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Michael D. Butler | How to Launch and Market a Book

Michael D. Butler is an evangelist and he owns a publishing company that helps authors write and publish books. On today’s podcast he shares with us on “How to Launch and Market a Book.”

Marketing

What is a book launch and how do I do one?

What are the top three ways to market your book once you have published it?

How can I make my content go viral?

Websites: https://michaeldbutler.com/

https://beyondpublishing.net

https://writebook60days.com  – Take advantage of Michael Butler’s FREE offer to help you write a book in 60 days.

 

Are you interested in evangelism? Call the Evangelism Coach Daniel King.

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Michael D. Butler is an evangelist and he owns a publishing company that helps authors write and publish books on today’s podcast. We’re going to talk about how to launch and market your new book.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:14):
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King we’re Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King. Welcome to the evangelism

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:52):
Podcast. I’m Daniel King and I am excited about telling people about Jesus. And today I have a special guest. His name is Michael D. Butler. He’s an evangelist he’s recently gone to Pakistan and preach the gospel there. He has a heart for evangelism, but he also has a publishing company that helps authors to write and publish their books. Brother, Michael, thank you so much for being with me today. Daniel’s great to be here on the evangelism podcast. Congrats on nearly 100 episodes. So we’ve done two episodes already. The one episode was how to write a book and then we just finished an episode about how to publish a book. And so if you’re interested in writing or publishing a book, I’d encourage you to go listen to those episodes. But in this episode, let’s talk a little bit about something that I think is probably the most important part of the process.

Michael D. Butler (01:48):
It’s how to market your book and how to get people to actually buy it. And, and I’ve found this to be very important because sometimes I get so engrossed in the process of writing the book. By the time I finished the manuscript, I’m like, I’m tired of talking about that, but that’s when you, you, you need to be most excited because that’s when you start marketing the book that that’s exactly right. And you know, one one famous person is noted for saying that an amazing thing happens when no one advertises nothing. And so if we’re not, if we’re as the author, aren’t excited not talking about her, but we can’t expect anyone else to. And the beauty of it is if you want to sell books, you need others talking about your book. So here here’s my formula for that is start. Now when you’re writing, when you’re in the green room, people want to see behind the scenes stuff. I will actually have my authors and coach my authors to go back date. Some of their social media posts, even though they’re books coming out next week, I’m like, okay, your friends and family have no clue. You’re writing this book, go do this post on Facebook that says, Hey, I’m thinking about writing a book and start creating

Michael D. Butler (03:00):
A little buzz. Your dog’s looking at you at the computer saying, aren’t you going to play with me? And you’re working on the computer late into the night. This is the backstory that creates the intrigued. So the, when the book actually comes out, people start getting excited and you start getting that engagement. And I love sharing some of the chapters that are in the book and start tweaking it and why I’m writing the book, but also sharing it on social media is a great way to get feedback on, Hey, I’m doing a chapter on, I’m a mortgage lender. I’m doing a chapter on credit repair during the pandemic. What do you think? Should I tell Sue story or Bob story, you know, and when you get that kind of feedback and engagement, you’ve almost got a guaranteed bookseller.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:40):
So your advice to, to authors is to actually start the marketing before the book is even published. Start talking about it, start building your platform.

Michael D. Butler (03:50):
That’s exactly right. You know, the beauty is with books because it’s intellectual property. We can finalize a cover start pre-sell and the cover start taking you. Number one, and pre-selling it for six months before the book’s even done, that does two things. It puts, it puts the lights, a fire under the author to get done because they know they’ve got a deadline now and all their friends and family know they’ve announced the book launch by a certain date, but it also revs up your fan base saying, Hey, when’s that book gonna come out? I can’t wait to see it. Maybe you’ve teased a few chapters out there. Maybe you have them opting into your website for a free chapter or chapter one. But at the end of the day, they know there’s a book coming. So Instagram to me is number one, YouTube. You want to be doing video.

Michael D. Butler (04:34):
Video marketing is so powerful. Daniel, as you’ve proven and is, as we’ve seen the videos going viral, share, ask the question, make it about the reader. If you’re writing a book on it, if you’re writing a book on credit repair, like I said, or if you’re writing a book on, on better marriages, there are practical takeaway tips where you feature one of your tips from one of the chapters in the book where you’re setting down and giving a behind the scenes sneak peak. And that’s, what’s going to get shared. That’s what’s going to go viral. People are going to find you because your friends are sharing that.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:08):
Now let’s go to several weeks before you actually publish the book. And you want to do a book launch. What are some secrets or tips of doing a successful book launch?

Michael D. Butler (05:21):
Well, there’s a number of factors that go into it because we’re talking about launching the print book. We’re talking about launching the ebook at the same or different times, but regardless, regardless of any pandemic or our COVID or anything like that, you can do a live slash you can do a virtual slash real book launch. You can go to a bookstore. You can go to a friend’s restaurant. You can rent a room pretty much anywhere. You can have an event in your home just anywhere you would meet with people. You want to print some banners, have some, have some actual books there. I have New York times bestselling authors calling me crying after going to a book signing and only five people showed up, you know, because they used to have lines of 300 people waiting, waiting for hours to get the book signed. Things have changed.

Michael D. Butler (06:13):
Now it’s all about the photo op it’s all about the one-on-one personal touch. You might not have 300 people waiting in line at a bookstore anymore, but go ahead and create the virtual event. That’s going to live online forever because you go to a book signing that’s one and done. But the virtual event that you do online, go ahead and set up an event on your social media, set a date, invite people, get RSVPs, remind them. You’re going to have some giveaways, have some virtual gift baskets from some of your sponsors and just have fun with it. That’s the main thing.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:48):
And then after you’ve published the book, give me the top three ways to continue marketing your book after you’ve published it. W which, what platforms should people be using to continually market the book?

Michael D. Butler (07:01):
Well, we kind of have a love, hate relationship with Amazon because they’re the elephant in the room and we need them for a little while and they are 55% of the world’s book sales. So we want to go number one on Amazon. And we, we want to get that best seller logo that that’s worth it. That’s worth it. I’ve got videos on that, how to do that. And as you’ve mentioned get that you want to get the print book into people’s hands as quickly as possible. And the ebook is very important. You want the ebook done properly, not you don’t just put up a word document or PDF. It’s not going to look right. It’s gotta be a.mobi. If it’s going to be on Amazon, it’s gotta be a dot EPUB three. If it’s going to look right on other platforms, you want to do all that properly.

Michael D. Butler (07:44):
You invest a little money on the front end, but it really makes you look good on the back end. You want to make your content is shareable as possible and as snackable as possible. And the way you do that is through video promotion. So you say this week, I’m giving away one of my books on great marriages, and I’m going to give it to the third person, that comments or the fifth person that comments or whatever. And then you start seeing those comments go viral, and then you get somebody’s mailing address. And then you do the video and say, Hey, Tom and Patty Jones, and you follow Oklahoma, or the winner of this week’s book. And I’m going to, and you do the video of you packing it up in the mailer and sending it out to them because they were engaged on your page. And that kind of stuff really goes a long way. It doesn’t cost a lot, but people feel like you really care about them. And then, and then have them tweet it, have a develop a hashtag around your book, around your brand. So maybe your hashtag on, on God is real, is hashtag God is real. That’s your book. And I have hashtags around all my books, where I can see when people are talking about it.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:45):
So on my healing power book, what I did on that one is I took all the content and I broke it down into small, in recorded a video for each segment. So this book has about 30 videos that are recorded and mostly all the content, just straight from the book. I just stand in front of a camera and teach on it and put a little intro on it, little outgo at the end, talking about the book. And some of those, those videos, they still get several thousand views over the course of a month. That’s exactly what people should be doing. And some of them have like 200 views ever. And then some of them have attracted thousands of views, and I’m not sure what

Michael D. Butler (09:31):
You could be on your local news and not get that kind of, that kind of impressions and views. And so that is so important. I got business people Daniel, that write books with 12 chapters, and then they have a mastermind that they charged $2,000 for. What do they do in the mastermind? They take the book and they just do a deeper dive into those 12 chapters. So they’re using the same content that they already wrote off the $20 book. And they’re diving into a mastermind and they’ve got the script in their hand because they already wrote the book.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:00):
So if you want to achieve a best-selling book, you, you want your, your content to go viral. What are some ways to make your content go viral?

Michael D. Butler (10:13):
Well, you want to start early with a great idea. I’ve got a book coming out on Valentine’s day, depending on when you listen to this, it’s called it’s complicated and it’s a book about love. And it’s, it’s a fiction book. It’s my first stab at fiction. So pick up a copy of it’s complicated

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:28):
And that’s a great title because it is complicated. It’s fun.

Michael D. Butler (10:32):
So start early, have something fun. Hashtag it’s complicated. It’s complicated. Exactly. And have a bigger purpose around it. I say, if you donate some books to kids, I I’m big into kids and literacy. And we work with reading is fundamental, has given away a hundred thousand of our authors books. We have the Harry Moon book series for kids, and it helps kids read. It’s all about literacy and helping kids with, with dyslexia read better because it’s a, the fonts that we use. And so have the bigger picture around. I love the toolbox you’ve got for churches. I love the book you’ve got on how to write a book. I want to have you on the show for that. The ministry toolbox series is great. So have a reason and a purpose around it. The more practical and tactical it is. And the very tart more targeted it is. You can sell more books.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:28):
So if someone needs your help with a book launch or making more sales on their books, how can they find out more information about you?

Michael D. Butler (11:37):
Sure. We help authors all around the world and they can just go to my calendar by going to beyond publishing.net and my personal website. Michael D as in David, Michael D butler.com, jump on my calendar. I’ll give them a three 30 minute book consult and we’ll give

Michael D. Butler (11:54):
Them some options on how they can move forward with us. Well, that’s a no brainer it’s free. So 30 minutes you can talk with the expert, and then you also have developed a program which you very generously offered to give away free to my listeners today in it’s how to write a book in 60 days. How can someone take advantage of your free offer to learn how to write a book? Sure. We’ve, we’ve had PhD doctors and pastors go through this course, it’s it normally sells for $897. We’ve decided to make it free for your listeners for short time. Thank you. That’s very generous. Sure. At right book 60 days.com and go ahead and opt in for it now, and you’ll get the email that will be live by the time this podcast airs or write books, 60 days.com. And you’ll be notified with a link and you can have access to all eight of the videos, which are practical aspects of every part of writing the book and from the cover of the title, the subtitle, the back cover, and then the, even how to promote the book and launch it and properly.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:56):
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast, brother, Michael,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:03):
Hey, it’s great to be here and grab, grab Daniel’s books. He’s got some great books and, and I love what you’re doing in the world. Where are you off to next? Sierra Leone is my next trip, and we’re going to go and preach the gospel there and train evangelists, coach evangelists. And that’s what I do. I coach evangelists. So if you need help with evangelism or you’re, you’re wanting to go to nations around the world, give me a call and I will help you out. Thanks for having me on the show. He, that wins souls is wise. Thank you, brother, Michael. God bless you. Thanks so much for listening to the evangelism podcast today. Could you do me a favor, go find the evangelism podcast on Apple iTunes and leave us a review and make sure you subscribe. So you don’t miss any of our exciting episodes

Evangelism Podcast Host (13:50):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit King ministries.com. Again, that’s King ministries.com.

 

 

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