Self Publishing Interview with Jonny Andrews

About this video

Dale interviews Jonny Andrews of Author Platform Rocket, a done-for-you email list-building and marketing service for authors. Andrews recounts building upwards of 250 internet-marketing sites starting in 2004, moving into self-publishing around 2006, and at one point hiring someone who published over 300 books that earned very little — he recalls a best month of about three dollars, presented as his own claim. His personal-finance book on living debt-free later became a featured book on Amazon and gathered 450 reviews within a couple of months, by his account. He built the paranormal romance hub I Love Vampire Novels, and Author Platform Rocket grew from author giveaways: he says by the end of 2016 they were running 1,500 to 2,000 Facebook ads a day, which forced the service to become software, and that he has worked with over 16,000 authors. He argues authors miss a $10,000-per-month level mainly because they do not publish enough, lack a daily writing ritual, have no email list, and treat marketing as magic instead of testing. He recommends about four books a year as a sustainable pace, split-testing with tools such as Leadpages, and judging non-launch ads on a seven-day ROI rather than shutting them off early, citing a floor of about 3 percent click-through rate and aiming for at least $2 back per $1 spent. In one testing example, subscriber cost fell from $12 each to 35 cents. For launches, he says email provides the initial fuel, supported by book discovery sites or a syndicate of author friends and then paid ads to sustain buoyancy. He also stresses writing for one specific audience rather than ’everyone,’ using a nonfiction client who had written 100 pages serving two opposed audiences as an example.

Key takeaways

• Write daily and publish steadily — Andrews suggests about four books a year as sustainable and says a daily writing ritual and a growing email list are prerequisites for reaching higher monthly earnings.
• Market to one specific audience, not everyone: a book trying to serve two opposed readers has no direct message, so define who it is for, how you serve them, and the book’s purpose first.
• Judge backlist ads on a seven-day ROI and let them cook instead of turning them off after a day or two; Andrews cites a 3 percent click-through-rate floor and a target of at least $2 earned per $1 spent.
• Marketing is testing, not magic: in his example, dozens of ads, multiple audience pools and 16 tested pages cut subscriber cost from $12 each to 35 cents.
• Launch with email as the fuel — your list, book discovery sites or an author syndicate hitting within about 24 hours — then use Facebook and AMS ads to hold the book’s position after the initial spike fades.

Episode details: published November 28, 2017 · 44:03 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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