Content Entrepreneurs, Don’t Wait to Market — How One Author Hit $16K in Book Sales in 5 Days
A common mistake authors make is waiting until their book is about to be published to ask, “How should I get people to buy it?”
Fortunately, as a content entrepreneur, you are well-positioned to market a book. After all, your business is all about building and growing an audience.
Louis Grenier, a Tilt Publishing author, started marketing months before the release of his book, Stand The F*ck Out: The No-Nonsense Guide to Positioning Your Business, Finding Your People, and Building a Durable Brand.
That’s why, just five days after launch, sales topped $16K.
How did Louis do it? He brought his audience behind the scenes, showed them he understood their problems, demonstrated the belief others had in the book, and used other familiar marketing and selling tactics. Though he used multiple distribution channels, we’re sharing his LinkedIn path to help you learn and be inspired about how to strategize for marketing your book (or any other longer-range content product.)
When Louis started his public conversation about his new book on LinkedIn, he expected it to be available about three to four months later. He ended up pushing back the launch by about three months but didn’t stop marketing.
3-6 months before launchMay 6 – Explains the difference made by beta readers of his upcoming book.
May 10 – Ponders if anyone reads a foreword. (He doesn’t.) Details that he will include one written by an author who’s an expert in the field because it develops a trust factor with readers. (Spoiler alert: His foreword was authored by Tilt Publishing founder Joe Pulizzi.)
June 6 – Gives updates on the book’s progress in a 35-slide carousel. Among his activities:
- Sent a third draft to an expanded beta reader group. (Beta readers left over 1K comments and reactions throughout the process.)
- Identified the introduction as the biggest challenge because he had a tough time externalizing how this book would help readers and why they should read it.
- Asked a visual professional to identify 40 potential concepts to be visualized in the book.
- Put together thank-you packages for beta readers, industry friends, and long-time connections.
- Work with the publisher to proofread, edit, and work on the layout.
- Decided not to do pre-launch.
July 10 – Shares 400 words from the first section of the book. He focuses on providing educational value and doesn’t do a book-specific CTA.
July 22 – Publishes another building-in-public post about the unexpected feedback he received when sharing the book cover in his newsletter. He changed the cover and posted a LinkedIn poll for immediate feedback on the revision.
Aug. 22 – Writes about selling the book directly, starting with “Help me stick it to Bezos.” If you sell the book directly (a great idea so you know who your buyers are), you must tell them to expect a different retail option.
6 weeks to 2 months before launch
Sept. 3 – Announces he’s finished the book manuscript. But Louis doesn’t stop there. He explains the next steps in the process for the book and the selling of the book. Most importantly, he includes a CTA inviting people to sign up for his newsletter so they get the latest information.
Sept. 19 – Makes brief update with new expected publication timeframe and includes a link to a free chapter.
Sept. 20 – Shares a testimonial quote from a bestselling author about the early draft of his book. He included a CTA with a link to join the book waitlist, promising a free chapter and discounts.
Sept. 25 – Outlines the five easy steps to sign up for a sneak peek of a chapter in the book.
4 to 5 weeks before launchOct. 10 – Acknowledges he hasn’t been active on LinkedIn, explaining his focus has been on the final work for his book and talking about how his book launch will differ from what’s expected.
Oct. 18 – Publishes image of his waitlist landing page and talks about its copywriting, including his decision to say, “Your email won’t be shared with Neil Patel.” He invited his audience to share examples of fun microcopy. Interestingly, he doesn’t include a link to his book waitlist. It’s a creative way to promote the book without putting out another CTA to get the book.
Oct. 23 – Details an audience pain point and solution while sharing the relevant book chapter in a 19-page carousel. The first carousel image includes a link to the book waitlist.
3 weeks to launch dayNov. 4 – Posts an inside view of the book and lets everybody know he’s doing a final check on the printer proof.
Nov. 7 – Shares a four-minute video from his office with hundreds of boxes for VIP packages and explains why he isn’t just sending his beta readers and other supporters a free copy of the book.
Nov. 15 – Lets the audience know the pre-order is live in a rundown of one-sentence declarations. (He edited the post after book sales went live.)
Nov. 18 – Publishes some of the “almost” book covers and describes his journey to publishing the book. Includes CTA with a pre-order link.
Nov. 19 – Gives eight ways the next day’s book launch will be unlike any other.
Nov. 20 – Launches Stand the F*ck Out with an image of him holding the book. Asks supporters to help spread the word about the book and lets them know he’s staying online to respond to comments and direct messages. (Over 380 comments appear under the post.)
Launch day to 1 month afterNov. 21 – Delves into book content by identifying problems and chapters/stages in the book that address them.
Nov. 22 – Explains in text and video the six-part structure of each chapter. Helping your audience understand a framework lets them know it will be an easier read.
Nov. 25 – Gives sales update ($16K in five days) and why his process works.
Nov. 27 – Shares the first unsolicited book review from a reader.
Nov. 28 – Uses the timing of US Thanksgiving to deliver a Rantsgiving.
Dec. 3 – Reminds audience that special book launch offer expires at midnight.
Dec. 16 – Shares an excerpt of a reader’s email about the book.
We’ve shared the timeline of Louis’ LinkedIn posts relevant to his book. Throughout these months, he also published posts relevant to his overall content brand. And one more thing, Louis also responded to the comments others took the time to add to his posts.
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