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The 3 Easiest Way For Nonfiction Authors To Consistently Create A Ton Of Content

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Get the exact process I use to write new books each month that generate passive income and grow my business 👉 https://amzn.to/32q2qO8

Creating content allows you to better serve your audience and reach potential customers. That’s no secret.

We know the benefit of creating content and distributing it to our community. However, it’s not always easy to remain consistent. For many creatives, time is the big issue. You only have so much time to create AND MARKET your content.

If you’re creating but not marketing, then what’s the actual point? I don’t want to be the guy who creates great content that never sees a soul.

For all of the nonfiction authors out there, you also don’t want to be the person who cranks out so much free content but can’t find the time to write and market your books.

The biggest block that holds content creators back is creating content without any purpose behind it. And no, serving your audience or being consistent are not viable reasons here.

I’ll put it this way.

I didn’t decide to write a blog post on this topic because I pulled this topic out of a hat. There’s a very intentional reason for me writing a blog post for nonfiction authors which I’ll get into shortly (no $997 course upsell here, but I’d be mighty happy if you grab your copy of The Wealthy Author and left a review).

Anyway, I’ll cover the three reasons here. By the time you read this entire blog post, you’ll know exactly why I decided to write this one.

 

#1: Hold A 1-2 Hour Workshop

If you can muster more than two hours, then more power to you. However, a one hour workshop gets the job done.

The workshop can either be a webinar or an in-person event. The webinar is definitely easier to organize from a logistics standpoint. Sit in your house and anyone from the world can join your webinar.

The in-person event is more of a hassle since you have to get local attendees and find a local venue, but you can make more money with in-person events AND learn more about your audience than with a webinar.

For the in-person option, it honestly doesn’t have to cost you anything. Reach out to local libraries, restaurants, and co-working spaces. For the majority of these venues, the price point will be somewhere between inexpensive and free. All three of these venue owners want more people in their buildings.

Libraries frequently hold events for authors.

If you can get customers inside of the restaurant during their off hours, they’re game.

If you can get side hustlers and business owners inside of a co-working space (potential customers), the co-working spaces see the need for you to hold a workshop at their place.

Regardless of how you decide to conduct your workshop, the important thing is to record yourself on video. That way, you’ve got a 1-2 hour video.

The cool part is that you can take that 1-2 hour video and turn it into a bunch of smaller videos.

I don’t think it’s farfetched for anyone to do a 1 hour workshop and end up with at least 10 short videos that are ready to be deployed on YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook.

Imagine if you did a webinar each month and got at least 10 videos from each of those webinars. For most people, that’s almost an entire quarter of YouTube videos done. All of that in just 1-2 hours with some editing to create those separate videos later on.

 

#2: Get More Intentional With Your Free Content

In this picture, there are two book covers. Guess what the books have in common…

“They’re by my favorite authors?” Yes. Fun fact: I own a pair of the Gary Vee sneakers

“These books have valuable content in them?” Yes. You’re getting warmer.

“They’re successful books?” Yes. That’s also true.

“The both have a lot of paper and black ink?” Yes. That’s also true, but now we’re getting silly

Okay, so there are a lot of things that these two books have in common.

But these two books aren’t like every book you’ll read.

Why?

These books are based off of the free content that the authors have posted online in the past.

You can find at least 90% of the from either of those books if you look in the right places.

Here’s the caveat…who is actually going to do that.

Gary Vee and Seth Godin come out with new content every day. Do you really want to go through thousands of blog posts, videos, podcast episodes, and other fun stuff to find all of the content from each of those books?

Or, if you really wanted to, would you just buy the books instead and save time?

Which brings us to this blog post.

Someday, I will shamelessly place this entire blog post, virtually word for word, in one of my future books.

There are a few reasons the placement will be shameless:

  1. Some readers will first learn about me through my book. This blog post would be new content for them
  2. Some visitors reading this blog post now might forget about it in two weeks. Placing it in the book would reinforce the tactics we’ve covered
  3. It’s a valuable piece of content. I’m not a fan of working so hard on something only to put it on the shelf after its initial promotion
  4. I have two choices for this content. I either include it in the next book and you can’t read it for several months until I release the book (that also implies you buy the book). OR, I release the content, provide you with consistent free value, build my tribe in advance, and then get to put it in my book later on.

This blog post is rapidly approaching 1,000 words. That’s 5% of the content for a 20,000 word book (I usually aim for between 20k-25k words per book).

Just by being a little more intentional, I now get to write blog posts and books at the same time.

 

#3: Quote Yourself

“Some really awesome quote.” — Me

So far, we’ve covered video and blogging. We’ve also indirectly covered podcasting because you can just turn your videos into MP3 files. And just like that, you’ve got a podcast too.

But there’s one form of content we haven’t covered yet.

And that’s pictures.

Sure, you might have a stash of great pictures on your smartphone that you can share with your tribe.

But a steady stream of quote pictures helps establish you as an expert in your niche.

Whenever I share a new podcast episode on Instagram, I always do it as a quote from the episode. Here’s what I’m talking about…

It took me less than five minutes to create that picture in Canva. I have an entire template in there so all I have to do is change the text and episode number.

While this method allows me to provide three great Instagram pictures to my audience each week, it’s not enough for my content schedule.

The ideal target for me is multiple Instagram pictures per day.

Two ways I’m doing this are quoting my content (think blog posts, videos, and podcasts, books, and training courses) and posting thought provoking tweets and turning them into branded Instagram posts.

Here’s what I usually do for the thought provoking tweets…

 

Pictures like these are super easy to create in Canva. And in one picture, I provide value while subtly promoting my Twitter, Breakthrough Success, and the Grow Your Influence Book Series.

You can do this with the content you already have up. Tweet a quote from it and turn that tweet into pictures for Instagram, Instagram Stories, and/or Pinterest.

 

In Conclusion

The big idea behind content creation is to provide your existing audience with value and reach more people.

However, if we spend too much time creating free content, we don’t have enough time to create products or promote ourselves.

Getting more intentional with your content and repurposing often will open up a lot more time and likely boost your income.

What are your thoughts on content creation? Do you have any tactics to share or a question for me? Sound off in the comments below.

How To Build A Book Launch Team

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The difference between a book and a bestselling book solely lies in the marketing. You can write a great book, but if you don’t promote that book, you won’t reach readers. Authors have a variety of ways to promote their books.

You can share your book on social media, tell everyone on your email list, and even run a free promotion for your book if you are a new author with a small audience.

But in my experience and based on what I’ve seen, the most powerful way to get book sales is to build a book launch team. A book launch team consists of your early readers and people who will eagerly promote your book when it comes out.

 

Getting People On Your Book Launch Team

The more qualified people you can get on your book launch team, the better. If you have a book idea, start building relationships now. I knew many of the people on the book launch team for Content Marketing Secrets before I told them about the book launch team.

If you want to start the relationship by telling someone about your book, give them some incentives for becoming a part of your book launch team. Briefly explain what you have accomplished and share some credentials. Talk about what you aim to do with your book. Finally, and this is a big one, offer exclusive gifts (private content, early copy of the book, consult etc.) to that person if he/she joins your book launch team.

It’s easier to get the yes from people you already know. If you intend on reaching out to people you don’t know, plan to send many emails to increase the likelihood of getting at least 20 team members for your book launch.

 

Communication

Once you get people on your book launch team, you need to communicate with them. The first way you communicate with your book launch team is through a custom email list. In the first email, provide an update on your book that includes a link to a Book Launch Facebook Group.

The two most popular places on our computers are Facebook and our inboxes. Your messages to your book launch team members needs to find its way on both of those platforms.

When you communicate to members in your Facebook Group and your email list, focus on fulfilling some of your promises from earlier, updating people about your book, and making requests.

The small requests are important because they reinforce your members’ commitment towards your book. If you only ask for help during the book’s publication date, you’re leaving a lot on the table.

Here are some of the requests you should ask your team members to perform leading up to your book launch and during the book launch:

  • Share the link on social media
  • Share pics of your book on social media when they receive their copy
  • Tell their email lists about the book
  • Leave a review
  • Tell their friends
  • Create a video, blog post, or podcast episode based on the book. As a side note for podcast episodes, take a bunch of interviews leading up to your book’s publication date. Make this well-known in the group that you’ll available for podcast interviews.

Getting your book launch team members to perform small request like sharing on social media will make them more likely to perform bigger requests like leaving reviews for your book on the day you publish it.

The last thing I want to mention is that you celebrate your book’s success together. Don’t view the book as your victory. View it as the shared victory between you and everyone on your book launch team. When you publish your book and reach readers, thank everyone for their help.

Thanking your book launch team members will make them feel acknowledged. Some of them will get inspired to take even more action during the promotion and even after the promotion.

When I was on Daymond John’s book launch team, one of the requests was for book launch team members to put a new avatar on social media in which they were holding a copy of his book. I have kept that profile picture on my Twitter account months after the promotion ended.

I continue talking about his book in my videos, podcast episodes, and blog. I continue recommending his book on others shows.

That’s what happens when you treat your members right and share the victory with them. I got to meet Daymond at an event and talked with him on the phone for about two minutes (another story for another time. It was awesome!).

Go above and beyond for the people on your book launch team, and they will go above and beyond for you.

 

In Conclusion

A book launch team is essential for the success of any book. Almost all bestselling books are built around book launch teams. Even if this is the first book you’re publishing, build a small book launch team for it. You can scale up your book launch team for future books.

You can also get people from your first book launch team to help you with your second book launch. I was also a part of Daymond John’s Power Of Broke book launch. I enjoyed my experience promoting that book, and when I heard about his book Rise And Grind, I knew I couldn’t miss it.

What are your thoughts on creating a book launch team? Do you plan on building one for your next book? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.

The 5 Books I Read Every Day

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I read a lot of books. I have easily spent over $1,000 on books, and the only reason it’s that low is because I know where to get them cheap ($4 per book if it’s not on Audible or Kindle Unlimited).

Contrary to what people may think, I prefer a paperback over an electronic version. The paper versions feel like they have a better impact. Reading through an electronic version just feels too quick and easy in my opinion.

Lately, I’ve been re-reading the same books over and over again. It’s not that there’s a lack of great content available. In fact, there are plenty of choices.

To create this epic list of five books, I had to say no to some books written by people I’ve come to admire. It was really hard, and I never thought I’d even have a list of five books I’d read every day.

It literally meant rejecting hundreds of other choices. But these five are hear to stay. I’ll read each book for two minutes in the morning. That’s a total of 10 minutes and still gives me plenty of time to do other things and read other books.

I don’t read them from Page 1 to the last page. I’ll skip around and head over to the chapter or story I need to hear in that moment. Without any further adieu, I will share the five books I chose and why I chose them.

 

Rise And Grind by Daymond John

I was an Ambassador for Daymond John’s earlier book Power Of Broke. I was a VIP Ambassador for this book, and when I read the advanced copy, I was blown away.

Daymond went deep when he discussed his work ethic and schedule. He also went deep into many experts’ schedules and mindsets (i.e. Gary Vaynerchuk and Grant Cardone).

For my limited number of books I read, it’s great to jump into the mindsets of people like Gary and Grant. But even beyond the self-imposed limitation, the stories and insights from Rise And Grind are amazing!

This isn’t a book filled with tactics. It’s filled with stories, mindsets, and work ethics. Every time I read this book when I was reading for the first time, my work ethic got a little better each time. That’s why Rise And Grind made it on my list of books I read every day.

 

The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

Darren Hardy’s book shares a simple idea. Taking the small actions now will have exponential effects over the long-term. This is a book that leaves you fired up when you finish it.

When I took the time to re-read what I underlined, I knew I couldn’t let that fire dimmer. That’s why I decided to add this book to my list. It’s a constant reminder that all of the effort you put in adds up in a big way.

However, The Compound Effect also discusses the other side of the coin. The bad habits you adopt now will have an exponentially negative impact on your life later on.

This book doesn’t just teach you that it’s very rewarding to take the right actions, but it’s also very punishing to not take action or take actions that lead you in the wrong direction.

 

Sports Leaders & Success by Investor’s Business Daily

This is the greatest book you’ve never heard of. While doing research, it took me 10 minutes just to find this book on Amazon (no, I didn’t forget the title). The book has only eight reviews on Amazon and was written over a decade ago.

I promise this book is good, but I’m very lucky I found it. In fact, I stumbled on it by accident. I bought a bulk order of books and this book happened to be one of those books. I put it off for a while, but when I started reading this book, I was amazed.

Think of it this way. During the Olympics, you’ll hear about inspirational backstories and see the world’s greatest athletes compete for their countries. However, you only get that Olympics feeling once every two years assuming you watch the Winter and Summer Classics (personally, I like the Summer Olympics better and spend much more time watching that one).

Sports Leaders & Success is like watching your preferred version of the Olympics in every page you read. You’ll learn the work ethics of the greatest athletes ever, how they responded to pressure situations, and the effort they put in.

The best part is that, no exaggeration in my case, all of the athlete stories were phenomenal. Even though I don’t follow hockey or tennis, I read about some of the top athletes in those sports and enjoyed learning how they made it to the top.

 

Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker

 

You can’t go wrong with a book about developing a millionaire mind…especially when that book is written by T. Harv Eker. This book really gets deep at what it means to have that mindset and how you can acquire it.

While books are powerful in the moment, I normally don’t feel the same mindset shifts a month later. That’s why I’m making this book a constant in my life. I don’t want the millionaire mindset to be a one-off that only impacts my life for a month. I want it to be constant.

 

Quantum Success by Sandra Anne Taylor

I’ll be honest. When I read books about success and faith, they usually have too much of the success part or too much on the faith. Both are important to have in excess, but I prefer a blend in these types of books. No book I read has the perfect blend in the same way Quantum Success has.

It’s packed with valuable nuggets of wisdom that you won’t find in most books. This book talks about entirely different topics and insights as a whole. This book helps you grow what’s important and not get too attached to a specific outcome or path.

 

 

In Conclusion

My daily routine is reading these books a little after 4 am every day. That way, my mindset is wired. I can also give my physical body a nice rest while I read the pages. Lying in bed gives my body a chance to catch up to my mind.

Each of these books are special in their own way. I rejected books written by some of my favorite authors to come up with this list. Note: I had to reject some books because my mind is a little fuzzy at 4 am and can’t grasp incredibly deep topics, but that doesn’t undermine these books in any way.

It’s literally just two minutes on each book. Sometimes a little more, but not much more. I’ll read one story, one section, or even an entire chapter (granted, a small chapter under 10 pages) if I so choose.

After I read part of a book, I close it and force myself to remember what I just recalled (Note: not learned since I’ve already read all of these books). These books keep me in the right frame of mind.

I think we can all understand that watching too much TV is bad for your mindset as it puts you in a passive state. To flip that, reading a few books that had a strong, positive affect on your mindset will give you the mindset you need to make great things happen.

That’s the mindset I have every day by 4:20 am.

What were your thoughts on these five books? Do you have any favorite books? Do you have any questions for me? Sound off in the comments section below.

Case Study: How To Read 30 Books In 30 Days

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readAfter my first year of college, I decided to do something different over the summer—read a lot of books.

I used a portion of my Monthly Performance Reports to put my reading lists on full display. While I normally read 5-10 books in a given month, the summer days allowed that reading list to morph into 30 books every month.

I didn’t take time off from my business during this time. In fact, I dramatically increased the amount of books I read while preparing to lead a Content Marketing Success Summit, one of the biggest projects of my life up to that point.

In this blog post, I’ll share my story so you can reap the benefits of reading 30 books every month without feeling overwhelmed by work, your personal life, or anything else.

#1: Have The Books On Hand

Before I began my 30-book per month reading journey, I knew I needed to have all of the books readily accessible. So, to put it bluntly, I went on a bargain buying spree.

I knew that by the time I finished reading any given book it would be filled with notes and underlines, so I didn’t mind buying used books (as long as they didn’t have any underlining or highlighting included).

My adventure began on eBay where some people are desperate to part ways with their books. Because the bulk lots included anywhere from 10-20 books per order, I bought books at a rate from $1 to $4 per book depending on who was selling them.

And all of these books were LEGIT, not aged books that are no longer relevant. In fact, I published several books before social media taught me the marketing tactics that work today (often overlooked in the new age of digital marketing).

If you prefer to read books on a device, you’re all set. You can buy all of your books in a few clicks. I prefer reading paperback editions, which is why I decided to purchase books in bulk on eBay.

Buy in bulk

The only problem with book lots is that you don’t get to choose the books on offer; I have multiple copies of the same books because they were a part of a bulk order.

But eventually I learned about Thrift Books, which help you avoid that problem as well as enjoy a wider range of choices and ridiculous bargains.

You may think it’s not worth going through the trouble to find book bargains, but if you want to read 30 books per month, that’s 360 books every year.

In a worst case scenario, saving an average of $10 per book (very possible with book lots and Thrift Books) results in a savings of $3,600 every year!

Don’t Read Word-For-Word

Once you have assembled all of your books, it’s time to read them. But don’t read them in the traditional word-for-word style. Sure, you’ll absorb all of the material if you do, but it will take a longer period of time before you move onto the next book.

When I read books, I skim through them for the most pertinent information. If there’s a section that explains how to create a Twitter account, for example, I skip it because I already have a Twitter account. There’s no need to waste time reading things that you already know.

Similarly, when I buy a productivity book I skip through familiar tips like setting deadlines, 3-Year Plans, and how to set SMART goals. Unless the author shares these common tactics with a very different flavor, I skip to the next part of the book.

Skip Entire Chapters

Not only should you skip over things you already know, you should also get into the habit of skipping portions, or even chapters, of books containing information you don’t want to learn. For instance, I don’t want to learn much about Vine because Vine is a dead social network.

And yet, many of these books have entire chapters dedicated to Vine. Some books are dedicated entirely to the social network. Just remember that information that was once relevant may be outdated today.

You can also skip chapters outlining tasks you don’t want to perform. For instance, I’ll skip a chapter in a podcasting book about editing episodes because I already have a trustworthy freelancer who edits my podcast episodes.

Skipping that chapter allows me to move to the next chapter sooner and, ultimately, to a new book.

Write In Your Book

For a long time I resisted writing in my books, especially signed copies. While I rarely write in books, I often underline with a pencil.

Underlining important points in each of your books makes the re-reading process easier. After all, you have a plan to re-read the best books, right?

At the beginning of each month, I go through my favorite books from the previous month. I skim through what I underlined, and brainstorm ideas. I commit a few hours of one day to this task.

Underlining important text makes this process much faster as I can literally skip hundreds of pages of content. I only focus on what I’d underlined previously because my past self regarded only those points as important.

A Technicality On Book Length

One thing to remember when reading 30 books in 30 days is that book length matters. It’s much easier to read 30 books that average 200 pages than to read 30 books that average 600 pages.

When dozens of books are delivered to me in one day, I start by reading the shorter books first. It’s likely a good thing that I read Tools Of Titans before I began taking my reading goal seriously.

I like reading the shorter books first because finishing a shorter book gives me the dopamine rush to start reading (and finishing) another book.

Get a string of small wins, and it won’t be long before you can read the occasional 400-600 page book with ease.

It It’s Not Scheduled, It Won’t Happen

If you want reading to become a habit, you must schedule it into your day. I schedule at least one hour of reading time every day.

You should also choose one day a week to dedicate entirely to reading books, no professional work. I designate Fridays as my reading days. And even though I spend several hours reading books on Fridays, it doesn’t feel rigorous. Why? Because Fridays feel like a day off from work.

It’s important to find what works for you, but don’t forget that if it’s not scheduled, it won’t happen.

Turn Your TV And Surfing Time Into Reading Time

Professional work can take up hours of your day, but so can TV and internet surfing. You need to eliminate digital surfing from your life because you’re simply watching life happen instead of making life happen. Spectators watch, superstars perform.

The average American watches 32 hours of television every week. If we all switched from digital surfing to reading self-development books, the world would truly be a better place.

The next time you want to watch a marathon, the last episode of a series, or reruns, crack open a book instead. Repeat the process with other bad habits, and with greater intensity, and you’ll have no problem reading 30 books in 30 days.

In Conclusion

Reading 30 books every 30 days will dramatically expand your knowledge and open the door to a variety of possibilities. Reading all of these books requires a mindset shift and the elimination of bad habits. And, of course, the 30+ books you’ll need on hand before you get started.

What are your thoughts on reading 30 books every day? Have any good book recommendations for us? Please share how you plan to implement this habit into your own life. Sound off in the comments section below.

How To Optimize The Back-End Of Your Book

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books

When most people think about a book as an asset, they think of sales, authority, and connections. If you don’t think of your book as a gigantic sales letter, then you are leaving a lot of revenue on the table.

Let me explain.

A reader who completes your entire book is a very warm lead for other products and services that you offer. It would be a shame to not provide several calls-to-action at the back-end of your book.

It’s acceptable to provide CTAs at the back of your book because they are optional and don’t add to the main content within your book. People will only decide to learn more about your offers at the back-end if they are interested and really enjoyed the book.

What Could You Offer At The Back-End?

Before we proceed, it’s very important to decipher what a back-end is NOT. A back-end offer isn’t your landing page where you ask for an email address.

You can provide a link to your landing page at the beginning of your book to capitalize on Amazon’s book previewer option.

This option will result in more customers, but more importantly, non-customers (which you can convert later) to subscribe to your email list.

Here are a few products/services that would make a great addition to the back-end of your book.

  • Coaching: You’ve shared a lot of great advice in your book, but some of your readers need a nudge in order to take action. That’s what you’ll offer with coaching.
  • Training Course: A frequently updated, more detailed analysis of the ideas in your book and the ability for readers to ask you questions.
  • Mastermind: You can gather a few readers together who help and keep each other accountable with your occasional input. Masterminds result in less revenue than coaching but you can mastermind several people at once, while coaching involves a 1-to-1 relationship.
  • Done-For-You Service: Your reader loves the value you provided but would prefer that you do all of the work. This is where a done-for-you service comes in. When you start out, you’ll have to do the work on your own, but as you grow, you’ll hire more freelancers to do most of the work for you. Charging a premium will ensure that you continue to make profits and accept clients even with increasing freelancer costs.
  • Your Other Books: As your readers just finished reading your book, chances are they’ll be interested in more of your books. This will generate the least revenue but also be the easiest source of revenue. Including the same back-end offers in these books will make your readers more aware of them and turn them into customers. This is more of a long-term strategy for acquiring high paying customers

Provide Memorable Links

If a reader is interested in one of your back-end offers but doesn’t remember how to access it, you’ll lose out on a potentially lucrative sale. It’s true that a reader can simply go back to the book, but since most readers never get past the first chapter, imagine how few readers decide to crack open the book a second time.

This is why you should make the links as memorable as possible. For instance, you can use yoursite.com/mastermind to lead people to the mastermind offer. This is an easy URL to remember compared to yoursite.com/2017-book-mastermind-for-success. There’s a big difference.

For the sake of argument, let’s say the reader is willing to crack open the book for a second time. The main problem is that some readers will put it off as it’s a seemingly easy activity that rarely gets put on the schedule. The bigger the time gap, the more likely readers are to forget about their desire for your product or service…or go with someone else instead.

Make it as easy as possible for someone to buy something from you.

Create A Facebook Group

Some of your readers will go through your back-end offers and decide that none of them apply…for now.

But if you continue to build a relationship, over time you can get the same people to become your customers. So how do you build the relationship?

Start off with the essentials like consistently providing content and engaging with your audience, and then move to something slightly more advanced like a Facebook Group.

Create the Facebook Group and (this is important) include it in the same place you make the back-end offers. This way, if people aren’t immediately convinced, they can opt to join your Facebook Group (it’s free so they might as well join) and become part of your community.

As these readers continue to see you more often, they’ll think about your back-end offers more and more. This is how you turn a no into a maybe and then a yes.

Sprinkle Offers Throughout Your Book

While you showcase your offers at the back of your book, you can also sprinkle them throughout your book. Now it’s time to re-visualize your book as a gigantic sales letter. When appropriate, you can talk about success stories and experiences directly related to your product.

In a book about productivity, for example, I might talk about the level of productivity I needed to create one of my productivity courses. Choosing this topic gives me the ability to describe some of the benefits of the course without being salesy.

I can also share stories of people who went through the course and transformed their productivity – I can share what they did and, specifically, how the course helped.

Finally, you can start every chapter with a quote. In my Content Marketing Book (coming out in late October or early November), I began each chapter with evergreen quotes from my virtual summit.

I’m also leading off with quotes from my Content Marketing Plaza course to drive more attention to that. Then I’ll feature CMSS, The Plaza, and a few other products at the back-end of my book.

In Conclusion

Writing a book is exciting. However, if you miss out on including back-end offers, you will miss out on thousands of dollars (or even more). Most of the people who read your book from start to finish will adore your knowledge and will want more.

That’s where your back-end offers come in, and at the very minimum, these readers will join your Facebook Group. Make sure the URLs are easy to remember so your readers have an easy time taking action on your back-end offers.

When sharing the URLs, consider that some can get outdated. For instance, contentmarketingsuccesssummit.com currently leads people to the summit that took place a few months ago.

In 2018, that same URL will lead people to the next CMSS.

I want to consistently lead readers to the 2017 version which is why I’ll incorporate contentmarketingsuccesssummit.com/2017 as the link. I want to lead readers to the 2017 version because that’s the one I currently have, and the book is based on the summit.

What are your thoughts about including back-end offers in your books? Have any tips for us? Do you have a question? Sound off in the comments section below.

 

How I Went From Zero Books To Reading 10+ Books Every Month

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It turns out the advice our parents and teachers gave us was spot on. Reading is good for you. I remember the days of reading short fiction books. Those were the days when reading could easily become a hobby.

That was in 2nd grade. Now the world is getting busier and busier. And teenagers don’t have as much time to pick up new hobbies as the typical 2nd grader.

I built a successful blog, wrote several books myself, and grew my business on social media. But I slacked off on my reading. Sure, I read a blog post every now and then, but skimping on reading showed in my results.

Once I stopped acquiring additional knowledge related to my niche, I didn’t make big improvements. I either produced the same results or saw a slight decline. Blog traffic went down. My Twitter growth stayed the same.

Then everything started to grow, and I attribute that in large part to reading 10+ books every month.

But I didn’t just read any books. I read books with the specific aim of growing my personal brand. And I can tell you right now that reading 10+ books about your brand every month can completely transform your business (as in get you the results you’ve been dreaming of).

Here are some tips you can start utilizing today so you too will get through 10 books every month.

#1: Listen To Audiobooks

I don’t actually read all of the books that I consume. Sometimes, I will listen to an audiobook. There are certain activities that are nearly impossible to engage in while reading, but are very doable if listening to an audiobook.

For instance, I listen to an audiobook while I ride a workout bike for 30 minutes each day. To get the most information out of those 30 minutes, I have the built-in narrator read the book 2-3 times faster than the original pace.

That means during a 30 minute bike ride, I hear 1-1.5 hours of audiobook content. That totals up to 30-45 hours of audiobooks every month. Most of the audiobooks I read are within the five hour range. Just by riding on the bike for 30 minutes while listening to an audiobook each day, I read 6-9 books and get physically stronger at the same time.

I tried listening to an audiobook in the middle of a run, but that didn’t work well for me. I can more easily listen to an audiobook on a workout bike.

What activities do you do every day that can also become moments of knowledge acquisition? The more you can think of, the more audiobooks you can listen to from start to finish. Just find 30 minutes in your day, every day. You’ll thank yourself later.

#2: Read Quickly 

I listen to anywhere from 6-9 audiobooks each month. That means I read my way through the 10+ book milestone. I blaze my way through the finish line. The key information for almost any book can be condensed into 20 pages. Authors don’t do that because a 20 page book wouldn’t sell.

As you read more books about your niche, you’ll come across similar insights. I don’t need to hear another story about someone who regrets not building an email list earlier. I’ve heard that story before. And the only difference between this story and the other ones I’ve heard is that each person tells the story from a unique perspective (but always arrives at a similar conclusion).

The overall message is the same. Many books tell you that making excuses is bad and suggest ways to combat excuse making. I skip right to the suggestions. I don’t need to be told that avoiding excuses is a good thing. I already know that. And if I’ve already heard the suggestions in an earlier book, I skip those too.

Some books intentionally or unintentionally borrow ideas from each other. Why re-read the same thing more than once when you can acquire more knowledge instead?

#3: Publicly Announce Your Goal

I have been very public about my goal to consume 10 books every month. In fact, I also state which books I read each month in my performance reports. When I first got started with my performance reports, I struggled with reading five books in a given month.

Now I effortlessly get through 10+ books. Every. Single. Month.

As I came out with more performance reports, my reading increased. I made myself accountable to my entire audience—email list, social media audience, blog visitors… just about everyone.

If I don’t perform, I feel like I’ve let my audience down. I automatically obligate myself to read at least 10 books in a given month.

What’s Your Excuse?

I’m a student-athlete in college. I wake up at 5:30am to get ready for 7:30am practice. I get my homework done and also squeeze in time to hang out with friends. But I still have a personal brand that demands my attention.

Oh, did I mention that I read a bunch of books every month, too?

I’m not saying that I have the hardest schedule in the world, but I don’t have a crazy amount of time to play with, either. My obligations take up most of my time.

If you don’t have at least 30 minutes each day to read a book or listen to an audiobook, then you have a basket of lame excuses. Anyone can find 30 extra minutes each day by reducing the time spent on less productive activities.

Would it kill you to turn off the TV a little earlier? Would it hurt to avoid surfing YouTube? While it may be difficult in the beginning, once you make the adjustment over 66 days, it will stick.

If you feel you can’t commit to 30 minutes of reading or listening each day, you can AT LEAST commit to 15 minutes of reading or listening each day.

In the end, I don’t care about excuses. I only care about whether or not the work gets done.

Compound It!

Gradual evolution leads to massive evolution. The easiest way to go from zero pages to 100 pages per day within three months is to read an additional page each day. Start with a baseline of 11 pages, which is very doable.

On Day #2, read 12 pages. On Day #3, read 13 pages. Soon enough, you’ll begin to approach 100 pages. And if you count audiobooks, you can easily get through over 100 pages each day.

When I’m actually reading a book, I can usually get through 30-50 pages in a given day.

All of this knowledge compounded together will turn you into an expert in your niche and help you achieve your dreams.

As with anything in life, if you do something every day, and make continuous progress, you’ll be shocked by what you’ve achieved in a year from now.

In Conclusion

Reading books and listening to audiobooks allows you to acquire more knowledge about your niche. As you acquire more knowledge, your mind will expand.

The remaining challenge is to implement what you’ve learned, but you will already have the information you need. What happens then? Do you continue reading?

No matter how established you become, reading is still important. Reading fires up your brain cells, gives you new knowledge, and reminds you of things that you may have forgotten.

I mentioned earlier that I sometimes skip sections of a book if I have an idea of what’s coming. I may skip those sections, but I also remember what I’d learned previously.

Reading is a way of acquiring new knowledge while tapping into prior knowledge.

How many books do you read each month? Do you have any book recommendations for me? Sound off in the comments section below.