Steve Chou is a service provider, blogger, podcaster, and coach. He’s now additionally a e book creator with the discharge in Could of “The Household First Entrepreneur,” his HarperCollins title on enterprise, freedom, and priorities.
That is Chou’s third look on the podcast. In 2020 he mentioned Bumblebee Linens, his osCommerce retailer. In 2022 he described his desire for frugal dwelling regardless of having achieved monetary success.
On this interview, Chou addresses the method of publishing and selling his e book, now a Wall Road Journal bestseller. The complete audio of our dialog is embedded under. The transcript is edited for size and readability.
Eric Bandholz: Inform us about your e book.
Steve Chou: It’s referred to as “The Household First Entrepreneur.” It’s about my values and prioritizing life in order that the enterprise doesn’t run you, and you’ve got the liberty to do no matter you need and spend time with who you need.
It’s at all times been a bucket-list merchandise to put in writing a e book. That’s principally why I did it. It’s not a cash play. I dreamed of taking my youngsters to a Barnes & Noble and exhibiting my e book on the shelf. I did that two weeks in the past.
By way of enterprise and technique, hitting a bestseller checklist immediately provides credibility. Exterior of that, it’s a fairly good lead generator for anything you do. When you promote a course, digital product, or membership, people can discover you that method. It’s a low-cost method for them to be taught extra about your work.
I received a e book deal, so I used to be given an advance. The method took a 12 months. I put collectively a proposal, which was round 50 pages. It had projections on what number of books I might promote. It had an overview of the e book and included a pattern chapter. It was a number of work to place that factor collectively.
I had interviewed many bestselling authors on my podcast, so I hit them up and requested how I might get a e book deal. One among my buddies, Jeff Goins, was dabbling with a book-in-a-box service, primarily a e book guide. I employed him, and he coached me by means of all the course of.
I needed to go the historically revealed route — primarily for ego causes. I pitched to eight to 10 publishers resembling Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Penguin. You hop on a Zoom name, meet the personnel there, and see in the event you get alongside. Then you definately set a date when all of the publishers bid on what to pay you prematurely to put in writing the e book. You have a look at all of the presents and choose one. I went with HarperCollins — they gave a six-figure advance, which was the very best.
I get a 15% minimize on exhausting copy gross sales and 25% for ebooks and Audible. I gained’t make greater than the six-figure advance till the gross sales exceed that quantity, which might be tens of 1000’s of books.
When you’re doing it for the cash, self-publishing is greatest since you get to maintain all of the proceeds. If you go historically revealed, that carries with it some status. Plus, it’s a lot simpler to hit a bestseller checklist.
The publishing enterprise is like enterprise capital. Publishers spend money on a bunch of writers, and so they want just one James Clear [“Atomic Habits”] or one Mark Manson [“The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck”] to make their enterprise for the subsequent 10 years. “Atomic Habits” sells round 22,000 copies each week. It’s unimaginable to knock that man off The Wall Road Journal’s bestselling enterprise books checklist.
Bandholz: How does somebody produce the subsequent “Atomic Habits”?
Chou: Step one is the launch. You need to promote a bunch of books shortly to hit a bestseller checklist. I had a three-prong assault. I reached out to people who had sponsored me and requested them to do a bulk e book purchase for his or her viewers. In the end, you must get books into the fingers of actual folks. If you wish to promote 1000’s of books by launch, you might have an enormous viewers or leverage others. Most of the books I offered had been from contacts who purchased in bulk and distributed them without cost to their viewers.
My e book launch coach suggested me to go on 200 podcasts. I requested him what the most important bang for my buck could be with out sacrificing 200 hours of my time, and he informed me to do a number of good bonuses for my very own viewers, get corporations to do bulk buys, after which go on at the very least the heavy-hitting podcasts — the ten or 20 which have gigantic audiences. That’s primarily what I did.
I interviewed as most of the large podcasters by myself podcast as attainable and promoted the heck out of something they needed to promote. When it got here time for my e book to launch, I hit up all of them and stated, “Hey, keep in mind me? I used to be questioning in the event you’d be keen to have me in your present. I’ve a e book popping out.” Nearly all of them stated sure. It’s a networking play.
The majority buys and bonuses ended up transferring essentially the most books. I supplied three bonuses with the acquisition of the e book. One was a three-day workshop on find out how to get began with print-on-demand, which I take into account a gateway to ecommerce. Then I had a two-day seminar on find out how to get began and earn cash with running a blog, YouTube-ing, and podcasting, that are three issues I do. Then I supplied a six-week “Household First” problem, the place I stay stream in a personal Fb group to assist everybody with their facet hustles.
When you go the historically revealed route, you could have an viewers. You gained’t get a e book deal except you might have a following, whether or not it’s on YouTube or podcasting, when you’ve got an in depth electronic mail checklist. Once I utilized, I feel my YouTube channel was nonetheless fairly small. I feel it was 90,000 subscribers. I had been podcasting for a very long time. I had an electronic mail checklist of 100,000, plus my weblog.
Bandholz: Listeners would possibly recall your two companies. Bumblebee is a web based retailer promoting handkerchiefs. My Spouse Give up Her Job is a media and coaching website. Have you ever seen a gross sales raise with these?
Chou: Undoubtedly for My Spouse Give up Her Job. For Bumblebee, I don’t suppose so. We promote handkerchiefs. What are the possibilities that somebody needs a handkerchief? Fairly low.
I plan on making the e book a part of my total advertising and marketing technique as a result of I’ve a singular message in comparison with all the opposite make-money-online guys. It’s a method to differentiate myself, and having made The Wall Road Journal bestseller checklist provides credibility to every little thing I do.
I need to keep on that checklist for the long term. But it surely takes time. I should go on a number of podcasts and make folks conscious of my e book, and hopefully, down the road, it turns into a family e book, like “The 4-Hour Workweek” or “Wealthy Dad Poor Dad.”
Bandholz: The place can folks purchase your e book?
Chou: Go to TheFamilyFirstEntrepreneur.com. To be taught extra about what I do, go to MyWifeQuitHerJob.com. If you’re getting married, I’ll hook you up with some handkerchiefs at BumblebeeLinens.com.