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89: How to Get Self Published Books into Book Stores with Tucker Max

About this Episode

Tucker Max is the #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell and several other books. He is the CEO and co-founder of Book In A Box, a company that turns book writing and publishing into a service. Tucker was also nominated to the Time Magazine 100 Most Influential List in 2009.

Tucker’s unique journey to becoming an author started in 2001 when he began emailing his friends short stories he wrote as a way to distract himself from the job he hated. His friends found the stories so entertaining that they forwarded them around to their circles and Tucker began to build a following.

After he was fired from his job Tucker was encouraged to pursue writing as a career. When he couldn’t get a publisher to buy his material he decided to put it online for free in late 2002, before the word “blog” even existed. Because of the popularity of his blog, traditional publishers came back to him. Now they wanted to publish his work. That deal gave the world I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell.

In this podcast we talk about how to get a distribution deal with traditional publishers so you can get your book into brick and mortar bookstores and keep more money in your pocket. We also talk about the three things that you should do before you sit down to write your book. It was a truly fascinating conversation.

Here are some of the takeaways you’ll learn in today’s interview with Tucker Max:

Why you shouldn’t just copy and paste your blog to make a book.
How to become your own publishing company and use a traditional publisher as a distribution channel to get into brick and mortar bookstores.
Why you have to sell at least 100,000 copies of a book as a self published author before brick and mortar bookstores will be interested in carrying your book.
How being a publishing company as well as the author of the book creates more work for you.
Why it’s important to hire an interior design firm if you’re going to sell your books in bookstores.
What you have to do to prepare for a meeting with “C-level executives” at a traditional publishing company.
Why you should always have a publishing attorney look over your contracts.
The deal terms that must be negotiated in a print-only publishing/distribution deal.
How much it costs to get your book into wide distribution in brick and mortar bookstores.
Your book is your business card. It’s a way to show the world what you know and what you can do.
In-store sales for books only account for 25% to 30% of all book sales.
The problem almost all new authors have with marketing and how to solve it.
Start writing your book with the reader in mind and selling your book becomes easy.
Podcasts are an easy way to reach your audience.
Do guest post on blogs geared to your audience.
The importance of narrowing your audience.

3 Questions That Will Determine Your Marketing Strategy

1. What result do you want from this book? What result, if you achieved it, would cause you to label this book a success?

2. What audience do you have to reach in order to get that result? As much as you can determine your “ideal reader.” It’s as much about who is in your audience as the size of your audience.

3. What do I know that is interesting and valuable to that audience?

After you answer these questions marketing becomes much easier. All you have to do to market your book at that point is get it in front of the audience you’ve defined. The more specifically you can define your audience the easier it is to find channels to market directly to them.

Tucker’s Books

1. I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell
2. Assholes Finish First
3. Sloppy Seconds
4. Hilarity Ensues

Links and Resources Mentioned in the Interview

https://scribewriting.com/ — Tucker’s website where he will help you Turn Your Knowledge into a Book in 12 Hours.

https://scribewriting.com//our-books/ — Where you can get a free copy of Tucker’s book The Book in a Box Method. This book shows you Tucker’s method for writing books quickly and easily.

You can also buy it on Amazon using this link:
The Book in a Box Method: The New Way to Quickly and Easily Write Your Book

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