Marketing 101: Turning Readers into Fans, The Real Job of Marketing
Introduction and Chapter 1 of Mini Book Marketing
Happy Monday Mini Book Masters.
This past week we had 9 people take part in our very first 7-Day Mini Book Sprint and at least 5 look to have completed a rough draft manuscript! WHOA!
You can see the titles that were started during the sprint by clicking HERE. I’ll be unveiling all their book covers I created for them as a part of the sprint later this week.
Next week we’ll launch our very first 7-Day Publishing Push, helping those who have manuscripts go through publishing their manuscripts piece by piece across 7 days.
Stay tuned, I’ll be announcing how to take part in that. It will be available to premium subscribers only.
NOW ONTO THE MAIN EVENT.
Today is the first installment of the Mini Book Marketing series, one day to become the Mini Book Marketing book. (and a part of a bigger book I’m keeping under wraps for the moment)
A recap of the series with links to the first edition on the series,
Mini Book Manuscripts (also known as the Straitjacket series)
So now we are assuming you have a manuscript and you want to reach more people with that published book.
Let’s dive in!
Below is the introduction and first chapter of the book.
Introduction
Ever wondered why some books fly off the shelves while others collect dust?
As an author, you might think writing or publishing is the hard part, but the real challenge is getting readers to find, buy, and engage with your work. Without a solid marketing plan, even the best written book can go unnoticed. Marketing is the link between your book and the readers who need it most.
This book will guide you in transforming your mini book into a magnet for readers.
You’ve likely heard it before: “If you build it write it, they will come.”
Unfortunately, in the world of self-publishing, that’s rarely true. Most authors struggle with visibility, turning to random tactics that rarely lead to results or they simply do nothing, hoping readers will find their book. That’s where Mini Book Marketing comes in, a structured, repeatable process to reach readers, drive sales, and build a lasting fan base. I’ll show you what I've learned in seven years of writing and promoting books, including how my books have been downloaded over 70,000 times, helping me build an $800k/year business using books as my primary audience-building tool.
If you’re ready to truly reach your audience, this book is your roadmap.
So, what exactly will you learn in Mini Book Marketing?
This book divides into two parts to guide you through key steps of the journey. In Part One, we’ll explore the different ways you can keep your book visible (Marketing Channels) at and beyond launch, from social media to email lists, and more. In Part Two, we’ll pull all our newfound knowledge of different ways to market into comprehensive plans (Strategies) to maximize your mini book, including hitting #1 on Amazon and sustaining sales.
By the end of this book, you’ll have a clear path to take your mini book from published to popular.
The last chapter provides a 30-day plan for implementing everything you've learned.
You can use that timeline exactly or simply as a checklist. You could complete these steps in one month or take months to do them all. Either way, you'll see great results.
I can't wait to see how many readers you can reach and how many lives you impact.
CHAPTER 01: Marketing 101
What is Marketing?
What is marketing? People define marketing in many different ways. It can be the Coca-Cola polar bear commercials, a spinner guy on a sidewalk, a promo code for 50% off, or Apple’s legendary packaging. A Google search for "marketing" will often turn up definitions that are confusing or unclear:
"The action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising."
That explains why we’re often confused about marketing, so let me give you my definition of marketing from my book God is Like Marketing:
"Marketing is anything that attempts to turn someone into a fan of a product or service."
Now, let’s explore the steps by which marketing turns someone into a loyal fan. Marketing helps customers:
F – Find a Company (discover a solution, product, or in our case book)
A – Take Action With a Company (make a purchase)
N – N’teract With a Company (use the product, read the book, leave a review, etc.)
Many people, especially authors, don’t fully grasp what marketing really entails. For authors, marketing is simply a way for us to find readers, get them to take action with us, and give them a way to interact with us. Everything we cover in this book will help you do one of these three things.
That should take the mystery out of what marketing is.
What Makes Marketing Good?
Good marketing explains the customer’s problem and offers hope for a solution.
Most marketing is terrible. It focuses on features, the product/book, or the brand/personality behind the product: the “Look at how great we are” kind of marketing.
Your focus should always be on showing the customer you understand their problem and sometimes how you have a solution.
Knowing Your Niche
Good marketing starts with a solid understanding of your niche.
Your niche is made up of three things: the person you are trying to help, the problem they are trying to solve, and the solution you’re offering. Changing just one of these ingredients can create entirely different businesses.
Let’s look at an example:
Audience: Men learning to shave
Problem: Girlfriend doesn’t want him to have facial hair
Solution: Premium electric razor
Company: Gillette (or another electric razor company)
Now, if we swap out just the solution, we get very different businesses:
Solution: Inexpensive razors (Dollar Shave Club)
Solution: Electrolysis (Dermatologist)
Solution: Find a new girlfriend (Dating coach)
Make sure you understand your audience, their problem, and your solution before you ever try to market your product, service, or, in our case, book.
Specificity is Key
The more targeted your marketing, the better.
Generic problems cast a wide net but rarely resonate on a personal level. “Thirsty? Grab a Coke.” That’s great for brand awareness when you have billions to spend.
For everyone else, we must tackle and speak to a precise problem.
When someone hears a solution to a problem they face, they think, “Hey, this is for me.”
That’s why drilling down on your problem and niche is necessary.
If I say, “On a diet at the movies? Grab Bubbly—the premium sparkling water—and enjoy a refreshing drink without the calories,” then someone on a diet will not only want what I offer but may pay a premium for it. This solves a much bigger, more focused pain point than simply “Thirsty?”
The same goes for your audience.
Knowing your audience is for “20–30-year-olds” is good.
Knowing it’s for men, better.
For dads, even better.
But dads of young kids building a business for the first time? BINGO.
Precision is what actually carves out a niche.
You have to drill deep to find the oil. It may feel like you are excluding tons of people from your book, and you are, but that’s the point. Making something for someone means it isn’t for everyone. You create the most value by bypassing the surface levels to reach the pockets of liquid gold buried deep below.
Laser your focus and drill deep.
Results Matter
While your solution defines your niche, promising a result is what gets attention.
Whether implied or stated plainly, results are what matter to your audience. They want to know what outcome your solution will produce for them, how fast it’ll happen, and how much it’ll cost them.
The more specific you can be, the better.
Alex Hormozi, in his book $100M Offers, talks a lot about reducing the perceived cost of your offer. He presents this “value equation”:
Dream Outcome + Perceived Likelihood of Achievement (divided by) Time Delay + Effort & Sacrifice = VALUE
Often, the easiest way to increase the value of your book, product, or service is to clarify how quickly they can receive results.
For instance, which subtitle makes a book sound more valuable?
"How to write and publish your book." (generic)
"How to write and publish your book in 90 days." (specific)
"How to write and publish your book in 30 days." (faster)
"How to write and publish your book in 7 days." (fastest)
The less the time delay, the more perceived value. The same goes for Effort and Sacrifice.
Which sounds more valuable?
"How to market your book." (Effort)
"How to market your book in 1 hour a day." (Less Effort)
"How to market your book with an automatic system." (Getting Warmer)
"How to set up an automatic marketing system in 3 hours and make money forever." (Least Effort)
The less effort your reader perceives they’ll need to give, the more valuable it seems.
Word of Caution
These promises of fast, effortless results can be a double-edged sword.
If you promise, “Become a New York Times Best Selling Author in 1 Hour with No Effort,” people will probably not believe you. And if they do, read your book, apply it, and don’t get that result, they may never believe anything else you say.
The point is to be honest.
Know that the more specific, faster, and less effort it takes to achieve the result, the better. But be careful to make realistic promises. As you move forward with marketing your book, keep these fundamental marketing principles in mind, they’ll help you sell more books.
Did you get anything out of this first chapter? Let me know in the comments below. If you are reading in email click HERE to head to my Mini Book Publishing Substack and leave a comment.