How do you get started on publishing books? What goes into the prep, plan + release? How does PR play a part in the process? How do you turn your book into a BESTSELLER?
Don't let the book process scare you! Tune in for today's episode with Adriana Monique Alvarez, where we chat about:
P.S. if you're struggling with your visibility + publicity, I've found a system that works! I'll show you every single step for FREE in this video training series!
How do you get started on publishing books? What goes into the prep, plan + release? How does PR play a part in the process? How do you turn your book into a BESTSELLER?
Don't let the book process scare you! Tune in for today's episode with Adriana Monique Alvarez, where we chat about:
P.S. if you're struggling with your visibility + publicity, I've found a system that works! I'll show you every single step for FREE in this video training series!
It's not just about, look at the good things I'm doing. It's answering the question, how is the world a better place? Because this business exists? Are you ready to get your brand seen worldwide, ready to learn the exact strategies that have made millionaires want to know the secret software's I use to save time, energy and keep things running and profitable with the minimal team. It's all here on my show, the visible entrepreneur, I'm your host, Michelle Lewis, founder of visibility vixen, after hitting the top of the charts in France, the UK, Australia, Canada, and Singapore, the visible entrepreneur is back for season four with some of the biggest names in the business. I'm asking them to spill detailed information about what's made them so successful, specifically, their traffic and income generators. That way you can take notes, study the strategy that will work best for you, and see success in your own lead and revenue generation. We're all about honesty here. And I'll never stop working to get you the support you need, and pushing you to give back to the planet. After all, entrepreneurs are changing the world. Welcome back to the visible entrepreneur. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the visible entrepreneurs. So I have known this gorgeous woman for many a year online. And I decided to bring her on because she has been working her buns off the past couple of months, with a lot of amazing things, and specifically with her book launches. So I think you're gonna learn a lot from her. And she is she's just always been very kind to me very open and caring and always happy to jump on a call and chat. So I really appreciate her and I'm excited to have her on the show. So welcome Adriana, how are you? Thank you so much. I'm amazing. I'm happy to be here. I'm happy you're here too. So give people a little background about who you are and what you do. Well, first and foremost, I'm a mama and a wife. And what I have really set out to do in business is to create a good life. That's really what drives me every single day and inspires me. And what I'm up to is helping women get more voices out without censorship or gatekeepers, this is the thing that I'm most passionate about. So we do that through publishing, and through certifying women to start their own publishing company. Amazing. So what gave you that because it's, it's a different mission, right, encouraging women to become their own publishers and publishing companies. So where did that come about? It really was inspired by my clients. Because what happened is, is I had been doing business consulting for years, and my clients would tell me over and over, I want to write a book, I want to publish, you know, a body of work, I want to be known for this. And I watched 1000s of them. Never do it. And so I started asking questions, you know, what, what happened? Why didn't you move forward with that, and all of them said the same thing. Publishing is so overwhelming. It's a whole nother beast, I might know business, I might know my area of expertise. But I don't have the ability to take on publishing. Also, my clients were overwhelmed by the pitching by the gatekeepers by the timeframe looking at years and years to move a project forward. And they got discouraged, and they just dropped it. I think that that's a huge pain point. I see it in my visibility lounge program with people that are releasing books, I've experienced it with some of the books that I've released. And it can feel really daunting. And in a way it can feel really discouraging because some friends of mine, you know, they have been able to just pitch and get accepted right away. And that can feel a little disheartening for those of us where that hasn't happened. So what did you start putting in place to help empower women to do it themselves. So I like to take anything that feels complex and break it down and make it simple and easy. And so I chunked it down, I started asking my clients, would you be interested in writing articles for publications because I thought if I could get them to write 500 to 1500 words, we could at least roll and I took a group sort of like a pilot group through this process we pitched and they were writing eight articles a month for publications over the course of three months. And they loved it and it built their confidence. So they figured out oh my goodness, I can do this. And then I went on to focus on multi author books. And similar thing, you're going to write one chapter 3000 words, you're going to get the wheels turning and then a lot of them they use that to launch themselves. Sort of springboard themselves into a solo book. Or maybe I call them like a 10 or 15,000 word mini book where it's just on one area of expertise that can really work as a lead magnet for them. That's a really cool idea. And I think starting out with PR is so fascinating with writing for publications. So what a great way to get people warmed up and to take down that barrier of entry, like you said, so that's cool. Okay, so they're getting familiar with the process. They're doing multi author books, and then where did you take them? Well, what naturally happens when you take people through this process, at least my clients, they always say, well, what's next? And I had this one client, who was always asking me what's next. And a year ago, I had just got to Colorado. And this was sort of stirring. And I knew there was something coming, I couldn't quite pinpoint it. And the idea came to me, hit me like a lightning bolt, certify other women to do the same thing that you've done. I created six multi author books in nine months. And so I had a system that worked well. So I did the same thing. I took eight women through a pilot program, what do you know, it worked well, and then boom, we rolled it all out. So now you not only have teaching women how to do this to become authors, but you have teaching women to do this process for other people to become authors. Really smart. And so then when it comes to helping people get themselves published, get their books released, and help them to bring people to them so that they become popular. What did you start doing in that arena? When I started working with women around their own book, what I reminded them of is that the getting published and hitting bestseller, it can feel like it's the finish line, especially if you've ever written a book, you know, when you get there, it's like, Whoa, I did it, I need a victory lap, I need a I need a nap, you know. So what I told them is yes, take your victory lap, celebrate, take a breather. But understand this is actually the first step, you're just at the starting line. So I teach my clients. If you want this book, to lead, to growing your business to selling out your programs, we have to have a whole nother plan. And I like to tell them this 12 months on the back end of a book, a book really needs a 12 month plan. I also tell them, it needs to be the springboard for getting featured, you know, why not start with your local and regional media and then you can expand it from there. It also should lead to podcast, you know, using your voice through different mediums different platforms accomplishing a similar outcome. So let's use you as an example. Because you recently had a best seller, why don't you walk the audience through what that process looked like? And what it was like, not just with the writing, but the prep the plan the release? What was that journey for you? Well, I tend to do things quickly. I also find books. If they're drawn out too long, it can get agonizing. And it's easy to lose track of why am I doing this in the first place. So for myself, what I did is I have found that writing every day when I'm in that process when I'm writing a book is really what gets me to the finish line. So for me personally, I got up between three and four every morning. And I wrote until my kids woke up. So I had a nice chunk of quiet focus time. And I did that till the book was written. The other thing that I did is I didn't do all the writing myself. I went to a handful of my top clients. And I said, Would you write about your journey, why you started your publishing house, what it's looked like for you. And I included their stories in my book. So not only did that fill out the content, but it also gave another perspective. Listen, it's not just me saying this, it's actually worked for them. So that was the beginning step to get it getting it written. Okay, and now you've gotten it written, you're ready to sit down and execute your plan. What did that look like? So I always I just have this rule of thumb, that I want to have 500 people who will buy on the day it's released, and 50 people who are willing to share it with their audience. So they're willing to send an email for me they're willing to post on their social media accounts. And so this combination gets the word out fast, because all of this is happening in a one to three day period. So it's compressed and compact. So I got those people organized and laid out. You know, the way I do collaboration and network is just reaching out to people sending a message and saying Hey, mister This is what's happening, this is what's coming up. And also identifying why it would benefit and how it would benefit their audience. So this is one of the things I think that most people miss is easy to lead with my thing, I'm releasing a book, I'd love for you to share it with your audience. But the person on the other end often feels like that. Why? So really identifying how your book benefits other people's audiences, it goes a long way and leading with that your audience would get something out of this book for x y&z reasons. And, and then making sure that there's a lot of acknowledgement and recognition, I find that you can do affiliate Commission's you can have prizes, but at the end of the day, that my audience and my collaboration partners being female, acknowledgement is really the sweet spot and the way that their heart. So put together that plan, have the communication. Make sure that everybody understands what's the mission of the book? How does it serve our audience? Why should we care? And what are the dates? What are the posts, making it as easy as possible. And then from my side, I knew that once we hit bestseller status, getting reviews was a big part of the plan. I don't like to run Amazon ads until I have at least 20 reviews. And then it's really churning once you hit 50. So I immediately asked all my favorite clients, you know, the people who love me the most, would you send me Leave me a five star review? You know, would you go in and do that today. And then the secondary phase of that was going to people who are in my group, who are leads who are considering starting their own publishing house and saying, Listen, I broke down the most important steps of how to do this in my book. And when you're finished, if you leave me a review, I will gift you a training in my 21 day sales activator. So it's that gift of exchange, you do this for me, I'll do that for you. And that's worked really well. Huh, how cool what a great strategy and what I love, I have to look it up in the message of what you sent me. But what resonated with me was that you really address like, and I have to go back just to make sure what this was. But you said something like, this is really about starting this movement, where women are able to do this for themselves, because so many have a struggle with getting their voice out there, specifically with publishing. So for me, it was very like it hit my heart just because I knew that not just from my students struggle, but myself. And so I didn't feel like I normally feel when people come into my inbox and ask for things because it did make me feel like I was going to be a part of something it did make me feel like you were coming about, especially with the press that you got, which we'll talk about in a second, in a very authentic movement driven way, which is why I shared it, I normally don't, but it really like reached me and made me go like, wow, this is exciting, right. So I think that you definitely did that and succeeded at that, which is great. So let's move in now where a lot of our authors struggle, and that's the PR side of releasing your book, you have had some pretty amazing features. So I would like for you to list them, please. And to talk about the unique hook that you came up with. It's true, which is wonderful. But a lot of people struggle with how to pitch that unique hook, specifically with the press of that they'll pay attention. Well, it's true. The number one thing that I like to start with with the press is if I cannot articulate the big picture vision of what I do, if I can't talk about the mission in the movement, most press is not going to be interested in just my short term, it's going to give me a little pat on the back and make me feel good about myself in this moment type of story. So what I would encourage people to do is if you really want to get good press features, identify what your mission in your movement is. And right alongside that, who are you an advocate for? Because when you know your mission, your movement, and you can identify the people that you're an advocate for, then you can more easily find your unique angle. So it's not just about look at the good things I'm doing. It's answering the question, how is the world a better place because this business exists. And when you can get comfortable saying the world is a better place because this business exists. And this mission is moving forward. People will respond to you in a different way. So this is what led to I'll rattle these off quickly. I just please my Oh yeah, please do So of course, Forbes, American daily post, London daily post grit, daily influence of business Deacon entrepreneur.com. And another one just came through, and I can't even remember the name of the publication. And so it's felt good for this topic, this type of industry and this movement to get so much attention. In fact, there's an article that will be out any minute. And the writer was very generous went so far as to dig up plenty of statistics and numbers, showing how there is a huge difference and discrimination with women in publishing. And so it made sense to them why we're creating another path. And I would love to read the headline here that's on Forbes, which is Adriana Monique Alvarez, helping women reshape the future of book publishing. So you can see that that's really an enticing hook. And I really appreciated that. And I thought it was really interesting how they broke it down, because I missed I don't think that you wrote this right, Adriana, someone else did, yeah, someone else did. And so she said, she's not in the habit of waiting for permission to seize an idea and develop it, she identified this problem with her clients. And so it was really a transformative story. And for me, especially reading the stats here, and changing the status quo, it was a really great article. And so for me, it wasn't like anything else I'd read from books that had been published, which is just like you said, it's kind of like a fluff piece, there was a mission behind it. And that really made me excited going, like, Oh, my gosh, look at this unique spin, like what she's able to pull out and get women excited about this revolution. So I think he did a great job. Thank you so much. Absolutely. So talk to me now about your main transitioning now into more business strategy. What is your main traffic generator right now and your main revenue generator. traffic generator is is social media. I mean, there, we're actually in a bit of a transition right now. So for lack of a better term, my husband and I usually refer to the social media strategy as me twirling online. So me sharing stories, interacting with other people's content, creating events. You know, like recently, I did a masterclass on how you make your story really magical and impactful. I did another training on the five most important stories you tell in your business that help people figure out what is my mission and my movement? What's the bigger? Why. But right now, we're transitioning to an entire Facebook ad campaign. Really, less and less things are landing on my plate and more of Okay, cast the vision. There's three funnels being built right now based on really good freebies, that address some of the challenges that my ideal client faces on a regular basis, as well as a messenger strategy. So one of the things that I teach and one of the biggest struggles that I've found that happens for myself and my clients is, is when you're in a lot of connections and conversations. In Facebook, for example. It's not a system that's easy to follow up or to find messages. I know, I've scrolled forever saying, I know I messaged this lady about something, you know, was like, exactly spell it. It's not spelling it right? Or to her first name is very common, and I can't remember her last name. Yes. So I actually stumbled upon a really cool bit of software that actually takes all the Facebook Messenger and puts it in a an amazing, I call it magical. platform where follow up is just integrated. Whoo. Yeah. So that and the beauty of it is, you can very much train one or two or three other people to do it for you. So you're not spending your life on social media. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Okay, so that's working on the traffic. And then right now, what is your main income generator, we have two main income generators. Number one is our certification program where women learn how to start their own publishing company. It's a nine month thing. And then our USA Today best selling book that younger self letters, this is a series so we're filling the second book now. And next year, we're actually aiming to produce four of those in the year and the calendar year. So those are the two ways that income comes in for us continuously. If you could go back in time, I'd say even five years to yourself and say, Hey, do this. This will be simpler. What would you say to yourself? Oh my goodness, the number one thing is give people what they already know they want. So it's easy in business. And the first step most of us take is to solve a problem. And solving problems does lead to to a good business, it does lead to revenue. However, I have found that if you move into that make people's dreams come true. arena, it's a completely different game. Interesting, can you elaborate on that a little bit. So I spent years giving people what I could see they needed, Oh, you've got gaps here in your business, you have holes, let's bring this in, this is a good solution. This is a good idea. And if people don't already dream of that, they don't already want that with everything that's running inside of them. It's not the most exciting, sexy way to go. And it's easy for them to prioritize their income in a way that doesn't include that. So what I have found is if I'm making people's dreams come true. For example, on my screensaver, five years ago, I had become an international best selling author. I already knew I wanted that. So when someone approached me, not only did I say yes, quickly, I was willing to pay any amount of money to make that dream come true. That's a big difference. So I say if you can identify who you would love to work with, because more people you know, some people are more fun to work with than others. And if you could figure out what they dream of, but they haven't figured out how to fulfill, they can't make it happen on their own. And you come alongside and say, Hey, I can show you how to make this happen. You're golden. And I should say a part two. So we'll say that a and then B is right off the bat, I would market to those I did this offline. And when I came online, I didn't remember this or the swirl of online, it's sort of got in my head is to only market to people who make over 100,000. That's my initial thing. Now I'm at the place where I'm only marketing to those who make over 250. You can market to anyone you want, you might as well decide that you can market to those who have the most disposable income to take you up on your surfaces. Mm hmm. Beautiful. Yeah, don't we all wish we could go back in time and say, Hey, just do this, like Stop messing around focus on this, right? And it's usually focusing on just one or two things. I find that to be so funny. So for people who are really excited, they have plans for their first book, maybe they've started writing it, and they're just now in that stage of fear, you know, their guts dropping a little bit because they're just really in the realm of the unknown? What would your advice be for their next step? You know, I highly recommend working with an indie publisher, someone like, you know, that I certified because the thing of it is, is authors really, most of the time authors are overachievers, okay. Most people aren't going to sit down and write a book. That's just the truth. So if you're an author and an entrepreneur, you're in the top percentile of your peers. But what I would say is, the biggest temptation when you're an overachiever is to take everything on yourself. So bring in some support, don't be the person who's handling the bestseller campaign, don't be the person who's handling the hiring of whoever is going to format your book, and all of these moving parts that aren't your area of expertise, and will actually take you away from the money making activities that you need to put your attention on in your business. So I would say make sure you bring in a team to handle all of those details that will just bog you down and drain you. Yeah, I think one of the worst parts just for me and my personality, is formatting a book. No, like, I'm not gonna do it. It's just not gonna happen. No one should format their own book. I will just say that. I mean, we have, you know, we have teams within our certification program. So that like our our graduates don't even do all of these things for their own books that they produce. And there are people who format books and even they run into hiccups and you know, where we're like fixing things last minute. Oh, yeah. Formatting a book is like my worst nightmare. Yeah, literally, like it haunts my dreams. Like, I just can't do it. I'll do anything else. Like, I'd scrubbed like a mansion full of toilets before I format and it's not because it's a thing. terrible job, it's because it is not my zone of genius. And I, I would say that it's probably less than 5% of the entrepreneurs out there zone of genius. So if that's where your sticking point is, you know, and the next thing I'm going to do is have Adriana just plug all of her stuff so that you can connect with her, figure out a place where you can outsource that, if possible. I think if you can outsource the publishing, and possibly even part of the campaign release, I think that's a great idea. Because it's very overwhelming, it takes a lot of work. And you're going to be working a lot anyway, being the front end of it in terms of social media and promotion, and all that kind of stuff. At the very least See if you can get a couple of hands in there to help you with the email newsletters and possibly the ad campaigns and the affiliate stuff and all that as much as you can just so that you have a little bit of breathing room and sanity. Wouldn't you agree? Absolutely. And the thing that we forget is when your book comes out, you want to be happy, you want to be excited, you want to be able to celebrate that and actually be on cloud nine. And if you're handling too many moving parts, I've talked to plenty of people, they hated their launch, they couldn't respond to people who were excited with them and celebrating with them. Because they were just bogged down with the details. And I do this for myself, like I'm getting ready to to do a summit. Well start the process of it, and I'm hiring everything out that I possibly can because I find doing that I can tell you, it will not translate well. When I show my face on video, you will be able to see that I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. Yeah, and I think that's why it's important. Like you were saying to give yourself a long runway, give yourself time, because then you have more time to check off those boxes and get as much pre scheduled and pre delegated as you can. So the thing you're just showing up in the moment you actually have like, you know, and I smile on your face and you're not rocking back and forth like covering your blanket in the corner because you just finished writing the book and you're energetically exhausted. It's true. Think of a woman who's recently given birth and how much support she needs. That's what you need as an author. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so how can people connect with you? Well, I would love for people to check out my website. It's this full big name of mine, Adriana Monique Alvarez calm, and it can pick up a copy of my book, but also I have some great freebies. Number one is how to get clients how to, you know, how do you attract the best clients online. This was something that I dedicated myself to because the transition from offline to online was a bumpy one. So I've got a great freebie there. Also how to turn your story into something magical and impactful is there. If you are interested in how to start your own publishing house, I have a great 37 minute masterclass. And by the end of that you'll either know, oh my God, why have I not done this before? Or this isn't for me. So there's lots of wonderful goodies on my website. Plus, I'm happy to connect on social media all the time. Awesome. And that leads know what I was gonna say, which is if you are an aspiring author, if you would love to learn how to be a publisher, if this episode resonated with you, Would you do me a favor, take a screenshot on your phone, tag both of us on Instagram stories, shout us out, let us know. As someone who has both hosted a podcast and been on tons of podcasts, I can tell you the feeling that you get from having extended that energy when you bring up Instagram or Facebook or LinkedIn or whatever it is. And you see that someone took the time to say, hey, this really resonated with me because it is such an uplifting thing to our hearts. So if that's you today, feel free to take that screenshot and tag us We would love to see your progress below. Adriana, I appreciate you I'm so happy that you came on today. Thank you for being transparent, and walking us through parts of the process. I hope that our listeners today are able to connect with you and get started on their own journey. And hopefully we'll see a lot more authors coming out of this episode when that'd be exciting. Absolutely. Cheers to that. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, darling. I'll see you all next week. Have a great productive week, get out there and get visible. I hope you love this episode as much as I did. Now, we're all about building a tribe here as the visible entrepreneur, so be sure to subscribe, leave a five star review and then head on over to the Facebook group. It's a great place where you can practice your video, live stream and really enjoy the community that we have built. In the meantime, I'll see you in the next episode. Now get out there and get more visible.