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Steve Chou is a service provider, blogger, podcaster, and coach. He’s now additionally a e book writer with the discharge in Could of “The Household First Entrepreneur,” his HarperCollins title on enterprise, freedom, and priorities.
That is Chou’s third look on the podcast. In 2020 he mentioned Bumblebee Linens, his osCommerce retailer. In 2022 he described his choice for frugal residing regardless of having achieved monetary success.
On this interview, Chou addresses the method of publishing and selling his e book, now a Wall Avenue Journal bestseller. All the audio of our dialog is embedded beneath. The transcript is edited for size and readability.
Eric Bandholz: Inform us about your e book.
Steve Chou: It’s referred to as “The Household First Entrepreneur.” It’s about my values and prioritizing life in order that the enterprise doesn’t run you, and you’ve got the liberty to do no matter you need and spend time with who you need.
It’s all the time been a bucket-list merchandise to put in writing a e book. That’s principally why I did it. It’s not a cash play. I dreamed of taking my children to a Barnes & Noble and exhibiting my e book on the shelf. I did that two weeks in the past.
By way of enterprise and technique, hitting a bestseller record immediately provides credibility. Exterior of that, it’s a reasonably good lead generator for the rest you do. Should you promote a course, digital product, or membership, of us can discover you that manner. It’s a low-cost manner for them to be taught extra about your work.
I acquired a e book deal, so I used to be given an advance. The method took a yr. I put collectively a proposal, which was round 50 pages. It had projections on what number of books I may promote. It had an overview of the e book and included a pattern chapter. It was a variety of work to place that factor collectively.
I had interviewed many bestselling authors on my podcast, so I hit them up and requested how I may get a e book deal. One in all my buddies, Jeff Goins, was dabbling with a book-in-a-box service, basically a e book marketing consultant. I employed him, and he coached me by means of your complete course of.
I needed to go the historically revealed route — primarily for ego causes. I pitched to eight to 10 publishers similar to Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Penguin. You hop on a Zoom name, meet the personnel there, and see when you get alongside. Then you definitely set a date when all of the publishers bid on what to pay you upfront to put in writing the e book. You take a look at all of the presents and choose one. I went with HarperCollins — they gave a six-figure advance, which was the very best.
I get a 15% reduce on laborious copy gross sales and 25% for ebooks and Audible. I received’t make greater than the six-figure advance till the gross sales exceed that quantity, which might be tens of hundreds of books.
Should you’re doing it for the cash, self-publishing is greatest since you get to maintain all of the proceeds. Once you go historically revealed, that carries with it some status. Plus, it’s a lot simpler to hit a bestseller record.
The publishing enterprise is like enterprise capital. Publishers put money into a bunch of writers, and so they want just one James Clear [“Atomic Habits”] or one Mark Manson [“The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck”] to make their enterprise for the following 10 years. “Atomic Habits” sells round 22,000 copies each week. It’s inconceivable to knock that man off The Wall Avenue Journal’s bestselling enterprise books record.
Bandholz: How does somebody produce the following “Atomic Habits”?
Chou: Step one is the launch. You wish to promote a bunch of books rapidly to hit a bestseller record. I had a three-prong assault. I reached out to of us who had sponsored me and requested them to do a bulk e book purchase for his or her viewers. In the end, it’s a must to get books into the palms of actual individuals. If you wish to promote hundreds of books by launch, you’ve gotten an enormous viewers or leverage others. Most of the books I offered have been from contacts who purchased in bulk and distributed them without cost to their viewers.
My e book launch coach suggested me to go on 200 podcasts. I requested him what the most important bang for my buck can be with out sacrificing 200 hours of my time, and he instructed me to do a variety of good bonuses for my very own viewers, get firms to do bulk buys, after which go on at the very least the heavy-hitting podcasts — the ten or 20 which have gigantic audiences. That’s basically what I did.
I interviewed as most of the large podcasters by myself podcast as doable and promoted the heck out of something they needed to promote. When it got here time for my e book to launch, I hit up all of them and stated, “Hey, bear in mind me? I used to be questioning when you’d be prepared to have me in your present. I’ve a e book popping out.” Nearly all of them stated sure. It’s a networking play.
The majority buys and bonuses ended up transferring probably the most books. I provided three bonuses with the acquisition of the e book. One was a three-day workshop on easy methods to get began with print-on-demand, which I think about a gateway to ecommerce. Then I had a two-day seminar on easy methods to get began and earn money with running a blog, YouTube-ing, and podcasting, that are three issues I do. Then I provided a six-week “Household First” problem, the place I reside stream in a personal Fb group to assist everybody with their aspect hustles.
Should you go the historically revealed route, you should have an viewers. You received’t get a e book deal except you’ve gotten a following, whether or not or not it’s on YouTube or podcasting, if in case you have an intensive e mail record. After I utilized, I believe my YouTube channel was nonetheless fairly small. I believe it was 90,000 subscribers. I had been podcasting for a very long time. I had an e mail record of 100,000, plus my weblog.
Bandholz: Listeners may recall your two companies. Bumblebee is a web based retailer promoting handkerchiefs. My Spouse Give up Her Job is a media and coaching web site. Have you ever seen a gross sales elevate with these?
Chou: Undoubtedly for My Spouse Give up Her Job. For Bumblebee, I don’t assume so. We promote handkerchiefs. What are the probabilities that somebody desires a handkerchief? Fairly low.
I plan on making the e book a part of my general advertising technique as a result of I’ve a novel message in comparison with all the opposite make-money-online guys. It’s a solution to differentiate myself, and having made The Wall Avenue Journal bestseller record provides credibility to every thing I do.
I wish to keep on that record for the long term. But it surely takes time. I should go on a variety of podcasts and make individuals conscious of my e book, and hopefully, down the road, it turns into a family e book, like “The 4-Hour Workweek” or “Wealthy Dad Poor Dad.”
Bandholz: The place can individuals purchase your e book?
Chou: Go to TheFamilyFirstEntrepreneur.com. To be taught extra about what I do, go to MyWifeQuitHerJob.com. If you’re getting married, I’ll hook you up with some handkerchiefs at BumblebeeLinens.com.
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