WHAT S NEXT WITH YOUR BOOK

Hello and welcome to tonight's 20-minute masterclass and it's about a complete reality check about our book. What's next with your book? And we as authors, we think that publishing it is the finish line, right? But it's not. We're going to talk about something that I think too many authors overlook, me included at one time before all the 30 books came out and I learned And along the way. Hi, my name is Edna White. I am a 30-time author. I'm a two-time bestseller with Amazon. So I want to just tell you and share with you how much success I have with my books and why there's so much success in what I do. So I'm going to share with you what I really did myself. You see, you wrote a book, you spent the time, you developed the idea, you put your thoughts, your experiences, your knowledge, and your expertise on some paper. You went through editing, formatting, publishing, and probably a fair amount of frustration. I hear that a lot from a lot of authors. But you finally got to say, I'm a published author. And that's wonderful. But that's not the end. That book is not going to just miraculously sell. I can say right now to you as a published author, congratulations. Congratulations. Seriously, congratulations. But there is a but. Now I have a question for you. What's next? Because here's something I want you to understand. Publishing a book isn't an accomplishment. It's not a business strategy. See, when you publish, I meant to say it's an accomplishment, but it's not a business strategy. When I wrote all of my books at each stage of my life, I wanted it to have a message, a mission. I just believed that when I wrote words on a paper, they had a mission. My first poem was at my college, which is Briarcliff and Patchogue. And I remember them having this whole layout of all over. And there's one piece that I was drawn to that was made out of um glass that was from the beach and I remember looking at it and I was like wow that's beautiful and I sat right next to it on the lounge chair and I started writing a poem and so um somebody walked up to me and said oh what are you doing I was like I'm writing about this picture here And then they said, oh, let me, can I take a look? And they let me see it. And I didn't know it was the author. I mean, it was the creator of the piece. And she said, would you mind me putting this with my art piece? I said, absolutely not. And that was my first writing back in 1984, okay? First writing that was ever published out in the audience. And see, publishing... It's an accomplishment, but it's not a business strategy. Now, that actually happened to be a strategy that happened accidentally. And that's when it taught me that everything I do has to have a strategy and has to have an end goal on where it's going. And having your book available on Amazon, Lulu, and all these other sites doesn't automatically mean people are going to find it. Had to find that out the hard way, too. Doesn't mean they're going to purchase it. It doesn't mean they're going to recommend it or even invite you to rooms where your expertise can create opportunities. A book sitting on a shelf, it's sitting on a shelf. A book sitting on Amazon is a product waiting to be discovered. But a book that is connecting to a strategy, that's an entirely different conversation. So I'm going to share with you today. After learning trial and error, after writing these 30 books that I've written, that part of the journey that no one dared share with me. And the bigger question is, what do you intend to do with what you created? That's the thing. What rooms, what doors, what opportunities, what spaces, what places is that book going to be in? That's what you have to start to think. It has to blossom into something beautiful. It just has to. You have to turn this asset into something that's going to be amazing in the space it needs to be in. Because those two things are two different things. Today, I want you to just move beyond the excitement of becoming an author and start thinking like a business owner. Because being an author is authopreneurship. So when I became an author, I knew I was going to be an authorpreneur. I don't call myself an author, people do, but I call myself an entrepreneur because I let that book work for me wherever I go. So I want you to stop asking only how do I sell more books. I want you to start asking how can my book create more opportunities. That's the conversation we're going to have today. Now. Today was on LinkedIn and a wonderful doctor, she was talking about intellectual property and how to be careful about sharing your work when you're working in an office because it is your intellectual property and it can be stolen. An idea can be stolen like this. I know many of us have had that, right? An idea comes stolen like this because you open your mouth or you're just saying it out loud or you're just adding to the conversation at the table. And lo and behold, it becomes somebody else's asset. Stop thinking like somebody who only sells books. Let's get that straight first, okay? Your book is more than a collection of pages. It represents your intellectual property. Okay. Intellectual property. It contains your ideas, your experiences, your knowledge, your research, your methodology, and your you. So you have to make your book mean what it says and says what it means, right? Your book has to become the foundation for other products and services, period. Think about it. If you wrote a book about relationships, you could develop A relationship workshop. If you wrote a book about business, you could create a business development program. If you wrote a book about personal growth, you could develop a guided journal, a coaching experience, a group program. If you wrote a memoir, you could build speaking engagements around the lessons and experiences in your story. You see where I'm going with this? You don't necessarily need another book. You need to learn how to maximize your book you already have. I want you to think about your book differently. Instead of looking at it as one product, consider it as the starting point to an entire ecosystem. That's what I do with my books. This book here not only became a workshop and it was used. In so many speaking opportunities, and I gave it away free, the e-book I gave away for free. So can you imagine speaking with an audience and giving your book away to 100 people with just a QR code? How many hands did it get into with piggybacking on the opportunity of you speaking somewhere? Money! So, for example, your book can lead to speaking engagements, workshops, seminars, coaching and consulting services, online courses, workbooks, journals, even membership communities, corporate training, podcast and media appearances, retreats, and special events, licensing opportunities. Now, I'm not suggesting that you run out and create an idol. I am suggesting that you recognize the possibilities with that one product you have. Your book has the potential to introduce expertise, okay? Your expertise can lead to services. Your services can lead to relationships. Those relationships can lead to opportunities, but you have to be intentional. You can't start it today and put it down tomorrow. Publishing is not the end goal. You need a strategy. You're an authorpreneur now, so now make something big out of this. Your book should not be the only thing you're selling. It should be opening doors to what else you have to offer. Now, there are five ways to make money beyond book sales. There are? Yes. I always said, when I started this entrepreneurship, I said, there are. Several streams of income. And I heard this from one of the people that I interviewed on my podcast many years ago when I first started in 2019. And he said, my mentor told me there's 33 ways to create income from one product. And I said, what? There is? So I said, bing, bing, bing. And I said, which ones do you know? He says, you know, I have to tell you the truth. I don't. And I'm guilty of it, that I didn't do it. Well, right after the show, I started researching and started trying to figure it out. What product do I have that I can make to have 33 ways? And this is before AI. This is in 2018, 19, I had this. And I was like, I researched everything. I did research the, you know, use Google and everything. But I worked it out and I found 18 ways with one book. I was like, holy moly. Now, every one of my books has a different business plan, because writing books, writing is a business, and you have to learn that you have to create more than one revenue stream. Let's talk about money now, because I know some authors get uncomfortable when we start talking about monetizing their books. Some people feel that talking about making money. Sometimes it takes away from the message. Listen, you can tell me whatever you want to tell me. If it took all this energy to do this book, you want to make some money from it. You have value. Your book has value because it's your intellectual property. So stop it now. You didn't do it from the heart. You did it for it's your intellectual property that should have value. All right. So you could have a meaningful message and a profitable business. The two are not mutually exclusive. If you invested your time, your knowledge, your resources into creating something valuable, that work has to generate some income. So let's look at five ways you can do that. Number one, turn your book into a workshop. Every one of my books has a workshop. I don't go out and recreate a workshop. I've already done it and it's done and I just go from there. It's a workshop. I look at the central problem because every time you create a workshop, there's a central problem. You just don't create a workshop, you create it. You have a central problem. And what's the central problem that your book addresses? Well, let's just say move higher in your purpose. What is the central? Message is that you have that one thing inside of you that you could do well and you can grow with it, okay? You can actually profit from it. You can actually have a great mindset, a great ability to make things happen with that one thing, right? So what could you teach someone in 60 or 90 minutes that would help them apply something from the book? For example, if your book is about finding your purpose, I just said it. You could create a workshop still and you don't have to go too far to figure out what to write. You don't. Find your purpose. Find your next chapter. You charge a fee, provide an experience, and use your book as the supporting resource. Simple. Not just, you're not just selling the book. You're not just getting on and this book is for sale. No, you are charging for a fee. Even if it's, let's just say you go out and you want to do a workshop. Test how it did. It goes. And I used to do this. I said, test the workshops. I started at 27. Then, you know, if I only got two, I back it up, okay, 20, and I back it up again. And then I finally would have the sweet spot for workshops that are one-on-one. You know, I would have the sweet spot. You need to find your sweet spot. Try it. Put a fee on it. Provide the experience and use your book as a supporting resource. Now, you're not just selling a book. You're selling an experience, okay? So that's what you need to remember. Number two, create a companion workbook or journal. That is top of the line. Create a companion workshop or journal. I did this with most of my books. Not all of them, but just most of them. Excuse my phone. Sorry about that. But I just want you to know that you can create a companion to that, right? Your book gives people information. The workbook gives them an opportunity to apply that information, reflect on the prompts, the exercises, right? And then take action steps and activities that complete your chapters. You can sell the workbook separately. And I've even seen now, you know, authors writing books, stories chapter by chapter. And at the end of each chapter is a workbook. So it's double, right? It's double the effort. So I love that. I love that idea. So you can sell the workbook separately or as a package with the book. This is really useful for authors who write self-development, write things about business, corporations, personal growth, business education, all those books. The third thing is build a coaching and consulting offer or coaching or consulting. So let's just take that apart. Coaching, consulting. Coaching is... Helping people through. By asking the right questions so that they can figure out the answer to move them forward to a particular goal, a mindset, or a situation. Consulting is giving them a strategy to get there, providing them a strategy on how to get there. So viewing what they have, what's going on with them, hearing what they have, what's going on with them, putting together. A strategy that they can actually move and put into action the very same day. So ask yourself this question. What problem does any my book help people solve? And am I qualified to help them go further? Now, I'm not talking about having a PhD. Your experience alone makes you an expert in that area. What you share makes you an expert in that area. All right, so don't go out and get more degrees and more other things. You have the book already. Let's just take it from there. So your book might introduce someone to a problem they didn't even know how to articulate. Your coaching or your consulting service can help them work through that problem. For example, someone who writes about entrepreneurship, they could offer a business clarity session. Someone who writes about relationships could offer educational workshops or coaching within their qualifications. The book introduces your perspective. Your service provides a deeper experience. So when they read your book, when they get your workbook, they really can't do it without you because they need you there because you are that human experience for them. Okay? Four, get paid to speak about what you wrote. This is one of the opportunities I think authors underestimate. Now, let me just say this. A few ways on how to go about speaking. There's one, there's a free way, there's being a paid opportunity, and then there's getting paid. Okay? There's three ways. Free is the way that I do free. It's not you get paid. Okay, so. There's a way to do it that you come out on top every time, but it takes planning and a strategy. Now, paying for an opportunity has to be weighed out. What are you getting from that payment? What are you getting? So if you're paying a fee, what are you getting in that opportunity? And then what do you think you're going to get out of it? Is there foot traffic? Are there people People are going to be there that can give you other speaking opportunities. Is it that you're going to get that'll benefit you if you're going to pay for a service, right? You're going to pay to speak. And then the last way is getting paid. What is your service? What fee do you charge for your service to go speak at a corporation, wherever you want to go speak? You have the fee. You set it. Now, like I said, most authors mess this up all the time. They want to sell their book. They want to sit at book fairs. They want to sit at fairs in general. They want to have book signings. Book signings, by its own right, does not sell a lot of books. It just doesn't. Speaking does, because they haven't read the book yet. But if they hear you talking about the book, they hear you giving tidbits about it, everybody's going to buy it. Now, when I came out with my... Newest book, The You Project, it was all about my life in these last four years and what I went through as far as taking off all the bad things in my life, getting rid of, you know, things that I thought I had gotten rid of and then completely unearthing myself and losing some friends along the way because I found myself again. When I did that project, I literally came out on the other side of this with great information, right? But I was, I offered it to libraries for a small fee. And on top of that, I sold my book to the library, right? And then I sold it to people that were in the audience. Because they heard me talking about it. So, did I make out well? Yeah, absolutely. Did I sell up to 30 books? Absolutely. And on top of that, I recorded myself, right? Or I put myself on live. Did I sell more books? Of course I did. There are strategies. There are ways that you can expand your reach. And now that they're there for us more so than ever, we ought to be using them. So don't underestimate speaking opportunities because any platform, libraries, women's organizations, organizations, rotaries, professional associations, conferences, community organizations, schools, and business organizations are potential places to explore. But here's the difference. Don't approach organizations simply saying, I wrote a book. Would you like to buy it? Approach them with a topic that solves the problem or creates a meaningful conversation for the audience. So don't, or don't just say I wrote a book about leadership. You might propose a presentation. I am. Always creating proposals, submitting at least 30 a month to different organizations, different places, different ideas. I may come up with an idea. I may wake up in the morning and say, oh, hospitals. And in this part of the division of hospitals, this is what I could offer. And do you know, if I send out 30, I get that 1% return. That 1% return, that means three people open my email and sit for the proposal. So if I have three to four organizations listening to my proposal, I have now gained a partnership with them, and now they know my services exist, and they might even sign for me to be what they need me to be for their clients, okay? Okay. So Make sure that one piece of your project, your proposals, I mean, your business plan is a proposal to somebody for something. So you're selling the value of change, okay? So propose a presentation on developing leadership skills, okay? That value is immeasurable. So it's not just physically your book, but it becomes part of your presentation. Five, develop a digital product. Now, when I say digital, I know everybody probably thinks e-book or whatever. Yeah, e-book, audio book, yeah. Read your book on a podcast. Yeah, I mean all that. But make sure that it's downloadable, you know. Even if you create a digital product that's maybe a mini course on it, do it. Or a video training, do it. Break it up into 15 minutes segments, do it. Or a guided challenge. 13-day challenge. Maybe turn this book here into a 13-day challenge. Do it. But make it available digitally, virtually, online, on YouTube. Listen, you can do it. It just takes a matter of do you want to be an author or do you want to be an authorpreneur? Which one? So creating a template, resources, recorded masterclasses like this one here. The advantage that you can create something once and sell it separately, repeatedly, is immeasurable. Of course, you still need marketing, customer service, and a way to reach buyers, but you aren't trading every dollar directly for another hour of your time. That's the important part. That's the important distinction. Now, here's what I want you to consider. You don't need... Five new businesses. You need one book, one clear audience, and one additional offer that makes sense. So where do you start? The one thing you need to know, and that's part of your business plan, is know who you're selling to. Stop trying to sell to everybody. I'm going to say that again. Stop trying to sell to everybody. Because when you reach out to everybody, you reach no one. Okay? One of the biggest mistakes authors make is trying to sell their book to everybody. Everybody is not your customer, and when you speak to everybody, your message also becomes so general that nobody feels like you're speaking directly to them. So stop it. Everybody doesn't need your book. You need to know three things. First, who needs the information in your book, okay? Second, what problem are you experiencing? And third, what changes of results are they hoping to achieve? Now, I've had authors say, this is what I wrote for myself. Yeah. Now turn it around. What would someone in your position as your audience, as your customer want? What do they want to solve? What did you want to solve? Being alone. There you go. So let's say you wrote a book about starting a business. Your audience might not simply be people interested in the business. It might be a woman over 40 who wants to start a business after years in a traditional employment. Now you know where to find them. What conversations are they having? What questions are they asking? And what kind of language connects them with you? You can create social media content around their challenges. You can appear on podcasts to reach them. You can approach organizations that serve them. And you can create workshops specifically for them. And you can find and build relationships with people who already have access to that audience. See, that's the power of partnership. The power of partnership always has success. And that's another great avenue, which we're not going to cover today. But that's another great avenue. So here's an important point. Point, your audience doesn't always need to purchase your book immediately. Sometimes they need to become familiar with you first, okay? They need to hear you speak. They need to see how you think. They need to understand what you know and why you should trust your perspective. This is why visibility matters. Now, you cannot build a successful author business behind your book, hiding behind it. You have to become visible. And now the last part, and I know I said I was going to only do this in 20 minutes, but I went over five minutes, and here we go. Build your author brand. Become more than a name on the book cover. I want to challenge you to think about your identity as an author. Are you simply an author, or are you an expert, educator, or speaker, consultant, storyteller, or thought leader who happens to have written a book? Think about that. Are you more than a cover? And you can say, not only, like I say, I'm an authorpreneur, right? You're an expert in that field. You're an educator in that field. You're a speaker in that field. You're a consultant for that space. You're a storyteller. Pick which one. Now, I've done this in 31 minutes. We're going to continue this at another time. But these are the basics to get you started. And I'm telling you, if you hang on to this, Put this in action today and start a plan. This is all you need. And then come to me for the rest if you need some more. Remember, my information is in the show notes. See you next time and keep it real, all on purpose. Bye for now.