Susan Friedmann [00:00:31]:
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 Parchelle Tashi. Parchelle is an award winning creative educator who partners with authors to help them repurpose and monetize their best selling books as premium profitable online courses and learning experiences that create impact and additional income.
Parchelle, what a pleasure it is to welcome you to the show, and thank you for being this week's guest expert and mentor.
Parchelle Tashi [00:01:17]:
Thanks for having me, Susan.
Susan Friedmann [00:01:19]:
Well, you and I were chatting before we went on the air, And something that I read of yours that just I had to laugh because it's something that I share with my authors almost every time that I speak to them, that books alone don't make real money. And you put it as learning experiences do. So I think that's wonderful. It's right up in terms of what I believe. And I know that listeners are eager to make and generate income from their books. So let's get right and dig in because I know you've got so much to share. And let's talk about some of the most effective strategies for turning a book into, let's say, a revenue generating machine, which is what everybody wants. Absolutely.
Parchelle Tashi [00:02:12]:
You know, when I started to lean into this conversation, one of the first things that I always like to really preface us with when we think about strategy are 3 main things that I say. As you mentioned, of course, books don't make money, experiences do. Right? And that's very clear as a beginning thought when we start to look at strategy. Right? The keyword there being experience. We are in a state right now in how we learn, how we take in information. It's very much an overconsumption state, if you will. There's more information out there than it is time and, bandwidth and even a journey available to actually implement those things that we might learn theoretically from a book. And so experiences are really what, when we talk about impact and income, is such a huge component.
Parchelle Tashi [00:02:57]:
Right? The second thing that I always emphasize when I think about strategy in this direction is that people pay for implementation. If you are in a particular field, especially if you're let's say, your topics or your genres around wealth, health, relationships, right, even leadership and personal development. All of these things in order to become more successful, that is gonna take more than just reading a book. I say it's the difference between reading a book about riding a bike and then riding a bike. Right now, when it comes to learning and how we share wisdom with each other, it's important to remember that when you're thinking about how to leverage your work, the fact that people will pay for implementation is such a key element to consider, right, when you're thinking about the strategy. The third thing that I always say also is that the quality of the learning experience matters. Meaning, we want this to be a practical experience. Right? And it has to be one that incorporates and considers the learner.
Parchelle Tashi [00:03:55]:
Right? Making it personable for them, making it really doubt in as an experience. Again, think of experience in the sense of I can hear something in terms of learning information, but I can also hear, see. Right? I can feel and touch something like a physical book. All of these senses that are engaged, right, really create what we call a learning experience. And that can be created in a number of different ways, especially if you have a book. I know, Susan, most of your listeners are nonfiction, but even fiction work can be considered a means to be the source through which you repurpose. Because those stories underneath them lie less than wisdom that can be applied around a number of themes that can come into people's lives. Those are the 3 main things that I really always like to kind of preface us with is that experiences make more revenue and more impact.
Parchelle Tashi [00:04:46]:
People will pay for implementation because it's one thing to do it yourself. It's another thing to actually say I'm gonna go along the journey with someone, whether it's in a workshop format or in a digital online experience. And then again, of course, the quality of that experience really has to be considered nowadays when we look at how we're learning and how personalized things are becoming online today. Those are some of the initial things again that really just lay the foundation for the conversation around how can we essentially leverage a book or what I like to say, get more bang for your book.
Susan Friedmann [00:05:17]:
I love it. The idea obviously that people pay for implementation and the quality of the experience and then, you know, engaging the senses. So how do we do that? What does it mean in terms of creating another product or, you know, more than 1, the byproducts of the book?
Parchelle Tashi [00:05:39]:
Exactly. There's so many different directions that we can take. I know that most of us, we might be most familiar with an online course, right? Having a digital online course, perhaps that goes with your book, but it can extend to a number of other avenues as well, whether it's live workshops or even a podcast, right? It's like things that essentially keep the conversation going and keep the impact active. Oftentimes and a lot of the clients that I've worked with, they might have had a book out 3, 4 years ago and haven't talked about it since or done much with it. And so really one of the ways that I say that you can get the most bang for your book initially is to use the content they're in to help you build a platform. Like, this is very foundational when we talk about strategy. Right? What use is my book for me in my business and in my life and in with my readers? Right? If you utilize your book as the source of content for building a platform, it's covering a lot of base there that really is gonna bring a lot more opportunities, if you will. So some examples of that could be use your book to build a platform for yourself.
Parchelle Tashi [00:06:43]:
Maybe you create another author website, something that's specific to just you as an author in your book. Of course, creating book related content such as short videos or even carousels or small blogs or articles on LinkedIn, for example. Right? Create content that's related and points back to your book. And this is really huge, especially when we talk about establishing a social media presence because I've heard it and I've seen it so many times. Right? You have a book, but they have no social media presence. They have nothing there. And it's just you have to use your book to help to build up that presence for yourself. Also, again, I mentioned starting a podcast, even if it's a mini podcast, can be a way that from a building your platform standpoint, that can help you to leverage your book in different ways that are gonna be beneficial to you and your business.
Parchelle Tashi [00:07:32]:
Right? Email newsletters. Maybe you can hop on someone else's blog and become a guest blogger. All of these are really great ways, if you will, when we look at one of the ways to get more bang from your book, building your platform. Right? It's essentially one of the strategies that's so important. Use your book to build your platform.
Susan Friedmann [00:07:50]:
Use your book to build your platform. Yes. Very much so. And we've talked in with other guests about the idea of having an author platform and a book platform. Let's transition and talk about going from the book to a course. Yes. What would that entail?
Parchelle Tashi [00:08:10]:
That's such a good question. Oftentimes, a lot of us intend to literally take the whole book and create it into every single chapter now becomes part of a module or something like that within an online course or some learning experience. And so what's really important when you go that direction is to really think about what is gonna be the most essential. What's makes the most sense to utilize from your book to create an experience around? Here's what I mean. Let's say that your book has 10 chapters, and the very first three are sort of the foundation. Right? That's the main bulk and meat that most people need to understand. Perhaps if they understand chapters 1 through 3 in an experiential format, now they're better prepared to engage in your services or they're more prepared to join a workshop or something like that. Essentially, what you want your course to be is an experience that really can get them a win.
Parchelle Tashi [00:09:06]:
Give them an experience. I think oftentimes what I'm trying to get at is that sometimes we put too much in an online course. This is not a university. Right? You wanna really take apart. What could be the one thing that is accomplished, right, if someone were to utilize the content of my book in a shorter experience. Again, there's so much thinking that goes about with that. But essentially, what you wanna come away from is really very clear promise of your course. What is that the user is gonna be able to receive as a result of this course? That needs to be very, very clear.
Parchelle Tashi [00:09:38]:
Secondly, you know, you wanna lay out those steps. Lay out the journey that they need to take. That's 1, 2, 3, and 4. Maybe it doesn't need to be more than that for a particular experience. It's very customized to each one. But essentially, by launching something like a online course or even what we've begin to develop now, which are called digital workbooks, These are places where when you look at your strategy overall, that it really essentially allows you to add a 0 and sometimes to the revenue potential. Because let's say that you have, 200 books and you're charging $25 for each book, then you're likely gonna make around 5 k. And then, of course, you gotta pay Amazon.
Parchelle Tashi [00:10:17]:
Whatever's left of that 5 k, you get to keep. But let's say that just 10% of those 200 book orders, they were actually interested in purchasing a 4.97 learning experience, right, for $497. Just with that, plus your book sales of the 5,000, you've essentially added 10 k to that and just offering the next step, which most people are interested in doing. That just also gives a way to look at when you're going about looking at, launching a product. This is where coursework falls under. Right? When you're gonna launch a product, these things are really important to consider. This is where especially if you have a good platform, right, that's important, then you're at this stage of launching a product. Again, this is where the revenue potential, right, comes into most people's minds.
Parchelle Tashi [00:11:05]:
And by simply having some sort of a product that you have for sale to accompany your book or to be, you know, a live experience of your book or what have you is really where when we talk about revenue potential of your body of work really being expansive. So, again, online courses, which, of course, could be our series of video lessons, creating a workbook, a study guide. Maybe you have, particular services. Maybe you have merchandise. Right? Exploring an audiobook or, again, a podcast or other ways that you can really create an experience that if you offer it for sale, allows you to really, really triple, double, quadruple, if you will, the revenue potential of your book.
Susan Friedmann [00:11:47]:
There are 2 things that came up for me. Number 1 is that I would love you to give us a little bit more examples of what does a learning experience look like? What are some examples of an actual learning experience that are going to engage the readers and keep them going. Because I think one of the toughest things with online courses is people have the energy to start them, and they're all excited, and then somehow they never get to finish them. I'm gonna raise my hand being guilty of that many times. How do you overcome that? What does the learning experience actually look
Parchelle Tashi [00:12:32]:
like? I love this question, Susan. As you mentioned, the online course work that we're most familiar with, you know, the average completion rate now is 6%, which is crazy. That's lower than low. And even also when we look at coaching programs and containers nowadays, I remember hearing a stat, you know, just sort of like an industry report, and it was basically alluding to the fact that 3 out of 10 people in a coaching program or what have you are actually successful. They're actually winning. And so, again, this presents a really big challenge that I think that we're faced with and that I'm excited that at the authors leverage that we are really attacking. Because to answer your question about a learning experience, it really comes down to practical application. That is the key thing around practical application.
Parchelle Tashi [00:13:21]:
If you apply that alone to, let's say, an existing online course or some learning experience as it were, it's automatically gonna have a much more effective result on people not only finishing, but essentially them getting what they paid for. Because that's the other big gap right now is that we're losing faith and trust in some of these online programs because we can't really say that they are delivering what we asked for. And the reason is is because we don't need more information. We actually need an experience with which to be with the content that we're consuming and for it to be a part of our lives and some experience. So when I talk about a learning experience, the best way to really paint the picture of that is to describe as best as I can because I don't have any visuals on this call. The best way to describe it or to give this example is in a new type of learning asset that we've created here at the Office Leverage along with, Merkle with technology is a digital workbook. Now most of us are familiar with an online course, if you will, Susie. Now you can go in, there's like a module, and then there's lessons you go through, and they might download some PDFs and things like that.
Parchelle Tashi [00:14:27]:
But essentially, you're just going video by video, and maybe you download the PDF. You know, maybe you get on a community call or something like that. Like, these are generally how most of these work. In a digital workbook, the way that it is set up is let's see. Imagine this way. If you have a blank page on the Internet browser, let's say, a blank page. And on that blank page, I put a video of you, Susan, and you actually you don't teach a whole lot on this video. Instead, you open up a concept.
Parchelle Tashi [00:14:56]:
Right? And then the rest of the video, let's say it's a 5 minute video, is you guiding them through an exercise that you're gonna have them do. And let's say the exercise is to answer some questions. That exercise might entail them going to take an action and then come back to this page. Okay? A digital workbook allows for you as the expert to communicate with that learner who's on that page and be provided a work space below that video to answer the questions. It's like a personal workspace for them. It just happens to incorporate other visual multimedia elements that, again, bring the experience in. That's one way that we've been really, again, I would say attacking this challenge, if you will, when we think about how we learn is testing out. Right? If we put a video with the expert leading you through the exercise with a place to do the work on that page that is yours that no one else can see, that you can save and return to as needed, or that you can share access with to that coach, So many capabilities happen in this digital workbook.
Parchelle Tashi [00:15:59]:
Another type of learning experience that I'm excited to play with in the years to come is one where the user, the learner, actually is going to different environments. So imagine if you opened up a digital workbook or a course, and the first step was, hey. As we start this, I want you to go and do something you've never done before. Do something new, something that might challenge you. And then after you do that, I want you to go to sit outside and join me on this podcast. And on the podcast, I'm gonna take you through the next step, and then I'm gonna guide you through a journey experience to reflect on your experience and what happened. If you can see all that we're doing is making it easier to do the work Because I'm telling you right now, most of us are more I guess we are groomed today to sell the dream, to sell the thing, to sell the new idea that somebody is gonna say, yeah, I want that. But on the back end, after they've made that purchase, how are we ensuring that they're even inspired to do it? Right? So one of the things I always emphasize when it comes to creating a learning experience is that you sell the doing of the work.
Parchelle Tashi [00:17:07]:
Emphasize the doing of the work because truly that is where your client is gonna get the result. And if they get a result, they're gonna come back. Someone who has an online course that's performing at 6% completion doesn't have many people coming back. Okay. So when we look at the future of how we approach this, it's so key to, again, think about ways outside of the box that we can really create an experience that engages 5 senses, that allows them a place to actually reflect and do the work. One other thing I'll say really quickly about this is that if you have a book, right, I know that most books, usually are formatted in a way that there are questions at the very end. Right? Sometimes you might provide a place for them to actually write. Sometimes they don't.
Parchelle Tashi [00:17:51]:
Sometimes they're just questions there. But that is a great opportunity to create something where in an online experience, like a digital workbook, where there's a video of the author going through that particular chapter with more exercises, more messaging, more of inspiration around what actually needs to be done to reflect and allow this information to seep into their heart, into their mind. And then right there on that page, those same questions from the book are there, but it's a digital space where you can actually do the work. Answer the questions. Type in the boxes that have been premade on this call it digital worksheet. I know that I've said a lot there, but it's truly one of the things that I'm passionate about and that we've been discovering. So again, those are some of the things to consider and kinda open your mind to if you are wondering, you know, what a learning experience looks like or can be.
Susan Friedmann [00:18:40]:
Yes. What went through my mind as soon as you were saying that was this whole idea of virtual reality and the whole augmented reality as well where people are using this now, but to bring it into the online environment rather than just as a game, I think is dynamite, especially for a learning experience and then as the generations now are into, well, gamification and virtual reality. Talk to us a little bit about gamification. Is that sort of part of this digital workbook, which, by the way, was my second question, so I'm thrilled that you answered it without me actually having to ask about it. Is gamification part of that as well?
Parchelle Tashi [00:19:27]:
Not in the way that we've traditionally seen thus far. I know that there is a learning management system called Experienceify that does a great job at gamifying the experience once you have completed a video or gotten to a certain part in the course. I find that to be, of course, so profoundly beneficial to the learning experience because it's like you get rewards along the way, and everyone loves that. I would say that in the digital workbook framework, we have not yet dabbled too much into that yet because it's meant to be a personal workspace, if you will. But certainly, it's something that we're excited in the future to see what kind of gamification could come about when it comes to digital workbooks and the like. But essentially, again, I've seen most of the gamification and points come about through just watching videos or consuming content. One of the platforms that I have been looking at, which is a newer platform called Skool, s k o o l. Very interesting.
Parchelle Tashi [00:20:27]:
It allows you to create your own school that has a space for community, has a space for content, and let's say, actual asynchronous learning that someone can go through on that platform. And the way that it's gamified is that you actually get more access in terms of communicating with other people in the community with being able to receive certain awards and things like that. Anyway, everything is gamified. And so that particular system actually tracks how much you actually engage with the group. For example, every time you post something in the group on their post, you get maybe 5 points or something. If you comment on someone else's, you get 7. You know? So it's a way of by, of course, through community engagement. And then, of course, your activity within the learning that allows you to have a some sort of a a leader board, score thing that's usually pretty fun to see on there.
Parchelle Tashi [00:21:23]:
But, essentially, to answer your question, nothing to that extent has happened yet inside of the digital workbook. However, we are excited in seeing that a digital workbook can be incorporated into another experience or technology that already uses gamification.
Susan Friedmann [00:21:39]:
You mentioned this one resource. And how about other resources that would be helpful when it comes to this new world of, online course creation. Are there any other resources that you could mention? Obviously, yourselves, and I'm gonna give you an opportunity to share your services. But are there other things that people could, tap into?
Parchelle Tashi [00:22:01]:
Yeah. Absolutely. I mentioned, Experienceify. It's a gamification LMS. There's also school that I mentioned that I feel again is on the leading edge of being able to, you know, have a community and to build and to share your content and make money on there. I'm seeing that to be a really fun, interesting place for that. And, honestly, I know that there are other I call them there's more tech involved clearly, but to actually have your own app. Right? I've seen that to also be a possibility on a platform called Passion, Passion dot io.
Parchelle Tashi [00:22:36]:
It allows for, again, some of the other features I've talked about with school, such as having a community, being able to have your coursework there, being able to sell your coursework. Things of that nature is available through that. But it's like you have your own app. So someone actually goes to the App Store or goes to the Google Play Store, and they're able to actually interact with you there through the app. Again, we're finding so many interesting features about these that are across the board, but most excited right now around the digital workbook space because of, again, the personal space that it provides for someone to engage in the work with the videos and and just all the capabilities that come about from there.
Susan Friedmann [00:23:15]:
So this is a great segue into sharing what you do at Author Leverage and how our listeners can maybe get more information about what you offer.
Parchelle Tashi [00:23:28]:
Yeah. And I appreciate that opportunity to share. In this world of sharing wisdom, taking your body of work, right? You can be utilizing it on a stage. It could be in a digital format. It could be in a book. Right? There's so many different formats that people come to us with with ideas and whatnot. And so what I typically say is that most of our experts that we work with kinda fall in 1 of 4 places of need, and it really depends on what stage they're in. The very initial stage that we offer as needed is what I call a scribe session.
Parchelle Tashi [00:24:00]:
I'm someone who considers themselves a modern day scribe. So a lot of my authors who are in the stage of, you know, you have some information, you have something that you wanna share. The most common use of this type of service is when someone's preparing for a keynote or they're preparing for a presentation or something where they have to present or maybe they're even just wanting to get that information out of their head and have someone reflect it back in a framework that is teachable and that can be learned very easily. And a lot of clients end up with, just hosting a scrap session with me. And so in that particular service, we do a scrap session together. My clients just show up and teach, and then my team and I take that and we develop not only the outline and the structure for it, but promo materials and a custom made slide that goes along with that. That's one area that some clients, of course, engage in with us. The other one is strategy.
Parchelle Tashi [00:24:53]:
So this is something that's a little bit more, let's say, past the scribe session. Maybe you already have your methodology, you have your framework, you have your book. You're trying to figure out and strategize. How do I leverage this? In this conversation today, I've kind of alluded to some of those things, but we do offer 1 to 1, I call them leverage plans. This is where we sit down together with the strategist on my team, and we craft out what we call 4 leverage plays. This is your b to c play. Most of us familiar with that when it comes to aspects of digital sales. But then we also look at b to b leverage plays.
Parchelle Tashi [00:25:26]:
We look for b to e, which we call business to enterprise. And then we also look for experiences. What experiences await those that are interested in this work? And we essentially just strategize a plan with you there. So that's the second service that most people for sure start with. In fact, we don't build any learning experience unless we've done strategy first. It's really important that we understand and that we're all clear on how this is going to essentially be impactful and make money. We wanna make sure that we're clear on that before we even build anything else. That's a very popular starting place for a lot of my clients.
Parchelle Tashi [00:26:01]:
And then the other 2 really fall in the line with, video production and then digital workbook creation. Video production, I didn't get to share much about that in this conversation, but I'm a former school teacher. I quit teaching, became a video professional, and I've been doing video for a long time. And specifically in the last 4 years, returned back to my love of teaching and education, and those things come together in unique way. So a lot of my clients, find usefulness in having videos specifically created for them in their business that they can strategize or leverage in different ways, or it could be the videos that go into their digital workbook. So that way we can create a learning experience together with all those components. And one bonus thing that I'll say in there is that I do have a few clients this year that are coming out this way to Las Vegas, and, we're gonna do what I call a workbook in a weekend. And so this is where we get to do the video production and create the workbook together right here in Vegas with me and my team.
Parchelle Tashi [00:26:56]:
I know that that was a lot, but I just really try to lay that landscape. So that way, anyone, depending on what stage you're at, it really will help you to understand perhaps where you need the most support and what's gonna make the most sense for you. But I always recommend just jumping a call with me and, happy to hear and listen and learn from you because I love to do that. I learn from everyone that I talk to and really figure out and see what makes sense. Where are you at in your business? What are you looking to accomplish? And then seeing where we fit among that landscape.
Susan Friedmann [00:27:25]:
And how would they get hold of you Through the website? I know we're gonna put a lot of these in the show notes, but what's the best way to, let's say, set up a call with you?
Parchelle Tashi [00:27:35]:
I am very active on LinkedIn and also on our website, theauthorsleverage.com. There should be a contact area where you can schedule a call with us as well and,
Susan Friedmann [00:27:45]:
talk to me directly. As well. Don't you have a free gift for us?
Parchelle Tashi [00:27:49]:
Yes. Absolutely. If you are interested in more around this conversation, other examples, definitely check out, theauthorsleverage.com/ebook. And there's a short ebook that we've created there, and we're excited to actually start to release more resources. So stay tuned for our own digital workbooks that are coming out on behalf of authors leverage. And also if you're interested in seeing an example, please reach out to me on LinkedIn. I often do talks where I get to actually share my screen and demonstrate these. So if any of those are interesting, I'm happy to share that as well.
Susan Friedmann [00:28:22]:
Excellent. And yes, I'm right there. Count me in. And we always love our guests to leave our listeners with a golden nugget. And you've given us so much rich, juicy information. What else would you like to leave our listeners with?
Parchelle Tashi [00:28:39]:
One of my favorite things to say is I used to teach high school math of all subjects. So oftentimes my students would ask me, well, how do I get ready for a test? Right? What's the best way to get ready for a math test? And I told them just to go and grab a sister, a uncle, a aunt, anybody that was around, even their dogs. Right? If you can explain your process and what you're doing or explaining what it is that you've learned, that's actually a really, really powerful way of demonstrating that you've learned something. And so with that, I encourage us as educators, as teachers, as speakers, leaders, that truly the highest form of learning, if you want to truly master what it is that you have put the flag in the ground, as, for you and your area of mastery, Continue to share it. The highest form, the highest expression of learning is teaching. And so I encourage you guys to continue to be in a teacher's seat because that'll not only, of course, lead to more for you, right, as a business owner, as an author, but it does a tremendous good for us as a people, as humanity. Right? And that we're sharing our wisdom and truly becoming better for it. So, yeah, I encourage everyone to keep teaching, keep growing, and keep sharing your wisdom.
Susan Friedmann [00:29:57]:
I endorse that 1000%. Every time I learn something, I want to teach it because I feel then it's going to stick, not only with me, but obviously being able to share with others. So that's really delicious golden nuggets. So thank you, Parshal. This has been amazing. I really appreciate having you here and sharing your wisdom. Thank you so much.
And by the way, listeners, if your book isn't selling the way you wanted or expect it 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 that 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.
