Direct Sales Mastery for Authors Volume 1

Book excerpt: We believe that direct sales is more than any one platform, or any one modality. It's a network of platforms and strategies that form a foundation for your author business. When you try to define direct sales across any one axis, you lessen its impact. We didn't want to do that. We wanted to show you the full scope of what is possible with direct sales, which ended up being a lot of words. The book became so long that we actually split it into two books. When we looked at what we've already written, and what we have planned, we realized this really is the definitive guide to direct sales for authors. Direct Sales Mastery for Authors Volume 1 This volume makes the case for starting direct sales, explains the publishing trends leading to so many direct sales avenues opening up, and explains our personal philosophy on direct sales for publishing and how it may differ from other approaches in the industry. We also dive deep into our signature archetypal framework called Author Ecosystems. There are five archetypes total—Desert, Grassland, Tundra, Forest, and Aquatic—and each matches up with specific sales and marketing patterns across six key areas: Trends: How each type approaches trends in the marketplace and uses trends to their advantage in their marketing efforts Fandom: How each type approaches building both a readership and a fandom Data: How each type approaches using data vs. using a more intuitive or creative approach Stages of Audience: How each type approaches the Sales Funnel + Flywheel diagram and who they are organically good at attracting Optimization: How each type attempts to optimize their writing, publishing schedule, and marketing and sales efforts Short-Term vs. Long-Term Thinking: How each type approaches approaches sales over time, and whether they are looking for quick wins or to build a sustainable business We go through all five archetypes in detail to help you identify your most likely type, as well as your most likely career stage. We show you what your archetype should be focused on right now from a sales and marketing perspective, since you likely don't have infinite time, resources, or attention and can't implement all of direct sales at once! We also show you what strategies and approaches might work for you across many different popular publishing platforms in the direct sales space.