25 Secrets - How I Wrote and Marketed a New York Times Bestselling Business Book
1. How I Wrote and
Marketed a New York
Times Bestselling
Business Book
by Jay Baer
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
2. Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help not Hype
Released June 27, 2013
Published by Portfolio/Penguin
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
3. Book Deal Secrets
Writing Secrets
Production Secrets
Marketing Secrets
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
4. 1. I Had an Agent
➥The book deal process and paperwork is
CONFUSING and WEIRD
My first book (The NOW Revolution, 2011) was published
with Wiley (thanks Wiley)
This time, I wanted to talk to more publishers about their
plans for Youtility, and how to position the book
But, Wiley had a right of first refusal clause in my original
contract, so it was very helpful to have a literary agent to help
navigate that and get me the best possible deal for the book
Agents take 15% of everything associated with the book
My agent, Jim Levine of Levine/Greenberg was introduced to
me by Julien Smith and Mitch Joel (thanks guys)
5. 2. I Used a Publisher That Loved My Concept
➥Publishers are interested in making money, not making
you famous.
That said, they are not all the same, and sometimes their deal
terms are different
Even if the deal is similar, you will get a different “feel” from
publishers about you and your book. That feeling is
ENTHUSIASM
Always go with the most enthusiastic publisher, even if the terms
are not quite as good
ENTHUSIASM = SUPPORT = BOOK SALES
Youtility was published by Portfolio/Penguin, the business
division of Penguin Books (thanks Portfolio!)
6. ➥I got introduced to Portfolio by my agent (of course),
and by Sally Hogshead, speaker/author extraordinaire
7. 3. My Marketing Plan Helped Me Get the
Book Deal
➥Lots and lots of books are pitched to publishers, many
by good writers
➥To make money, publishers must sell books
➥The person that will sell those books is YOU, not them
➥In your proposal (that you send to agent or publisher to
get the deal) put a lot of time into how you plan to
market and sell the book
This reduces their fears of being stuck with a lemon
8. Should you self-publish?
➥If you’re writing a book to make
money, perhaps you should
➥With a mainstream publisher, you’ll
keep ~ 15% of the book sales price in
royalties = NOT MUCH
➥But, if you’re writing a book for
credibility, or to advance your
speaking/consulting career, the major
publisher vote of confidence matters
➥Being with a publisher also helps drive
media coverage of your book
9. 4. I Made the Presentation First
➥Unlike most books, where the presentation is created
after publication, the Youtility presentation was
developed BEFORE the book was written.
This enabled me to use the presentation as a narrative
backbone for the book, and makes the book “flow” well
The Youtility concept was first delivered publicly at Content
Marketing World in September, 2011
First full keynote presentation was at Blog Indiana in
August, 2012
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
10. 5. I Used Transcriptions
➥I recorded the live keynote at Blog Indiana, and
transcribed it, giving me a 15,000-word pool to use in
the book manuscript.
➥I used (and recommend) Speechpad.com
➥I also recorded more than 40 telephone interviews
and transcribed them using Speechpad, making it
easier to listen (instead of having to take notes), and I
could copy and paste quotes from transcript into
manuscript
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
11. 6. I Used Scrivener
➥I used (and recommend) Scrivener software to write
the book
➥Scrivener is incredibly powerful, yet inexpensive, and
allows you to use pin boards and other techniques to
build the book, while providing in-line bibliography
tools, etc.
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
12.
13. 7. I Created (and adhered to) a Writing
Schedule
➥Based on when the manuscript was due, and the
number of words required (~50,000), I determined
which nights and weekend days I could or could not
write, and made a rigid production schedule.
➥For weeknights, I wrote ~1,500 words between 8pm
and 10pm
➥On weekends, I wrote ~ 5,000 words between 10am
and 4pm, one day per weekend
➥Based on this schedule, I wrote Youtility in six weeks
14.
15. 8. I Edited Before Giving it to the Editor
➥Getting changes from your editor (employed by your
publisher) can be useful, but can also cause panic,
and delays and drama
➥You will be much better off (on timeline and mental
state) if you give your editor a “cleaner” manuscript
➥To do this, have friends/family thoroughly review and
improve the manuscript before turning it in
➥My Mom (an English teacher – handy!) did the initial
copy editing, and Tamsen Webster (a brilliant marketer
– handy!) was the initial “does this make sense” filter
for Youtility
16. Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
17. 8. Titles Matter, and I Stuck to My Guns
➥I wanted the title to be Youtility throughout, because I
believed it would be memorable, and could become a
common marketing term
➥Portfolio was less sure, and initially rejected the title
➥Eventually, we determined that Youtility was the best
option, and went back to that title for production
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
18. ➥I’d love your feedback on this, just out of curiosity.
Leave a comment, if you have an opinion
19. 8. Covers Matter (I think) and are Hard
➥Cover for this book is tricky, because it’s a made up
word, so you want to convey some sense of meaning
with the cover, but not the wrong meaning.
Also, because “Youtility” is a new word, the subtitle was
placed first on the cover
I don’t adore the wrench, but it has grown on me
I used my designer friend Chris Bohnsack of Bohnsack
Designs to come up with some other options, but Portfolio
wanted to use their designs, and we did
➥I tested semi-final covers on Facebook, and got
AMAZING feedback that really helped
20. ➥The final subtitle “Why Smart Marketing is About Help
not Hype” was suggested by my friend Billy Mitchell
from MLT Creative, on Facebook!
21. 9. I Made the Book “feel” Accessible
➥All trends point toward shorter information. People
don’t have time to slog through a giant, boring
business tome
Youtility was purposefully written a bit shorter than most
business books (50,000 words vs. 60,000+)
I made the physical size of the book smaller, so it would feel
easier to hold, put in a briefcase for a flight, etc.
I chose to not have a book jacket on Youtility, again to make
the book feel less stuffy and more accessible and
approachable
➥It’s also easier/faster to sign books with no cover, and
they don’t get wrinkled/ripped in shipping
22.
23. 10. I Read My Own Audio
➥On my first book, Amber Naslund and I decided not to
read the book ourselves, and the “pro” reader was not
very good
➥This time, I decided to read Youtility myself, and I
convinced Marcus Sheridan (@thesaleslion) – who
wrote the exceptional foreword to the book – to record
his part, too
➥Feedback has been very strong on the audio version
of Youtility
24. 11. I Made the Data Look Consistent
➥Inspired by Youngme Moon’s Different (a great book) I
wanted to make all the charts and graphs in Youtility
feel the same
➥I commissioned my friend Michael Hale from Michael
Hale Designs to hand draw all the data tables in the
book
➥We created them in two colors, but ended up using
them in gray scale only
25. Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
26. 12. I Built Marketing Into the Book
➥Photos are the currency of the social Web
➥To ensure a steady stream of Youtility photos, I created
an Instagram/Twitter #Youtility photo contest, and
added a page at the back of the book to promote it
Best photos of Youtility “in the wild” each week receive free,
limited edition T-shirts
Shirts were designed by my friend Doug Cholewa from
Catywampus (also the inventor of ScreamingGuys.com)
27. ➥Here’s my son modeling the shirt design
➥Just take your best photo of the book and upload to
Instagram or Twitter with the tag #Youtility and you
might be hearing from me, asking for your size!
28. 13. I Started a LOOONG Time in Advance
➥Because the book is based on a presentation, I had
been talking about the Youtility premise at events for
nearly nine months before the book was launched
This “seeded” the concept broadly, and tens of thousands of
people had been exposed to the message before the book
was available
Get a juicy, free book excerpt at YoutilityBook.com
29. 14. I Spoke for Books
➥I give a lot of presentations as a keynote speaker. For
Youtility, I often reduced my speaking fee in exchange
for bulk purchases of books
These events were both live and Webinars, and will continue
for five months after book launch
For bestseller list purposes, you want all of your pre-orders to
run through in the same week, so Kim Corak on my team at
Convince & Convert closely coordinated bulk book purchases
and timing
I sold approximately 9,500 books in the first day that were
somehow tied to speaking
30. Does it make sense to take less money as a
speaker, in exchange for book sales?
➥It depends. If you’re in it for the long
haul, and want to help ensure your
book/concept is sticky enough that
you can speak about it for 2+ years at
your regular fee, it may be worth it (at
least that was my calculus)
➥But, there is no doubt it’s an
expensive, time consuming approach
that may not be right for all
31. 15. I Built My Own Store
➥To make the New York Times (and other) bestseller
lists, you must concentrate your book sales into one or
more specific weeks
➥In addition to the bulk orders tied to speaking, I
created a robust online store and asked blog readers,
podcast listeners, email subscribers, clients and
friends to purchase books in advance, directly from me
➥I used Shopify for the store technology (I recommend
it), and my friend Neal Lumantara from Crefio
designed it
32.
33. 16. I Incentivized Pre-Order
➥I created a litany of content available first (on a
temporarily exclusive basis) to people who pre-ordered
the book
➥These bonus items (like this one!) eventually became
marketing assets, post-release
Official trailer
Executive summary
Interactive, online workbook
21 Quotes from Youtilty
Live, Q and A session with me about the book
34. 17. I Had a Video Trailer Made
➥Because Youtility is a new concept, I wanted a
concise, innovative video that explained it and built
demand
I worked with the team at Simplifilm (I recommend them), and
they created a terrific trailer for Youtility
We cut several versions to use in pre-order and post-release
phases of the marketing campaign
36. 18. I Had a Music Video Made
➥My amazing friend, Chuck Kent from Creative On Call
wrote an original song about Youtility!
I asked people who pre-ordered the book to send in photos of
themselves helping people
Those photos were used in the music video for Youtility, which
I use as my entrance music at presentations now
38. 19. I Deployed Aggressive Pre-Order
Advertising
➥To build demand for Youtility ~6 weeks out from
release (and to generate pre-orders) I launched a
comprehensive online advertising campaign
➥Total budget was approximately $20,000, split
between banner ads and email newsletter ads
Social Media Explorer
Social Media Examiner
MarketingProfs
Social Fresh
Retargeted ads to Convince & Convert readers
Facebook and Twitter ads
39. ➥Pre-order ads drove awareness, but few direct sales
➥Best source of pre-orders was personal emails from
me to colleagues and supporters – this took many
hours, but paid off in more than 2,500 pre-order
copies via my online store
40. 20. I Hired a Publicist
➥To keep demand for the book high, even after the
launch, I knew I needed robust media outreach
After conversations with several firms that specialize in book
launches, I retained Fortier PR to handle press for Youtility
Between Fortier and my own outreach, I have done more than
50 interviews and podcasts since Youtility debuted, and the
book has been covered in FORTUNE, Forbes, Inc., Fast
Company, Success, Huffington Post, MarketingProfs, and
dozens of other blogs and publications
41. 21. I Organized the Launch on Basecamp
➥To keep track of the many facets of the pre-order and
launch campaigns, I used Basecamp
Projects, To-Dos, and owners were set up for each element of
the program
This was critical, as more than 30 people were involved in the
production and marketing of Youtility in some capacity
42. 22. I Deployed a Launch Advertising Campaign
➥Given the relative lack of success of the pre-order
advertising in terms of actually selling copies, the launch
advertising campaign was scaled back to ~ $5,000
Primarily, this was a “it’s finally here” approach that leaned
heavily on retargeting
The retargeted ads – using the Google retargeting network –
were augmented by ads on Facebook and Twitter
My Mom – who wasn’t clear on how retargeting works – was
surprised to see a Youtility ad on a large sewing website!
43. 23. I Used Guest Posts as Currency
➥Bloggers and other online influencers struggle when
asked to read an entire book and review it – some will do
so, but it’s a big request
➥However, bloggers always need good content for their
blogs, to fill their editorial calendar
For Youtility, I worked with Peg Fitzpatrick of 12Most.com, who
took an advance copy of the book and chopped it up into 30
different guest posts and excerpts
Jess Ostroff, the amazing managing editor at Convince &
Convert took Peg’s posts and polished them up
I then approached friends and colleagues in the blogging
community about running the posts, and placed more than 25!
44. 24. I Built a Freestanding Website
➥I’m very proud of the website for the book
(http://www.youtilitybook.com) built by Neal Lumantara
from Crefio
It’s a scrolling, one page design that includes much of the content
and bonus items, such as the trailer, video, excerpts
Plus, the site includes reviews, information about the photo
contest, and links to new, recently discovered Youtilities that
didn’t make it into the book (but might make it into the next
version)
The site is built on Wordpress (Genesis platform, which I
wholeheartedly endorse), and hosted by Synthesis
45. ➥I tried to buy Youtility.com – but never heard back
from domain owner
46. 25. I Atomized the Content
➥Originated by Todd Defren of Shift Communications, the
idea of “atomizing” your content is included in the book
➥It’s about taking an idea or an execution and repurposing
it, to maximize efficiencies (Ann Handley and CC
Chapman cover this well in their book Content Rules)
The guest posts were drawn from the book
I created a free excerpt of the book that’s downloadable on the
website and is embedded in many of the guest posts
I created an ebook of the 21 best quotes from the book (thanks to
Carrie Morgan for helping on that project), and those quotes
became Facebook ads and Pinterest/Instagram fodder too
48. So that’s how I wrote and marketed a New York Times bestselling
business book. It wasn’t easy, or inexpensive. But it’s doable.
Many, many thanks to everyone involved, especially those who
pre-ordered and continue to support Youtility by leaving reviews at
Amazon.com and elsewhere, and telling their friends.
Stay useful! And if I can ever help YOU, please let me know.
~ Jay Baer