Start where you are with what you have. You’ve heard it hundreds of times. But what does that mean? You’ve published the book and you got it on up Amazon. Congratulations!
Now what? Now the fun and frenzy begins.
You push people to buy it. You share the link from Amazon. You do “free download” days with the eBook. You run Facebook ads. You blog about it. You send out eblasts. You get creative and do a book trailer and a few blog tours. You write a press release. You pitch yourself to the media. You book yourself on podcasts or run a teleseminar or start podcast all around the subject of the book.
Hoping people buy the book, talk about the book and then have more people BUY the book. Whew!
Book sales are soaring – for at least three months. Then you know what happens after about 90 days?
Nothing.
You’re worn out and tired of pushing your book. You stop pushing it and your sales tank. All that hard work and you are now at a stand still.
That’s why being an author is not enough. You have to become an authorpreneur. You must have a strategy to turn your book into a business.
You are the expert and the authority on whatever the topic of your book. You should not limit yourself to just being a sales person for a book. You are the CEO of your information product business.
An authorpreneur creates courses, workbooks, audio books, home study courses, lecture series – and even “branded” products like T-shirts, journals, backpacks or phone cases. This is what we call “product line extension.”
Think like an entrepreneur – not like an author. Sure, you can go speak and sell books in the back of the room. But you’re not leveraging the entire business model of what is possible with a book.
- You can hold a yearly conference or convention around the subject of your book.
- You could create a whole sales funnel and launch video/audio lessons for different levels of learning. Think about launching a series for those who are beginning, then intermediate and finally advanced.
- You could coach individuals and consult with businesses.
- You could sell your book in bulk to organizations.
- You could become a paid spokesperson, columnist or a regular contributor to media organization as the expert.
- You could get sponsors and provide them with content for their blogs.
The opportunities are endless. There are hundreds of products or streams of income you can pull out of your book, but you’ve got to think like an authorpreneur. It’s really about leveraging your resources, expertise and business savvy to get to the next level.