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HUB 419: AUTHOR PANEL – Lisa Harrington, Nikki Soulsby, and Sandra Long

by Robbie Samuels | Feb 13, 2025 | Networking, Podcast, Professional Development | 0 comments

LIVE HUB 419 AUTHOR PANEL - Lisa Harrington, Nikki Soulsby, and Sandra Long

Being a first-time author is often a mix of excitement, self-doubt, discovery, and persistence. You might initially feel thrilled by the prospect of sharing your story or ideas with the world. You dive in with strong motivation, full of ideas, and maybe a bit of romanticism about the process. Every word written feels like a small victory, and each page a milestone.

But as you go deeper, reality hits: writing a book is hard.

You might confront self-doubt (“Is this any good?”), impostor syndrome (“Who am I to write this?”), and moments when inspiration wanes. You begin to worry about whether anyone will want to read it.

The author journey is a rollercoaster of pride, frustration, and growth, but ultimately, completing the book feels deeply fulfilling. It’s an accomplishment that represents a body of work and the journey you undertook to create it.

But publishing is not the end of the story.

Reflect on why you wrote a book and how the book fits into your larger business strategy. You have more work to do to meet those goals and can’t do it alone. You need expert support to help you leverage your book to create the impact you envisioned.

To assist you in finding your author community and connecting with these experts, I’ve created valuable resources. The Biz Book Publishing Hub features over 50 Hub Partners eager to help entrepreneurs become successful authors.

You can access this free resource at www.BizBookPubHub.com, where you'll also discover information about the free virtual networking events I host for writers and authors throughout the year, archived episodes of the Biz Book Publishing Hub Podcast, and info about the Kindle Cross-Promotion Campaign for business authors I organize twice a year.

Joining me today are three talented authors.

Lisa Harrington wrote “Abiding Strategies: Build Your Best Business Foundation,” a step-by-step guide to building a strategy unique to your business. With her strategies, you will create a solid foundation that will stand the test of time.

Nikki Soulsby wrote “Lies I Told Myself, & Other Truths: How to Squash the Mental Monsters and Live Your Dreams,” a candid and reflective memoir that explores personal truths, growth, and self-realization, offering insights into overcoming internal and external challenges.

Sandra Long, author of “LinkedIn for Personal Branding: The Ultimate Guide” and co-author of “Supercharge Your Notary Business With LinkedIn: How Mobile Notaries and Loan Signing Agents Build Their Brand, Get Known, and Connect With Their Dream Clients.” She is a LinkedIn expert and a LinkedIn Top Voice specializing in LinkedIn education and thought leadership.

Please join me in welcoming Lisa, Nikki, and Sandra.

Would you leave an honest rating and review on Apple Podcast? They are extremely helpful, and I read each and every one of them. Thanks for the inspiration!

In this episode, we discuss the following:

📚 Author's Roller Coaster: Discover the excitement, self-doubt, and perseverance that come with writing a book as a first-time author.

🔗 Leveraging Expertise: Understand the importance of connecting with expert support to transform your book into a powerful business tool through the Biz Book Pub Hub community.

✍️ Writing for Impact: Hear how our guests wrote with a purpose, from guiding small business strategies to inspiring personal growth and mastering LinkedIn branding.

💡 Strategies & Success: Learn valuable tips on marketing, audience engagement, and the unexpected outcomes of publishing a book—including building businesses and speaking opportunities.

Links for Lisa Harrington

Links for Nikki Soulsby

Links for Sandra Long

Books mentioned in this episode:

Other Resources

Robbie’s Resources

  • Find all the archived podcast episodes, plus an invitation to free virtual networking events for writers and authors, AND Hub Partners ready to help entrepreneurs become successful authors: www.BizBookPubHub.com
  • Join the waitlist for the next Kindle Cross-Promotion Campaign for business authors: www.BizKindlePromo.com

Subscribing (or following) and leaving a rating and review wherever you are listening helps this podcast be discovered.

Biz Book Pub Hub features interviews with experts who help entrepreneurs become successful authors and author panels discussing the ROI of publishing a business book.

Tune in for frank conversations about the ups and downs of the author journey. Find out what common mistakes you can avoid and what resources you can use to ensure your effort leads to business growth.

Stay Connected

WANT TO CHAT? [email protected] | 617-600-8240 | www.robbiesamuels.com

How can Robbie Samuels help you?

🟧 He is an event design consultant, executive Zoom producer, business growth strategy coach, and book launch strategist who has been recognized as a networking expert by NPR, PCMA, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Inc.

🟧 He is a TEDx speaker and award-winning author of three books that have collectively received over 650 Amazon reviews and reached #1 Best Seller in 30 paid categories in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia, including ​​”Break Out of Boredom: Low-Tech Solutions for Highly Engaging Zoom Events,” which won a Gold award from the Nonfiction Authors Association.

🟧 He is a professional speaker who engages with his audience in person or virtually to share actionable insights on networking, business development, book launching, sales, and how to use Zoom to design engaging online experiences.

🟧 He coaches entrepreneurs on leveraging their network to help them build an audience before launching a new offer, book, podcast, or TEDx talk.

🟧 As a book launch strategist, he coaches business authors to build launch teams that lead to referrals, build their pipeline, and get 50+ Amazon reviews. He also designs and emcees virtual book launch parties that lead prospects to an offer.

👀 Complete this form to schedule a complimentary book launch brainstorming session with Robbie: www.BookLaunchBrainstorm.com

He founded the Biz Book Pub Hub, experts ready to help entrepreneurs navigate the complexities of writing, editing, publishing, and marketing their business books. Find this free resource, plus an invitation to free virtual networking events for writers and authors, and podcast show notes at www.BizBookPubHub.com

🟧 As an event design consultant and executive Zoom producer, he is passionate about creating engaging and unforgettable experiences. With two decades of experience in the meetings and events industry, he has honed his skills in designing and executing events that leave a lasting impression.

Robbie partners with speakers and in-house event teams to design inclusive, engaging, and transformative virtual, in-person, or hybrid events. He helps overcome common virtual meeting mistakes to increase engagement and sales.

🟧 You're welcome to download the bonus content for each of his three books:

📚 “Break Out of Boredom: Low-Tech Solutions for Highly Engaging Zoom Events” – http://www.BreakOutofBoredom.com

📚 “Small List, Big Results: Launch a Successful Offer No Matter the Size of Your Email List” – http://www.SmallListBigResults.com.

📚 “Croissants vs. Bagels: Strategic, Effective, and Inclusive Networking at Conferences” – http://www.CroissantsvsBagels.com.

🎙️ He is passionate about sharing his knowledge and experience with others, regularly speaks at industry events, and offers consulting services to help organizations and speakers achieve success in their own virtual or in-person events.

🎙️ Do you have a podcast or host live interviews? He is looking for opportunities to share his business success story and strategies.

Affiliate Links: Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links above are “affiliate links”. This means that if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products and services I use personally and believe will add value to my listeners. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

This post was exported in one click from Google Docs into WordPress with Wordable.

 

TRANSCRIPT:

Robbie Samuels:
Hey everybody, welcome back. Gonna jump right into this one. Happy Halloween. For those who are celebrating, being a first time author is often a mix of excitement, self doubt, discovery and persistence. You might initially feel thrilled by the prospect of sharing your story or ideas. The world you dive in with strong motivation, full of ideas and maybe a bit of romanticism about the process. Every word written feels like a small victory and each page a milestone. But as you go deeper, reality hits.

Robbie Samuels:
Writing a book is hard. You might confront self doubt. Is this any good? Imposter syndrome? Who am I to write this? And moments when inspiration wanes, you begin to worry about whether anyone will want to read it. The author journey is a roller coaster of pride, frustration and growth. But ultimately completing the book feels deeply fulfilling. It's an accomplishment that represents a body of work and the journey you undertook to create it. But publishing is not the end of the story. Reflect on why you wrote a book and how the book fits into your larger business strategy.

Robbie Samuels:
You have more work to do to meet those goals and can't do it alone. You need expert support to help you leverage your book to create the impact you envisioned. To assist you in finding your author community and connecting with these experts, I've created valuable resources the Biz Book Publishing hub features over 50 hub partners eager to help entrepreneurs become successful authors. You can access this free [email protected] where you'll also discover information about the free virtual networking events I host for writers and authors throughout the year, archived episodes of the Biz Book Publishing Hub podcast and info about the Kindle cross promotion campaign for business authors that I organize twice a year. Before we dive into today's panel, here is a quick word from our sponsor. Join me today are three talented authors. We have Lisa Harrington who wrote Abiding Strategies Build you'd Best Business Foundation, a step by step guide to building a strategy unique to your business. With her strategies you will create a solid foundation that will stand the test of time.

Robbie Samuels:
Nikki Soulsby wrote Lies I Told Myself and Other Truths how to Squash the Mental Monsters and Live your Dreams A candid and reflective memoir that explores personal truths, growth and self realization, offering insights into overcoming internal and external challenges. Sandra Long, author of LinkedIn for Personal Branding the Ultimate Guide and co author of Supercharge your notary business with LinkedIn how mobile notaries and loan signing agents build their brand, get known and connect with their dream clients. She's a LinkedIn expert and a LinkedIn top voice specializing in LinkedIn education and thought leadership Please join me in welcoming Lisa, Nikki and Sandra. Lisa, I'm going to kick this over to you for the first question and that is to tell us a little bit about who you wrote your book for. Who was the audience that you had in mind when you were writing your book? Lisa, that one's to you.

Lisa Harrington:
Hi. I'm sorry, everything froze. Can you repeat the question?

Nikki Soulsby:
Sure.

Robbie Samuels:
Who is, who did you write your book for?

Lisa Harrington:
Well, in, in the book and the COVID it says for my parents.

Robbie Samuels:
Well, for like your audience. Who's the audience you had in mind?

Lisa Harrington:
Right. But really it was for business owners, small businesses specifically. I really have a heart for that because they are the major employer in our country. 74% of all employment comes from small businesses. So I wanted there to be a way for people to read about what to do to make a great strategy for their business so they can grow, employ more people, help the economy. It's really intended for that group.

Robbie Samuels:
Awesome. Thank you so much. Nikki, how about you? Who was the audience you had in mind for your book?

Nikki Soulsby:
So really it was for the other me's of the world because I was a frustrated mid career going nowhere individual that figured out how to get out of the dead end job and make some things happen. So I wrote it for the people who know how to get things done and still don't have any time.

Robbie Samuels:
I Love it. Sandra. LinkedIn. A lot of different people use it, but you had a particular audience in mind when you were writing this book. And I know your tips books, the one that's in the most recent Kindle cross promotion we didn't mention. So you've got a great amount of resources in this. But who's the specific audience you had in mind?

Helene Cahen:
Well, for each book, I mean for LinkedIn for personal branding, which is my most popular book, I was focusing on people that want to improve, they want to, they care about their brand, they want to move their career or their business or their sales forward.

Robbie Samuels:
So those people, I love it. I'm always curious about what it was like when we first start writing books. Sandra, you've been writing now books for a few years. If you go back to that first book, what were the metrics of success that you had in mind when you were first getting started? Before you know what you know now, was it just getting it published? Did you have a goal around sales reviews, business, like what was important to you back then?

Helene Cahen:
Are you asking that to me?

Robbie Samuels:
Yeah.

Helene Cahen:
Oh, well, thank you. I don't think I had a very well developed plan of metrics. That I was going to be tracking. I have to be honest with you. I think over time, it's definitely evolved for me. And now I have certain things that I care about. But in the beginning, it was more about producing, creating a book that would be used by my customers that would also allow people to get to know who I. What I believed so they could find out what, you know, what I stood for and what was important, what I believe was important on LinkedIn.

Helene Cahen:
And they decided from that they wanted to work with me. So it was for those kind of reasons that I. That I wrote the book. And, and so the metrics really are more later. And honestly, still the metrics aren't the main driver. I mean, I do care about reviews. I think personally, I look for Amazon searches. Like, I want to put.

Helene Cahen:
Insert. I want to put LinkedIn in the search, and I want my books to come up right. And LinkedIn for personal branding does really well with that. And so the others are depending on the day, and that's what I look for.

Robbie Samuels:
I think what's great is that even though you didn't have, like a, you know, real business plan around metrics, but you did have a clear sense of the book would be useful for your existing clients and attract new clients to you. So you were pretty dialed in for an author. I've also talked to authors who were like, I don't know, I just felt called to write this book. It's like, for who, you know, let's make sure people listen to it. So we'll come back and see if there's anything more to share about what's evolved for you. But let's go over to Nikki. Nikki, same kind of question. You know, first of all, is this your only book? Do you have other books out there?

Nikki Soulsby:
This is the only one.

Robbie Samuels:
This is the book. Okay. And you felt very compelled. Clearly, this is a personal memoir kind of book, so you have a real message you wanted to share with people. Obviously, writing the book alone was a journey. But beyond publishing the book, was there anything else you were thinking about when the book was first being written and coming out?

Nikki Soulsby:
Yeah, the. The. The metric that I was really measuring was book sales. And I have a spreadsheet, I'm sure I could still find it, that says, here's how much royalty I make on the Kindle version. Here's how much I make on the print version. Right. So how many copies? And if I split it based on these metrics, how many copies of this book do I need to make my investment back? That. That's what I thought was winning.

Nikki Soulsby:
If I could just make my money back, that would be great.

Robbie Samuels:
Wow. I mean, I'm so glad you shared that. I mean, this is an awkward place to start the panel, but I always want people listening to know that we know where they're coming from. Like, you know, obviously, like years later, everyone has a different perspective as an author. We've built things we didn't even know were possible. We have opportunities in front of us. We wouldn't even know what to ask for. None of that would have happened if you don't go out and actually publish the book.

Robbie Samuels:
But it is funny that initially it's just like, can I make my. Can I recoup the investment that I made, I made in getting the book published and how many individual book sales, Kindle version, paperback version, it's like, right? It's a very mathematical problem. It's not, you know, it's not really thinking the bigger picture. I'm curious now, kind of with a little bit of hindsight, what has the book allowed you to do, revenue wise, that you wouldn't have had before? Are you speaking now because of the book? Are you coaching? Like, what else is happening?

Nikki Soulsby:
Yeah. So I accidentally started a business because I wrote the book. So I wrote the book. A friend posted about it on LinkedIn and somebody picked me to speak at at their like, women in business lunch and learn type thing. And then I got a paid speaking gig after that and then I got another one. And then somebody asked, do you do coaching? I'm like, you gonna pay me? They're like, yeah. I'm like, sweet. Yes.

Nikki Soulsby:
All right, we'll do that then. So that's how it happened.

Robbie Samuels:
And how long ago did this all start to unroll into a reality?

Nikki Soulsby:
Well, it was June. Well, I published in May of 2021 because I had my son in June of 2021, which was a poor, poor life decisions. Okay, don't do that. But it happened three months after I delivered my son is when I did my first speaking engagement.

Robbie Samuels:
Wow. So in some ways maybe do do that in the sense that if you'd waited, I don't know, you would have had the time or energy to get the book published.

Nikki Soulsby:
That's why I did it.

Robbie Samuels:
You had three months for the book to kind of get out into the world through your circles of friends and your network. And then people started inviting you to come speak. And I think it's really cool. I want to come back to you about why I have your book included in the Kindle Cross promotion. Because the way I define business books, I think fits with your book, which most people wouldn't recognize. Let me come over here to Lisa. Lisa, is this. You have this book.

Robbie Samuels:
Is there another book you have also wrote?

Lisa Harrington:
Yes, I have two. I published my first book in March of 2013. It's called Taking in Strays and it's Leadership Lessons from Unexpected Places, which is my animals. I've had dozens of animals over the years and I. I wrote that book to support my keynote practice. At that time, I was mostly just going, you know, speaking to groups and I wanted them to have a sense of sort of my voice and how it would be on stage. I did not write it to sell books, although I have sold some. A lot of times I'll bring the book to different events and then I'll donate the proceeds to a charity and that gets people to come.

Lisa Harrington:
I love doing that. But that book was all about the animals. And then it was 22 before I wrote the second book, Abiding Strategies. And that's more business focused. It's a little more serious, although the other one has lots of lessons as well. And again, it was more. In this case, it was to document my very unique process for writing a strategy for a business. So when they hire me, they'll have the book, they'll have the workbook that goes with it.

Lisa Harrington:
They'll know exactly how I'm going to process. And I even wanted to give it away. I like the idea that somebody can buy my book, follow the workbook and build their own strategy. It's so important because only 20% of American businesses even have a written strategy. So I figure the field is wide open, right? But also that way, businesses that are tiny, solopreneurs, charities, people that don't have a lot of money, they can read the book and follow the workbook and they don't have to pay me or some other. Sometimes it's very expensive. And my process is really unique. It's a single day, so I don't want people to put it off or not have a plan because they don't know how.

Lisa Harrington:
And that was a big part of why I wrote it all. I also trademarked the process and this is one of my ways to document that.

Robbie Samuels:
So it's really interesting because the first book that you were describing kind of went with the keynote. It's both a great leave behind. I've often said books, no one wants to recycle or throw away books. Like, if you give someone a book, they're going to pack it up the next time they move, you know they're going to keep the book for a while or pass it to somebody. So it's a great leave behind so people remember you. But it's also a way for people to be introduced to you to learn more about you. And your focus wasn't making money off the book so much as using the book as a nice calling card to attract the right audience to then book you to speak. So I think, I think having that clear mindedness and I want to go back actually to Nikki.

Robbie Samuels:
We were talking about how many books to sell and I've been since doing this show, I've been getting different data points from people. So I'm going to repeat these without any references because it's I think a little bit hearsay. But I've heard is enough times that I'll repeat it with that caveat. The most books, majority books are less than 100 books in the first year. The average is about 200. And a really successful book is 5,000 copies in the first year. None of us know that when we're first getting ready to publish a book, we all have such outsized visions of how many books we're going to sell. So Nikki, when you were doing your math, you were probably selling several hundred, if not a thousand books, right? In your mind you're like, okay, I'll sell this many.

Robbie Samuels:
Yeah, absolutely.

Nikki Soulsby:
I was manifesting it, right. I'm like, all right, I'm just, I'm going to visualize it's going to happen for me.

Robbie Samuels:
Well, what's good is the universe responded, just not through book sales. It got you speaking opportunities and coaching opportunities to help me build a business, which is really cool. And that to me is defining feature for whether or not I want to include a book in the Kindle cross promotion campaign. Which is how all three of us, four of us, sorry, all three of you for with me got connected. It was that I want to highlight books that entrepreneurs wrote to help them grow a business. And so some memoir, I was like, some memoirs, that is what's happening. I wouldn't like carte blanche, want every memoir ever written to come in because that's not true for most memoirs. So that they're going to build a whole speaking opportunity off of it.

Robbie Samuels:
But it's pretty cool that you've done that and turned it into coaching and all the rest. Sandra, I feel like you have a really well developed, clear business proposition like what you do. But I imagine that wasn't always the case. Did the book help you crystallize that or did you already have that figured out in the book? Like, which came first, the fact that you want to do LinkedIn and personal branding? Like, and therefore the book, or did the book help you crystallize the idea in the audience?

Helene Cahen:
Well, the book just helped crystallize everything because every single thing I do now, the book is a part of it. So when I do a speaking engagement or training, typically it's in every proposal. And it doesn't make sense for them to hire me to speak without getting the book. And I explained to them why, because the audience is going to be very interested in this topic and I spend an hour with them and then they're going to want more. And this is a great thing they can take back as a takeaway. And it can be like, whether it's a gift for the colleagues or audience, and they can then do more, they can dig deeper after I'm gone. So. And it's also something that I use with every consulting coaching.

Helene Cahen:
So it's both helping, it's helping sort of solidify the products that I have, but also as a entree to me. So any prospect that I get, someone who reaches out and says I'm interested in training for my team or I'm interested in coaching or consulting, typically I'll send them my book so they get a sense of what it's all about. And that's. So it becomes sort of a lead in to a great conversation. So it's, it's really part of everything that I do.

Robbie Samuels:
How much of that whole process could you have thought of before the book came out? Do you feel like the book had to come out first and then you were like, oh, we, I could use it this way. This way.

Helene Cahen:
Yeah, I mean, I think the, Yeah, I wasn't, I honestly wasn't thinking about a lot of this beforehand, to be truthful. And the, you know, one of the, my favorite things is, you know, yes, I get Amazon sales, which do pretty well, but the bulk sales for my clients are really great because I'll do the program and I'll send 100, 200, 300 books directly from Amazon. You can buy them as author copies and send, send them off. So I've tried to perfect that and do a better job of putting together packages for bundles for bulk, bulk opportunities. And that's really paid off for me.

Robbie Samuels:
Yeah, I think when you and I talked about this previously, you had a really great system for incentivizing people to do bulk orders by making the process really simple by giving Them price breaks, maybe some bonus content.

Helene Cahen:
So I haven't, I have an order form. If there, if there's. If they have a pro and some. Here's a couple times it's happened where they couldn't afford me for speaking, but they ended up buying 300 books. So I mean I much rather be doing something. And so I have an order form and has listed by quantity and I make it. They can just sign that and we don't have a cond. I can just sign that and then I can send them a PayPal and send the books out.

Helene Cahen:
It's really simple.

Robbie Samuels:
Lois Kramer, I just, just did her book launch party. She's a really well known figure in the National Speakers association and she wrote a book called Book More Business and her second edition subtitle is Make More Money Speaking. So she has a line about like, you know, would it make sense if. And then she basically leads that into buying the book to go with my talk. Because everything you just said, like if you just weave that in it, it does make sense. It's not a hard sell. It's like, oh yeah, we do want people to actually implement the strategies because a keynote is more kind of just an exciting spotlight on an idea. Like a little, a little invigoration around it.

Robbie Samuels:
But like the actual follow through is not. It's like, no, step by step, am I checking a list, doing the thing? And so having those resources is so incredible to have that on there. Elisa. I think likewise, it sounds like, you know, you've developed your business to get really clear about the audience. You want to work with these small business owners and you've got this particular process that you want to share with them. As you were writing the second book, was your process being further refined because you were now documenting it or did you already have that process laid out and it was really just a matter of it being in a book format?

Lisa Harrington:
I was definitely refined as I went. The specific thing that happened during the writing of the book, I realized I needed a companion workbook because the way my process is, if I'm standing in front of the room for six or seven hours and walking you through the strategic planning process, that's great. But if you're reading the book, you don't really have all the steps. The stuff that was in my head that's just spoken in the room is what I put in the workbook. That way, not only people that are paying me to stand up in the front of the room and do it, they can be following along in the workbook And I include that in, you know, when I set them up. But then they also could do it by themselves, and especially if they're a charity or something.

Robbie Samuels:
So, you know, when I was writing my second book, I had this process that I had been using with coaching clients to help them wake up their network. And when I was coaching them, I mean, the first time I ever did it, I was like, make a list of 100 people. And that was the entire assignment. Right. There was no parameters, no specifics, no how tos. But we were meeting weekly so I could lead them through a process. But when you go to write something down and exactly what you just said, you're not going to be in the room in front of them. Well, now you can't just have steps 1, 4, 7 and 10.

Robbie Samuels:
And so writing it down was like, oh, 1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, 2B, 2C. And then I took that whole process and I ran these two hour masterminds where people would get access to the workbook. They'd have two weeks to do some of that work and then come into a call to bring their questions about. Well, now that I've done that, you know, now I have a list of prospects and referral partners. What do I do with it? So this is before the book even came out. Testing and testing and testing those ideas. Now, Nikki didn't have the luxury of knowing she was building a business when she was writing a book. Book.

Robbie Samuels:
What would you do differently? Is there anything you would change about your process if you were to go do the next book now that you know that you have a business?

Nikki Soulsby:
Yes. So two things I would change for sure. And, and I'm planning on changing in the next book, which is like, it's percolating. So the first thing is I would put the emphasis less on the individual and more on, like companies that could hire me to speak. Right. So I would talk to those people more specifically instead of the actual person, if that makes sense. Because people are lovely and I do want to help them. But large corporations have more money than you and they will pay my speaker fee.

Nikki Soulsby:
And the other thing, I would make it more of a. I would, I would make it easier to get in touch with me. So I would like. I would do the website with the bonus material so that you get on my email list. Right. I would be more strategic about that right now. It's just. Hi, if you want to hang out, here's my insta.

Robbie Samuels:
Oh, Nikki, I'm so happy that you're here to talk about this because I mean your, your experience is not far off from a lot of first time authors even those who did write a book with a business already at hand. Sandra, I saw you wave a hand though. Did you want to say something?

Helene Cahen:
Oh no, no.

Robbie Samuels:
I was okay. It's okay. I just feel like that relationship of like who's the audience for this book and this is something I actually heard about the post we do on LinkedIn is a lot of times we write posts to the end user but that doesn't get us hired. We need to also remember to write posts for the, for the person with the budget because they're. They have a different vantage point and so similarly you may end up with two versions of a book like they maybe it's a series and I actually one of the people, Irma Perrone who's been part of our Kindle Cross promotions she does have a book for employers and a book for employees and it's spelled out on the COVID because they for her process to work well they kind of have to work together and they have to understand their roles in it. So I think right what I'm getting from all this and what's like I had a thesis and I you all confirmed it. Writing the book itself helps you solidify framework know what you know identify name right. Like create all the multi steps test that material.

Robbie Samuels:
So something you may be talking about speaking about being paid to coach on something you've lived. It's hard to teach it as well until you've really kind of got that crystallized piece. And a book and a TEDx is another example I think of this crystallization but it's a much smaller piece of the whole. I mean the book is. Can be covering a lot more of the business plan. So I think that's really cool. I'm going to shift gears to talk about reviews which is kind of a happy place for me but not for most people. But I'm going to kick it over to Sandra because she's the most people who I think does does fall into the liking reviews because you've done an incredible job.

Robbie Samuels:
And so I'm going to just call up her piece right here. 123 written reviews and 245 ratings. So just for those who are playing along from home ratings are the stars. You don't have to buy the book or write anything. You can just do 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 stars. So lots of stars. But 123 people took the time to write your review and they're more. They're not just like long time ago.

Robbie Samuels:
Your most recent reviews are from the summer. So just like a few months ago, they're steadily coming in. So I'm kind of curious for that book, what year did it come out, that book?

Helene Cahen:
2021.

Robbie Samuels:
Okay, so it's a few years old now. What did you do at the launch part around reviews? Did you have a plan and what's been this ongoing piece? Because clearly people are continuing to write reviews for.

Helene Cahen:
Well, actually, I mean, the original book was in 2016 and then I did a new version in 2021 and some of the reviews came over, but some didn't. So there was, so there was some loss. So that was part of it. But what happens is I get people sending me because of the nature of my book. I invite people to connect with me and they, they send me a note and they'll say, I'm reading your book, I love your book. And they'll even tell me why they love my book on my LinkedIn message. And so what I usually do when they, they love the book, I said, oh, that's great. Would you mind putting that on Amazon? And so it.

Helene Cahen:
And they usually, they always say yes. They don't always follow up with it. But you know, I feel like if they love the book and they reaching out to me, I might as well ask them. So it's sort of getting into the habit of always asking any, you know, anyone, just as a natural part of the conversation. So it really helps.

Robbie Samuels:
Yeah, I mean, it's sort of like the best day to start marketing your book was yesterday. Can't do that. Try today and then every tomorrow from now on. And not forgetting like that you're, once you're an author, like, you always be thinking about, okay, someone said they like something. How do I capture that? Give it back to them, make it easy for them to then click the link copy paste. You know, they can, they can post it. And not forgetting like, like it's important for us to collect these reviews.

Helene Cahen:
Yeah. And these people are from all over the world, from all different countries. So I like that that they can. Those are the ones that show that they'll show up. I think they show up more prominent in those countries because there's different, different Amazon platforms. So yeah, I like to do that.

Robbie Samuels:
Something to note, if people have not spent $50 on that account, on that Amazon account, then they can't post a review. And here in the United States, that's a less likely issue because we're very much into using Amazon. But I have Definitely. I've launched books for clients who live overseas. Germany, Switzerland. And it's a little harder because not everyone there uses their Amazon regularly. But the other instance sometimes is like someone uses their partners as a family, like the household uses the partners one and then they're like, well, I'm going to write a review on my own because I want my name to show up. And it's like, it doesn't work.

Robbie Samuels:
It won't work that way. So these getting people across countries to post is really cool. And then most of those you show up on the dot com. I mean, Nikki, when you got started with your book, did you have any thoughts about how to get it out into the world and how to, how to, you know, make sure people even thought to read it? I mean, clearly even having that one friend read it and then post about it really like was a springboard for you. What was the initial plan to go from I have a book that's written and I want people to read it to getting in front of certain people?

Nikki Soulsby:
Well, you know, it was very well thought out strategy. I put it on my Facebook, I posted about it on LinkedIn and I did a Goodreads giveaway. That was my launch party.

Robbie Samuels:
It was. Tell us about the Goodreads giveaway. How's that work?

Nikki Soulsby:
So for fairly inexpensive, it's like what, 150 bucks or something like that. It's not a big deal to. You get to give away a certain number of copies of your book if you're. You can do Kindle version or you can do physical copies. I did physical because I thought people would want that more. I did have to mail them all, but I wrote them each a little like love note in there. And the cool part is the, it will send you the list of who won, but it will also add your book to everyone who registered TBR on their Goodreads. So it's a little bit of free networking.

Nikki Soulsby:
There were like 5, 000 people that, that tried to get into my giveaway. I'm like, oh, shoot, that worked good.

Robbie Samuels:
Okay. So, wow. This is the first I've really heard this detail. My wife, I think, reads books this way, but I've never heard of an author doing it. And I don't think that business authors think to do this. I feel like it's not as well known of a strategy. So for $150 you got 5000 people to list your book in their TBR, their to be read list on Goodreads. And theoretically these are people who use Goodreads Pretty frequently or they wouldn't have known to be part of this.

Robbie Samuels:
So they're probably paying attention to their tbr. And what number of books did you end up mailing? 10.

Nikki Soulsby:
Well, I did a giveaway of 10.

Robbie Samuels:
So I sent 10 books.

Nikki Soulsby:
10 books.

Robbie Samuels:
Wow. So 5,000 people know about your book. Maybe more than that, because they didn't all apply. 10 people get a handwritten note from you, and you ship out the book. And I bet you those 10 people want to leave you a review. Did that work? Did some of them read leave a review on Goodreads or on Amazon?

Nikki Soulsby:
They did, because I. I didn't know them. Right. It was nobody that I knew. So there are. When I got my first review that wasn't from someone I knew, I was like, oh, that's cool.

Robbie Samuels:
That is pretty sweet. Lisa. Lisa, how did you approach this? You know, getting reviews didn't seem like it was part of the launch sequence for you. So how have you thought about getting your book in front of the audience that needs to read it?

Lisa Harrington:
Well, it was different for each book. So the first book I knew because I had a mentor. Her name is Judy Hoberman. You might know her. She told me to get 25 reviews so that Amazon would bump it up in the. In the categories somehow in their algorithm way back then. So I just reached out to 100 people and said, would you please review my book for me? Right.

Robbie Samuels:
And.

Lisa Harrington:
And if 25 of them did, and it worked very well. The second book, I did a launch party, and I am a member of a very large women's networking group here in town. And so I said, listen, at our next meeting, and we do this for any author that writes a book here. I said, we're going to do a big launch party. For me, it was February of 2022, so people were ready and anxious to get back out in the world after all that had happened. I actually used Covid as my timeframe to do the writing because we were all. And so I had, I don't know, 100 people come to the launch party, and I was selling books, signing them there at the location, got lots of pr, had a magazine come, and I had. I gave all the money to a charity where I'm now sitting as chairman of the board.

Lisa Harrington:
But. But that got me the attention about the book. I never have looked ever to see if I got any reviews on the second book. I have no idea until this minute.

Robbie Samuels:
So, Lisa, I noticed when I was getting ready to do this, this interview that you actually have your paperback and Your Kindle listed in different listings on Amazon, so you may have to write them to connect the two.

Lisa Harrington:
Yeah, I know, I noticed that. I noticed that. I. So I switch publishers. Long story. I still use Ingram Sparks for the printing, but the person who set up my book originally did that, and I don't know why. So, yeah, thank you for reminding me.

Robbie Samuels:
Yeah. So the reason it's important is because any reviews you get from one version will show up for both if they're connected. So then when you're flipping between Kindle and paperback within the same site, all the listings show there. But yeah, I mean, I see reviews as social proof on the book sales page. So when people are deciding whether to buy the book, whether to buy a book order, whether they invite you to speak, whether whatever it is that those stay the bestseller stuff here and gone. I know, Lissandra, you definitely had some bestseller things happen for your books, because your books, like, you know, they're the kind of books people buy really quick and like, everyone's excited about it. But then, you know, the buzz, the buzz goes away. Like, you're happy if it keeps listing and getting bought.

Robbie Samuels:
I know this last go around, I think in July, you also had a really good showing with your book, so. And then this, you switched it out. You put this book in your. Your tips book. It's sitting on. This is because I have this, like, I'm going to get this done and I keep opening it and looking at the next page. So one by one, I'm like, kind of read my way. I'm like, how many tips are there? 67.

Robbie Samuels:
You know, I'm on like four, but I'll get there. And I purposely bought the paperback because I know that if it was a Kindle version, I would completely forget about it. So it's just sitting here on my desk as a reminder to go through my profile. Every time I think I want to ask Sandra a question, I go, wait, don't bother. Go look at the book. Bother her yet. Figure out if she hasn't already addressed the question. Which is another reason I love creating books, because then people can answer those questions themselves.

Robbie Samuels:
Like Lisa said, let them DIY their way through the process a little bit.

Nikki Soulsby:
Yep.

Robbie Samuels:
So I would love to hear kind of the, the best marketing strategies. Anyone have a really good strategy that led to a big surplus of book sales. And I know we've got bulk sales as far as like, with speaking, but is there anything else that you managed to do, like get into book clubs or. I mean, what Nikki said about sort of getting a lot of visibility through the Goodreads giveaway was pretty cool. Didn't lead to direct sales. But the idea that like, how do you. What's something you can do that spikes a lot of attention and ideally some book sales. Has anything led to that? Oh, Lisa, go for it.

Robbie Samuels:
And then Sandra.

Lisa Harrington:
So it follows on something Sandra said earlier. I offer the bulk books, but for no extra charge. I put in a customized flyleaf. So it's printed in the book that this book was given to the attendees of XYZ meeting. So I have had clients buy boxes of books, customize that flyleaf and in one, you know, one sale I get 80 books sold or 40 books or whatever. They love that they can customize it. Especially when it's a client of mine that's hosting an event for clients of theirs. Right.

Lisa Harrington:
I also had a client buy a whole box of the first book for their employees because it's, it's a fun book, it's an easy read and they thought it was a good Christmas present because it's also a leadership book. So that little, little tiny thing of adding that free fly leaf customization seemed to go over.

Robbie Samuels:
Is your book a hardcover or paperback? Where does the fly leave?

Lisa Harrington:
Yeah, soft cover and Kindle. I don't do a hardback.

Robbie Samuels:
Okay, so help us understand for those who aren't familiar, what does the fly leave mean?

Lisa Harrington:
So, so this, the, the first page after the COVID is usually blank and they put that customization there for me.

Robbie Samuels:
Got it. Awesome. Wow. That's very cool. I once did something where my first book is about networking at conferences. So it's the only book I have a lot of experience bringing in person selling in bulk because it was very much about speaking at these in person events. But I created a bookmark that had my signature and my like little tagline. And if they co branded it then I would give them that file and the specs and they can go order these themselves and put their branding.

Robbie Samuels:
If they didn't want to co brand, then I would use the flip side to put the QR code or the, or the link to get my tips thing and the opt in. And what I didn't want to do was sit behind a desk and sign books. So I'd walk around with a Sharpie in my pocket and if I was talking to people afterwards, I would sign their book while we were chatting. But everyone kind of got that put into the book as they were coming in or as they were leaving. So these little ways to personalize to a company could be really useful. Sandra, what was your idea that you had for sort of how to boost a lot of visibility or sales?

Helene Cahen:
Yeah, so for me, it's LinkedIn using LinkedIn. And so as an author, there's a lot of things we can do on our profile. And so especially, and for me, so I have it right in my headline, author of LinkedIn for Personal Branding. So as I'm commenting, I'm very active with commenting. People see if they like my comment, they'll see that my, My face, my name. Author of LinkedIn. For. I know I get sales from this and I know people get, I get discovered.

Helene Cahen:
But then on top of that, I use my sections of my book to help me create content. I can repurpose parts of it for LinkedIn. So I've got little video tips that are based from my, my, my new book, my tip book. I, I can take out, I take out sections of my LinkedIn for personal branding and use it for articles, newsletters, and longer posts. So I repurpose and then I, and then I can give good value, like educational value. And at the end I can say this is a segment or a section from such and such a book. So I, you know, I feel like it keeps me steady as far as people knowing about my books and buying my books.

Robbie Samuels:
This goes back to recognize that you're an author and live as an author, talk about your book, repurpose the content. No reason to start over again from scratch. Recreating the wheel. You've already set it well, like share it out there. Nikki, what would you like to add?

Nikki Soulsby:
I would like to add a thing not to do.

Robbie Samuels:
Okay.

Helene Cahen:
Love it.

Nikki Soulsby:
The thing that I did that I thought was brilliant, I was a books to grammar before I was an author. And I had several bookstagrammers reach out to me with big audiences and they promised to write a review of my book and they did. And I didn't spend that much money. I think I only spent like $500 from a variety of people. I sold zero books, so. So maybe if somebody reaches out and asks to promote your book on Instagram, I don't know, I just wouldn't do it.

Lisa Harrington:
Yeah.

Robbie Samuels:
Wow. I get those requests all the time. Cause I write about authors and writing. My Favorite actually on LinkedIn is when people say, I see you have such a great profile. You've done so much if you're writing a book.

Helene Cahen:
Yeah.

Robbie Samuels:
And I say, that's funny. Maybe you should rewrite your message so it's not such a blatant lie. Yeah. You have not seen my profile because I've written three books. So it's just, it's one of those weird things. So yeah, I think that hit or miss about the target audience for a book, I have had more success when it's been a very specific audience that I've been reaching out to to, to get the book in front of as opposed to Instagram writ large like that, I think is, is really maybe something to investigate. I would also ask them for like some receipts about people actually selling books. Can you talk to three people who've had, you know, some outcome that, that you'd like to replicate? We can always do due diligence on that.

Robbie Samuels:
As you're moving on this before we get to our final questions, Nikki, you kind of raised this point earlier about being easy to be discovered so that someone gets excited about your book. They should know how to reach out to you. Not just your Instagram following but like, you know, I have to tell you, it was a revelation to put an email address in the book. Like, I don't know how someone mentioned, mentioned that. Must have messaged me about that early on and then I decided to actually do it. So having your, your email address, a web link, opt in page, I mean these are all the things I think people over, like they just kind of. There's an oversight. They forget to even look into doing it because they're just so busy writing the book.

Robbie Samuels:
There's a lot of like extra stuff to do beyond the book itself. I think, Nikki, that is what you're learning is because right now if people read your book and they're excited, do they then have to find you on Instagram to write you a note and it's like. Or do they Google you? Do they like search for a website? Like, how do people usually find you to continue the conversation?

Nikki Soulsby:
So people find. Strangely enough, people actually find me on Amazon randomly because they're searching for. I must have picked good keywords. I don't even know what I picked. They will. I'm super easy to find because I'm Nikki Soulsby, like everywhere or Nikki Soulsby Author, like everywhere. So people have reached out through my website is usually the most common. They'll go to my contact form and like.

Robbie Samuels:
Right, yeah, so I've noticed. Also a tip is have the same photo on your Amazon as on your social, particularly your LinkedIn because then they immediately go, oh yeah, this is the right person when they do find you. So if you're going to do updated headshots every five years update on Amazon, people Forget their Amazon bio all the time. And I as an interviewer, I love it because I then learn things that used to be important to you. And then you think, I did this deep research and I'm like, no, I just read your Amazon author bio. So tip to self, like, make sure we update these things. So in a moment, we're going to shift over to Nikki. Actually, I'll give it back to you to share this question is, what is the advice you would give somebody who is writing a book to help them grow a business? And I think you're going to have quite a bit to share there.

Robbie Samuels:
But first, here's a quick word from our sponsor. Nikki, what would you offer as a suggestion or as a blueprint for people who are getting ready to write a book that will help them grow business?

Nikki Soulsby:
So when you're thinking about your audience, because you should be writing the book for an audience, think about how you would kind of, to Sandra's point earlier, how would you incorporate this into a live training of some kind, whether you're working one on one or in a group? So think about how it would accompany the work that you're already doing or intending to do, and then write to that.

Robbie Samuels:
I love it. I think that was similar to Lisa who said, you know, I had this book, I knew it was going to go with this keynote. Lisa, what additional advice would you give to somebody who is writing a book to help them grow a business?

Lisa Harrington:
Well, one thing that I did is I wrote my book in chapters, both of them, actually, one chapter at a time. And the first thing I did was figure out, you know, the table of contents, what are the topics I want to cover, and then I would fill them out slowly. And in the second book, I actually wrote LinkedIn blogs and then turned that into chapters. Of course, I had to edit and expand some of those blogs, but my whole book was first on LinkedIn. And then I pulled it all together, cleaned it up, edited it, and created the book. So there's some ways you can get organized in your head first so that you really know what message it is you're trying to send. Just the simple who, what, when, where, how, why? I mean, what are you doing it for? That would be my first question. And then who are you doing it for? And going from there.

Lisa Harrington:
So I think keeping it simple because you're building it one step at a time is a little less overwhelming. If you think about, I need to write, I don't know, 50,000 words or whatever it is, that can be overwhelming. But if you Say, I'm going to do it 500 words at a time. It'll be a lot easier.

Robbie Samuels:
So a couple of things I wanted to take away from that. One is I love that you were writing the book in public. I think too many write a book in private. I talked to someone over the summer who was telling me about the book that they were almost ready to publish, and somehow she let slip that nobody knew she was writing it. And when I questioned her about that, she meant nobody knew she was writing it. And I was like, well, then how do you know you're writing to something that people need? Like, like you're about. You're literally got a manuscript and you're ready to go to the publisher. Like, so I love that you're testing ideas because you, you refine as you go.

Robbie Samuels:
You see what the feedback is. People ask you questions. Some things are going to get more buzz or comments or responses. You, you even writing it multiple different times, different ways, right? You find the right phrasing, you work out the kink. So I love the idea of testing this. Like, I did it with work with small groups and masterminds. You can run workshops in your content. You could be posting on blogs.

Robbie Samuels:
I love this idea. And also, 50,000 words is a huge book. In the context of a business book, it's probably the number that we know because it's like a novel. A novel is 50,000 words. So I want to just reposition this as 30,000 words for your business. Book is probably what you need. Never write more than you need to to tell your story and share your point. Do not feel the need to fluff your book.

Robbie Samuels:
Yeah, so it's just so really interesting because I have one book that's 27,000, one is 32,000. And then my last book was 64,000, but it's a manual on how to use zoom, and it just required. I thought I was writing a book half that size, and then I kept having more to write and more to write, but it wasn't meant to be like read cover to cover. So, yeah, I think a lot of people feel really overwhelmed. So I love that you're breaking down that process. And Sandra, what advice would you want to share?

Helene Cahen:
Well, I just would love to expand. I love what Lisa said about writing it on LinkedIn. And I did one of my earlier books the same, similar. And what I want to add is not only is it gets you out there, but you get to listen to the comments and there might be a different angle or where you might take something because it's out there. So I loved what she said, actually.

Lisa Harrington:
Thank you.

Robbie Samuels:
And what else would you want to add?

Helene Cahen:
You know, as far I would say chunking things down like one of the. It's a big thing to have hanging over you. And so for me, I tried. I'm a morning person, so I would try to do a certain set of my amount of writing and I have a goal every morning because I can't do it in the afternoon. I just, I just need to like block everything out and focus. So that's kind of what I, what.

Robbie Samuels:
I did, you know. And for those who you like me, who are not morning people, I wrote all of my books between 9:00pm and 1:00 in the morning. Which, you know, if, if Sandra and I were trying to meet up to do writing, it would never happen.

Helene Cahen:
No, no way.

Robbie Samuels:
But you know, know what works for you. But I did it for a similar reason. I wanted the like notifications to stop happening. Right. I wanted to be able to just focus and not have anything coming at me in my email or my social media or any. No distractions. And it happens that I'm a night owl. So I think for a while I felt like I couldn't run a business unless I got up early in the morning and got started.

Robbie Samuels:
And like you started to feel bad about that and it's like, no, just, just know your rhythm. Like find a rhythm and be really clear. I'm going to get this X thing done. Whether it's pages, word count, time, whatever your metric is, but being steadily and consistent and chunking that down. You all are such a fantastic group of panelists because of your shared experiences and your willingness to give us a glimpse into the author journey. Let's go over to Nikki. Nikki, how can people find you and follow your work?

Nikki Soulsby:
Yeah, well, I told you already, I am at Nikki Soulsby author basically everywhere. But if you actually want to communicate with me, I'm on LinkedIn, my website or Instagram. If you go to Facebook, just forget it. I'm not checking, I'm just not doing it.

Robbie Samuels:
We'll put all those links in the show [email protected] Lisa, how about you? What are the ways people can find you and follow your work?

Lisa Harrington:
Well, I've got a Facebook page for taking in strays. I've got one providing strategy. I've got websites for every book name, every book takes title and it all goes to the same place and there's a contact us form. So I'm also You can search me on Amazon at Lisa H. Harrington and you can find me there. So, like Nikki, I've just kind of put it out everywhere, but I did it by the business name abiding Strategy, the business book name abiding Strategies, the taking in strays book. So it's all, it's everywhere. Any way you can find me, I'm out there.

Robbie Samuels:
Fantastic. And Sandra, what about you?

Helene Cahen:
Two ways. Number one is LinkedIn and the other one is Amazon. If you just put LinkedIn in Amazon, my books will come up.

Robbie Samuels:
Yeah. And also Sandra is a founding hub partner for the Biz Book Publishing hub. So if you go to bizbookpublishinghub.com, you'll see all the links from today's episode in the show Notes, but you'll also be able to check out all the services that Sandra offers authors, supporting them and getting their marketing done on LinkedIn. So kind of a LinkedIn for authors, kind of a way to support you and not just having your book written, but making sure it gets out into the world. On that same page, bizbookpublishinghub.com, you'll see an invitation to attend a free virtual networking event for writers and authors, information about a Kindle cross promotion campaign, and all these other experts who are ready to help entrepreneurs become successful authors. Panelists, thank you so much for joining us. It's been a real pleasure.

Lisa Harrington:
Thank you.

Helene Cahen:
Thank you.