How to Master Resilience: Your Secret Weapon for Book Marketing Success - BM406

Susan Friedmann [00:00:31]:

Welcome to Book Marketing Mentors, the weekly podcast where you learn proven strategies, Tools, ideas, and tips from the masters. Every week, I introduce you to a marketing master who will share their expertise to help you market and sell more books. Well, folks, it's me. I'm my own guest, and I always have to have my dear friend and colleague, Jane Malucci, To be the host asking me questions because I find it so much easier than just to rant. So it's got a little more structure than that. Jane, welcome. Thank you for being here again. My pleasure. Always doing this so beautifully. Where are we going today, Jane?

Jane Maulucci [00:01:13]:

Well, you and I had a conversation about resilience the other day and how important it is for someone who's trying to market their book. But I have a question for you. I want you to please explain to me the difference between resilience and perseverance.

Susan Friedmann [00:01:30]:

Well, that's a good question to start with, putting it in perspective. Yes. We need both. Perseverance, as I see it, Means being very determined and having this continuous effort to achieve a goal despite facing difficulties and delays. I mean, I think about here in Lake Placid, we have Ironman once a year. And you've got those runners and they cycle and they run and they swim, not in that order. It's actually swim, bike, run. And they keep going no matter what Because their goal is just to get past that finish line, which is crazy, but my hat goes off to them because it's an incredible feat.

Susan Friedmann [00:02:14]:

I see that as perseverance. Just keeping going. Whereas resilience goes that step Further than perseverance, and that is it's something happens. You have a setback, But you keep on going despite that. You adapt to the setback. I always think of, you know, one of those Inflatable dolls, and they've got a weighted bottom. You hit that doll and it goes down and, boom, it bounces back right up again. And I see that as resilience too.

Susan Friedmann [00:02:51]:

It's like, you're going to have setbacks. Whatever you do, there's nobody that Has a smooth ride. I'd love to say that that was true, but it's not. You're gonna have setbacks. You're gonna have bumps in the road, And you've gotta be prepared that, hey, when something doesn't go quite the way you expected, all goes horribly wrong That you then just come back and look at what happened, look what worked, look what didn't work, and come up with another plan. That's how I see the 2. Does that make sense, Jane?

Jane Maulucci [00:03:28]:

Absolutely. I think that that resilience is the ability to come back from Something that's gotten in your way. Now, Susan, you've marketed so many of your books because you've published so many books. I can imagine that in your journey, you must have had a time or two where that resilience had to come into play for you.

Susan Friedmann [00:03:50]:

Oh, many times. I lost count how many times that happened. Yeah. And what did I do about it? I turned to experts in the field and Oh. Wanted to learn more from them. What could I be doing better? And in fact, that's how I actually came to write my very first book. One of my colleagues at NSA, National Speakers Association, you know, I said to him, what do I need to do to be able to stand out? And he said, it. Write a book.

Susan Friedmann [00:04:25]:

And he said, it doesn't matter who publishes it, just write it. Well, those were the days when I wanted a traditional publisher, So I did go that route, and I was turned down like most authors. I was turned down several times. Ex. However, I kept going, and I think it was the 4th or the 5th time I got a contract. And they took a chance on me Because I was writing a book about trade shows, exhibiting at trade shows, tips and techniques for success. This isn't exactly the sexiest of titles and the sexiest of books that people are just gonna rush out and say, hey, I want that book. It's got a very specific market.

Susan Friedmann [00:05:09]:

They took a chance. They'd never been quite so specialized, but as you know, we did really well with that book. And I sold 500,000 copies, so Not too bad.

Jane Maulucci [00:05:20]:

One of my favorite stories of yours is the one you tell about when all of the trade shows got canceled And you still had to get them to publish your book.

Susan Friedmann [00:05:33]:

Oh, yes. That was my 1st dummy's book, Meeting and event planning for dummies. This was on my bucket list. I wanted to write a dummies book. And you know how you write things on a bucket list and then well, I think it took several years before the opportunity arose, but, Obviously, the universe had heard me, and it wasn't exactly the book I wanted to write. I wanted to write Trade shows for dummies or exhibiting for dummies rather than meeting and event planning, but this was the one they were offering. So I was like, Let me just take it. So I did.

Susan Friedmann [00:06:14]:

I wrote the book, and something awful happened, 911. And the book was literally ready to go to press. And I got a phone call. I was actually at a National Speakers Association meeting. I went up to my room, And there was a message on my answering machine, and it said, because of 911, there are not going to be any more shows and events and meetings. Therefore, we are not going to be publishing this book. Goodness. You can imagine.

Susan Friedmann [00:06:51]:

I just put down the phone while I it was an answering machine, but I was just like I just burst into tears. I was like, oh, I put so much time and energy and effort, and I was like, Oh, what am I going to do? I was at a National Speakers Association meeting, so I was like, who better to ask than my colleagues there. What would you do? What would you do? And, you know, they came up with several different ideas, one of which was that I would publish it myself, Which didn't quite have the same cache as Wiley Publishing it under the dummies label because I couldn't use that, you know, because that's branded. Any event, I found somebody there at Wiley who was willing to be an advocate because I said, this is nonsense. Yes. They've had a glitch now. They're not Trade shows at the moment, or they're not well attended. Some of them still took place, but they were very poorly attended.

Susan Friedmann [00:07:55]:

And it was like walking around in a ghost town in many of them. I remember doing that in New Orleans, and, oh my goodness, it was pretty scary. If you've Ever been to the New Orleans Convention Center? It's a huge convention center. And there was I, you know, and a few exhibitors who showed up, Very few attendees. But I, for about 6 months, I'd made a case. I put together a case with all the facts and figures of the fact that meeting and event planning was still alive and well and living all over the world. And this wonderful lady took it to her team. It's the sales team that makes this decision, by the way, because they have to sell the book.

Susan Friedmann [00:08:43]:

So they made the decision based on my facts and figures That they would go ahead with it.

Jane Maulucci [00:08:51]:

And Wow.

Susan Friedmann [00:08:51]:

You can imagine. Now was that 18 months after it was meant to Go to press. It actually came out. We're talking now I think it was 2003. And last year, 2023, Wiley came back to me and they said, we need you to update the book. And they offered it to me. And, of course, you know, I was like, well, I'm not in the meeting planning business anymore, but if I don't write this update, Then they're gonna get somebody else to do it, and my ego didn't allow that. So As you know, because you were very instrumental in helping me through this, we had about, what, About 30% of the book that we needed to change, the

Jane Maulucci [00:09:41]:

Yeah.

Susan Friedmann [00:09:42]:

Technology side of it, that was really The only thing that was outdated, the rest of the book was pretty evergreen, and we didn't yeah. I don't think we changed much of the evergreen stuff Other than any websites that were now defunct, businesses that no longer existed that we had referenced in the book. But, yeah, Other than that, and then January of last year, it came out. And so we have the new and improved version, and it's Business meeting and event planning for dummies. So they added the business just to differentiate it from the first one. So that's the story. And, Yes. Definitely needed resilience there to bounce back from a setback that, at the time, you know, I thought was the worst thing in the world.

Susan Friedmann [00:10:34]:

I'd call it my David and Goliath story because there's little old me, and there's big corporation. And it was a win win for everyone, so I like that.

Jane Maulucci [00:10:46]:

That's phenomenal that you were able to convince them to continue to Publish it and get the book out there. And then, of course, come back to, you know, 20 years later and say, could you fix this up a little bit for us so that we can put it out again? How wonderful is that? Thank you. That's a commitment on your part. That's phenomenal. So now, when you have a book that was Published. And you're out there marketing it. Tell me one of your war stories where you got the pay offer Standing by your marketing plan.

Susan Friedmann [00:11:18]:

Well, it didn't start off, you know, that I had the marketing plan. Like many authors, Now I wrote the book and then started to think about marketing, which as you and I both know, It really serves you a lot better if you can have at least some plan in place once the book is published. But I had to do things backwards as many authors do. After about the 1st year of the book, If I'd sold a 100 copies, it was a lot. And, you know, many were to friends, family, just people who were there to support me and really were not my target audience, I realized that I didn't wanna sell books in onesies and twosies. Ex- That was too frustrating because it's a lot of work. I thought there has got to be a better way. There's got to be a way that you can a sell books in bulk.

Susan Friedmann [00:12:18]:

It took a while, but I looked at my target audience, And then I looked at who else would be interested in my target audience, and that's where I was able to look at Developing some strategic partnerships with the right companies. And that's when, first, I sold 2,000 copies of my book to 1 company, and then I thought, oh, this is going so well. I've hit the jackpot. Let me try it again. And so I didn't go to a competitor, but I went to another company who made a different style product, But yet still had the same target audience as me, which were exhibitors at trade shows. That was my field. I had a training company I trained exhibitors how to be more effective on the trade show floor. They loved it so much That they bought 250,000, they used it as a lead magnet.

Susan Friedmann [00:13:20]:

Now we didn't call it lead magnets back in the day. This was several years ago. I don't even recall how many. Any event, they used it as a giveaway for their distributors to entice prospects to get a demonstration of their product. And since they were a company that was international, global, they had the book translated into 5 languages. So we sold 250,000. It went so well this campaign that they ordered another 250,000. 500,000 books to 1 company.

Susan Friedmann [00:14:01]:

Now think how much easier, even though, you know, this is over a period of, let's say, a couple of years. But still, I would never have sold 500,000 copies if I'd been doing it in onesies and twosies.

Jane Maulucci [00:14:16]:

Right. Wow. When you're going on this journey, I'm thinking of a new author with their 1st book. I mean, you've got such a wealth of experience. Ex. How do you encourage them to maintain their resilience? What tip can you give them that got you Going through your 1st adventures into publishing.

Susan Friedmann [00:14:38]:

You've gotta be dedicated to the book, to your target audience, to your message. If you lose faith in, first of all, your message and your passion for the book, It's not going to work because you've got the most enthusiasm for what you've produced. In fact, authors come to me and they say, Susan, will you sell my book for me, or do you know somebody who'll sell my book for me? I said, Nobody is going to sell your book the way you do. You are the most passionate person about your book. It's your baby. You produced this baby, and now what are you doing? You're giving it to someone else to take care of? No. You've gotta nurture it. You've gotta feed it.

Susan Friedmann [00:15:23]:

You've gotta water it. Just like anything in your garden, you plant a seed. You've got to look after that seed for it to grow on the same way with the book. This is where resilience comes in is, who are you going to sell this to? Where is your market? Are you in a niche market? Because personally, I'm biased, Having written the book Riches and Niches, How to Make It Big in a Small Market, I feel that niche marketing or niche marketing is what it's about because you can go narrow and deep. And I know there's a lot of fears attached to that. People say, Oh, can I be in more than 1 niche? And what happens if somebody out of my niche wants to buy? You've got choices. You can make decisions based on your choices. If it's worthwhile, do it.

Susan Friedmann [00:16:16]:

If it isn't, don't. You still got that flexibility. However, your main marketing and your energy, your time, your energy, and The investments that you want to make go into penetrating your niche market. It's much more effective, much more efficient. You're going to keep competitors at bay, or you're going to have far fewer competitors than you would if you stay general. And, yes, some people say, oh, I'm a generalist, and they like it that way. Great. That's not what I advocate as being the way that works based on my blueprint of selling books in bulk.

Susan Friedmann [00:17:03]:

So I'm looking at a different way. Does it mean the other way is not right and my way is right? No. It's just a different approach, and there are many different approaches to marketing. And that, I think, is what's so overwhelming For first time authors as well, Jane, there's just so much out there. There was a lot when, you know, I started out with my first book, but now, I mean, I'm overwhelmed with it. And, you know, I know a little bit about marketing, but there's so much now.

Jane Maulucci [00:17:35]:

Right. So many different opportunities, which one's the right one for you? And I think you make that great point, Susan, that if you know who your audience is, then It makes it so much easier to identify what's the best way to communicate with them. And I think also you made that point about that's how you maintain your resilience too is that You're confident that you've got the right path and that you're talking to the right people. Or you can keep finding different ways to approach them, but you know That you have seen that for you, it's worth because you know who you were trying to reach out to. Yeah. So looking back on this, Susan, What's the 1 golden nugget you would leave with these authors about resilience and marketing their books?

Susan Friedmann [00:18:19]:

Don't give up. Don't give up. It's worth it. Just keep going. Keep trying different things. Look what works. Look what doesn't work. And maybe if it didn't work one day, it might work another way.

Susan Friedmann [00:18:33]:

It's really trial and error. I don't know of a silver bullet, magic bullet, that's just going to do it for you. Yes. Some people will be able to sell it. You've got a publicist maybe who'll do a lot of marketing for you and publicity. But at the end of the day, you know, getting out there, Speaking on platforms, doing podcasts, doing training, doing coaching, do it wherever you can. Get in front of your target audience Even if and I did this many, many times, my 1st speaking or training engagements, I wasn't paid. However, the people who were in the audience were my target market, and so they are the ones who hired me.

Susan Friedmann [00:19:19]:

Just look at all the different opportunities out there. But when you talk about making money with your book, yes, sell it in bulk. However, I didn't make a fortune doing it, even though it sounds like a lot. If I made a few cents of your dollar or so on a book, That was a lot. If you want to make money with your book, then speaking, training, coaching are 3 primary pillars that you're going to make money. And like speaking engagements, Everyone in the audience needs to have a copy of your book. You could be selling a 100, 200, a 1000 books if you're speaking to an audience of a thousand people. Now that may not be and this is a little, you know, hack that I'm gonna share with listeners here, and that is find a sponsor for the book because your meeting planner may only have money to pay you or pay your expenses.

Susan Friedmann [00:20:22]:

But there are people out there who might be interested in sponsoring the book and potentially sponsoring you. I've got a colleague who's in the real estate market, and she had a mortgage broker Who was, sponsoring her to speak and purchasing books so that she was able to give those away. I don't believe of selling books at the back of the room. I've done it. It's awful. It's soul destroying. You take a box of books with you to a show or to an event, and you've got 40, 50 books in there, Which are heavy, by the way. If you sell half a dozen books, that's a lot.

Susan Friedmann [00:21:07]:

Then what do you do with the rest? Well, you gotta Take them back with you. Ship them back. All of this is adding to your cost, your wear and tear. I'm all about reselling books Finding a way for somebody to pay for those.

Jane Maulucci [00:21:23]:

Susan, if somebody is interested in learning more about your magic of selling books in bulk and everything else that you do to help people market their books, how do they reach out to you?

Susan Friedmann [00:21:33]:

It's funny you should ask that question because, on the 6th February, 3 o'clock EST, I am doing a masterclass. It's a free masterclass, and I'm going to talk about how to confidently sell books in bulk. If that's something that you'd be interested in, I'm going to be putting that link in the show notes. It's a very long link. I've got to make a little bit. Ly one, and so I'll put that in the show notes. So if you want to sign up for that, Please do. And I'm going to be sharing my blueprint and going into a little more detail about what you need to be thinking about And how to go about selling your books in bulk and confidently even if selling scares you because you're not having to do any sleazy sales.

Register for Susan’s free masterclass “How to Confidentially Sell Your Books in Bulk, Even if Selling Scares You.” 

Susan Friedmann [00:22:31]:

So I don't like it, and I don't expect you to be doing it either. So, yes, it's going to be way that you can do it, a much easier, simpler way. Now it is something it's not necessarily a quick fix. However, it is for a long-term plan, A way you may want to consider. I will leave them with that. And just thank you for doing this again, Jane. You're so wonderful.

Jane Maulucci [00:23:02]:

My pleasure. 

Susan Friedmann [00:23:03]:

It's so much fun. Listeners, I'll put the link in the show notes so that you can see that, and I hope that you got something out of this interview. I had fun with it, and I hope you have fun listening to it. And it sparks some ideas that you can use to sell more books. Until next week, here's wishing you much book and author marketing