Yong Pratt 0:00
If you're an author or an aspiring author, and you're looking for easy ways to get more people to read your book, you're in the right place because today I'm going to be sharing five easy ways to get more readers for your books.
Yong Pratt 0:17
Welcome, everyone, to this live recording of the Amplify Your Awesome™ podcast. I'm your host, Yong Pratt. I'm also known as Dr. content because I help smart entrepreneurs get more out of the content they're already creating, right? We help to revitalize and pull things out of that Content Graveyard™ that so many of us have gathered over the years, and we love to breathe new life into the content you've already created. We're here to fix your content woes, whatever is ailing your content. This is the place to fix those things.
Yong Pratt 0:53
So today on episode number 290, we're diving into five ways to get more readers for your books. The other day I posted on my Facebook business page. And by the way, if you're not connected with me there, come on over to Amplify Your Awesome on Facebook. I'd love to connect with you. I actually put a post up all about asking authors to share their books because I know as authors, we sometimes don't share our books as much as we could. Right? So I wanted to give my author friends an opportunity to share their books, so that we can all learn from one another. And we had so many people post their awesome work. Let me share with you a couple of the people who have shared their works. I invite you to come check them out because there is a wide array of styles and different types of books for every interest.
Yong Pratt 1:44
So I had Kristi share her book, I'm going to actually pull up this post here. So if you are listening on the podcast and you want to come check these out, come on over to Facebook and check it out. So Kristi Bridges, posted a book which sounds super interesting. There's a couple of books here. She has one. It's a fun picture book of mushrooms and moss for your coffee table. How cool is that? I know my youngest daughter is obsessed with mushrooms. I don't know where that obsession comes from. She loves to look at them, loves to collect them, but does not love to eat them. So, Kristi, I have to check out your book for sure.
Yong Pratt 2:20
We have the Nutrition Professor, Timaree Hagenberger. She responded to an email I sent earlier this week. And if you're not on my email list, I'm going to share with you at the end how you can get a great resource for you and get access to all of these updates. We can engage and interact in that platform because it's one of my favorites. But she has a book called The Foodie Bar Way all about nutrition and making sure everyone around the dinner table is happy with one meal. So I'm super excited to check out that book as well.
Yong Pratt 2:52
Let's see what else we have. Amy Isaman. She shared her novels. I have read both of her novels and I know she has an sequel to one of her novels coming up. So definitely check it out. If you're looking for strong characters, a cool plotline, something different than you haven't read, you'll find that in Amy's books. Super, super cool. And you can get hers on Amazon or Audible, lots of different places. But the Taro Cipher is one of Amy's books.
Yong Pratt 3:17
Elena Ledoux. She has written a book but she didn't want to share it. So she shared with us a list of her favorite books. So you can check that out as well.
Yong Pratt 3:26
Samantha McConnell was actually a student in my eBook in a Weekend Course and she published a cookbook. She's actually working on her second one about sauces and spices so definitely check that out.
Yong Pratt 3:39
And Cyndilu Miller shared one of her books as well. Becoming Bold You: A guide to the Be bold you personality system, I believe is what it's called. And Cyndilu also went through our eBook in a Weekend process and has several books to her credit as well.
Yong Pratt 3:57
So definitely come on over to Facebook. Check them out. Support them. I love being able to support authors that I know there's nothing more exciting than knowing an author and buying their book and getting to know them on a completely different level. So if you are an author, I'm so glad you're here. If you are live, let me know. Say, hey, I'd love to give you a shout out.
Yong Pratt 4:16
Oh, and I think Rinda Beach, you shared two different books with us as well. So definitely check those out. I love the diversity. I love different genres. I love the different topics. There's such a wide array, and I cannot wait to check them out. And I am going to be purchasing at least one of the books on that post. So if you are an author and you want me to take a look, come on over, I'd love to take a look. But I will be purchasing at least one. I'll be going live later in the week or probably the beginning of next week to let you know what I did purchase. Okay, so with all of those shout-outs done, let's dive into five ways to get more readers for your books. I'm just going to close out this window here.
Yong Pratt 5:01
Okay, so the first way. And if you've been following along this journey of repurposing or really breathing new life into the content you already have created, whether you have a podcast, whether you have a blog, whether you have videos, I have been sharing lots of different ways to repurpose or reuse the content you already have so you're always not having to put out more content and stay on that content creation hamster wheel, right? I know, I was so guilty of that. I still can get stuck in that trap. So I invite you to come with me on this journey to repurpose your content by turning it or transforming it into a different format. Because not everyone likes to learn in the same format. Right?
Yong Pratt 5:47
My first book was all about Raising a Superhero, and really unleashing eight different kinds of superpowers we all have inside of us. We all learn differently, sometimes in a combination of those things. So that's what I shared there. So I'm a big believer in creating content that people can share no matter how they like to learn or how they like to get information into their life.
Yong Pratt 6:12
Okay, so my friends, let's dive in. And if you've been following along, you can probably guess this first one. The first way to get more readers for your book is to do video. Now, I'm going to share five categories of things you can do to repurpose. Within each of those though, there are some subcategories. So we're going to have multiples of ways to share your book to get more readers to grow your tribe to grow your influence in this arena.
Yong Pratt 6:42
Alright, so video. Not everyone is a fan of video. I get that I've had my very own struggles with being on video, talking in front of people in any setting used to freak me out. Whenever I was handed a microphone I would literally get soaked scared that I could barely get words out. It's been a long journey and thanks to groups like Toastmasters, I've been able to overcome that. And now video is my favorite way to connect with my audience, to share information to share the things that I've learned along the way to help you in your journey.
Yong Pratt 7:20
So video as an author. What kind of videos are you create? There are lots of different things you can do. So you can create yourself sitting, reading a chapter reading an excerpt talking about some things. Talking about questions that maybe you have to ask your readers at the end of your chapters. There are lots of ways to do video to engage and they don't have to be long. Five to ten minutes, right? Really short, small pieces of content, right? It's all about taking big content and breaking it down into little bite-sized nuggets because not everybody has that time or the inclination to read a full book. Maybe they just want to have a little peek behind the scenes see what's in there before they commit to doing that.
Yong Pratt 8:09
So video is a really great way to build rapport pretty quickly. There are the emotions that are visible on video. There's just a lot of energy that can be transmitted via video. So if you're not doing video, as an author, I definitely invite you to do that. You can do behind the scenes. When you're in the process of writing a book, maybe you can share about the process of publishing. Or if you're self-publishing, talk about that. Talk about the journey of doing the thing to get the book published. Right? Those are really great insights that a lot of people don't think to share. And they're so fascinating. I think, as a society, we're, we're fascinated with how people do things, how they live their lives. And if you can kind of peel back the curtain and share with your readers or potential readers, what it's been like to create that and share the ups and downs and maybe the challenges. That's going to go along way in building a relationship with your readers. So my first recommendation for all authors is to do video.
Yong Pratt 9:08
If you need help with video or not are not sure what tools to use, at the end, I'm going to share with you my toolkit so that you can find out which tools I love. Which tools I use, that help me to show up every week on video, and on the podcast. Deal?
Yong Pratt 9:29
Okay, that brings us to number two. The second way to share your book and get more readers is via audio. And audio, just like video can take a lot of different forms. So if you start with video, you can transform that into audio pretty quickly. I use a lot of different tools to help me automate this process. So for example, after I go after I'm done going live here on video, I have some software that's going to automatically turn this video into audio. I don't have to touch a thing. How cool is that? Right?
Yong Pratt 10:08
How would you like some tools to automate processes and systems in your business, especially as an author. You're busy dreaming up that next great group of characters, that next plotline. You already have a lot on your plate. So if we can automate things, that's going to serve you in a really big way. And again, at the end, I'm going to share my toolkit on the tools that I use to automate so much of my business and the tools that my students now use to automate. And it's changed lives, literally, these tools.
Yong Pratt 10:38
Okay, so when you do audio, you can do full sections of audio in the form of an audiobook. And if you're curious about doing an audiobook, let me know down below, just drop the word Audiobook, and I'm going to share with you a resource that's not included in my toolkit that has helped me understand how to actually create an audiobook.
Yong Pratt 11:01
I'm committing to you to create an audiobook not only for my first book but for my forthcoming book as well. So I want to make sure that I'm providing audio footage or audio access to my books because lately audio has been my go-to. I love listening to audiobooks when I go for walks. I love being able, to be taken to different places in these books. Sometimes I listen to fiction sometimes non. But audiobooks are definitely something that I am loving these days. So you could do your whole book as an audiobook. That's one option.
Yong Pratt 11:36
You can get your readers to give you testimonials. All they have to do is pick up their smartphone or head over to messenger and they can actually leave you an audio which you can then share as content right? So your readers, the people who love your work, are speaking on your behalf, saying what they love about your books that can go a long way. You can also create waveform videos. You know, little short-form videos that have a still image in the background. So you don't even have to be on the video. It can just be audio, but the waveform moves up and down. So that it's a dynamic image to look at. It's not a static image. So it's a really cool way to get people to engage. I've been playing around with these a lot. And I am loving these for sharing things like podcasts and things that are coming up. So audio can be a really, really fun way to spread your message far and wide to gain more readers into your tribe.
Yong Pratt 12:39
Number three, we have our graphics. Now, this can take a lot of different forms as well, right? We have the graphics for your book itself. The front image. The back image. If you have a cookbook, there's a couple of cookbooks on our lists that people shared, there are beautiful images. Could you share that and link out to a place to buy your book? It could be on your website. It could be somewhere like Amazon. You already have these images, why not reshare them?
Yong Pratt 13:11
And then what if you, as the author are traveling and you took your book to different locations? So again, in the instance of if you are a nutrition professor, if you are an author of a cookbook, could you go on-site to local farms where you source your produce and have a copy of your books sitting there and take a picture that is content for you to share? You can also ask your readers to snap a picture of themselves - a little selfie of them - with your book and tag you on social media. And that has a lot of juice behind it because not only are they tagging you, their friends see that they're connected with you. They are inspired to come to check you out. So those little things they seem really really small and almost too easy. They're going to carry a lot of weight because people like images, people like to share what they're doing in their lives. People are always looking for ways to share different things about themselves on social media. And if someone picks up your book and as reading it, have them tag you. Have them send you a photo. Maybe you have a photo contest with the book. So many ways to slice and dice these graphics, right? So that's number three graphics.
Yong Pratt 14:29
That brings us to number four courses. A course, my friend, is just an extension of the books you've written. If you've written nonfiction like I write nonfiction, courses are the next logical step because yes, they can learn from you by reading or watching a video or listening to audio, but it's one more thing to get connected with you personally. And you can do these courses online. You can do them live. You can do them pre-recorded. You can Have them for free as bonuses. You can have them for purchase. Again, there are lots of ways to slice and dice this too. And if you're interested in courses and platforms, on how you can get your message out to the world in a better way, the toolkit I'm going to share just a few moments is going to have some of my favorite resources in there on quickly getting your message your content out to the world. On a platform where you can sell it and get people to come to you and learn more about you build a relationship with you. And then you can take that relationship to the next logical level. So courses are really super exciting.
Yong Pratt 15:44
A year ago or so maybe a year and a half ago now, I actually was able to create Courses in a Weekend. We do courses in a weekend where we outline courses quickly, and we go through the step the process of putting together something fast because, for me, I know personally that if I don't take fast action, if I drag out the process of creating a course over weeks or months or years, it's likely not going to get finished. So I know for me, I had to create courses that I was looking for that I could not find to help me do things like writing an eBook in a Weekend. Podcast in a Weekend. Course in a Weekend. Blog in a Weekend. Right. Weekend formats have been really, really great for me because I like to give people action that they can take fast and have results quickly, right? It's all about moving and momentum and gaining that traction quickly. And I love being able to teach courses in that format. And if you're interested in anything of my courses, let me know just pop the word COURSES below and I'm happy to connect with you and let you know what I have available that might be fitting for you and your business right now.
Yong Pratt 17:00
Okay, and that brings us to number five. And this one is super exciting. Number five is a combo. What if you could bundle up an audio, video, and maybe even some graphics or a workbook? There are things you've already created right in the previous four steps. What if you bundle them together? How cool would that be? I've been known by my students as the Repurpose Queen because I have this, this knack of, I was gonna say, a weird way. But an interesting way that I see the content. When I see people putting content out into the world no matter what form it takes, I can think of literally hundreds of different ways that they could take that piece of content and repurpose it. It's kind of something my brain is now wired to do.
Yong Pratt 17:52
And I love helping my clients and my students walk through the process of going through the content they already have and then figuring out what is appropriate to share, right? It's a process we call content CPR where we walk through that content. It's a really fun way to understand that you, as a business owner, as a creator, have so much to share. And we just need to pull out the resources you've already created, and share them perhaps in a new way or just share them again, in their entirety for new eyes to see.
Yong Pratt 18:31
Okay, so there you have it. Let's do a quick recap now on the five ways to gain more readers for your books. And again, I'm going to preface this by saying not everybody loves to read. So if you are an author, if you are a blogger, we want to make sure that we can attract the right people to us and repel those who are not a good fit by giving them lots of different ways to learn from us to connect with us. And to grab our books in, their many forms.
Yong Pratt 19:03
So let's start at the top. Number one. Video. Video is the first way, I'm going to recommend that you as an author, connect more with your audience.
Yong Pratt 19:14
Once you've created a video, you can transform that into audio content or create an audiobook in its entirety.
Yong Pratt 19:22
Number three, you can create graphics showing the graphics from your book directly. Of you creating your work of your readers taking pictures of themselves with your books, there are lots of different graphics you can create. And you don't even have to create all of that. You can ask your readers or your people in your tribe to create that content for you with a simple selfie.
Yong Pratt 19:47
Number four is you can turn your book into a course so people have an opportunity to learn deeper from you. Once they have your book, they like your book, how can you take them further in the process? What is the next logical step? What can you teach them? It doesn't have to be a huge long course that spans months, it can be a short course. Like I said earlier, I love doing weekend format courses because you're in, you're out. You devote a full weekend or part of a weekend to creating something and then you have that you can then share again and again in your marketing.
Yong Pratt 20:21
And of course, that brings us to the fifth way to get more readers for your book. And that is to combine all of the things that I've shared before in numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4. Combine those little bits and pieces and put a bundle or a combo together so that people can learn in different ways with you.
Yong Pratt 20:43
Okay, my friend, that brings us to the end of Episode Number 290 already of the Amplify Your Awesome™ podcast. If you're curious about any other tools that I use to create this content, you can go to my website, www.YongPratt.com/toolki.
Yong Pratt 21:05
I invite you to grab that. It has 15 of my most favorite, most used tools that I personally use, have tested over the years and advocate to my students and my private clients because they do the work they're supposed to. They save time. They save money. They help us get out of our own way because if we don't have to touch something and things can be automated, life is joyful, my friends and things get much easier, and much more fun.
Yong Pratt 21:36
If you have questions about any of the resources that I've shared today if you have questions about any of the specific ways of the five to get more readers, let me know below. If you're listening over on the podcast, come on over to today's show notes at www.YongPratt.com/290. All the resources that I've shared today are going to be there and more of a discussion And talk through of the ways that we can as authors repurpose our books to gain more readers.
Yong Pratt 22:10
Okay, my friends, it's a privilege and a pleasure as always to be here with you live. If you have anyone that you know could benefit from this video or the podcast, I would ask that you please sprinkle the goodness out with them, so that we can connect with more of the people who need to hear this message of people who need to take what they already have created, and turn that into more goodness. And even better, we can learn to automate that together. Okay, my friends. I look forward to catching you next week. Cheers.
