Despite some challenges surrounding her launch, Pamela s book has been released into the wild and has garnered positive reviews. What’s next?

Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You Bylogo.png" alt="WP Engine">

Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting.

Start getting more from your site today!

Pamela and Jeff convene one last time to look back on where Zero to Book started and discuss the launch and long-term plans for Pamela s new book on content marketing.

They share insights about how to give your book a long and profitable life. And they discuss why the best marketing tool has been Pamela’s book itself (and how you can use your book’s content during a book launch).

In this final episode Jeff Goins and Pamela Wilson discuss:

• Why “Done is better than perfect” is a good mantra for self-publishers
• How working ahead impacted Pamela s book launch
• Jeff s theory of what resistance means to any work
• Exciting news about Pamela s plans going forward — a new book! Courses! And more …

Listen to Zero to Book below ...

The Show Notes

• It’s here! Order Pamela’s book from your favorite bookseller: Master Content Marketing Order Page.
• Pamela Wilson’s Author Page on Amazon.
• Master These 7 Essential Elements for Winning Content [Infographic]
• How to Write a Winning First Sentence
• Warning: Are You Suffocating Your Blog by Needlessly Neglecting Newbies?
• How to Use Images to Enhance Your Content and Social Media
• A New Book to Make Content Marketing Easier
• The Brilliant Strategy and Backstory Behind Zero to Book
• Leave a rating for Zero to Book: Zero to Book on iTunes

Having a powerful launch is important, but it isn t everything. The biggest danger to an author, says Jeff Goins, “is spending all their energy on a launch.

Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You Bylogo.png" alt="WP Engine">

Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting.

Start getting more from your site today!

Publishing your book is the first step in a long game. A published book isn’t urgent, so authors need to get out there, start banging the drum, and keep on banging it for a long time post-launch.

The trait that separates authors who succeed at getting their books in front of their intended audiences, and those who do not, comes down to perseverance.

In this episode Jeff Goins and Pamela Wilson discuss:

• Jeff s last-minute pre-launch mindset tips
• Compelling arguments for why the long game matters more than the launch
• Why you should never underestimate the power of people s awareness of your book
• The reason it’s imperative to keep talking about your book long after the launch is done

Listen to Zero to Book below ...

The Show Notes

• It’s here! Order Pamela’s book from your favorite bookseller: Master Content Marketing Order Page.
• Pamela Wilson’s Author Page on Amazon.
• The Efficient Approach to Marketing Your Business with Content
• Powerful Calls to Action: How to Get Your Reader to Take the Next Step
• Content Marketers Share Their Secrets
• You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One)
• Leave a rating for Zero to Book: Zero to Book on iTunes

The timing of your book’s launch is important. But how important is it? Here’s what really matters when you’re ready to launch your book.

Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You Bylogo.png" alt="WP Engine">

Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting.

Start getting more from your site today!

In the words of Jeff Goins, “It’s really hard to launch too late and it’s really easy to launch too early.”

A good launch can make a book, while a bad launch can damage your credibility as an author, as well as have a negative effect on sales.

Pamela Wilson and Jeff Goins discuss best practices for a successful launch — and Jeff shares insight and experiences he learned the hard way from his past book launches.

In this episode Jeff Goins and Pamela Wilson discuss:

• The ideal day of the week to launch your book
• How the way you’re publishing should influence your launch date
• Best launch practices for the self-published author
• Pamela s super-cool bonus for people who purchase her book

Listen to Zero to Book below ...

The Show Notes

• Join The Book Factory to read Pamela s book before it s published
• Tim Grahl’s website
• Ingram Spark, a publishing platform for self-published authors
• Kindle Direct Publishing
• Leave a rating for Zero to Book: Zero to Book on iTunes

Reviews can make or break your book sales. Here’s how to get reviews lined up before you launch your book.

There’s nothing sadder than a book sales page with no reviews.

Book reviews help your potential buyers decide if your book will have what they need. Few reviews = meager sales = few reviews. How can you avoid this vicious circle?

In this episode, Jeff talks about how to assemble a “launch team” of people who will review your book and help spread the word as the launch approaches.

Bonus! This episode covers why you might want to read your own work if you decide to create an audio version of your book.

In this episode Jeff Goins and Pamela Wilson discuss:

• The power of advance reviews and how to line some up for your book
• The difference between verified and unverified reviews
• How you can use a private Facebook group as the “campaign headquarters” for your book launch
• Why asking for book endorsements is super uncomfortable (but is good practice)

Listen to Zero to Book below ...

The Show Notes

• Join The Book Factory to read Pamela s book before it s published
• KDP Rocket, a software product that helps you find Amazon keywords and explore your book’s competitors
• Powell’s Books
• Leave a rating for Zero to Book: Zero to Book on iTunes

Once your book is written, you’ll turn your efforts toward giving it the best possible chance to get attention, engage readers, and sell.

Launching a book happens in three stages: pre-launch; launch; and post-launch.

All three stages have an effect on the long-term sales success of your book. In this episode, Pamela and Jeff talk about best practices for each stage and how to position your book to maximize sales on launch and in the future.

One thing that helps? Getting a few well-known people to endorse your book before it launches.

In this episode Jeff Goins and Pamela Wilson discuss:

• What “sticky statements” are, and why you need them in each chapter of your book
• The three-part approach to book launches and how to optimize each stage
• One surprising fact about book endorsements (that left Pamela speechless)
• An innovative approach to beefing up opening week sales

Listen to Zero to Book below ...

The Show Notes

• Join The Book Factory to read Pamela s book before it s published
• Jeff’s book The In-Between: Embracing the Tension Between Now and the New Big Thing
• Seth Godin’s site
• Information about writing sticky messages
• That’s Interesting!
• Michael Hyatt’s author page
• Brian Clark’s Further.net site
• A Three Dog Life
• Jon Acuff’s Do Over
• Leave a rating for Zero to Book: Zero to Book on iTunes

If you want your book to have robust long-term sales, you’ve got to find a way to encourage Amazon to show it some algorithmic love.

To help understand how to make this happen, Pamela and Jeff welcomed The Kindlepreneur, Dave Chesson, to the Zero to Book clubhouse.

Dave is an active duty member of the military who has cracked the code for getting digital books noticed by A9, Amazon s internal search engine.

In this episode Dave Chesson, Jeff Goins, and Pamela Wilson discuss:

• One shockingly easy tactic for improving Amazon rankings
• Why the wording of your book’s table of contents is important (don’t ignore its effect!)
• What the “seven keywords” are, and why they matter
• How to leverage your community to increase your Amazon rankings
• Dave s one-click application for validating a book topic and title

Listen to Zero to Book below ...

The Show Notes

• Join The Book Factory to read Pamela s book before it s published
• Dave Chesson’s Kindlepreneur site
• Pat Flynn’s site
• Joanna Penn’s site
• Dave’s software product that helps maximize your Amazon rankings, KDP Rocket
• Leave a rating for Zero to Book: Zero to Book on iTunes

Images connect on a different level than the written word. By including illustrations in your book, you have the potential to engage the reader s full brain. But do you speak sketch?

Meet D.J. Billings, a.k.a. Sparky Firepants. Sparky is an illustrator who s worked with big names like Nickelodeon and MTV, and is now creating illustrations for Pamela s book.

Jeff and Pamela get Sparky’s take on collaborative art, illustrating for print and digital, and the practical considerations of using images in an ebook.

Hear in Sparky s own words how his “…very sideways, falling-into-things kind of career” came about.

In this episode, Jeff Goins and Pamela Wilson discuss:

• Why an illustrator’s understanding of and enthusiasm for your material has a major impact on their work
• How an author can help keep illustration costs down
• How Sparky and Pamela have developed the character that will be featured in her book
• Why the best way to advance your career is to Just Start Doing It

Listen to Zero to Book below ...

The Show Notes

• Join The Book Factory to read Pamela s book before it s published
• Jeff’s book, The In-Between: Embracing the Tension Between Now and the New Big Thing
• Illustrator D.J. Billings (aka Sparky Firepants)
• Chris Guillebeau’s site
• 37 Signals (Basecamp)
• Subscribe to Zero to Book on iTunes!

Time to bring your self-published book to life! What are your options for making a tangible object out of the pixels you’ve created?

Your book is written and edited and it s down to the fun stuff: designing the book layout and getting it printed.

What are your options for creating the final product?

In this episode, Jeff shares the two main vendors to consider when moving your book into print form.

Print design is in Pamela s wheelhouse, so she s excited for this phase. She s found an illustrator, has a strong working title, and shares the process for arriving at both of those decisions.

But arriving at this point has generated a new group of questions.

In this episode Jeff Goins and Pamela Wilson discuss:

• The “magic” trick you can use to pinpoint a title
• Pamela’s inspiring idea for the final chapter of the book — and how she made it happen
• Three ways to put a book together (one of them is not a good idea)
• The marketing advantage of including other voices in your book

Listen to Zero to Book below ...

The Show Notes

• Join The Book Factory to read Pamela s book before it s published
• Illustrator D.J. Billings (aka Sparky Firepants)
• Joanna Penn’s The Creative Penn site
• Amazon Kindle Store
• Chip Kidd’s TED talk, The Hilarious Art of Book Design
• Joel Friedlander’s The Book Designer site
• CreateSpace
• IngramSpark
• Leave a rating for Zero to Book! Here’s where: Zero to Book on iTunes

Writing a book will force you to dig deeper than you ever have for previous writing projects. To get the most out of the process, tune in to what’s really motivating you.

Pamela s received her first draft back from the structural editor and she s turning her eye toward the more philosophical aspects of writing a book.

She’s been thinking about how authors can manage both their egos and their expectations surrounding the book creation process. Because we all swing between “This book’s going to change the world!” and “This book’s going to bomb!”

In this episode, Pamela and Jeff talk about why any of us write books in the first place, and our personal yardsticks for success.

How high should you set the bar for success? Tune in to find out.

In this episode Jeff Goins and Pamela Wilson discuss:

• The difference between internal and external goals, and why you need both
• What the “Discomfort Zone” is and why you should aim for it
• Why it’s important to be honest with yourself about your true motivation for writing a book

Listen to Zero to Book below ...

The Show Notes

• Join The Book Factory to read Pamela s book before it s published
• Glenn Leibowitz interviews Pamela on the Write with Impact podcast
• Editor Chantel Hamilton’s Afterwords Communications site
• PickFu for split testing ideas and book titles
• Tim Grahl’s post, How to Pick the Perfect Book Title blog post
• Michael Hyatt’s site
• Leave a rating for Zero to Book! Here’s where: Zero to Book on iTunes

Finding a name might seem like an art, but in this episode we’re sharing a way to apply science to the process.

The wrong title can kill your book. (No pressure!)

Pamela is impatient to get her book named so she can start sharing the title with people. She’s got a lot of questions for Jeff about this part of the writing process.

One of the most-important ways to give your book the best possible shot is to give it the exact right title. But how do you figure out which of your title ideas works best?

In this episode, Jeff shares an easy tool and a process any author can use to identify a winning book title.

In this episode Jeff Goins and Pamela Wilson discuss:

• Why asking the usual suspects about potential titles doesn t net the best feedback
• What March Madness can teach you about naming your book
• How titling a book is like naming a baby
• Where to go for the most useful feedback on potential titles

Listen to Zero to Book below ...

The Show Notes

• Join The Book Factory to read Pamela s book before it s published
• Ryan Holiday’s website
• Tim Grahl’s website
• How to Pick the Perfect Book Title blog post
• The 5 Love Languages website
• PickFu for split testing book titles
• Leave a rating for Zero to Book! Here’s where: Zero to Book on iTunes