Hal Elrod talked about "Beyond the Bestseller: How I Created The Miracle Morning Movement & Launched a Thriving Speaking & Coaching Business with One Book".
Hal is a "miracle" survivor. At age 20 he died for 6 minutes when he was hit head-on by a drunk driver, spent 6 days in a coma, "defied the logic of doctors and the temptations to be a victim, and he bounced back to prove that ALL of us are capable of overcoming extraordinary adversity to create extraordinary results in our personal and professional lives" (About Hal).
The Miracle Morning, his next book, is about "the single most important change you can make in your life to improve your business, relationships, health, energy" and that is how you start your day, the essence of his formula.
But let's move on to the marketing side of this book. He recorded a one-hour audio interview about the "miracle morning" concept and created an opt in page for people to opt in in order to get the audio. Then he added the first two chapters for free - the most important thing he did -to this same opt in page. Finally, he formed a launch team, an idea he got from a Michael Hyatt blog post titled How to Launch a Bestselling Book. [The launch team idea has been shared by other speakers though sometimes with a different name. It seems like a common thread.]
How did he get the word out about these materials? He'd heard Dan Kennedy say that "the greatest asset you have is your email list". He marketed in a couple of different ways: through social media and by speaking at in-person events where he'd put a form on every chair for people to write their name and email address. At home, he'd enter each one in the opt in page. He eventually got help for this. [I read about this strategy earlier this year, though I forget where, and adopted it for a presentation I gave in April.]
To form his launch team he created an application and sent it to the thousands he already had in his list. There were benefits such as getting an advance copy of the book before the launch and being part of a private Facebook group where they'd interact with him. And there were requirements such as reading the book in advance, writing a review on Amazon and sharing the link to the two chapters on social media (got a lot of opt ins this way). These people helped him build his list, promote his book when it came out and leave reviews on Amazon.
Curiously, his best sales month was only two years after launch. He never stops promoting it, because he wants to change people's lives. Chandler commented that he knows a few authors who did well in the beginning, then lagged and finally went on to be a mega success. This should encourage people with not so good launches that they don't mean anything as long as you continue hustling and driving the book up.
Hal is writing Beyond the Bestseller about how to write a book that creates a movement. How is that doable? Hal believes that you can do it by writing a book that enhances or changes a person's life in some way, a book that talks about changing consistent behavior in a way that adds value to people's lives.
On the monetization side of things, podcast interviews have been the #1 driver of sales. He recommends that when your book is finished and has good content, you should reach out to podcasters and try to get on their shows. However, the book The Miracle Machine brings in constant revenue from sales. And it's boosted his speaking fees tremendously.
The biggest driver of opt ins have been the different bonuses that people get at tmmbook.com . These email opt ins are a great to monetize. He also has a backend coaching program. And he monetizes his email list by adding value through weekly emails.
Thanks, Hal, for a very enthusiastic webinar. The "second chance" you got certainly gave you fabulous energy.