Today, I'm joined by Carlos Whittaker, a people's choice award winner, a former recording artist who spends his time creating new books and travels to speaking gigs. I'll be chatting with Carlos about how he sold his books "from the trunk of my car."
With a passion for writing starting with his blog, Carlos was pursuing writing in addition to a career as a singer. In 2010, he created a VLOG that went viral, which, in turn, produced traffic for his blog. At this point, he had 30,000 readers per day looking at his website, and publishers started to find his blog. "Although I was a singer, I had more people reading my words than buying my music."
When Carlos decided to write his first book, he chose his best blog writings from his work that created the most traction from his past seven blogging years. Moment Maker was birthed from his blog in 2014. Although it didn't sell well, "this was my little experiment, and I'm proud of it."
He took his first offer from a publisher that approached him. "The first book was a book that I wanted to write that felt good for me, and I thought that maybe this could help a lot of people." Carlos decided to be strategic in writing his second book and directly answered his audience's pain point. Doing beta testing, targeting sales, and tweaking his talks to target more book purchases in the lobby post-speaking. "Once I found that secret sauce, I just stuck to that."
With his third book, he is creating many Zoom talks and hasn't had as much success with video marketing. Carlos is looking forward to 2021, when he can hit the road and see people in person to market his book.
Listen in to find out how you can make your audience the hero of your story, how to set up your book sale to get more people to buy your book, and Carlos' pro tips for selling books.
Show Notes
[01:40] Why Carlos decided to write his first book. [05:16] Getting approached by publishers to write his book and had one offer. [07:01] Tips for bloggers who want to turn their blog into a book. [09:52] Why he wrote his first book. [18:18] How to make your audience the hero of your story. [24:26] Pro tips for selling books at speaking gigs. [28:05] Figuring out how many books to bring with you to sell. [32:14] What Carlos reviews when revising his talk to sell more books. [37:30] Parting advice for listeners about how to be a better author.Links and Resources
Visit Self Publishing School Online SPS Free Training Course How to Write a Children’s Book Online Course Visit Carlos on the web Connect with Carlos on InstagramSPS 068: Using Publicity & Speaking To Sell More Books & Grow Your Business with Sloane Ketchum
SPS 067: The Most Interesting Man In Book Publishing...25 Books Published, Prolific & Polarizing Writing, And What Kanye Taught Me About Book Marketing with James Altucher
SPS 066: Myers Briggs for Writing A Book: How To Use Your Unique Personality Type (And Strength) To Maximize The Success Of Your Book with Gary Williams
SPS 065: How To Write & Publish A Quality Children's Book That Kids LOVE to Read And Parents Are Proud To Buy with Marcy Pusey
SPS 064: Fundamentals of Fiction: How To Write A Great Story & Build A Fiction Career (What I Learned From 7,000+ Calls With SPS Students) with Ramy Vance
SPS 063: How To Get On Ellen & The Today Show (13 Steps To A NYT Bestseller) with Lewis Howes
SPS 062: Creating The Perfect Book Title...And The Outreach Template You Can Use To Get Booked On Any Podcast with Dane Maxwell
SPS 061: Overcoming Fear & Imposter Syndrome To Write Your Faith-Based Book with Jennifer Allwood
SPS 060: 1M+ Books Sold Through An Infomercial...And How I'm Selling 5k+ Copies/Week With A Free + Shipping Funnel with Dean Graziosi
SPS 059: The Ultimate Guide To Publishing A Cookbook That Sells (Growing Your Business As A Health Expert Using A Book) with JJ Virgin
SPS 058: Transitioning From Writer To Speaker Using "Endless Referrals" & "The Go-Giver Way" with Bob Burb
SPS 057: A Skeptic's Guide To Writing A Book with Dave Hollis (How We Use Books To Drive Everything We Do At The Hollis Company)
SPS 056: How I Sold 46M Copies of My Self Published Book with Robert Kiyosaki (Turning Your Book Into A Brand & A Board Game)
SPS 055: Why This Former Publishing Company CEO Is Self Publishing Books...And How He Sold 500k+ Copies Of His Self Published Planner with Michael Hyatt
SPS 054: Using A Book To Raise Your Speaking Fee & Get $300k+ In Speaking Gigs with Joey Coleman (And How To Get A 6-Figure Advance)
SPS 053: Using Companion Courses To Turn 50%+ Of Readers Into Subscribers & Superfans with Pat Flynn (And How To Get Your Self Published Book Into Airport Bookstores)
SPS 052: Traditional vs. Self Publishing: Dropping The Mic On Which You Should Choose with Ruth Soukup (And How I Sold 500,000 Copies Of My Self Published Book)
SPS 051: Traffic Secrets Book Launch: A Behind The Scenes Look At How I'm Launching The Book with Russell Brunson (How I Use Books To Grow My Software Company)
SPS 050: How To Land Sports Teams & Corporate Consulting Clients From A Book with Jon Gordon (Lessons Learned From 20 Books & 2M+ copies sold)
SPS 049: The Self Publishing School Podcast Is BACK! Here's what to expect...
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The emPOWERed Half Hour
NABOR® TALKS
U.S Property Podcast
Aligned Money Show
The Ramsey Show
Planet Money