How do you know it's time to quit? Quitting often carries negative connotations in our minds; however, in this episode of Author Platform Rocket, Jonny Andrews challenges the stigma of just letting something go. For authors, it's easy to become attached to our writing for the sole reason that it's an extension of us. But, what happens when that one piece of writing just doesn't sell? Tune-in as Jonny explains how we can objectively tackle our "failures". He breaks down the steps we need to take to assess just why our writing is not performing—everything from determining who our target audience is to the length of time we allow for our marketing strategies to really take hold. And, if our efforts still come up empty, you'll see why making that choice to quit is really a move towards your next win.

• Today's episode is about how to know when to quit
• Quitting is stigmatized as failure
• Comparing your efforts vs the results is terrible way to assess
• "The internet is loaded with crazy stories of obscure authors"
• If you're just getting started, you're ahead of the game!
• Things you should ask yourself:
  • Is there a directly reachable audience for my book? Who and where are they?
  • Does my book appeal to this audience, so much that they would buy?
  • Have I done everything possible to engage this audience and build an email list?
  • Am I publishing frequently enough to keep my audience fed?
    • You should be publishing at least 4 books per year
• How many subscribers do I have? Do they open my emails? And, do they click?
• All these questions boil down to a single point – do you have enough readers and are you giving them what they want to buy?
• If you're starting out, build a reader-base of about 2,000 subscribers
  • Use Author Platform Rocket to help you do this
  • Get group author email swaps
• If you don't build a business backed by paid marketing, you're really not building a business
• Facebook Ads insights:
  • After 2,000 impressions, does your ad have a unique click-through-rate of at least 3%?
  • Does your ad have a relevant score of at least 6%?
  • Your cost per lead should be below $1 for fiction and below $4 for the health/business market
  • Are you getting 30 subscribers per 100 clicks?
  • You need to quit using Facebook ads if and when these parameters are not being met
  • Quit and restart

• Failure is a lab result, it's a learning opportunity
• If you're writing fiction, write at least 4 to 6 books in 12-18 months
• As an author, writing books is a labor of love
• Take writing and marketing actions on a DAILY basis
  • "Give it a try time" means employing a strategy for at least 12 months
• You could end up making bad choices when emotions take the reins of your decisions
• If you're earning a living from writing, start out small
• While using tools that track your progress, analyze the trends in your data
  • Don't make decisions based off the data you receive in one day
• Jonny has seen the trend of authors killing their efforts way too fast
  • Give whatever you do enough time to 'cook'
  • Sometimes, great things just don't sell
• Most successful authors have one book that really didn't sell well
  • "Don't hold onto the hope that somehow it's going to work"
  • Quitting can actually be the choice and action you need to take that takes you to your next win
• End of today's podcast

3 Key Points:

1. Always set realistic and measurable goals; track your progress and analyze the data from over a set period of time.
2. Set the expectation for yourself that it will take time to earn from your writing.
3. Don't be afraid to fail. Instead, consider a failure a lab result from which you can learn and make better decisions in the future.

With the rise of Kindle and other online publishing platforms, authors now have the ability to directly access the public without having a publishing deal. The downside? Now, every author is competing with a flood of other authors. In this episode of The Author Platform Rocket Podcast, Jonny Andrews, breaks down just how you can compete with authors in the same niche. Jonny draws important lessons and truths from his own experience building his agency platform and why he was able to stand his ground for more than 10 years. Tune-in to hear the importance of tenacity and being resolute to your goals as an author en route to success.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• Today's episode is about how you can compete with other authors in the same genre
• Jonny goes back down memory lane
  • Jonny thought, why would people buy Kindle when iPhone just launched
  • Apparently, Kindle sold out in 6 hours
  • 10 years later, the publishing barrier left and never came back
  • Authors can now go directly to the consumers which is the new normal
  • This resulted in a flood of authors
• The question now is how an author will stand out from the flood
• A couple of months ago, Jonny had a chat with an author who was interested in creating their own agency program
  • Jonny would always ask "what made you want to work with us"
  • The guy answered that he heard about Jonny in 2014, and he's the only one who was still around and doing well up until this point
  • Jonny actually started in 2004 and achieved success in self-publishing in 2006
• Jonny isn't on Amazon
  • Jonny started with his old laptop in a tiny bedroom that he rented at his friend's house
  • Jonny was also homeless prior to renting because he was a victim of identity theft that left him $65K in debt
  • "Your current circumstances have nothing to do with where you can end up"
• Take small daily actions
• Amazon Kindle is a household name
  • You can use this to become well-known in your genre or marketplace
• Stacking is creating a mountain with small pebbles; you make a pile every day for a specific length of time
  • It is powerful and effective
  • The goal is to be doing what you want to be doing
  • Stacking is a simple concept that many people often overlook
• Most of your competitors don't have the stomach to take the punishment
  • Writing takes a lot of work, time and suffering
  • People tend to get distracted and give up easily
  • Your competition now may not be your competition in the future
• In every situation, you have a choice to stop or continue with the challenges
  • When you choose to go after the challenges; in a couple of years, you'll be the author you were looking up to when you were just starting
  • This has happened to Jonny a couple of times
• After a couple of years, you'll notice the patterns or cycles which will help you predict things
  • You can now notice the changes in Amazon and Facebook algorithms
• If you keep putting out your content on a consistent schedule, you will keep on stacking readers and followers
  • You'll get to the point that when you hit "send" on your mailing list, you'll already have a fan base buying your new book
  • "It takes time to get there"
• Most authors focus on writing their pitches and they wait for validation from others
• "Don't do that!"
• When you stack your pebbles everyday and take full control over what you want and how to get there, your goals WILL happen
• "Your ability to earn a solid living off your book is completely dependent on your willingness to stack your pebbles every single day"
• Don't do anything crazy and just focus on the small and specific actions that you can take

3 Key Points:

1.     Stacking may sound like a simple action to take, but the effects in the long-run are enormous.
2.     Consistency is key—take those small, but specific actions EVERY SINGLE DAY.
3.     Persevere through the challenges and maintain your focus; this is what will set you apart.

Resources Mentioned:

•     Kindle – Amazon's platform for ebooks

In today's episode of The Author Platform Rocket Podcast, Jonny Andrews discusses how to set-up a consistent, evergreen author marketing strategy. This may not be an exhaustive list of all the marketing strategies that are out there, but it is a comprehensive list of what will give you long-term, measurable gains. Listen as Jonny discusses what to expect from Facebook ads, book discovery sites, and newsletter promotions. He'll also show you how to effectively run long and short-term promotional campaigns together in a way that maximizes your marketing punch!

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• Today's episode is about how to set-up a consistent evergreen author marketing strategy
  • A great strategy is one that will have maximum effect with minimum movement
  • The focus should be on what works best to keep your sales consistent
  • Book launches and other marketing tips will be covered in upcoming episodes, so stay tuned!
  • Jonny had talks with several authors in the past about their different marketing strategies
  • There are a handful of authors who have rock solid marketing strategies
• And then there's the rest who don't have a coherent strategy, which is also normal
• A promotion schedule should be just as easy as a paint-by-number template
  • There are different kinds of promotions and different kinds of outcomes
  • You can set an expectation with your marketing plan
  • Expectations should be in-line with reality
  • Jonny focuses on PPC or pay-per-click
  • AdWords and Bing can get expensive for most authors
• But, they can also be profitable if you know your numbers
• Jonny talks about Facebook ads
• The goal is to optimize the clicks to your book OR the cost per subscriber
• Most authors will run an ad and end it when they don't see a result as early as they were expecting
• Advertising can be terrorizing for a lot of authors
• The longer you run your ads on Facebook, the more clicks you can get
• Facebook will know who to target depending on your parameters
• An ad will have an average run of 2 days depending on the budget
• "Facebook ads need to be a vital part of your marketing"
• If you keep testing, you will see results and what actually works
• Depending on your budget, you can adjust the buoyancy rate
• Your main goal for your ad is to get at least a 3% unique click-through-rate
• Relevance score should be at least 5%
• Test 6 different images in running an ad
• 2 out of 6 images will likely attract more than the rest
• If all of the images aren't working, it's okay to just start again
• The things that you should be testing are images, ad copy, headlights, calls-to-action, and target audience—they should be tested one at a time
• Facebook is the best place to build your mailing list
• Building your subscribers list should be an effort made daily
• It takes a long time to see results so just be consistent
• As time passes, the power you have in selling your books will increase
• Jonny recaps Facebook as the vital part of your evergreen marketing plan
• Newsletter promotion is the next vital part of your evergreen marketing plan
• It is simple and has the most basic expectation
• Most authors use newsletter promotions to measure their other promotions which is a BIG mistake
• Jonny talks about how to leverage book discovery sites
• Discovery site newsletter promotion is effective, but it needs to be coordinated within a 24-hour period
• You want to stack multiple stacks on top of each other in just 24 hours
• It laser targets the email tracker for multiple sites
• Authors love this because it works well
• The downside is you can't run it very often
• It has a massive short-lived effect
• MAS ads are great for boosting your page-rate
  • They fall under the slow-burn, long-term category of ads
• We stack long-term promotions then punch in short-term promotions
• In 2011, Jonny launched a site, I Love Vampire Novels, without any idea for how to promote it
• Years later, Jonny was able to gain 135K subscribers, 5 book discovery sites, 3M viewers weekly and helped loads of authors sell their books
• Build your marketing plan so you will become a juggernaut on your own
• Have your long-term Facebook ads build your platform and push your first book in the series combined with your coordinated book discovery site punching in every 60-90 days
• In order to do that, you should run a 90-day set promo or a free promo
• This tactic can lead to your slow and effective growth
• Newsletter building is running traffic to your website by having a free copy promo in exchange for their emails
• This can impact your selling power over time
• This is vital for every author
• With book discovery sites, rent a space on a group newsletter based on your genre—the goal is to schedule it within a 24-hour period
• You want to maximize the punch effect
• In the long run, your aim is to make your ads more effective, but more cost efficient
• How to make your numbers work is something you figure out from previous episodes
• Have list-building ads running all the time
• For single genre series, have long-term Facebook ads that push the first book of the series to hook readers and create steady traffic
• Rotate 60-90 days on coordinated book discovery sites and run promos twice a year or depending on your book release
• There are lots of promotional strategies that you can use, but the strategies that were discussed in this podcast are the most effective that Jonny has seen for long-term, measurable gains

3 Key Points:

1.     Facebook ads don't create immediate results, it takes multiple tests and some time before you see the gains.
2.     Your mailing list will be your ultimate weapon in business; the sooner you build it, the better.
3.     Set expectations that will help you track if your marketing plan is working or not.

Resources Mentioned:

• AdWords and Bing – Site that help you with pay-per-click campaigns
• Facebook ads – Promoting your book
• I Love Vampire Novels – Jonny's site

Jonny addresses a question from his audience that comes up more often than not—how long does it take to experience success and how can I speed it up? Since success is a relative term, it is difficult to measure success from one person to the next. This is exactly why Jonny's 3 Steps to Speed Up Success begins with defining what success means to you in tangible terms. Tune-in as these three steps will help you gain the traction you need to not only define your goals and your audience, but create an action map to get there. If you'd like to speed up your path to success as an author, this episode is marked for you.

• Today's Episode – How long does success take and how can I speed it up?
  • 70-80% of the questions asked of Jonny is this one question
• Every author has a different business model
• 3 Steps to Speed Up Success
  • Clearly identify your definition of success
    • Put it in monetary/financial terms
    • Go through all your bills and decide how much you'll need on a monthly basis
    • See what number you're trying to hit
    • Visualize your ideal life and compute how much it will cost
• Figure out who your market is and how you want to serve them
  • Who you are includes what you are willing and capable of doing
  • Who is your audience and what do they want?
  • Use your email list to get to know your audience more
  • Eben Pagan's customer avatar
  • Facebook Business Ads to look at your own fan page's insights
  • Look at authors in your genre—look at what they do and look at their audience
  • If you're not in fiction, the fastest path is by buying a product or coaching package
  • Make an action roadmap
• Place on the map where you are and where you want to be
• The 1% Rule: 1% of your traffic will buy whatever you're offering
• Most authors achieve better than 1%
• Measure your success in terms of monthly income
• Figure out where you want to go
• Find out who your audience is
• Look at your current numbers and know your statistics
• Don't be a perfectionist
• End of today's podcast

3 Key Points:

1.     The definition of success is NOT universal – it differs from person to person.
2.     Set-up your customer avatar and identify the ways you'd like to serve them.
3.     Know your numbers so you can set your targets accordingly.

Resources Mentioned:

• Eben Pagan – Person who first introduced the "customer avatar
• Facebook Business Ads – Platform to reach your audience through Facebook

Welcome to the first episode of Author Platform Rocket Podcast, a podcast dedicated to helping authors get a headstart for their books. Your host, Jonny Andrews, breaks down The 3 Steps to Win The Author Game. Many authors struggle with setting themselves apart in a highly saturated market. It's not just about taking action, it's about knowing the right actions to take in order to get you to that next level as an author. Listen as Jonny explains these 3 steps to get you on the right path of success and and why luck can be the "kiss of death" for authors.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

•      Today's episode is about The 3 Steps to Win The Author Game
•      Most authors struggle with standing out amongst the crowd
•      The combination of the right mindset and the right daily actions is what will make you WIN
•      Jonny Andrews shares how he was wiped out with identity theft

o      It was a moment of ultimate frustration because nothing was coming together for him

o      It turned out that Jonny wasn't focusing on the actions that would "move" him

o      He would run around doing things that were completely disconnected

o      Busy is NOT the same as being EFFECTIVE

•      1st Step: Focus on what you can control
•      The 99-1 Rule:

o      "You're not going to see results right away"

o      Be consistent and persistent

•      3 basic things that will happen when you start

o      You learn

o      You build up your name and credit

o      The universe will test your commitment

•      Expect that this will take more time and will be a lot harder than what you initially thought
•      Most authors have to work because not all are lucky or make a fast break

o      Luck can be the "kiss of death" for authors

o      "Fortune favors the prepared"

o      Focus on the daily actions that you can control

•      2nd Step: Your writing and marketing rituals

o      Have a marketing and/or writing ritual that you will commit to doing every day

o      Examine your business – Do you have a list-building ritual?

o      Don't wait for inspiration to come to you

•      3rd Step: Track your actions and hold yourself accountable

o      Set goals for yourself and track your progress

•      Jonny shares what he learned at a Tony Robbin's event

o      Little daily rituals should be easy-to-complete steps

o      Small actions compound into bigger results

•      Break your goals up into smaller steps
•      Don't get discouraged over initial failures
•      Get the busy work OUT and over with
•      Make a daily checklist for yourself
•      Give yourself a sense of urgency
•      Your success as an author will NOT come out of thin air
•      End of today's podcast

3 Key Points:

1.     It takes time to gain traction – don't expect your first attempt to be an outright success.
2.     Focus on the factors you CAN control, not the ones you can't.
3.     Be accountable to yourself – set daily goals and track your progress.