a half hour of tv a day and on the weekend I got to watch an hour and that's because macgyver was on and so on very little tv very strict on movies I could watch that kind of thing but for some reason there was like this loophole where I could read whatever I wanted and so I remember that he was nineteen ninety when jurassic park came out by michael crichton and I got a copy of that book and I've read it and I had nightmares for like a week of dinosaurs chasing me but it changed my life because I love that book and like, you know, going you know, as a kid going into this role where dinosaurs are really and alive and then I just started by every michael crichton book I possibly could write. So I remember when I think back like again I been a reader my whole life that book is the first one where I just love fiction, so anyway somebody else yeah, steve mentioned robert sheldon either because rich online means said exactly the same thing malcolm gladwell the outliers that came in from animal artist on dh seth gordon's linchpin is coming from we were yeah j r murdoch who says ray bradbury's illustrated man gave me a whole new perspective on storytelling and jesus the success principles by jack canfield great insight into how to change myself to effect change around me yeah show love this success principles that's a good one but I'm also a new earth by a cart tolly we're talking about the importance of paying attention being aware in life and that relates to one of my favorite quotes from the pope mary oliver who talks about instructions for life pay and pay attention be astonished tell about it first part's paying attention at anyway that was from a new earth and then also the right to write by julia cameron who's famous creativity and writing author and writes about really the pleasure associated with writing as opposed to the pain I have that on my bookshelf thanks to your recommendation so I think you actually do this book tio charlie owns recession proof read yes in terms of like how you think about careers yeah absolutely yeah all right I'm gonna make everybody talks on this one so everybody has to have one fear you had so when I was in the third grade I went to the public library for the first time yeah, I got a book by robert heinlein called the rolling stones and it started a lifelong interest in science fiction and good literature that I still read kind line and all the other great authors that's often there's. The two books both are fiction. I've read a lot of business books, and these are all amazing, but I think fictions were important and thiss book is called a fine balance by rohinton mistry. Eso it taught me a lot about it was it's, based in india, and it said it's fiction, but it connects riel political events and how they translate into the lives of ordinary people. So it really kind of grounded me and taught me about how my writing could maybe teach people or it actually taught me a lot about what happens in real life and not just about, you know, being happy and having a lot of things to my disposal and but more about real life and how things can really affect the ordinary person on that second book is charlie and the chocolate factory, because I grew up reading that taught me about imagination on about how that's so important in life and sometimes as adults, we forget that so imagination is really big. Yeah, very interesting. Um, I grew up in the u k, where roald dahl is almost a saint and I think every every child in britain of a certain age is read all of his books and charlie in the chocolate factory had an enormous impact on me and so many other people but it's also I'm just seeing a lot of people here in the chapel is not about harry potter but in a way it's sort of superseded rebel dollars sort of the go to guy for all children give me one years mind actually would be jeff really charming the chocolate fogel the great glass elevator but I used to read a lot of agatha christie is a chart as well which are not particularly well written books but they were very engaging this mystery yeah, I just read my first agatha christie book like six months ago yeah, I would say as a kid probably ender's game and then most recently as an adult was it's called khalili left no it's called stumbling on happiness oh yeah I want dan simons know gilbert gilbert thank you. Thank you. Thank you then where the wild things are mari sending love thou just letting the wild rumpus roller yeah, a couple books uh is that in the art of motorcycle maintenance had a profound influence. I was younger and I just was so amazing the way he saw reality and so that was kind of a deep book for me and just tell a little bit about that because you know when I first heard about it yeah it sounds like okay this guy's very calm while working on his motorcycle but it's about more than that right about well I just just you know he goes on this trip with his son and they're just they see the world you know that the bike is kind of a metaphor of of life that you have this in inner workings of the bike the machinery where some people are drawn to that and you got people were drawn to the beauty of the bike they they see the same they're looking the same thing but they're seeing it differently and I found that to be beautiful one of my favorite quotes who is in the book it starts out it says truth comes knocking at your door and you open the door you say please go away I'm looking for the truth and the truth goes away and I just found it to be like wow that's really a powerful statement and anyway and I haven't read that book in a long time but I kind of read it start sorry reading again because it just had that kind of impact and as you get older you rhea differently I mean that's what's so cool about books you get older you read it and change is inside you another book that I loved when I was younger in business was bacall creativity and business professor out of stanford talking about business is creative it's not just this mean tough street push people around it's about creativity and in the way he did it using physics and science and was really profound yeah, and I go ahead if you think this could just go on like everything says something I just brings another one to my oh yeah, that was huge for me, tio great, yeah, and I had mentioned purple cow, right? And, you know, I've read all of seth jones book and I always like the metaphor I think of is like every time I read his book, he, like, creates this itch I can't reach right? So like my mind's running, but I don't have answers yet, I know I think he doesn't know, but like I even you know, I read this great trilogy a few years ago and I'm going to be honest here, you know? A while back, I used to think any body that read like science fiction and fantasy had to, like, live in their mother's basement and not shower often, and so I was walking through barnes and noble and I just got finished playing this game called assassin's creed and there was this book that looked like the guy on the cover, and so I picked it up it looked interesting I bought I bought a copy of it and I went home and started reading it and then like, you know, like a hundred pages in there something like somebody like through a fireball and I'm like, what am I reading you know? But I was so hooked by that point I like read the entire trilogy and um and then I was like, well, let me you know, these are kind of neat books let me try again in about a year and a half later, my wife was like, what? You know, I just finished another book and she's like you're really getting into this fantasy books and like, no, no, no, no, I just I just read a couple and she's like, how many of you read in the last year and a half since she read that first one I counted up? It was thirty five fantasy with a lighter and a year and a half and and it's like I think about the characters, yeah, we can go on, so what I want to stop here is two things I want to make a point here. First off, this is what we're talking about for the next two days I'm going to get technical I'm going to talk about marketing and we're gonna talk about all kinds of very technical things, but this is what we're talking about all of the feelings we just had thinking back to the first books we read is a child to the way it changed the way we think about business for me the way that like for the first time I thought maybe I could do this on my own like those are the feelings that we have when we're reading and those are the feelings people are gonna have when they read your book right? Those are the things that you're going to be putting in people's hands is going change people's lives and even if it seems small, somebody is going to read your book and it's going to change your life and so what we're doing here when we're talking about marketing, we're talking about all this stuff that feels kind of swarm me like that said what we're doing is how can we connect with people and get our work in their hands and change people's lives and I truly believe you know, this is a dream job for me because I get to help make the world a better place by helping mohr authors get more books out into the world because the world will only become a better place if that happens and so I that is the undertone of everything we're going to talk about what we're going to keep bringing it back here because that's what we have to remember that books change people's lives they've changed all of our lives in this room everybody in the chat rooms, a book has changed in life. And that's. What we're trying to do is writers. And so I really want to hit that emotional point before we got into something that's. Not too much fun to talk about.