Susie Schaefer | How To Become An Amazon Bestseller

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And now your host, Joel, Mark Harris.

Joel: Hello and welcome to the publishing for profit podcast. This is your host. Joel, Mark Harris. We have sushi Shaffer on the show today, she is the owner of finished that book publishing. She is a publishing consultant and coach, so she knows all the ins and outs of publishing online through the various platforms, including Amazon Ingrid sparks.

And Smashwords, she is obviously. No, it was all about publishing and how to get reviews on Amazon. We talk about how she got into the industry and how you can get your book published and get it out into the world. So hopefully you enjoyed this episode. Hi, Susie, welcome to the show. How are you?

Susie: Okay. Thank you so much for having me.

Joel: I want to start off what exactly is a publishing coach because I think that not a lot of people, especially outside the industry, that we’re in, know what that is. So maybe you can just tell a little bit about that and your role.

Susie: A publishing coach or consultant is someone who takes an author through the entire process of working with an editor, cover designer, interior layout, doing all the design work and the production of the book, and then gets them up on Amazon or IngramSpark or whichever platforms they decide that they want to publish on.

Joel: And do you help them decide on what platform they want to use?

Susie: So depending on what their goals are for the book, we may just publish on Amazon. however, if an author wants to get into, for example, bookstores and libraries, then IngramSpark is really the way to go. And with most authors, I do a combination of both.

So I will have, because. Why not use Amazon, they are the largest bookseller in the world. So usually what I do when I work with authors is I will do their Kindle ebook and their paperback on Amazon. I will do a hardcover on Ingram spark, and, then if they want additional platform for their ebook, I love using Smashwords because it fills all the other distribution. that’s available.

Joel: I think people are pretty familiar with Amazon, but yeah. Can you tell us what the difference is between IngramSpark and Smashwords and what those platforms are?

Susie: Ingram spark is another print on it.  platform. You can publish both hardcover, paperback, and eBooks, and you can also, they also have a lot of different other services too.

So it’s not just that. so if someone was looking at publishing. Definitely look at IngramSpark because, they, they are, they have a great platform. but it doesn’t mean that you have to put all your eggs in one basket and just use one platform you can use multiples. and the reason I like smash or Smashwords, excuse me, is because it’s free.

And anytime that it’s free. Yeah. For authors, because many times authors are really looking at maximizing the investment on their book production. so it just fills all the needs as far as getting them out to, nook and, Sony Kobo, I books, all the other platforms as to where eBooks can be offered. Smashwords covers all that. So I really liked them for that.

Joel: Great. can you tell me a little bit, like, do you have a typical client or who is looking for your services?

Susie: Okay. So typically people that I work with yeah are either first-time authors and they have not published before. And they really don’t know where to go after their manuscript is done written, or authors that have been through maybe a traditional publisher in the past and have decided that they want to be more profitable with their book, which means independently publishing or self-publishing, is really the way to go.

And usually those are authors who may have even used a hybrid publisher. I do a lot of, excuse me, book marketing with, authors that work with a hybrid publisher on their production. And then they might come to me to do book marketing, such as an Amazon bestseller campaign or helping them to, get reviews or book awards or things like that.

So, it’s, it’s usually somebody who. Doesn’t really understand the system and how independent publishing works, and needs a little bit of guidance needs some help and support. And, and, you know, I’ve been doing this for a number of years and so, I’m able to provide guidance and support to that author and help them avoid making some costly mistakes that can end up impacting the sale of their book.

Joel: So you have, I was looking at your LinkedIn profile and you have a very eclectic background. You ha you know, I think you started, you did a radio broadcast, you did acting, how did you get into this line of work and what drew you, to become a book coach.

Susie: Well, I do have a very eclectic background. In fact, I have over 30 years of experience in corporate America and, And part of that was that I was working in radio. I was doing some acting on the side of there’s a, there’s a lot, a lot of different things that I’ve done. But the great thing about that is that with all the jobs that I’ve ever had, they all brought something to the table.

And I was finding that I was doing a lot of writing. I’ve always been a writer. I was winning short story contests in high school. I was writing content for the companies I worked for. I was writing policy and procedure, HR manuals, things like that. So I was always doing some type of writing. And, and then when I worked in radio, I was actually doing interviews producing and voicing, radio ads, again, doing a lot of that, the writing process, but I was also learning a lot about marketing.

And so. after having years of marketing experience and, it just kind of led me into, being published in an anthology that was my first time being published. And I love the process. And when I had an opportunity to learn it from the side of coaching and teaching people about it, I jumped at it because I really do love the teaching aspect and, and providing that service to authors.

so that’s kinda how it morphed into that. And, As I learned more about the industry and Amazon became bigger and bigger. There were a lot of people that I was seeing, published books and making vital mistakes and their books like their cupboard design was not on point. Like their interior layout of the book was just a hot mess.

And so, I knew that both with my experience and various different types of, business and corporate America, as well as my writing skills and my marketing skills that I could really help these authors do a better job.

Joel: Can you tell us a little bit about the Genesis of your company, and how it came about?

Susie: Yeah. So, I was, I actually was training and working under another publisher and then it made sense for me to go ahead and just to go off on my own and start my own brand. and I noticed that there was a common theme that people were having trouble finishing their book. And so thus the name finished the book publishing arrived.

And when I searched it and realized there was not a company already called that I was shocked. And so I said, okay, that’s what I’m going to call my company. And, So I finished the book publishing was born and, and I speak to a variety of different author and publishing, organizations and, offer free workshops and things like that, so that people can learn from what I know.

And I can use that too yeah. Jean platform to help authors do a better doll on their books. And to actually finish their book.

Joel: Yeah. I love the name by the way. and obviously like you got the pineapple in the background, it’s your logo. What is the, I guess the, the reasoning, what does the pineapple mean to you and why choose that as a logo?

Susie: So, In the part of my career in that 30 years in corporate America, I spent a lot of time in the hospitality industry. In fact, my degree is actually in hotel and restaurant management. I also love to travel. And for anyone that knows what the symbol of the pineapple is, it is of hospitality, welcoming.

Friendship. And it is a fruit that transcends multiple cultures around the world. So when I was thinking about, okay, what’s my logo going to look like, what, you know, how is that going to look? And I realized the pineapple is that universal symbol of friendship and welcoming. And, I said, it’s got to be the pineapple.

And I literally. Set up one morning and I took out a piece of paper. I drew a pineapple to where the top of the pineapple, the green looked like pages in a book and the little tiny squares or, or diamond shapes inside the body of the pineapple. if you look closely at my logo, those are actually little tiny books.

So the logo was designed to, to really embody not only what I do for publishing, but also, so that people would understand that it’s really about, not taking my time self too seriously by being, a form of welcoming to people and to offers.

Joel: I think that’s great. That’s really awesome.

Susie: Thank you.

Joel: Why should somebody write a book and one of the benefits to writing a book, if you’ve never, if you’re not. You know, you don’t, if you’re not an author by nature, what can somebody gain from the experience from having a published book?

Susie: So there’s actually a lot of ways that people can benefit from writing a book.

A book. The first one is if you have a story to tell whether it’s you’ve come through a challenge in your life, or if you over overcome something or possibly you just have a very interesting life and you want to write your memoir, that is memoirs are big sellers these days. And so, there are a lot of people that decide.

I just want to tell my story. There are other people that feel like they. Have this creative mind and they want to create a fictional tale based on, you know, just something they enjoy, whether it’s murder, mystery, or romance. so some people just feel like I’m called to write a book. Statistics show us that 80% of the population.

I feel that there’s a book inside them and have a desire to be published. So why not do that? and then of course too, there’s also business books and many people, such as myself, even just the journey of, of, you know, working in corporate America and always doing the writing and, and realizing that really, it was my calling to actually.

Work in this industry. some people may have a business that they’ve created that warrants having a business book that goes alongside what they teach or what they sell, which can actually be a marketing tool for them. So they’re, it depends on really what the book is. What’s your target market and what’s the reasoning behind wanting to publish.

Joel: Can you, then this may be a difficult question to answer but is there like a typical day in the life? And like, can you walk us through how, you know, how you first get into contact with your clients? what that process looks like and the end result.

Susie: Yes. So, as I mentioned, I do a lot of free workshops for writing clubs or an organization.

A lot of times that’s how people find me. They might also find me on LinkedIn. They might also find me on Facebook. and so, you know, people will sometimes want to connect with me and say, yeah, I, I need more information. And, and, and that’s why on my web website, I have a contact page where people can actually just click on that button, fill out the information and schedule a 30-minute consultation with me, which is free.

and so what happens is people will do the consultation with me and we figure out, okay, What is your book? What are your next steps and what is your budget and how does that all come together? And, and if it looks like it’s something that they want to move forward with and I’ll create a proposal for them on their book.

And, when they’re ready, then we start working together and, I take them through the entire process. I connect, author with an editor. If they need an editor. Sometimes it’s even before they get to an editor, they need a writing coach, cause they’re not done writing. So they might need a writing coach or an editor, or maybe their manuscript has finished and they really just need a proofeditor or proofread on their manuscript.

and then of course I have a cover designer and interior designer that help with the design process. And while the author is working through this, I’m actually managing the entire process for the author because. If you don’t know what you don’t know, you know what I’m saying? I’m setting up things like their, their KDP, which is Kindle direct publishing their Amazon account, their IngramSpark account, and making sure that all the pieces are fitting together so that when we have the finished, documents, the finished files that I can upload those and make sure that they are all.

working correctly and that their ebook and paperback are linked and that, they’re set up in the right categories and all the little nuances that make a difference in whether or not you’re going to sell books.

Joel: What are some of the biggest downfalls or pitfalls you see, like a common thread throughout your clients?

Susie: The most common is that authors try and go it alone and they don’t. Have the knowledge, the skillset to understand how publishing works and what makes a great cover and what makes a not so great cover. They don’t understand the nuances with, the way the interior book is designed. And when they make those mistakes, it is very, very difficult to get book reviews.

It’s very difficult to even be considered for a book award and things like reviews and awards are what help you sell more books. So. When I work with an author and I set them up to become an Amazon bestseller and they are able to say, I am an Amazon bestseller and they can use, use those little stickers, those savages in their email, on their website.

And, you know, in their own marketing, it is a huge step forward for authors that don’t. But in order to do that, you have to use professional services. You really need to use the guidance of people who understand how the system works. And what’s a good design and what’s not a good design.

And you have to use editors. I’m sorry. You just have to, you know, none of our work is perfect. So that’s what editors are for.

Joel: You upload it to Amazon. You press send now I think is the real challenge, which is the marketing side. Yeah. What are some of the steps that you have to take?

Susie: Some of the steps are to make sure that your description is done correctly. There’s an HTML tool. That’s really helpful if you don’t know how to use HTML, but your book description has to be done in the correct HTML. Your book also needs to be in the right categories. For example, I saw this one book that, it was showing that it was a bestseller, but the book was, about, gosh, I can’t even remember.

I think it was like a business book and it was in a category of needlepoint. And I said, why is your book a needlepoint? And he said to me, he said, Oh, it was a small category. So I just put it in there. Now, Amazon has done a great job at there. They’re starting to watch for things like this, but my, my concern, I told them this, I said, you know, I’m sorry, but that’s unethical.

That is not an inappropriate use of using that category simply because it’s a small category. So you have to make sure that what you’re doing is within the standards and the guidelines of Amazon and it’s ethical because. What it’s going to, you know, it’s a reflection of you as an author, it’s a reflection of your book.

and if you’re, if you’re independently publishing or doing business books, it’s a reflection of your business. So, so yeah, so those are some of the things that I see that, you know, people just need to know. Okay. You’ve got to make sure that you’re correct. Seeing the T’s and dotting the I’s and making sure that you’re, you’re operating in an ethical and correct manner.

Joel: And then do you help them out with social media and you know, like a content schedule and that those important pieces.

Susie: That’s not actually something that I offer, but I do, I can give them guidance on what to post on social media and that type of thing. But, really, and I’ve got people again, I’ve got so many people, so if someone says, I want someone to manage my social media, great.

Let me make that connection for you. because, it’s just not something that. Because, you know, something that I, I want to offer. So, again, I take kind of a high level. I do a lot of things, instruction piece on how authors can do it themselves, but when they need someone to do, for example, social media marketing for them specifically, I absolutely can connect them with the right person.

Joel: And what’s what sort of content should an author they’re put out on, I guess, their blog and how should they, distribute that a guess? Yeah. Across the web.

Susie: So the most important thing is to actually develop your platform, develop your following. Don’t think that you can do this overnight. It takes a long time to develop those followers.

So if you’ve got a blog, you should be posting on your blog on a regular basis and getting people to start following your blog and create your own email list. And, and really develop that platform over time. then when you’re ready to publish your book, you already have a platform built and it’s not like, okay, now I have to start from ground zero.

In the meantime, because you’ve built this platform, it gives you a tool to reach out to people and have people connected to you as you go through the process of publishing so that people are waiting for that book to come out because they get a little bit excited. And it really creates a nice little marketing campaign, before you launch your book and then even after you launch your book, for example, you can do your paperback in your ear, the book.

And then if you decide that you want to go ahead and do a hardcover, wait a month, and then do your hardcover and say, now my book’s available on hardcover and maybe six months later, you do an audiobook. And now you can say, look, I have an audiobook available. It allows you to market your book over time versus trying to do it all at once.

Joel: That’s awesome. Great advice there. so you mentioned that you did talks to various writing organizations. How has that changed during COVID and if so, how?

Susie: Oh my gosh, it’s changed tremendously. The downside is that we don’t get to have that, you know, one on one interaction, but the good side of that is that I can basically speak to any group in the world.

And so. I’ve seen memberships, be able to stabilized. I’ve seen these groups of flourish and actually increase their membership, which was kind of the, the reason why I, at the started the pandemic. I reached out to all of the groups that I. Was a member of, or belong to and said, I want to make sure that you don’t lose your membership.

During this time, I said, I will offer any of my classes free. let’s keep people engaged, let’s keep them on their mission. and their journey to publishing. Let’s keep this going. And, and by doing that, it really allowed people to engage at a different level so that they can. Still get the interaction and get the information that they need to continue on their own publishing journey.

Joel: Yeah, it’s strange. And you probably noticed this yourself is that there’s been some communities. I felt that you know, I’ve come together and I’ve really with COVID and with, you know, over online platforms that really solidified, and there’s others that have, you know, disbanded a little bit or have drifted apart.

So it’s really, it’s been a really interesting journey. Through this whole online experience of having, you know, all these zoom meetings and, zoom talks. So I don’t know if you’ve found the same or, or not.

Susie: Yeah, actually I have. And I, and I like the fact that now we can do meetings this way. Of course, they will eventually resume to where there’s.

You know, local meetings and things like that. But, I do like the fact that we can, we can do it this way and we don’t have to rely on, driving to a location or, you know, having to be in the same country, even as other people. so I think it, it provides a lot more opportunities for authors in particular, and really.

I love that it’s connected people generationally as well, because you have people of all different age groups that have now learned how to do zoom and, and learned how to connect with people around the world. So, yeah, I think it’s actually been a wonderful tool. it allows us to consider the fact that, we are really a global community and not just our own.

Joel: What sort of topics do you speak on?

Susie:  I offer five different five free workshops. the first one is about options in publishing. It is how to decide whether or not you’re going to, use a traditional publisher, a small, independent press, a hybrid publisher, an online or subsidy publishers, which.

I have not found to be very good for most authors, or if you’re going to truly. Do independent publishing where you retain all your rights and royalties? obviously I work in the last of those. but it allows authors to be the most profitable. So that’s why I support those. But I do like, I do like the hybrid publishers as well because they offer another option to authors.

I also speak about like the top 10 things that scream, I’m self-published, mistakes that I see authors make all the time that can be easily avoided and, and make your book look much, much better. I talk about the Amazon bestseller campaign, like how to do your own campaign. I teach people how to do that.

sometimes people say, no, I don’t want to do it. Just do it for me. I say, no problem. But those are some of the topics that I speak about and I’m entering, authors about that. One of the other things that I do offer is, a six-month program called behind the scenes. And it is a way that, authors can work with me directly in a group setting on zoom like this for six months.

And what we do is. Each author submits one chapter only, instead of doing a whole book, they each get to write one chapter. I take them through the entire process of working with an editor of working with a cover designer, working with a layout designer, what they need to know about that. I show them how to upload their files onto Amazon.

I show I take them through the entire process over six months. And at the end, we have an anthology that is completed with all of their chapters. So each of them can have the opportunity to become published, even if they’ve never been published before in this anthology, the one that I’m working on right now, we are almost to the halfway Mark.

And so the chapters have been submitted. We’ve gone through editing. We’re about ready to go into our final proof edit. And the book is called the pivot project. And so, the stories from the authors are all about a major shift or pivot in their life. And so they’ve all written a chapter about that topic.

And we’re going to have a book at the end of the year. That’s exciting.

Joel: You mentioned hybrid, publishing. What is that and why would that be potentially beneficial for an author?

Susie: Okay. So hybrid publisher is, is a publishing company that will take authors and can do all of the work that I’ve talked about.

You know, the editing, the layout, the cover design, all of that. And they publish the book under their own imprint. Then the author is still independently published. Like they get to still keep their rights, but they’re published under an imprint. So technically that publisher still owns the. The rights to the book, even though it’s kind of, it’s why we call it a hybrid.

It’s kind of like, okay, you’re still, you still own the rights, but yet it’s being published under a different name. So, yeah.

Joel: And then do, is, is it that, the. The publisher keeps the paperback rates and then the author keeps the electronic rates. Is that generally how it works.

Susie: I’m the author still gets to retain their rights.

However, there’s a royalty split. And so that’s usually what happens is because they’re using the name to publish under there’s a royalty split with that publisher, even though the author technically still retains their rights. The ISBNs, which are the number the locators for the book? the identifiers for the book, those are all purchased under the publisher’s name.

So technically they own the rights because they own the ISBNs, even though the author still gets to retain their rights. So it’s a little bit of both.

Joel: And what would the benefit to the author be for

Susie: that? The benefit to the author is that, again, then the publishing house similar to like, what I do is bringing you the expert editors layout and cover designers and the professionals that you don’t have to try and go out and find those on your own.

and, and. It depends on what your cost is. Like you might decide that I’m working with a hybrid publisher is more cost-effective for you. You might decide that you don’t want to do that because you want to be published under your business name. If it’s a business book, like for example, if I was, you know, I, if I was going to publish my own book, obviously I publish it under my own business name, because that makes sense for me.

So again, there are different options and it just depends on what the author wants to do. Awesome.

Joel: And you mentioned a, you know, Amazon bestseller. If somebody comes to you and says, you know, my goal is to become bestselling author, what sort of activities can they do? And can you help them do to achieve that goal?

Susie: Yeah. So, one of the things, in fact, I’m working on a campaign right now for someone is, one of the first things I do is I go in their categories and I make sure that their categories and their keywords are set up correctly. I look at their book description and sometimes with that book, the description needs a rewrite.

And so I might rewrite the book description. I’ll help them post any, reviews that didn’t make it onto Amazon. Sometimes we get what are called, editorial reviews or read reviews that didn’t make it onto the starting system in Amazon. So we can get those put in making sure that their author central page looks really good and it’s linked to their books, making sure the books are actually together, the paperback and the ebook version.

and then what I do is once we have everything lined up, we, we usually run a free ebook, for one day. And, we offer that ebook for free and get as many downloads as we can, which of course that affects the rankings of the book and usually can get them to bestseller. If not number one.

Joel: Can you talk a little bit about reviews? Because that’s obviously super important for any book. How can an author garnish reviews and get more of them?

Susie: Yeah, there’s a couple of ways you can do it. There are paid reviews, which you can go to, Clary on forward. Kirkus, blue ink is another one, services that offer to do reviews, but yeah, you have to pay for them.

Okay. The good thing about it is that you’re, I’m going to get it back a review because you’re paying for it. The other way you can do it is to research how to do a free review. There are a lot of reviewers that will offer X amount of free reviews every, every month or every year. And so they will review your book for free.

If it’s a book in there and there’s a genre, usually it’s, it’s editors or book reviewers that like a specific genre. So they, they might say. Well, I really enjoy romance, so I will edit, romance books for free. And so they’ll take so many books and do reviews. And when you get those review reviews back, you can go ahead and post them on your author central page so that, you know, people can see that you’ve been reviewed by more than just people that have purchased the book on Amazon.

Joel: Awesome. So one last question for you, Susie. And this is a question I ask all my guests and that is, you know, what is your favourite book? And I know it’s probably a challenging question because you probably have so many or one that you like to gift to other people.

Susie: so when I gift a book to somebody, it.

Is a book that I specifically will pick out for someone it’s because of something that I know that they have an interest in or something like that. for myself, I’m usually reading about four books at a time. I have, I have paperback copies. I have, I do a lot of my night reading on my Kindle because the lighting is easier.

And I read a variety of it, different topics, anywhere from business books to personal growth, to inspiration, all those kinds of things. But I’d say one, one book that I go back to again, and again, is a book called journey to the heart by melody BD. it’s a little tiny book and she, and she basically does this travel.

Where she writes about something that inspired her or about her personal growth, every single day of the year. I love that book because I can basically pick that book up at any time and even just flip to that day and, and read what she wrote about that particular day in her journey. I love that book.

and I have gifted that one as well, many times. but otherwise I just, I usually find a book that I know somebody is going to like, and I’ll get that. Well,

Joel: thank you so much, Susie, where can people find you if they want to reach out and connect with

Susie: you? They can find me at finished the book, publishing.com all one word.

And of course, all my information is there. You can also find me on LinkedIn and of course on Facebook as well.

Joel: Thanks very much, Susie. Thank you so much.

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