The Smokin' Hot Books® Show

You launched your book.

Now you want to turn your readers into clients.

In this conversation with Esther from Cottn Owl Agency, we get the scoop on how to fill your funnel with your readers so they book a call and become your high-ticket clients.

BUT WAIT!

THERE’S MORE!

We are in the same sales bootcamp together, and break down the intangibles that determine the difference between an entrepreneur making $5k months and an entrepreneur $100k months.

* Certainty.

* Conviction.

* Enthusiasm.

How do you embody these characteristics?

So you can scale without burnout?

More ease?

More fun?

Check out this conversation to learn more.

To learn more about Esther and Cottn Owl Agency, and to learn more about her agency’s services to help you scale with ads, automation, and online funnel pages, you can connect with Esther here:

* Email: [email protected]

* Website: https://CottnOwlOfficial.com

* LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/estherstewart

* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cottnowlofficial/

* Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@IAmEstherStewart

Talk soon.

Renee

Hi business & nonfiction authors,

Today we’re upgrading your operating system.

For many nonfiction authors, even those of us who are successful at running companies, we’re running on an old system regarding our book.

The reason I know that is because I’ve talked to hundreds of you.

I sat in Jack Canfield masterminds with owners of businesses who wanted to publish their memoir.

Only to pay $100k to a marketing company while their book still sat in cardboard boxes in their office.

It’s not a problem.

It’s just an old operating system.

Like your Mac running on an older OS.

All we gotta do is upgrade your operating system.

Click play on the video to get your upgrade.

If you’re upgraded, and you’re ready for a conversation on how to help your book find success, let’s plan:

https://smokin-hotbooks.com/get-in-touch

Have a great Tuesday.

Renee

This is the one where author publicist Haley Raymond shares what it actually takes to get featured in dream publications like:

* The Washington Post

* Publisher’s Weekly

* Variety Magazine

and more.

Haley and I worked on the launch of Amy Suto’s latest book, Write for Money and Power, together.

Haley helped Amy get featured in Publisher’s Weekly, a famous publication for authors.

Re: That’s a big deal.

Have you ever imagined yourself getting featured in Forbes, or Entrepreneur magazine?

What does it actually take, and what does the process look like?

Tune into this Substack Live to watch Haley Raymond school me on all things legacy media!

To connect with Haley and learn more about working with her, connect with her here:

* Website: haleyraymond.com

* Email: [email protected]

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haleyadams25/

Happy pitching!!

DING DING DING 💥

Business and nonfiction authors!

IT’S TTTIIIIIIIIIIMMEEEEEEEEE TO STEP INTO THE RING! 🛎️🛎️

WHO WILL WIN? 🥊 🥊 🥊

THE GIRL WHO LOVES SOCIAL MEDIA?

OR THE GIRL WHO HATES IT?

(And who doesn’t love seeing 2 chicks fight?) 😜

Join social media expert Karlyn Ankrom and I for a rollicking good time on how to succeed in publishing using SOCIAL MEDIA.

* Does social media sell books? What’s the strategy?

* Which platform is performing best these days? Which one sells the most books?

* The Yellow Pages analogy Karlyn Ankrom uses for her clients inside her social media agency, Oh Snap! Social

If you’ve been using Substack or Instagram to sell your books, watch today’s Substack Live!

Nacho Libre sends his regards. 🥊 🥊

What’s your thoughts on using social media to grow your author brand and sell books?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below. 👇🏽

Can you not hear anything either? Dang it. I’ll probably re-record soon.

Hi business authors,

Today we’re talking about the first mistake that successful entrepreneurs often make when marketing their book.

Two people very dear to me, who are both owners of 7-figure businesses, have made this mistake, and I don’t want you to fall prey to this trap!

Watch today’s episode to upgrade your beliefs and your operating system (so you can sell more books and retire to France earlier…)

* Grab Valérie Demont’s new book Being is the New Doing here (99 cents for a limited time!)

If you’re feeling lost and overwhelmed about how to get your book into the world, check out my author success masterclass here.

May you be happy and free!

Renee

There’s a version of you that already has what you want.

The book that sells while you sleep.

The business that grows without grinding yourself to the bone.

The trip to Athens with your family you’ve been dreaming about.

The money to fix your HVAC.

That version of you exists.

But she’s running a different software in her brain.

A few years ago, when applying for grad school, I had put on 10 pounds of stress weight.

And I couldn’t lose it.

Not because I didn’t know what to do.

3 years before, I was in the best shape of my life, lifting weights and rowing boats on my college crew team.

It’s not like I wasn’t trying.

I knew the workouts.

I knew the nutrition.

I’d done it before, at a collegiate level.

But what used to fuel me — lookin’ hot, lookin’ cute to get a boyfriend — wasn’t working anymore.

I was paying for housing. I had a job. I was in school.

I was applying for PhD programs.I was a different woman now, and I had a new version of myself I was growing into.

“Lookin’ hot” wasn’t a powerful-enough engine for where I was going.

So what did I do?

I had to upgrade the belief.

I stopped thinking about what my body looked like.

And started thinking about what my body could do for me.

I remembered that my body fuels my mind.

And my mind gets me to where I wanted to go.

I started to think of my body like that of a racehorse.

Gleaming coat, rippling muscles.

Spirit the stallion in that movie, pulling a steam engine up that hill.

Within the same 6-month period, I lost 10 pounds and got into Carnegie Mellon’s biomedical engineering program (with a 6-year scholarship).

Same actions.

Different fuel.

Completely different results.

That’s what a belief upgrade does for you.

The fundamental change in why you do what you do can create lasting results that fuel everything in your life.

Some say beliefs are “soft” or “woo.”

They may be right.

But you can’t argue that they’re the operating system running every decision you make.

About your health.

Your money.

Your relationships.

Your happiness.

Your life.

I learned this the hard way when I started my first business.

In 2020, I bought my first online course.

It taught me how to self-publish audiobooks online.

I believed volume = income.

More books = more money, right?

In 1 year, I spent $5k to grind out 3 audiobooks.

But even after they finally started selling — after grinding to get 75 reviews on 1 book, redesigning book covers, and figuring out how to get early sales — I was making about $250/month.

I stared at my bank account.

(It was the same as my personal account at the time.)

At this rate, I will never get where I’m going.

My corporate salary at the time was $80k/year.

$250/month for all that work was enough to make me feel sick.

My friend Shawn told me about a different publishing course.

A course that taught us to validate demand before writing the book.

It dawned on me.

I wasn’t failing because I wasn’t working hard enough.

I was failing because I was operating on a belief that told me that hard work = success.

I bought the new course.

I published the next book.

$9,270.20 in Month 1.

$9,352.01 in Month 2.

Then $2,000 — $5,000 a month for the next 9 months from just 1 book.

It was brain-bending.

Same person. Same work ethic. Same business type.

Different belief. Different worldview. Different operating system.

Completely different results.

I used to think I needed to hit $10k/month in my business before I could have freedom.

So I stayed in my corporate job, grinding away at my business.

I believed freedom and travel was on the other side of money.

Until I realized:

I had a car.

I was working a remote job.

I could Couchsurf.

I could drive to the coast and enjoy 70-degree weather in February.

Freedom wasn’t waiting on the other side of a number.

It was waiting on the other side of a belief.

When that shifted, my worldview opened.

I’ve watched old beliefs cost my clients a lot.

I’ve had clients with 45k+ followers (huge audience, real consistency) — post their book to Tiktok, doing everything “right” — and wondering why their book didn’t move.

Clients with every strategy advantage the Internet talks about — only to still come up short.

Clients on their 4th or 5th book, retirement looming, still feeling like they’re throwing spaghetti at the wall.

Here’s what you may have come to learn about business and money:

Money doesn’t follow effort.

Money follows skill.

Money follows an upgraded operating system.

When you upgrade your operating system, author success and sales and opportunities can feel as effortless as tying your shoes.

It can feel easier than figuring out what’s for dinner every night (#iykyk).

An upgraded operating system compresses time.

It leverages you.

The right words and images — which is what marketing is about, by the way — does the heavy lifting for you.

Without grinding yourself down to the bone.

Without becoming someone you’re not.

Without sacrificing your integrity for visibility.

Without needing another ads or social media or podcasting strategy.

Without needing to listen to another guru and pray they don’t scam you.

That’s what’s possible.

Over the next 4 emails, I’m going to walk you through the 4 beliefs that are most likely standing between you and your author success.

Not another strategy.

Not another tactic.

Beliefs.

Because until those change, nothing will.

Talk soon.

Happy Tuesday,

Renee

Hey everyone!

Today was the last day of our workshop afterparty.

We’re so glad you tuned in and got awesome value from it. The feedback has been amazing!

Doors to Viral Author Academy are closing (price increases to $3500 on Sunday, 11:59 EST). You can enroll here.

Spots for 1:1 VIP mentorship are filling up. If you are looking to secure your spot, apply by booking a call with us here.

If you’re looking for the strategy to become a bestseller, sell thousands of copies, and make life-changing impact for yourself and others, email/DM me and we’ll chat.

Congrats again to Amy Suto for hitting #1 Amazon bestseller and #10 on the Amazon Business & Money charts (and selling 1,300 copies in 3 weeks!)

Rooting for you.

Renee

Thank you Sandi Duverneuil, Adela Dalto Moraux, and many others for tuning into my live video with Amy Suto! Join me for my next live video in the app.

Howdy business authors,

In this live, we highlight Amy Suto: founder, entrepreneur, ghostwriter, client of Smokin’ Hot Books, and now, bestselling author.

Her book, Write for Money and Power, is a Top 10 Business Book on Amazon! 🤯

In this interview, we talk about:

* Amy and her mission to empower creatives and writers to make money on their own terms (without publishers, Hollywood, or other gatekeepers)

* Her new book Write for Money and Power (including her 7-figure writing plan, grab it here for 99 cents for a limited time!)

* Her book launch plan in detail (who she hired, what she chose NOT to do, how much she spent on promotions, and how she landed a request for review from The New York Times!)

* What’s next for Amy post-launch

* If you’re a creative, entrepreneur, and/or writer taking back your power and time, you’ll want to grab Amy’s new book Write for Money and Power here (and leave your review on Amazon!)

Thank you Amy for sharing your story and your road to success!

Leave any questions you have in the comments below.

Rooting for you.

Renee