Susan Friedmann [00:00:00]:
Welcome to Book Marketing Mentors, the weekly podcast where you learn proven strategies, tools, ideas, and tips from the masters. Every week, I introduce you to a marketing master who will share their expertise to help you market and sell more books. Today, my special guest is Kimberly Wells Ely, also known as Kim Possible. She's the founder of KWE Publishing, where she transforms aspiring authors into published stars. With over 20 years of publishing expertise, Kimberley is a master at guiding writers from the spark of an idea to a captivating finished book. Her passion for storytelling and a knack for amplifying unique voices make her the ultimate partner for authors looking to make an impact. Kimberly's energy, creativity, and publishing savvy helped turn authors' dreams into bestsellers. She's a cat lover and a collector of orchids.
Susan Friedmann [00:01:04]:
And guess what? She gets all of her news from comedy shows. Kim, it's an absolute pleasure to welcome you to the show, and thank you for being this week's guest expert and mentor.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:01:17]:
Oh my goodness, Susan. Thank you so much for inviting me to join you.
Susan Friedmann [00:01:22]:
My pleasure. I think it's so much fun. I know that, obviously, a lot of our business overlaps, and that's okay. And I know that you have expertise in so many different areas that, yeah, I'm learning. And one of those areas is one that I want to focus on with you, and that is preorder campaigns. So I always like to start with the basics. Can you explain why a pre order campaign is important for authors and how that can impact sales on the launch day?
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:01:59]:
I absolutely love this topic of preorders because I think it's really juicy. The reason why I believe preorders are important is because it's yet another great way to get the word out as soon as possible. Susan, you know this from working with your amazing clients. A lot of times people will say, when should I start marketing? And I'm like, as soon as you have the idea for the book.
Susan Friedmann [00:02:28]:
That's a tough one for many authors as you know because they're so focused on writing the book and getting it out there that having that thought of marketing is like sort of another world for them.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:02:45]:
It really is. You're so right. And I I think it's difficult sometimes because as authors, we get in our own heads when we're in the writing space. And that's a good thing. We wanna stay focused. The thing I love about marketing and in particular, thinking about pre ordering books is if you want to sell your book and hello, everybody who's an author who publishes, That's part of our goal is to get the book out there. We have to start putting our mindset a little bit differently and focus not just on the writing, and I'm not saying that that's not important, but you wanna put your creative brain into a new head space and think, what if I was my own ideal reader? What would I want to read about? What would interest me? So that can include many aspects of I'm gonna call it pre marketing your book, which can include how you write the description of the book. Are you writing it in such a way that if you pulled up this book online, you were like, oh, I've gotta read this book.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:03:58]:
Putting yourself in that mindset of, you know, almost stepping out of yourself as the writer and stepping into let's call it your alter ego for fun. Stepping into your alter ego of, imagine I'm wanting to read my own book. What are some things I can do that are enticing, are really, really fun? And Susan, I imagine you're probably an avid reader as well as I am.
Susan Friedmann [00:04:23]:
Correct.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:04:25]:
One of my favorite things is when I see one of my favorite, favorite authors who is coming out with a new book and I see it's available for pre order, I have some sort of Pavlovian response where I'm absolutely drooling at my phone and I'm like, yes, please. I need that book and I need it now. I think it's the anticipation is the first part of why making your book available for pre order is important because it's like a child waiting for their birthday or for Christmas or Hanukkah. They're like, hot diggity dog. Half of the anticipation is what's gonna be under my tree? I like to think of pre ordering as putting your book under your Christmas tree or your Hanukkah bush or wherever your birthday presents go, and you're like, I can't wait to dive into this.
Susan Friedmann [00:05:23]:
I love that visual. It's great. Now, you know, I'm gonna say, are there sort of some specific steps an author should be taking to go into that pre launch mindset and then obviously into actually planning out that prelaunch campaign?
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:05:45]:
Most definitely. One thing I love to do with our awesome authors is to think right from day 1, you know, idea stage about what I called your strategic plan. And it sounds a lot fancier than it really is. It's 3 main questions that you want to have in your mind as you are preparing your book and that's what is my intention? Meaning, what does success look like to me as an author? The second part is what is my message? You know, after somebody reads my book, what do I want them to think about or do or act upon differently? You know, especially with nonfiction. And then the third one is, who's ideal reader? I think as authors, we would really love for the world to want to read our book, but really there's going to be specific people who resonate with our book topic more than anybody else. And as you're writing your book, that's important to think about those things, but it also is important as you're starting to market as well as you're starting to think about, again, putting yourself into the fun alter ego of, oh, my ideal reader. You know what? She really, really let's say it's a nonfiction book about cats. She is a huge cat fan, but she already owns cats.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:07:12]:
She doesn't specifically want to know about owning cats. Maybe she wants to learn how to and Susan, I swear you have seen this. Well, I've seen it with dogs. I haven't seen with cats where people will dye their animals really wild tie dye colors. Have you ever seen this?
Susan Friedmann [00:07:29]:
I have not, but it sounds pretty amazing. I don't know how you'd get a dog to comply with that. But, hey, I've seen them dressed up in fun outfits, but not actually dyeing them. That's wild. Dyeing them
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:07:44]:
fascinating colors. Again, I'm not sure if they've done this with cats. Maybe I'm gonna change my nonfiction topic. As a cat owner myself, I can't imagine them being patient enough for that. But anyway, I digress. What I'm saying is getting specifically into the mindset of your reader, maybe it's not just cats in general. Maybe if you are doing a book specifically oh, sorry about dogs. Thinking about who is the person who is going to be specifically looking for the topic of dyeing my dog's hair rainbow colors.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:08:17]:
So immediately, I'm thinking dog groomer. Right? Those are the ones who are probably gonna be answering those calls. People who are really into fashion and they need their dog to keep up with them fashion wise. I mean, a little bit silly here, but I'm also serious because when you are thinking about who is the person who's gonna be your raving fan, who's like, hot dang, I've gotta get my hands on this book because I'm going to take my dog. There's a exclusive airline that is specifically for dogs. This part is true. And people will take them on exotic trips with them. Those people would probably be the ones who would be the perfect readers of a dog grooming, tie dye color, dog coloring book manual.
Susan Friedmann [00:09:08]:
No wonder you get your news from comedy shows. I can see this coming out. I'm gonna go back to those 3 wonderful questions that you gave us. Yes. Yes. Very simple. You know, I ask 2 questions. I always ask, number 1, who's your niche market? Who's your target market? Because often people don't understand the word niche.
Susan Friedmann [00:09:28]:
But who is your ideal reader, as you said? And then what do you want the book to do for you? Because I think that, too, allows you to start thinking in terms of a marketing plan. So you talk about a strategy plan and to think about, well, again, do you just want to sell books? Which most people don't make money on books as we know. However, do you want to do speaking? Do you want to do training? Do you want to produce other products as a result of it, online courses? That's where you're more likely to make some money with the book. So I think that thinking, as you're talking about that mindset and that focus, is also very important and in the early stages because it's all part and parcel of this. And as we know, unfortunately, marketing doesn't get thought about. It's almost like that distant relation.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:10:31]:
Yes. You are so right.
Susan Friedmann [00:10:34]:
Yeah. It's unfortunate. Isn't as sexy as bringing the book out, I think.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:10:40]:
I think you're right. I think the writing process and the big launch part seem more sexy than the market. But you know what? I absolutely love what you're saying, Susan, because it is that different mindset. And one of the things and I can't remember exactly where I heard it, but I thought it was brilliant was your book needs to work for you, especially your nonfiction book. And what I mean by that is treat your book like a business. Let's say you're a speaker and part of your intention for writing your book is to brand yourself as an expert in your field to reach and connect with clients and maybe specifically event planners who will hire you for a gig. How can you put your book to work for you? Preordering is a brilliant way because it's like, hot dog. My book is available and coming out, and here it is.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:11:42]:
And I have my act together. I am so organized that it is ready 2 months in advance. And people want it, and they are going to purchase it in advance. That looks great to an event planner. You can also put your book to work for you in other ways. You can send that book, again, if you're a speaker and you wanna book more gigs, send advanced reader copies. Susan, let's pretend you're an event planner. I could send you a book and be like, dear Susan, I want you to have an exclusive advanced reader copy.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:12:18]:
My book doesn't come out until November 1st, but you know what? I want you to be one of the first people to read it because I know as soon as you read this book, you're gonna wanna hire me and have me in front of your people.
Susan Friedmann [00:12:31]:
That's wonderful. I think so many authors would aspire to that because that's that's a great strategy. Now I know that obviously, good old Amazon does pre order sales, but how else you know, you're sending it to a meeting planner. How else can you instigate some pre orders?
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:12:55]:
Oh, absolutely. Let's say you are a coach or a consultant and you are attending networking events. You can start promoting your book and discussing it and even bring with you, I love to have a pre printed sheet that says and announce to the meeting, you guys, my book is coming out November 1st. I want you to be one of the very, very first to receive this because you all at this networking group are so important to me. If you go ahead and register, you know, put your name and information, I'll go ahead and send you a copy of the book signed before it even comes out. That's another way that you can have people preorder before it's available.
Susan Friedmann [00:13:45]:
Yeah. I mean, I know as soon as the cover is done, I say to authors, get that cover done. Because with the cover, at least the front cover of the book, you can put it in your signature or in your email. I mean, that's sort of free real estate. Absolutely. You can make postcards made. I'm gonna do that for an author and just have postcards made and a way to preorder the book. Or just say, I'm interested when the book actually comes out.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:14:19]:
Absolutely. Love it. You can also do preorders. You can use it through social media. You can have a, say, a contest and award someone a copy of your book. Other ways that you can make your book work for you is you can start including snippets. I love to do little excerpts, little nuggets of wisdom from our author's nonfiction books and start sharing that early. And then once you have that preorder link, you know, share the link with, potential readers.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:14:56]:
One nice thing and I'm saying this, it's a little bit slightly well, it's still related. It's not off topic. Is a lot of our authors will use Instagram, but sometimes Instagram well, not sometimes. Instagram allows you to use one link within your bio. So I don't know if everybody knows this or not, but just sharing FYI, you can get what's like a smart bio. I use one through a company called Tailwind. And the smart bio allows you to have one link that you use in your Instagram biography that will, when someone clicks on it, take you to multiple links. So if you have, let's say, your book is coming out on pre order, that can be one of your links.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:15:43]:
And you can have a link to your own author website, things like that. So I just thought I would share that tidbit.
Susan Friedmann [00:15:50]:
I like that. It sounds similar to another program called Linktree, I think where you can have multiple, links to different sites. So yes, Those are 2 great resources listeners. Tailwind or Linktree, especially for Instagram or anywhere else where you want to put multiple links that it's all in one. Yeah. Excellent. What about mistakes that you see authors make here?
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:16:22]:
With preordering, I think sometimes authors get excited and they're so eager to have the book ready for preorder that they don't allow themselves enough time.
Susan Friedmann [00:16:37]:
Yeah. Time is a big one.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:16:39]:
It definitely. And with marketing, but especially with preorders, you want to allow enough time so that you can get the word out and you can start developing a buzz. I love the expression, don't plant seeds today and expect to eat salad tomorrow.
Susan Friedmann [00:16:59]:
Mhmm.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:17:00]:
And that's how I feel about marketing and preorders is if you have been heads down working on your book especially and authors, I feel you on this. I'm the heads down kinda gal where I'm like, okay, I'm ready now. I've been spending, you know, a year and a half on this book and now I'm ready to tell everybody. Well, not everybody's ready to hear your message yet. You need to kinda warm them up. It's like going to a nice party. You don't wanna just be rushed in and immediately sat down for a dinner party. You wanna come in.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:17:34]:
You wanna have maybe a cocktail or a a tonic water. You want to have maybe a little nibble. And then everybody gathers around the table to eat. I like that analogy for marketing. When you're marketing your book, you wanna start off with, hey, Susan, you know what? I have something really cool that I'm gonna share with you next week. Everybody loves a good surprise. Right?
Susan Friedmann [00:17:58]:
They love it. Yes. And any kind of curiosity too? Those little teasers, as you said, about the book, things that you wanted to share. Maybe pose it as a question even. Sort of put it out there. What do you expect if I tell you this? Maybe make competition.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:18:18]:
Oh, absolutely. We've done fun things like we've had authors have sharing 3 different cover designs and they were like, hey, help me out here. Vote and tell me what your favorite one is. It's also really good beta research, but it also makes people feel engaged and involved and excited. The last thing you wanna do is and I laugh when I say this because somebody told me that the worst thing you can do is booty call marketing. Have you heard of this?
Susan Friedmann [00:18:53]:
Oh, yes. Booty call marketing. Yes. No. You do not want to get a name for being on that list.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:19:01]:
You want relationship marketing. You want to be the person who has a group of excited people that you were asking about mistakes. I think one error that people make is neglecting to bring in your own launch team. And it doesn't have to be fancy. It can be your friends and your family. I know I have a couple of people who anything positive and I love these people. Anything positive I put out there, they are my cheerleader. They're gonna put it on the megaphone and say, Pam wrote a book.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:19:36]:
Think ahead of time and be aware of those people and organize them and contact them and and say, you know what? Susan, my book comes out November 1st. What I would really love is when I share it on social media. Could you share it on your social media too?
Susan Friedmann [00:19:53]:
Yeah. It's to get that team of people working for you right because you're an army of 1. Every time you reach out to somebody who's been willing to share, you're then also reaching out to their contacts. That's going to multiply exponentially,
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:20:11]:
when
Susan Friedmann [00:20:11]:
you've got, you know, 10, 20, 30, 40. I do the Kindle best seller program for many of my authors for the ebooks. And what I found over the years of doing this is it's so much easier and less stressful when the author has a team. Yes. I like 30 or 40 people. And as you say, they're gonna put it out to their list. And on the day that the book goes out promotion for 99Ā¢, then your launch team helps with that process. And, yeah, they can get national, international bestseller status.
Susan Friedmann [00:21:00]:
That's helpful.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:21:02]:
Yes.
Susan Friedmann [00:21:02]:
You're not going to necessarily sell more books. Not necessarily, however, it does establish you as being out there in the marketplace and several 100 people in one day have got your book. Yes. That in turn could go out to other people. So, yes.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:21:21]:
Most definitely. I think having that team and thinking ahead of time and just as you and I are avid readers, I imagine a lot of your listeners are as well. And just think about who do you go to to ask about books? I have several friends who are my book friends because I trust their opinion. And if they tell me, Kim, you've got to get this book, well, snap, I'm there.
Susan Friedmann [00:21:45]:
Yeah, me too. As you say, I've got certain people I turn to because I know that the genre book that they read is very similar to what I would read. But I did get a fiction recommendation from my brother, and normally my brother's taste is like a 180 degrees from mine. But this book was amazing. Oh, good. Book of Lost Names. So
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:22:11]:
Oh, I haven't heard of that.
Susan Friedmann [00:22:12]:
Historical fiction, but I loved it. It's one of those can't put it down books.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:22:17]:
Oh, I love those.
Susan Friedmann [00:22:19]:
Yeah. They're really good. However, you know, nonfiction doesn't always fall into that category of I can't put it down. However, you are sharing valuable information. Like you said, if you can share some snippets beforehand and sort of whet people's appetite, then yes, you may not get salad the following day. But, you know, give it a few weeks and you'll get the salad. And with the dressing and the toppings and everything else. Yes.
Susan Friedmann [00:22:48]:
Exactly. I do love that though. Don't plant seeds and expect salad tomorrow. I love that. I often use the bamboo metaphor because bamboo takes 7 years before you actually see it coming out of the ground. But then once it comes out of the ground, it can shoot up to a 100 or more feet. Wow. And so you keep planting the seeds and eventually, things start to root.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:23:21]:
Oh, I love that. That's a fantastic. I
Susan Friedmann [00:23:24]:
love that. Yeah. But you've got to be patient and persevere. You know, it's not, Well, I tried that and it didn't work. Well, it may not work today. It may work tomorrow or it didn't work for 2 days, but the 3rd day, it might work. That's the trouble with marketing. It's an inexact science and it depends on all sorts of things from the weather to politics to anything.
Susan Friedmann [00:23:49]:
People's mood. Yes. You just never know. I always say, you just keep persevering and try it and be willing to try other things, you know, and come back to trying something that you've tried before, but maybe give it a different twist. Or Definitely. It might resonate with one group better than another.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:24:11]:
Most definitely. I love that. I think that's an error that people make. Be willing to be aware of the different impacts that could be out there. But also, even though often when our authors first launch their books, I'm gonna call it the biggest bang is usually right at the book launch because people are excited, it's brand new. But books don't expire. You can still continue to use your book. Again, make your book work for you.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:24:45]:
Think of it as part of your business, what else can you do with your book to continue to get the words out there? You can use your own words and write an article and submit it. You can use it as a a launching pad for a training course. You can use it as a way to connect with others, have it as part of a book club. Depending on what it is, books are so versatile and I love seeing books that have been well loved and reused. Reused, that doesn't sound very good, but read over and over
Susan Friedmann [00:25:26]:
Exactly.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:25:27]:
Really work. I'm in a group right now and we're rereading The Go Giver which is a a wonderful nonfiction book. And it's timeless in my opinion. And even though I've read it before, I'm picking up on things that I haven't. So I think there's lots of different ways that we can continue to make those books evergreen. And if we believe in what we say, and I know we do as authors because we put so much time and love and sweat and effort into it. Continue. Put that out there.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:25:59]:
Don't rest until you feel like the people who need to hear the message in your book have heard it. Because I almost guarantee you, I believe every one of us who's been called to write have a unique voice and the message to deliver. And there's a reader out there who may have read other books on the topic, but it didn't resonate with them until they will read your book.
Susan Friedmann [00:26:26]:
Yes. I mean, we all say things in different ways. It might be saying the same thing. It's in just different ways and it appeals to different people that way. So, on that note, Kim, how about sharing with our listeners how they can get hold of you?
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:26:43]:
Absolutely. I love talking books and I love talking publishing. So if you'd like to talk, reach out to me. My website is the best way to get a hold of me, and that is kwepub.com. My company is KWE Publishing, so it's shortened. So kwepub.com.
And I also have a special gift that I would like to offer to your listeners, and that is an amazing ebook that we've created, which is "How Do You Know If You Are
Ready to Publish Your Book?" Ā And I often will have writers who are like, well, duck on it.
I've been working on this. And when do I know it's time to publish? I'm happy to share that with y'all as a gift.
Susan Friedmann [00:27:30]:
That's wonderful. That's really generous. Thank you. And I'll put that information in the show notes for listeners if they don't happen to have a piece of paper handy. We always leave off with our guests sharing a golden nugget, words of wisdom to our listeners. And what's yours, Kim?
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:27:52]:
I would say the golden nugget would be keep going. Often, things that we think will take less time or we think should take less time actually take more time. But the richness of life, the richness in sharing books and sharing wisdom is patience and I'm gonna call it cheerful relentlessness. Meaning, go out there, continue sharing about your message. You may feel like you've shouted it from the rooftops 20 times, but you know what? Keep on sharing that message because you were called to share it for a reason, and that somebody out there needs to hear what you have to say.
Susan Friedmann [00:28:42]:
Yeah. Never stop. I mean, it doesn't matter how old the book is, you can keep marketing it and keep selling it. Because if it is evergreen, like you mentioned before, I love that word, evergreen, because the more evergreen your material, the longer life it can live, because it's evergreen.
So I love that, Kim. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom. It's been so much fun. I love it.
Kimberly Wells Ely [00:29:11]:
Oh, this has been so fun. Thank you.
Susan Friedmann [00:29:14]:
And by the way, listeners, if your book isn't selling the way you wanted or expected to, let's you and I jump on a quick call together to brainstorm ways to ramp up those sales because you've invested a whole lot of time, money, and energy, and it's time you got a return you were hoping for. So go to BookMarketingBrainstorm.com to schedule your free call. And, in the meantime, I hope this powerful interview sparks some ideas you can use to sell more books. Until next week, here's wishing you much book and author marketing success.
