What mysterious ingredients make a book launch successful? What number of first-week and first-year sales truly make a difference to a book’s longevity? What can you do to turn lagging numbers around?
In a flagship illuminating post for the industry, Todd Sattersten, publisher and owner of Bard Press, shared his findings in The Magic Number. In this behind-the-business conversation from October 2023, you’ll hear him generously talk me through how I could help Free Time get there—with a much-needed morale boost at the end.
More About Todd: Todd Sattersten is the publisher and owner of Bard Press, a book publisher that works with authors to create best-selling books in business, personal development and technology. Before Bard Press, Todd served as general manager of IT Revolution and president of business book retailer 800-CEO-READ. He is the author of Every Book Is a Startup and the co-author of The 100 Best Business Books of All Time (Portfolio, 2009). Todd lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Amy and their three awesome kids.
Put your ego down. Remember, you want your readers to be better, to improve their lives. Our job is to find more people to help, and there are still so many opportunities for that. You don’t actually have to stop promoting the book after it’s launched—there is nobody stopping you!
Send a survey out to your readers and community, ideally 90 to 120 days after the book comes out. Check out the one Jenny sent here—and please take it if you can at the same time!
📝 Check out full show notes and share: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/268
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142: 🍉 Pick the Low-Hanging Watermelon
141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin
140: How to License Your IP (Intellectual Property)
139: Paid Newsletter Secrets and Organizing Knowledge with David Elikwu
138: ⛵️ Stop Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds
137: Attracting Clients Through TikTok (without Letting the Algorithm Drive You) with Inna Aizenshtein
136: Why I Stopped Exploring Selling the Pivot Brand and Business
135: How to Rapidly Prototype a Course (Pivot Replay from Dec. 2019)
134: How I Prepare for In-Person Speaking Engagements
133: Hire People Who Are Better Than You with Terri Trespicio
132: You’re Invited to Hooky Headquarters (HHQ)
131: Scaling Joy While Streamlining Business Overhead and Navigating ADHD with Kaneisha Grayson
130: Day in the Life of a Podcast Episode and How I Prepare for Guests
129: The $10K Work Framework with Khe Hy
128: A Tale of Two Teas 🫖 On Botching the Basics and Correcting Mistakes (Or Not)
127: Protect Your Idea Factory, Build a Creative Flywheel, and Go Behind-the-Scenes of Book Publishing with Todd Henry
126: Creating Time Buffer—7 Strategies for Spacious Scheduling
125: How to Create Your Own CRM with Alex Sherwood
124: JB’s 5 C’s System for Content Curation and Production
123: “Pricing is Branding” — Anti-Time Management with Richie Norton
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