So, in April on my birthday I announced that I signed a book deal with Wiley and told a bit of the story about how the book deal happened and some other goodies to hopefully fire up all of our imaginations.
Because the book isn't about me. It isn't about bragging to the world how amazing I am (I'll let my dad awkwardly write the book…I'm sure it will be short). It is a book to help all of us: The hustling, brand-building, caffeinated entrepreneur.
The book is now available for pre-sale on Amazon.com. I'd recommend purchasing 7 (just kidding..but seriously seven is a good number). It is actually slashed in price today to just a couple of cups of coffee.
The official title is Smarter, Faster, Cheaper. With the delicious tagline of “Non-Boring, Fluff-free Strategies for Marketing and Promoting Your Business
The idea behind Smarter, Faster, Cheaper is simple.
The goal is to help you save time, money, and aggravation in building your business.
Especially with the huge recent shifts in the way enterprises are built, marketed, and monetized, these are “wild west” times for business. In this new landscape, entrepreneurs like us and small business owners want an edge in marketing without spinning their wheels or going broke (unless you like going broke…in that case..you are weird).
The book is designed as an innovative, approachable new guide on how to build and improve your business using a combo of concrete ideas to spark you (sort of like a buffet), stories from hundreds of interviews with big thinkers and entrepreneurs to get you inspired and also a smattering of my own story…with the hope that there are some takeaways you can use. Oh and also make you laugh, hehe.
As with everything, I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on how to market and promote the book. Why? Because I trust you guys and gals more than anyone. You are hustling, creative entrepreneurs and marketers.
There is some great advice out there from authors and big thinkers (all former guests and friends) who I definitely listen to including (just a few of many) Chris Brogan, Steve Garfield, David Meerman Scott and Seth Godin. But I'd love to hear from you.
In fact, when I kicked out this question on Twitter and Facebook I was OVERWHELMED and humbled by the responses. Wow. A bunch of them are below.
Feel free to add your own.
Here are a few of my ideas (realize the book site will be part of TheRiseToTheTop.com and will launch in a few weeks with all kinds of goodies):
1. New Media Tour: If you are a blogger, content creator, media source you will be able to get a complimentary copy of the book. And I'd be happy to come on later this year (official date of release is December 8th) for an interview, a guest article, etc. There will be a simple form to fill out to get one.
2. Bulk Bonuses: Similar to Gary Vaynerchuk I plan on offering some bonuses for those buying multiple books. Stuff like Skype sessions with me to talk about your business or idea. Or have me come speak with you/your organization. I'm definitely open for ideas here.
3. Tweet Ups/Get Togethers/Events
4. A few fun paid opportunities including buying an ad on HARO and Iwearyourshirt.com for release week.
5. Free downloadable chapter. No email capture or anything like that.
6. Bonus videos, podcasts and interviews.
…and many more ideas 😉
Ideas from Facebook & Twitter Friends:
Roy Naim I like what Seth Godin did by granting interviews and going around promoting his book that way. It's not creative since it was done already but ya..
David T. Gould signed copies through social media outlets. good selling! dtg
Susan Wilson Solovic Your publisher should have given you their promotional plan. But if your publisher would give you the opportunity to speak at the publisher's sales conference — it really helps because you can arm their sales team with info on how to “sell” the books to the various retail outlets.
David T. Gould add “insert random, or all through certain venue(s), golden ticket(s)” willy wonka style to my prior post… you pick how many and how big of an event. ; )
Vicki Adamich Book tour! Anytime I walk past our B&N and there is a signing from an author I've never heard of I always check it out anyway 🙂
Kennedy Pittman Put it on all the napsters and let everyone steal it. People keep telling me how good that is for musicians. Oh wait, I think that put me out of a job – don't do that. 🙂 Chris Brogan uses social listening to comment on everyone who mentions his book. O'Reilly gave his first book away so that it became standard reading – and while I don't think that should be your goal, I do think giving it away to key thought leaders and bloggers could be great for you. Get people talking about it, that's what you're good at! Just don't preach about it yourself – not any more than is necessary.
Shama Kabani Yayyy! Blogger Outreach David. Simple as that!
Debbie DiFonzo I love what Tom Ferry did over on Active Rain – he provided just a preview chapter of the book and then had people blog about that chapter alone. Of course, that peaked our interest, hearing different takes on the same point in the book.
Denise Pellow You already have the forum and the platform – start now! 🙂
Greg Digneo That Seth Godin character seems to do a good job promoting books. Try asking him. 🙂
Eric Mieles Congrats and can't wait to read it. How about doing a book trailer and spreading it virally. Compelling, interactive, engaging to spark interest. Directors are brilliant in getting us to spend $10 and get off the couch to see their movie. And nobody can deny what they have done for the video game industry. I mean sometimes these games look like movies. How about hitting the streets of St. Louis and doing quick, quirky, funny videos of the 1st thing that comes to mind when somebody on the street hears, “Smarter, Faster, Cheaper”. It accomplishes a couple things: Involvement of community where you then have a potential reader, viral content, your title being heard over and over again. How about doing 4 10min podcasts reading the 1st few chapters. I have personally purchased many books because of this strategy.
Scott Bradley Mobilize your network to promote the book for you leveraging blogs/ twitter / facebook /e-mail blasts
Cesar G Abueg Jr Congrats David, my suggestion would be to ask your contacts to do an online interview of you & the upcoming book. Should have my brand blog site up by then, would love to interview you for it. I'll buy a few from you and the first commenter's to my vblog, I'll send them a FREE book. Just my way of saying thank you for providing such a great outlet.
Tim Ferriss Strategy was reaching out to influential bloggers in his topic area. Physical book touring doesn't scale like video interviews (you of all people know this VERY well) with well known bloggers. They can rip the audio, post a skype interview and expose you to HUGE audiences. Then there is reaching out to the folks you previously interviewed (most are VERY influential folks). Looking forward to the book David. I would love for someone to document the crazy process of book writing, time it takes to write a book (or dictate it like GaryVee did), resources, etc.
Via Twitter:
@TheRiseToTheTop I put an interactive map of who's reading the book. Very cool to see. http://lukascoaching.com/becomeacoach
@TheRiseToTheTop Do a contest and let people submit a marketing campaign. Best idea wins a prize and you use their campaign.
@TheRiseToTheTop and post that 2, involve your community, do competitons +give away some books free, give additional prize 4 best comments
@TheRiseToTheTop hope they help u ;o) more: take videos of all your presentations+post on blog,ask xperts 2 talk on vid about the book
@SmallBizLady: RT @TheRiseToTheTop: Why There Is No Road Map For Building Your Business (Only advice, (cont) http://tl.gd/1ko78d
@TheRiseToTheTop Promote others' books and they will promote yours. Your friends will help you out the most! Just ask @jeffreyhayzlett.
