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Behind the “Seens” with Patty Lennon

Tune in for our chat about purpose and planning through the lens of marketing. This is the perfect time of year to get your plan together – but don’t make it harder than it should be. Patty has some great advice to keep it simple to make you successful.

Nancy: Patty is an amazing coach and with a special sense of woo, who provides coaching and support for women in business. She is practical and wise and incredibly intuitive. Patty, tell us more…

Patty: I work with purpose driven entrepreneurs, who started their business from a place of meaning instead of money. They are typically coaches, or consultants or other types of service providers. At the heart of what we do – if you are clear about your purpose it’s so much easier to decide what’s right for us in our business. That’s part of the soul-aligned work that I do.

But you also know I’m a crazy person when it comes to planning because almost everything we want to achieve in life is possible (exceptions are big asks like being Oprah or going to the moon!) and achievable. Getting your brain on board with this comes from having a solid plan in place.

Nancy: How do you connect? What are you doing right now in YOUR marketing? Take use “behind the seens” and share your secret sauce.

Patty: Connection is exactly the right word. To me, marketing is about finding ways to be in a relationship with the people you serve in a way that is of service to them in that process. Then they can connect with me and understand if I can be a solution for them.

Behind the scenes, I’m always trying to figure out how do I go deeper not wider. When we’re talking marketing, I’m always in favor of deeper. I’d rather see someone do one thing in person than six things online. Online is beautiful but you have to find a way to connect with someone with the online method or it won’t have the juice, it just won’t have any power.

Nancy: Is that something you’re doing for yourself and your business? Anything new that you are doing now that you weren’t doing last year?

Patty: Something super recent; I decided to open up a Facebook group. I’d been resistant to doing it because it didn’t seem like a good place to connect with people. The more I got to see some examples of some people doing it really well convinced me to launch it.

I had a private Facebook group for a community of people who were paying for it and I really liked the engagement there. But I wanted a way to interact with people in a community sense that had an easier touch factor.

I love in person, but this felt like a really good way to do that and start creating a community.

Nancy: Where can people find your community?

Patty: It’s Wealth & Purpose, and you can find it on Facebook here or go to Patty Lennon on Facebook and you can find the link there.

Nancy: Switching gears a bit, it’s the beginning of the year and people are thinking about what they want to do, maybe what they didn’t do last year. They may be thinking about their goals, and the things they want to happen. That means marketing and overwhelm. What advice would you share to help people get started?

Patty: Energetically the new year is really starting right now so there’s no need to feel behind. You are ahead of the game!

Here are the 3 key points I share in my marketing program:

  • If you feel overwhelmed it’s a sign that there is too much on your plate. You have to eliminate things. In marketing that means reduce the number of things you are selling. You are trying to offer too many variations of who you are.
  • Second, narrow down your market to one two or three options.
  • Third, and you know what I say – it has to go on the calendar. If it doesn’t go on the calendar it doesn’t get done.

Nancy: Is there a perfect plan? Do you suggest that we plan for the whole year or what is your philosophy and advice on that? 90 days and pivot, a whole year and revise? What do you teach people to do?

Patty: I think there is something helpful for planning longer term, but I tell people that if you’re going to do that it has to be at the 10,000 foot level. I think the perfect time frame for most people is 90 days. Especially if you have some kind of online marketing component as part of your process. Everything changes quickly so I feel like 90 days is perfect, otherwise you’d be re-writing your plan when what was working changes or new options become available.

It’s a little bit different if you have a team. If other people are going to be handling most of the moving parts, then you do have to get a bit more detailed.

So, figure out where you want to be at the end of the year. Then create quarterly goals that support that. You can be detailed about what you’ll be selling and how that will work and look. That also allows for longer term opportunities come up like speaking or events then you have some visibility to what to pitch as your topic or what areas of your expertise you want to highlight.

Nancy: That’s helpful. It also takes the pressure off knowing you don’t have to write the perfect plan for the entire year. This is a great teaser for those who haven’t experienced your training. As someone who has, I know how helpful it is!

Be sure to connect with Patty on her website.

Behind the “Seens” with Jenn Grace of Publish Your Purpose Press

Jenn Grace is the founder of Publish Your Purpose Press. She and her independent publishing team serve authors that are looking to make a difference in the world. They are CEOs, entrepreneurs, and others that have an important message to share. Publish Your Purpose Press helps these authors amplify that message by independently publishing their books.

Jenn and her PYP team (of which I was happy to be a part this year) help people find a way to integrate their book, and their message into their business model. It’s always interesting to figure out how to help get an author’s message out using the book as part of what they do as their career or calling.

In this Behind the Seens conversation, you will learn all about the types of writers and authors that are suited to the independent publishing model and how Jenn and her team are strategic and supportive throughout the entire process.

 

What does a budding author need to know or bring to you to begin the project? What is the catalyst? Is it the same every time or are there variations?

There are usually 2 camps or types of authors that come to us. One is a person who is already a speaker or consultant. They have been doing their work and are often asked about their book, or if they are going to write a book. They don’t see themselves as writers, but they realize that getting a book written and out to the world will increase the number of people they can serve and impact.

That person may not be a writer, but they still have amazing content and information that can truly be transformational – they just do it other ways. They are often speakers and are already an expert in their field. They have content that they’ve created and developed as part of their work.

We’ve seen that once you have a book, it really takes the business to the next level no matter what type of business you are in. We see speakers raise their fees once they have a book, or someone who has never been paid to speak can now get a nice fee for speaking.

Share with us the profile of the other type of author. What do they look like? Can you give us an example of that? I feel like it’s not as common or harder to see.

Someone who is looking to write a book in a new space to change their path. They might be working in a field that no longer fits them. They know that by being a published author they can break into a new field and be recognized as an expert much more quickly.

For example one of our authors does trainings for automotive companies. She travels 40 weeks a year, training at dealerships and she’s great at it. She loves it but it’s not what she’s most passionate about.

She wrote a book in the law of attraction genre and we are helping her transition out of this very corporate training type of job into something else. Her new focus is more about healing and it’s very different and she’s not known in that area.

She knows that having the book means she can share her story and articulate her thoughts and expertise to help her gain credibility faster in her new field.

If we fast forward through the writing and editing of the book, what are the mindsets around marketing the book? There is no one size fits everyone, so what are the directions you give for marketing?

I have a masters in marketing. I’ve been eating and sleeping marketing and I don’t think it’s a dirty word. But many people do, even those who are in business. I want people to know that marketing your book isn’t sleazy and doesn’t have to feel that way, ever. It can be very authentic.

With that understanding, we have some authors who are natural-born marketers. Everything they say and do is in alignment with their brand and it’s just how they show up, so we don’t have to worry about mind-set. We just tell them what they need to do. Essentially give them a checklist and they get it, they run with it.

Then there are others who are on the other end of the spectrum. They have some resistance to the idea of marketing so it’s a bit harder for them. Most of our authors fall somewhere in the middle.

Every strategy for marketing is tweaked depending on the author and what they are comfortable with and what they feel good about doing. We do that because we don’t want any of our authors to feel tenuous about marketing their book.

Many book marketers have a list that they use. You do A, then B and so on without variations. But there are now cookie cutter approaches or one-size fits all plans that work for everyone.

Here’s what we know. The average book sells 250 copies in its lifetime. That’s including traditional publishing, self-published – all of it.

Our authors sell an average of 410 copies per year. Some sell much more, and some don’t sell many at all but that is our average with all of the authors we’ve worked with.

We see greater success with our marketing efforts because we do tailor them to the authors. We also pay attention to what’s working, and review strategies with each new author we work with because things change.

Let’s talk about publishing options. We know there’s a big difference between traditional publishing and self-publishing. What would you point out to those who are looking into independent publishing?

I will talk to anyone who is interested in non-fiction or memoir publishing. That’s what I know. Fiction isn’t in my area of expertise.  I talk to anyone and advise them as best I can, even if they aren’t a fit for us. Many people who come to us feel that they can get a traditional book deal. I try to help re-frame that conversation with them.

We know that there is a lot of work that goes into getting a book deal. More than there has ever been and the advance on royalties is lower than ever. The financial considerations are usually where I start the conversation. I let them know that they will likely pay the same amount of money if they self-publish, work with a publisher like us, or go the traditional book-publishing route.

I try to let people know what to expect financially. I want them to understand so they know up front not matter what they decide to do. I also try to make them aware of mistakes that can happen, like choosing the wrong editor, or the wrong cover designer and things that can add to the costs because the process is much more complicated than people realize.

I explain that we are beholden (best word I can think of) to our authors because from the very beginning we want to be sure we know how the book is going to support them. We understand what are the goals and how can we help them get there. If you self-publish, no one is looking out for you and if you go with a traditional publisher, they have no interest in your business, or other goals outside of getting the book published.

We choose to focus on this because we don’t want people to get misled. We want them to accomplish their goals as it relates to their business.

It sounds like you are thinking much longer term – beyond the marketing and publishing of the book alone.

Right. In our world publishing the book isn’t the finale, it’s just the beginning. Once the book is out there, we are focused on consumer marketing. Selling books to individual consumers.

If our client is a business owner, we are also looking at events months in advance to support them in a business environment. How can we help them sell their books and advance their other priorities?

A traditional publisher is all about the initial push to get on a best-seller list. That’s the game for them. Our push is way beyond that and for a much more sustained time frame.

I’m not saying our authors can’t get on a best seller list. Many of our authors do hit Amazon best seller lists, which is nice. But we don’t stop there. We have a much longer view for our clients.

What do you see happening in the next year for your business and for your authors? What is on the horizon?

I’m not sure I should say this but you asked – you’re hearing it here first. One of the things we see our authors struggle with is the speaking side of things, so we will be testing some additional support services for our authors around this. I don’t know how it’s going to look, but we know our authors so well, we want to help them get additional exposure and new ways to support them from the speaking side of things.

Publishing the book is just the beginning. We know that a well-written book can have a long shelf life and we want to keep helping to find ways for our authors to understand how to keep promoting their book and their work.

For those who aren’t familiar with independent publishing and with you how can people find you and learn more about Publish Your Purpose Press?

You can go to meetwithpyp.com and that will take you to my calendar where anyone can schedule a call with me personally and I will happily chat with you about your non-fiction or memoir book or you can go to the website link: http://publishyourpurposepress.com/ and all our contact info is there as well.

Our next Authors Academy starts in January and that gives you the whole landscape about how to publish. It teaches you what you need to know if you want to get your book published.

Here are all of the other links to connect: Publish Your Purpose Press website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

 

If you are interested in another conversation with Jenn and me, you can catch this quick video where we talk about how to use to your compelling content for marketing and building your platform.

Check it out:

 

If you want to learn more about how to be seen, be found, be heard, please connect with me on the socials or let’s set up a call to chat.

Behind the “Seens” with the “Getting To Hell Yes!” team

Let’s go “Behind the Seens” with Alexandra Jamieson and Bob Gower, co-authors of the recently launched book, Getting to Hell Yes! The Conversations That Will Change Your Business and The Rest of Your Life and my go-to branding expert and project partner, Vicky Vitarelli of The Organized Brand.

Vicky and I had great time working with Alex and Bob and were excited that they were able to share how they decided to write and ultimately publish their book.

 

(sorry for the wonky image – darn Facebook – but video works fine)

 

Theirs is not the typical publishing story.

Alex and Bob knew that to get their book Getting to Hell Yes! into as many hands as possible, the ultimate goal, it was going to be necessary to find new ways to brand, publish and market their first joint project together.

The premise of their book is that it provides a 4-part conversation structure and teaches you how to talk about emotional or highly charged topics in an easy non-confrontational way. It’s a tool they use and teach. They received so many requests for the guidelines that they began writing up what was first imagined as a simple Word document to share with clients and friends.

It then became clear that this should be a book and a resource. The goal: as many people as possible benefitting from having better conversations.

They intentionally made the book short and concise. You can read it in about 90 minutes or so. That was deliberate so that people are empowered to learn the system and then use it. It’s meant to be a practical resource that’s used often.

 

Don’t miss these great insights on their journey to Getting to Hell Yes! launch:

  • Hear how Bob and Alex decided to make this book come to life. The early decisions and the method for getting it into as many hands as possible.
  • Vicky shares how they figured out what the brand could be and how that was decided.
  • The branding process explained. Both Bob and Alex have personal brands and the new brand is resonating with both audiences which was the goal, but at first it was hard to see how to make that happen.
  • Bob shares the back story about how they created their avatar for the book.
  • Find out why “taking it home” was so important to the authors.
  • How to “Chicken Soup for the Soul” the message and framework. This is huge!
  • Hear how they determined what success with this book would look like.
  • The title Getting to Hell Yes! was strategic and they explain it in the book. A smart strategy!
  • Why they decided to offer this for FREE!
  • The (un)expected bonus from more people and companies knowing Alex and Bob as a result of launching the book.
  • Why a big launch wasn’t the goal and why longevity was the driving decision behind the website components and the free download idea.

This was such a fun project because it allowed for some out-of-the-box thinking and approaches to book marketing. It also proved there are a myriad of ways to plan, execute and measure the success of your book launch when you are clear about your message, your audience and your goals!

To learn more about Alex, Bob, and Getting To Hell Yes!, check out these these resources mentioned in the interview, and download your FREE Getting To Hell Yes! copy today!

Anne Bogel Modern Mrs. Darcy

Behind the “Seens” with Anne Bogel of Modern Mrs. Darcy

Writer and podcaster Anne Bogel loves diving in, hiding out, and creating her deep work yet still manages to be everywhere, all the time making sure the world knows about great books and better reading.

Anne Bogel is the genius behind the hugely popular Modern Mrs. Darcy blog and the “What Should I Read Next?” podcast. Followed by thousands of readers, authors, and publishers, she is a tastemaker through her popular book lists, reading guides, and stylish posts about life in general. She is also an author of two books about the reading life.

I’ve been a fan of Anne’s for more than five years when our virtual worlds brought us together in real life (shout-outs to Laura Vanderkam and Holland Saltsman here). Her ability to consistently and creatively share content that is interesting, engaging, followable and fan-able never ceases to amaze me. I was thrilled that she took some time to share how she does it!

Check out our “Behind the Seens” video – (and see the person behind the groovy voice):

Read on for highlights of our conversation: 

Nancy: Anne, I’ve always thought of you as an early adopter and a quintessential tribe builder. You were building a community online before everyone talked about how to do that. Have you always been that way?

Anne: I don’t feel like an early adopter. I always felt like I was late when I started blogging, and I waited a year to get on Facebook and Twitter. I do love to try things. Breaking things is okay with me even though my it might not be okay with my husband who is the person I call to fix them.

What has been a game changer for you in terms of growing your audience?

I can think of 3 things:

The first was changing from an anonymous blogger to being personal. It was early on and I realized that it wasn’t quite as scary online and being part of the blogosphere and I really saw a change when I started writing in a more personal way.

The second thing that happened was that other people who had influence with their audiences started sharing my blog and letting people know that they might like it as well. That was really a big deal.

The third thing was starting the “What Should I Read Next?” podcast – it’s about book talk, reading recommendations and literary matchmaking. People really connect with the medium and it’s been so much easier to make connections. With the podcast people tell me that it’s part of their day. I had heard that all this was true about podcasting, but I was still surprised when it happened.

You also do a great job of taking your awesome content and leveraging it, so it reaches the most people. I see you doing that with your reading guides, but also with your podcasts and your blog posts as well. It’s a terrific case study for others who don’t get as much traction or who haven’t been able to share their content across multiple platforms.

I’m glad it looks that way because I am doing it “wrong”. I should spend more time promoting and less time creating but I like doing it this way. I’m glad to hear your feedback.

What is your favorite social media platform? Or, if you can’t pick a favorite share with us why you love those you use and how you’ve gotten there.

I used to love Twitter, but now it stresses me out. My favorite is Instagram. It’s pretty. I like catching up with my actual friends and the book community on Instagram is pretty great.

I really don’t use Facebook personally, only for the business side of things.

And I do use Pinterest to promote things, and I do use it personally. My daughter and I recently searched for ideas because we are painting her room. I like their search function for project things like that.

What are you doing today that you feel is new?

I am making myself try on social media. I have some big long-term projects going on and my instinct is to go in my cave and work on them and nothing else. I do have a belief that’s sweet and a bit naïve; that good work will win out – that people will find it. But then I know that’s not always true. Sometimes I read a book and I’m wondering why everyone isn’t talking about it because it’s so good – and then I realize it’s because people don’t know about it. I make the effort to do good work and be on social media. Especially Instagram stories. I never wake up wanting to do one, but once I get going I’m like oh, this is fun!

Can you share with us what’s behind you on the wall in your office?

It’s a calendar of the past two and the next six months of my life. It’s how I plan out what I’m working on to make sure that everything is accounted for, and to be sure that it all gets done. I have to be able to see it all at a glance, so I taped up some calendars and used post it notes and found a way to see what’s coming up and what’s next.

What’s your secret for growing your tribe? What is it about Anne Bogel or Modern Mrs. Darcy that keeps people coming back all the time?

I don’t know how true this is in 2018 but in 2011 when I started Modern Mrs. Darcy, it was an oddball blog. Toni Morrison said that if what you want to read doesn’t exist, you have to write it. I think what also works is that it’s specific, it’s personal, and I think what works for our audience is that we are super-nerdy about books and reading. What we’ve heard from our audience is that no one is passionate about this in their personal life, so they are looking for it online.

My husband said this early on – you don’t have a niche but you do have a tightly defined demographic. And they are interested in books and reading but they also wear mascara and drink tea and I’m up for sharing that stuff too.

What do you do when you aren’t writing or posting online? How do you recharge when you step away from the laptop? Besides reading – which we know you do.

I like to walk the dog. I’ve talked about that a lot and I also like to walk alone, or with friends or my husband. I like to eat. I love to go out for a bite or a drink. We are hikers and paddle boarders – which is a new family thing. And every now and then I like to rearrange the books on my shelves. I get so many books, so when they stack up I know it’s time to alphabetize the book shelves again.

Before we go do you have anything you want to share with us? Something that’s coming up in a few months – hint, hint?

Yes! I have a book coming out on September 4th. And it’s about reading. It’s titled I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life. You can go to annebogel.com and pre-order, and we have fun pre-order bonuses. You can also go to idratherbereading.com. All those sites will get you to the right place.

If you are not already a fan of Anne Bogel, at Modern Mrs Darcy and What Should I Read Next, then connect with her here:

Your reading life will be better for it. I promise!

 

Want to book time with Nancy? Schedule your free consultation call now!

Behind the "Seens" Laura Vanderkam

Behind the “Seens” with Laura Vanderkam, Author and Time Management Expert

Laura Vanderkam shares how promoting books has changed and how her podcast helps her stay connected and grow her audience.

This has to be the biggest treat for my “Behind the Seens” interviews so far! Last week I was thrilled to interview author Laura Vanderkam (my client for more than 8 years!) who is a prolific writer and a time management expert. In the time that I’ve known Laura, she’s written and published at least 4 books, had 2 (more) kids, done a TedTalk (2.5 million views) and managed a family move from one big city to another.

Laura truly walks her talk and it’s been great fun to be on this journey with her. In our Facebook LIVE chat, we talked about her new upcoming book Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done (May 29th, Portfolio), as well as all the things that go into promoting a new book.

Check out the video here:

Read:

Or read on for highlights of our conversation…

We’ve been through several book launches, and each time, it feels like things have changed a bit. What would you say has been a game-changer for you in the last year or so? I know you’ve seen a shift in how you grow your audience.

Well, the “Best of Both Worlds” podcast was started in the past year, and that has been a great way to bring in new audience members and it’s also helped me cement the relationship I had with existing audience members and readers.

There’s a lot of time between books, and not everyone is a blog reader. I continue to write on my blog all the time, but not all those who pick up my book read the blog. My publisher shared that my audiobook sales are a higher percentage of my book sales than the average title.

It’s because busy people are listening in their cars. I realized it was a good idea to be there in that space and podcasting was a great way to do it. My co-host Sarah Hart-Unger and I launched the podcast in August of 2017, and it’s been really fun to watch that grow.

What did that entail? You have a lot of content and information to share, so that part might not be hard. What would you share with others who might be thinking about podcasting?

I think it’s a great idea to have a co-host; someone that you have good rapport with and that has similar interests. They can bring a different take and you will always have something to talk about.

I also think it’s easier for listeners to be part of a conversation instead of listening to me talk on my own. It’s more engaging, and we feel like we are discovering things together as we have these conversations.

We do have a lot of guests, but we don’t always have to, and that’s helpful. The fact that the two of us can create an episode with just us talking about a topic gives us much more content than if it was just me, or just her, or always having to have a guest for every single episode— and do the work that is involved with that.

Do you feel like you’re picking up new audience members, or are you just reaffirming the audience you already had?

I think that many of our listeners were readers of my blog or Sarah’s blog, but I do think that there are people listening who weren’t readers of mine or Sarah’s blog because they are podcast listeners instead of readers.

I know this because Sarah was commuting and listening to podcasts, and didn’t find any that talked about her situation—we wanted to fill that niche in the market.

What is your favorite social media network?

Thanks to Nancy, I’m everywhere – but I would have to say the two I check the most are Instagram and Twitter. Facebook was fun, but I feel like it took a turn in 2016 to be more political and divisive in some ways. It became awkward because I have friends and family on both sides of everything.

I love Instagram, because I enjoy seeing the baby and children photos and pictures of friends and family. That’s what I’d always loved about Facebook, so now I do it there instead.

Twitter is the place to be for breaking news and I find myself there reading about what’s happening if there’s a major story in the news.

You do a lot of speaking, and I think Twitter is also great for that too. It’s a good way to connect with people who are attending, and it’s great to see what people are saying about your presentations.

I always check Twitter after an event and see who commented and what they said. It’s a great way to follow new people who are engaged and interested in the same kind of information. I’ve met a lot of really cool people that way.

What are you doing differently for this book launch?

We’re definitely doing more for pre-orders, although that’s not completely new. I don’t think it’s really different, but the fun thing is that with each book, your list continues to grow.

In 2010 when I started my email list, it was about 200 people whose emails I’d managed to get and that’s how we started. Now it’s about 40,000, and that’s great. It’s cool to email them and tell them you have a book coming out. That’s been pretty fun to watch as it has continued to grow with each launch.

Shameless plug – it’s not too late to pre-order and get the pre-launch goodies here (until May 29th)!

That’s true! I am hand signing bookplates that you can put into your book, since I can’t come to your house and sign your book personally! One reader posted that she got my thank you note with the signed bookplate and was dancing around the house, which was so sweet. It’s amazing to me that people are surprised to get a thank you for buying the book.

You have some very loyal fans and I’m sure they are excited to get Laura Vanderkam swag!
What do you think is your secret for engaging your audience? To get to a 40,000+ subscriber list and to keep your incredibly loyal audience on the blog – what is your secret?

Well, you keep showing up. I blog a lot, probably 4 times a week or so, and have been doing that for 8 or 9 years. People feel like they know you and are invested in what’s going on and the things we talk about.

Adding the weekly podcast episode and showing up there every week is another big step. I do think it’s also about giving people information that they aren’t getting anywhere else. The internet is full of repackaged stuff that you’ve seen before, so with the books, I try to break some new ground.

The past two books are based on original quantitative research on how people use their time, which you aren’t going to get from other books on this topic. I like to share that, and hopefully, it means readers will find some things out and learn about how the world really works.

I also share how real people are doing this. I’m especially looking to change or at least provide an alternative to the narrative that women can’t have a successful career and a family, or if they try, then their life will be a crazy mess. I aim to be straightforward while I present a new perspective on how to do this well.

Oops – we can’t forget to give a shout-out to your “new look” online.

I have a new website! It’s great. Nancy project managed this and it our 3rd iteration. It’s good to refresh from time to time.

Since your new book is about being Off The Clock, what do you do to disconnect?

I love to read, and I talk about this in the book; how I have been more intentional and how I’ve made more time to read. I also run. Running is a great way to unplug.

Every day.

Yes, 500 days straight. I also sing in a church choir, so I have rehearsals every Thursday night and sing on Sunday mornings, and that’s been fun.

We have a viewer question – she wants to know what Laura Vanderkam book she should read first and are they all on Audible?

I believe so. There is an audio version of every book on Audible, and the new book will release the Audible version about the same time as the print copy.

I think 168 Hours is a good intro into my time management philosophy. The e-book What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast is short and a good way to get started, as well.

Thank you so much, Laura, for joining me.

Thanks for having me, and for sharing the information about the books.

Here are the myriad of ways that you can connect with Laura and learn more about her approach to making the most out of your time and your life!

Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.