Each case study on my website features an author or publisher who has worked with me to reach #bookdone. Each author has great insights. Matt Chiera, a digital marketing expert and business owner who self-published Digital Marketers Sound Off is no different! Matt came to me in 2018 for book interior design and layout, as well as ebook adaptation. Matt’s book has been selling for nearly three years now, and as you’ll see below, gaining him many business opportunities!
Recently you said, “Self-publishing my book, Digital Marketers Sound Off was unquestionably one of the best career decisions that I’ve made.” I’m sure that’s what every business owner writing a book wants to hear. Why do you say that?
It’s true! Self-publishing my book helped me to position myself as a subject-matter expert at a time when my digital marketing consulting business, Ice Nine Online, was growing quickly. I wanted to instantly create credibility with prospective clients and partners. My book exceeded my expectations—it led to many referrals, introductions, pitches, and unquestionably helped me to close new business.
Your book is a collection of interviews with digital marketing gurus. Sounds like an efficient way to create a book, as your contributors helped you write your content. Can you explain briefly what your process was to create the book? How long did it take from start to finish?
The whole process took about 14 months.
My first step was to outline the competencies within digital marketing that I know people want to learn about (SEO, Email Marketing, etc.)
Next, I wrote simple introductions about the various competencies. Those intros were located just prior to the contributor interviews so that the reader has a basic understanding and context for the interview content.
Then I found contributors. I made a spreadsheet of everyone I know who does really strong work within those disciplines, and for the gaps where I didn’t have someone in my network, I reached out to marketers (mostly through LinkedIn), explained what I was trying to do, and ended up getting about 200 interviews. I kept the best 101 for the book.
Then I wrote my intros, back cover, and other non-contributor sections.
I hired several professionals: a copy editor, a book cover designer, and a stellar interior designer (you) . They did their work and then I edited and proofread a few more times.
When everything was perfect, I published my book through Amazon KDP (print on demand and ebook).
I designed the style of all the pages to match the look of the front cover.
How did you market your book?
I did quite a bit to market it...I’m a digital marketer after all! I made a plan for marketing the book and started executing as I was conducting the interviews and putting the book together.
📣 Pre-Release Marketing Strategies:
I released little teasers and updates on social media, requested feedback on the cover design, interior, etc. Some of those posts generated good buzz.
I created a website for the book and used SEO to promote it.
I published blog posts about the book and the self-publishing process.
I partnered with a charity, One Tree Planted, and donated $1 of each book’s sales and promoted that partnership as well.
📣 Post-Release Marketing Strategies:
I advertised on Amazon, Google, Bing, and Facebook Ads.
I created a YouTube video trailer for the book that got ~50,000 views.
I put a link to the book in my email signature and actually got a surprising number of book sales that way!
I reached out to libraries and bookstores and got the book in retail locations (and once they were there, promoted on social media).
I reached out to book review websites and requested they review the book, which was a great source of affiliate sales and backlinks.
Because my book features tons of super-smart digital marketers, a natural tool was to leverage them! I put together book updates that they could share with their networks, and then helped them promote their own entries in my book to their networks.
How do you use your book in promoting your business?
I basically use my book as a business card. I take copies to hand out at introductory meetings with prospective clients or partners, or send copies by mail ahead of time if I’m meeting people virtually.
Also, when people Google me or are doing research about Ice Nine Online, they often stumble upon the book. It helps tremendously as a credibility booster.
When you write your next book, what are you going to do the same way and what are you going to do differently?
I’ll probably take a similar approach with my next book—which will be essentially a second edition—but I’ll likely do more in-depth polling to determine the content (questions, marketing competencies).
Because I see that a lot of my first book’s sales came from people who were not yet digital marketers (but who were looking to break into the industry and start their own freelance business or get a job in marketing), I’ll likely do more to tailor the next edition to that audience.
More info on the second edition of Digital Marketers Sound Off coming soon!
To close, could you give an example of a business opportunity that you gained because of your book?
I gained one of my digital marketing consultancy’s largest and most profitable clients from the book, literally because their CMO saw the book on a coffee table at an office space in Chicago and then contacted me for consulting work.
Matt Chiera is obviously an expert in his field, and self-publishing a book to showcase his knowledge was an idea that is still paying off for him and his business. I hope you’ve learned from his ideas and process, which he so generously shared here! Congratulations, Matt, I wish you even more success with your next book!
If you have a book you want to launch with Amazon KDP, or really just any book that you’re trying to get done and out to your clients, give me a shout! Establish yourself as an expert, use your book as your business card, and keep the clients you need coming to you!