Welcome back to Alchemy for Authors!
In this episode, I chat with best-selling book launch strategist, Emee Estacio.
Emee’s expertise is in helping authors launch their book to number one bestseller status on Amazon. She shares her steps to having a successful launch, and how to leverage Amazon’s algorithms to increase your sales and bring you closer to getting that much coveted Amazon bestseller badge. Emee covers how to utilize keywords, categories, book promos and launch teams to set you up for success.
If you’re ready to increase your sales and ranking on Amazon and supercharge your author career, then this episode is for you!
Connect with Emee on Instagram: @emee_estacio
Join Emee’s Facebook Group here.
Follow Emee on LinkedIn here.
Join The Get It Done Hub here.
Learn more about her Best-Seller Launch Made Simple Mini Workshop here.
Other Resources:
Publisher Rocket: https://publisherrocket.com/
Buck Books: https://buckbooks.net/
Bargain Booksy: https://www.bargainbooksy.com/for-authors/
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Find the full transcript of this episode below.
Episode 29: Bestseller Launches Made Simple with Emee Estacio
Jo: Hello, my friends. I hope you’ve had a wonderful writing week. I’m really so excited to share today’s episode with you. Today I chat with a number one best-selling book launch strategist, Emee Estacio. So if you sell books on Amazon, or plan on doing so in the future, then you are really going to love today’s show.
So make sure you have a pen and paper at the ready. Because Emee is going to be sharing so many tips and tricks for planning out your launch strategy so that you too can go after that match coveted Amazon bestseller badge.
The best part is she shares ways to leverage Amazon’s algorithms to do the heavy lifting for you, all the time increasing your sales. So after this episode, be sure to check out the show notes for links to some of the resources recommended in this episode, and for ways you can work with and connect with Emee.
So if you’re ready to increase your sales and ranking on Amazon, then grab that pen and paper, find a comfy chair, sit back and enjoy the show.
Hello, my lovelies. Welcome back to another episode of Alchemy for Authors. So today I’m chatting with Emee Estacio. Emee is a three times, number one, bestselling author, psychologist, and founder of Self-Publishing Made Simple. She helps successful entrepreneurs, coaches, and visionaries, expand their reach by writing and publishing their books on the world’s largest online book retailer, Amazon. Self-publishing on Amazon is a great way to build your brand and attract clients. Through her online programs in her signature, Get it Done Hub, she guides her students through a proven self-publishing process to successfully launch a book on Amazon to number one bestseller, even without a publicist.
So I’m so excited to have you on the show, Emee. Welcome!
Emee: Thank you very much for having me, Jo. I’m so excited to be here too.
Jo: So to start, I would love if you could share a little bit about what drew you to writing books and then self-publishing.
Emee: Sure. Well, my background, as you’ve mentioned, is in psychology, and writing sort of for me is the easy part, because we’ve trained to write for all of our careers in psychology. As an academic, we have to write books. We have to write research, papers, articles, and so on. So even before I got into self-publishing, I was already writing. But when I explored the online space and became an online entrepreneur, I found myself thinking, how can I reach my audience easier? What is the easier way and quicker way to connect with my readers? Obviously, when writing books and working with the traditional publisher, it usually takes us several years from writing to actually getting it into print and distributing it to the readers.
With self-publishing, when you publish your book, upload it on Amazon, it’s a matter of hours and it goes live. So for me, I started exploring self-publishing because I wanted to essentially use my books as a way to grow my business, to increase my visibility. And having been traditionally published writing was the easy part, the self-publishing aspect, yeah, I had to learn that, but I just embraced it. Wholeheartedly embraced the learning experience. And I absolutely enjoyed it. The first time I published and launched my book as a self-published author, I actually out tracked Tim Ferris because there is a process that we can follow. There is a sequence that we can use. And if you follow it to the letter, it’s actually not that difficult to launch your book to number one bestseller. So I embraced it wholeheartedly. I enjoyed the learning process. And as a result, every time I launched a book, it gets to number one bestseller. So yeah, that’s how I got into self-publishing.
Jo: That is amazing! One of the reasons that I’m so excited to have you here is because there are so many different components to self-publishing and it’s a dream for many people to get that, you know, that best-selling author status and that. So when we are talking Amazon, what constitutes being a best-selling author on Amazon?
Emee: Yes, to become a bestselling author you need to be listed as a bestselling book on the bestseller list. So there are several categories on Amazon. Often you will find that there are 50 books listed as, you know, bestselling books in those categories. If your book is one of those books, then you are considered a bestselling author.
Jo: Oh my gosh. So do you have to be number one? Like, does it have to be number one in the category?
Emee: Well, not necessarily, because if you classify yourself as a bestselling author, you just need to be on that best seller list. But ideally, you know, aim for the number one best seller status, because when you get to number one in one of these categories, you end up getting the best seller badge. You know, if someone types in and searches for your book, you will have that yellow badge that shows that you’re a best seller. If you are not number one, it’s not gonna show. Someone needs to go into the category and look for your book. If you are, let’s say in the top 10, you are considered a best seller, but if you are number one, you get the badge, it appears on your page, you have that yellow badge, and this is something that we aim for inside my Self-publishing Made Simple community. Because sure, going for the top 10 you know, you are considered the best selling author, but to get to number one, you actually do have that yellow badge. Well, actually it’s not yellow. It’s an orange. Yeah. It’s an orange best seller badge on Amazon. And it’s something that we aim for inside our community.
Jo: That is really cool. That’s really cool. I’m so interested to hear that. So, because, you know, I see that badge all the time. I came very close, but didn’t get the badge oh. With one of my books, but so do you just need to land that number one place once and then they grant you that badge and you’ve got that or does it have to be consecutively for time or how does it work?
Emee: Yes. In terms of getting the best seller badge, you do need to to be consistent in terms of the sales and in terms of hitting that number one spot. I suppose this is a way for Amazon to crack down those spikes. Like some people will aim for the number one bestseller status, you know, they gather all of their friends and ask them to download the book at a specific hour because Amazon updates every hour. Sure, you will get to number one status because, you know, everybody’s rallying and downloading your book at that particular point in time, you will get to number one, but not necessarily get the badge. It has to be consistent. You need to trigger the algorithm. And again, you know, for us inside our community, every time someone gets the badge, it’s a celebration because we know what it takes, you know, the work that was put in to have those consistent sales and to actually get that number one.
And it’s not just a one time, number one, it’s, you know, you need to be consistent to actually earn that badge. So it’s a huge celebration inside our community when our members achieve that because we know the dedication and the work that was put into to get that badge.
Jo: That’s really cool. That’s good to know, because I think it’s important that it’s not just kind of given out to everybody that hits that place. Like you said, when people kind of, yeah, get all their family and friends to download or purchase the book all at one time, you know? So this is something that’s a lot more legitimate that shows that it genuinely is a bestselling book because it’s held that spot for a period of time, which is really cool.
Emee: And I have to say that’s one of the aims that I ask my students, when I tell them, it’s not just about getting to number one at a particular point in time. It’s lovely. You know? People would be okay with that at that one point, rally everyone, take the screenshot that they were number one. And that’s it. What I tell my students is, yes, we can, we are aiming for number one, but we need to have that steady stream of sales during launch week in order to get that badge. And when we map out our launch strategy, we have it over a seven to the seven to 10 day period of consistent sales. And by the time they get to, let’s say, for the fourth day and the fifth day that they are maintaining the number one bestseller status, they start getting the best seller badge by that point.
So, having that information, we are able to map out our launch sequence and take that into consideration. So it’s not just a, one off spike in sales, it’s a steady stream of sales. And our aim, yes, is to get to number one bestseller, but also we are aiming to trigger the Amazon algorithm to get that bestseller badge. And also, when you trigger the algorithm, Amazon will be promoting the book for you. You know, you’re essentially using Amazon and the power of their algorithm. Leverage that algorithm so that Amazon can do the heavy lifting of marketing the book for you. So you are aiming essentially for long term sales, instead of just, you know, those spike of sales just to get to the best seller status.
Jo: That is cool. That’s really wonderful. I love that. And so when you’ve got that much sought after little badge for a best seller with the best seller status, how can you continue to leverage that to boost sales? So Amazon will do its part because, you know, you’ve kind of played the game and, you know, it’s got its algorithms working for you, but as far as whatever you do on your end for marketing and advertising and that, how can you leverage having that status to help you out? And does it work? Does it matter?
Emee: Oh, yes, it absolutely matters. So in my community, you will hear me talk a lot about keyword research, category research, organizing your promos and having a launch team. The very first thing that I talk about is keyword research, because that’s when you are essentially using the Amazon algorithm to do the heavy lifting of marketing the book for you. What it does is essentially, you look at what are the keywords people are typing in when they look for books on Amazon. So let’s say for example, you are writing a book around self-doubt and achieving your fullest potential. You type in keywords such as overcoming self-doubt or coping with self-doubt or knowing your value, embracing your truth, that kind of stuff. We use a software to look for the keywords and we analyze what are the most used keywords that people actually use when they look for books on Amazon. That way we are able to optimize our title, our subtitle, the book description, and so on. Include those high traffic keywords in, in our metadata, I call it the metadata, title, subtitle, book description, so that when people type in these keywords on the search bar, when they are looking for books, Amazon will actually recommend your book to the readers because it is relevant, because it is included in your metadata. So that’s one of the things to leverage, you know, one of the strategies that we used to leverage the Amazon algorithm. Understand what your readers are looking for. What are the keywords that they are using to look for books on Amazon? And you have to use those keywords in your title, subtitle, book description, or even in your series title, if you have a series of books. That way, when people look for these, you know, use these keywords as they are looking for books on Amazon, Amazon will recommend your book because it’s relevant to those readers.
And when those readers go into your page and they see your best seller badge, and, you know, they go to the best seller pages and look at those categories and your book keeps appearing. That’s one way to leverage your best seller status because it adds credibility, when you do earn that badge.
And when you are in the best seller lists, some people don’t even use the search bar anymore. They just go into the categories, they just go on the best seller lists. And if your book is there, you know, they just happened to browse through books on Amazon and your book is on the bestseller list, it gives you a better chance of making a sale because your visibility is already there. That’s why for many of my students, even after several months, a year, some of them it’s been two years since they’ve published their books, they are still number one, because of that visibility. Once you have that best seller badge, or at least be visible in the best seller categories, people can just easily find you because your book is there, it’s listed there.
So one thing is keyword research, making sure that you optimize your listing. But also really important, I talk a lot about this inside my community, category research, making sure that you choose the category strategically, and that you have social proof as well. Organizing your launch team, making sure that, particularly during launch week, that people are downloading your book, reading your book, leaving reviews. Because the more reviews that you have for your book, the better social proof that you have. And the more reviews that you have on your book, the better it is for the Amazon algorithm, because the algorithm will say, oh, you know, this book is getting attention. People are buying it, downloading it, leaving reviews. It triggers the algorithm in a way that it tells the algorithm, this book is important. This book is worth paying attention to, and it is in the best interest of Amazon to actually promote books that do well, you know, promote books, that’s gaining that traction.
So organize a launch team, make sure that you do have social proof that you have reviews on there. It’s good for the algorithm. And in terms of the keywords that I was talking about earlier, the more reviews that you have on your page, the more keywords that will come up on your page because people are adding more words on your page, and that helps with the algorithm and promoting your book in the long run.
So, really important to consider all of these in your launch plan. And essentially for my students, I talk about keyword research, category research, organizing your launch team, making sure that you have social proof on your page and also having that consistent sales. It’s not just a one off spike of sales. To gain that traction during launch week, trigger that algorithm and aim for number one bests seller, obviously, but to maintain that and gain traction so that the Amazon algorithm will say, ah, this is not just a one off spike, this is consistent sales. Trigger the algorithm, get the badge, and continue making sales with the algorithm helping you out to make your book visible and increase sales for your book.
Jo: That’s awesome. I’ve just got so much out of that. So now I’ve got so many questions for you. So I really enjoy looking into the metadata. Whenever I release a book, I find that lots of fun, and I have particular software that I always go to. But what do you recommend for finding out the keywords and the categories and that?
Emee: Yes, I absolutely love Publisher Rocket. That’s my go to software. And Dave is lovely. Like the Publisher Rocket guy, like Kindlepreneur master, Dave Chesson. Absolutely fantastic. Got lots of resources and support. But what I love about Publisher Rocket is it tells you what’s the search volume. It tells you how many people are using that particular keyword to search for books on Amazon. So we look at the searches per month, we look at the competition score, making sure that particular keyword is not heavily saturated. Because, let’s say for example, yes, a thousand people are using that keyword to look for books on Amazon, but if there are like a hundred thousand books you know, competing for that keyword, it would be quite difficult for your book to, to appear on the first page you know, in terms of the search results when people type in those keywords. So we look at the search volume. We look at the competition score. We also look at the monthly sales volume as well, just to see if people are actually buying books. Because one of the things that I explore with my students is, let’s say the search volume is high, and if you can see that the sales volume is not that great, it means that yeah, people are searching, maybe they are looking for books or maybe they are just looking for information generally. But if that information is freely available on Google, for example, if it is freely available on the internet, you can see that the sales volume is not that great. So you have to look into that as well so you can make a more informed decision in terms of how you’re going to craft your title, your subtitle, and your book description, so that you are using keywords that are widely used, that is not heavily saturated and that’s still making sales. Yeah. Because if you’re able to balance those three using Publisher Rocket, you are in a better position to compete, and you have an informed decision in terms of what you are going to include in your metadata to make your books more visible on the platform.
Jo: That’s cool. I absolutely adore Publisher Rocket as well. It’s so good. And you really can get so much information from it. Is it something that you would recommend updating regularly, the metadata of your books? Would you like maybe once a year or something like that, just check the categories that you’re in or anything like that?
Emee: Yes. Yes. Ideally if you can do that every month. Wow. That, that, that would be good, but yeah. Every six months or every year if you already have a portfolio of books, that would be ideal. And I said, portfolio of books, because I do encourage my students to not just aim for one book, but to have a series of books on Amazon. Because again, thinking about the algorithm, it helps with the visibility. Because if you list your books in a book series, if someone discovers you by book three and sees that, oh, you know, they, she’s also published these books, it helps the other books in the long run. So you cast your net more widely. You put your books, you know, spread it out across different categories. It helps with the visibility and in terms of building your brand on the platform. Also from a writer’s perspective, writing shorter books that have a very specific focus under the umbrella of a series is easier to write and less overwhelming for you as a writer. But also thinking about your reader, writing shorter books in a book series helps them again to focus on a particular topic. It’s easier to read. It’s less overwhelming. And when a reader finishes reading your book, it just gives them a sense of accomplishment, yeah, as well that they haven’t taken months to finish reading your book. In a matter of days, if not weeks they are able to read your book. And especially if you are writing nonfiction and something that they need to apply and, use in their lives. Writing shorter books, it’s easier to do that because they get to finish the book because it’s not that difficult to read. It’s not that long. And it allows them to actually make use of whatever it is that you are, you have written in your book and it gives them that sense of accomplishment. It’s a good feeling. It’s a good feeling to, to finish reading a book, and writing a book series gives you that opportunity to add more books in your portfolio. Write shorter books under that umbrella. It will give your readers a taste of what you are all about, and if they want more, they have that opportunity to keep adding your books in their collection.
Jo: That’s great. Oh, I love that. I love that. I’ve seen that you’ve done that with what looks to be like a series of three books: Change Your Life For Good, Imposter Syndrome Remedy, and Fear Is Not My Enemy. So they’ve got covers that kind of show that they’re in a series. And I think when I was looking, they were not much more than a hundred pages long or so. Is that right?
Emee: That’s right. That’s right. They’re very easy to read and applicable. And that’s the feedback that I’ve been getting from my readers. And to be honest with you, that was my agenda to begin with, as I’ve mentioned earlier, I’m an academic I’m used to writing textbooks. They’re very long. They’re very full of jargon. Well, because they are textbooks. They are written for that purpose. But because my intention with my self-published books is to make my books more applicable in everyday life, I want them to be easy to read, accessible and jargon free. And making them short books that are, yeah, easy to read and you are able to use the information immediately. That’s the feedback that I’ve been getting from my readers: they are easy to read, easy to digest, easy to apply, and especially with a kind of book that says, you know, change your life for good, yeah, you want them to use the information in there, apply them in their lives. Because what’s the point of just reading it and not making use of it? So that was my purpose. For many of my students they follow the same strategy, having shorter books and having a book series. Shorter books, easier to apply, good for the writer. It’s less overwhelming for you, but it’s also less overwhelming for the reader, because if you can read a hundred pages and it entices you to carry on and read some more, then, you know, you just accumulate and build up from the information and the habits also that you gained from the first books, and just go from there.
Jo: I think that is so invaluable as a tip. I read a lot of personal development books myself and I think quite often people turn to personal development because they want to improve their life in some way. But that sense of achievement of being able to finish a book, actually is something. It takes me, for most books, it takes me forever to finish. And part of it is because I get a little bit side-tracked maybe, and I have several books on the go, but when it’s kind of short and succinct and to the point, there is a sense of accomplishment in finishing the book. And then the information, particularly in personal development, is so fresh in your brain that you can implement it right away. So it totally makes sense to me. And is something that, yeah, maybe more people need to embrace that as a strategy. That’s really cool. I like that.
Emee: Yes. And in these days, again if you look at the uh personal development genre and there’s a lot of talk around building habits one small step at a time. So have these skills and information bite size, have a go you know, read about it, but implement it, little steps every time. It gives you the opportunity to try it out, develop the skill, and just one thing at a time, just really focused. And once you’ve built that habit, move on to the next one. And having shorter books allows you to actually test these habits and implement these habits little by little, one habit at a time. It’s not as overwhelming trying to change your life all in one go. Little tiny habits, a step at a time. That’s the way to go. And I suppose I’m taking this with my psychology hat on as well.
Jo: Yeah, for sure.
Emee: You know, that’s the way to go so it’s less overwhelming for you. It’s more implementable. It’s more practical and, yeah, one habit at a time, one small step at a time is the way to do it.
Jo: That’s cool. And so, would you recommend to your clients, to rapid release books? To release like more than one a year? Does that help? What’s your thoughts on that?
Emee: Oh, right. Yes, when we are mapping out the plan, and if they’ve already said, I’m not writing one book, I’m writing a series of books, we actually map that out from the get go. So I have clients who would aim to publish a book every season. So the book that they are writing is actually tailored for a particular season. So they release one book every season every three months. And it’s all mapped out even before they start writing the book. So there is this intention from the start, you know, they have this intention to build a brand, an intention, to get to number one best seller, an intention to build a series of books. And as we are planning that from the start, even before they start writing their books, they already know the launch dates that they are going for. Some of them, as I’ve said, they will publish a book every season. There are others who would publish a year and a half later. It just depends on your business goals and how you want to build your brand. So, yeah, there are those who would publish immediately, every month.
I have one client who actually does that. She’s publishing every month. Oh my goodness, she’s just an absolute powerhouse. But it’s all planned out. Like she had a 12 book plan in her series and she’s just publishing one book after another. And okay, to be fair with that client it’s it’s one of those low content books, you know, journals and, you know, devotional. So that’s actually quite easy in terms of the content, but you still need to plan it out. You still need to have a strategy. And if that is your intention, map it all out, have a strategy in place, making sure that you have your business goals in mind as well if you are using your book as a way to grow your business. Have your business funnel in place where your book fits in. And yeah, I always keep talking about understanding what your goal is, having a strategy in place, having a plan in place and implementing that plan to achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve personally, in terms of what you want to achieve in your business. And also the kind of impact and legacy that you want to leave as a result of you publishing your books.
Jo: Oh, that’s cool. Oh, I’ve got so much that I want to unpack there. But first, can you talk a little bit about the plan? Because you’ve mentioned a few times they need a plan. So what are some of the components of this plan? You’ve talked a little bit about the keywords and things like that, but if you can go a little bit more in depth, that would be cool.
Emee: Yes. Yes, of course. So, yes, I do mention the keyword research a lot. That’s one of the things that we do in the launch sequence. For most of my students who join me, they join us with a blank sheet of paper. They haven’t really written their books yet. So we start with the understanding your purpose, obviously. What’s your goal? What do you want to achieve? And then we do the keyword research. So that whatever it is that they want to write, it’s informed by what we find from the keyword research. However, I do have clients who come to me, who’ve already written their books. Many of them have already written their books. Oh. And they would say, oh no, Emee, is it too late? It’s like, I haven’t done my keyword research, you know, I just wrote what I wanted to write. And I said it’s not the end of the world. It’s fine. You’ve written your book. That’s great. Congratulations. You know, that’s important. You can’t actually publish a book if you haven’t written a book.
Jo: No, that’s right.
Emee: You have to write the book first. So they would come to me, they’ve already written the book, and we do the keyword research again, because it’s, again, a matter of pulling out the keywords from your book and essentially using the keywords to inform how you’re going to package and market your book.
So step one for us really is identifying your purpose. Really understanding what is your purpose on a personal level? Business level? And even the impact, you know, the societal level, you know, how you want to serve your audience and the ripple effect that you want to have in society. We identify the purpose. Really important. And then we do the keyword research. Making sure that the decisions that, that we make in terms of what’s included in the title, subtitle, your book description, even your cover, how you’re going to present your book to your readers. That’s also informed by the keyword research.
So we do the keyword research, we do the market research, we do the category research. That’s part of the launch sequence. Also organizing your launch team. We did mention that earlier in terms of having the social proof. That’s part of the plan, too. Making sure that you have a team of at least a dozen people who are able to download your book and leave reviews for you for your book on Amazon, so that you have social proof that you will have the reviews on there. And it also, as I’ve mentioned earlier, helps to trigger the algorithm because it, it lets the Amazon bots, you know, the Amazon algorithm know that your book is gaining attention. People are visiting your page, downloading the book, reading the book and leaving reviews. So that’s part of the plan too.
We organize a launch team. And what I tell my students as part of the plan, if you are organizing a launch team aim for at least 30 people in your team, because from our experience, usually only about a third of the people who say, yes, they will help, will actually follow through. Life happens. Sometimes people forget or, you know, they might have other priorities. If you aim for 30 people, you can expect about a third, let’s say 10 or a dozen people, and that would be enough for you to have a decent social proof on your page.
And also as part of our launch sequence, I also recommend my students to book promotion service to help you with the promotion and marketing of your books. And for some of these book promotion services, they require your book to have at least 10 reviews on your page. So that’s why it’s important, as part of the plan, to organize a launch team. You don’t just hit the publish button and then start asking people, help. Yeah, no, you actually organize your launch team. For my students, at least, we organize the launch team six weeks before they hit the publish button, so the launch team is actually ready, that they read the book, and when you do hit that publish button they are aware, they know the timeframe, and they’ve read it already and they can just leave the reviews for you, because they’ve already read the book in advance. So that’s part of the strategy. That’s part of the launch sequence, too.
Do your keyword research, category research, organize your launch team to build that social proof and also help you to get into the book promotion services that require at least 10 reviews on your book, because yeah, if you don’t have those 10 reviews, they’re not, you know, some of these book promotion services won’t let you in. There are those that will just promote any book, but the better ones, the ones that gain more traction are the ones that have that sort of barrier. Like you need to have 10 reviews before they can promote your book. So that’s part of the strategy too, but all of that is mapped out. It’s not just a thought that we had when we publish our book. It’s part of the sequence. We’ve planned it out. We implement that plan. And by the time launch day comes we just enjoy it, because the hard work and the planning was already done. We don’t scramble and we don’t stress our friends and family, because they’ve already heard about it, they’ve been informed, and we do ask for help weeks in advance. We don’t just hit the publish button and stress about it. We do that, all that planning and mapping and implementing the strategy weeks before the launch. So by the time we launch, it’s smooth sailing, all the preliminary works been done, and we can just enjoy the process. And when we get the number one bestseller, as I’ve mentioned earlier, it’s a big celebration, because we already know the amount of work, and the planning and work that we’ve put into the process to get to that status, to get to that number one best seller status. We know what it takes to get there. And we celebrate when we do get there.
Jo: That is phenomenal. I love that. And I don’t want you to give away all the secrets because people can work with you for this and you can then tell them all your secrets. But are you able to give maybe a couple of ideas of when you’re talking about some of those book promotion services, is there a couple that you’re able to share with us that you’d recommend?
Emee: Yes, absolutely. I do have one of my favorites is Buck Books. And Buck Books, as the name implies, it’s a book promotion service that sells books that are a dollar. That’s why it’s Buck Books. So you need to actually set your price at 99 cents, at least the Kindle version anyway, during your launch period. There are authors who also set up countdown deals. So, they set the book at 99 cents for a certain amount of time. And you can book services like Buck Books and Bargain Booksy. Bargain Booksy is also fantastic. And inside my Self-publishing Made Simple program, I do have a list of recommended book promotion services. There are literally hundreds of book promotion services that you can use. I’ve tried some of them are just a complete waste of time. Complete waste of money, like money down the drain. But there are those, like, yes, I’ve said, Buck Books and Bargain Booksy, you’ll get a good return of your investment there. And because they are promoting your book to their subscribers, when you get those downloads, if you have put your book in the right categories, that’s actually one secret to getting to number one best seller even if you don’t have a large following. When you book your books in the right book promotion services, you’re essentially leveraging an already existing engaged audience. They download your books and if you’ve put your book in the right categories, then it’s relatively easy to get the number one best seller because you have that traction that you get from the book promotion services and, you know, getting those downloads and getting to that ranking easier than if you are doing it on your own.
Jo: Yeah. That’s cool. Oh, thank you for sharing those with us. Now I’m wondering, because we talked a little bit about the nonfiction books, but do you have clients who work with you for fiction as well?
Emee: Yes. Yes. I have clients who have written children’s books. I don’t actually have clients, well, I do, especially in my Self-publishing Made Simple community, who are writing like adventure and young adult fiction. That’s not my specialist area. I think it might be to do with my imposter syndrome. I would say I’m not really a writer. I’m not a fiction writer, if that makes sense. I’m more of an educator. And if you ask me for information, I can easily write nonfiction. No problem with that. But with fiction it’s a different kind of process, you know, and the readers are not essentially looking for information, they’re looking for an escape, they’re looking for adventure, they’re looking for romance. So it’s a different process entirely.
But what we’ve talked about today, and actually I do have students who are taking my mini workshop, you know, the Best Seller Launch Made Simple Mini Workshop. Many of them are fiction writers and they are still using the same principles of keyword research, category research, book promotion services. The principles are the same. But in terms of what keywords you use, and the hook, that would be different. So it’s, that’s not my specialist area, you know, in terms of fiction. How do I reel readers in if I want them to take this adventure with me through my books? That’s a completely different hook. But in terms of the principles of keyword research, category research, organizing your launch team and having the book promotion services, that would be the same.
Jo: Yes, for sure. For sure. I had to laugh to myself because when for a second there, you were like, oh, I’m not a writer, and you’re sitting here and you’re a bestselling author, I’m like, yes you are. But there is imposter syndrome right there, right? Like we all have that. So I appreciate you actually sharing that with my audience, because I think it’s good for everybody to just see that we all do have that at times.
Emee: Yes. I hear that a lot from my students as well, maybe because I’m attracting people who are very similar to me. To have that imposter syndrome, they would say something that I’m not a writer, but I’m an expert in my field. Yeah. Yeah. And many of them, for some reason, I’m also attracting a lot of people with dyslexia. So they are brilliant, you know, their brain works in a different way. But they have this insecurity with writing because of the dyslexia. They would say they have trouble with spelling and they have trouble putting the words together, and I’d say, no, that’s okay. As long as you know what you’re talking about, as long as you know your topic, you can hire professionals. There are editors who can help you out, and sort out the words for you. But in terms of the topic itself, if you know your stuff inside out then you’re good to go.
I also have many students whose language is not English, like myself. And again, that’s another insecurity that comes up from time to time. They would say, yeah, I know my stuff, but I don’t really consider myself as an English writer because you know, English is not my first language. And again, I say, don’t worry about that. You know your stuff. Go ahead, pour your expertise onto the pages of your book. Sometimes I even ask them if you have previous speaking engagements, if you already have a course or a workshop, you can actually repurpose the information from these speaking engagements and from your courses and repurpose that into a book. You can hire an editor who can help you out, especially if you’re not that comfortable with words on paper. Yeah, it’s a common thing that I’ve noticed. And, as I’ve said, maybe I’m attracting people who are very similar to me. You know, we are comfortable with our expertise. I know psychology, I’ve been studying it for decades.
But as you’ve heard me, it’s like, I’m not really a writer. Well, I am an author. I am an author. But in terms of fiction writing, let me rephrase that, in terms of fiction writing, you know, that’s a completely different process. That’s a completely different use of words and it takes a different skill. And if you are someone who’s uncomfortable with words, and you want to write a book, you want to share your expertise, you want to share a story, go ahead. If you need to speak it, have it transcribed. And you can hire an editor to help you out and polish it and refine it with you.
Jo: Absolutely. I totally agree with that. And there are so many different ways of writing a book nowadays, like what you were saying, dictation, there are so many authors out there that dictate their books now, and it just gets transcribed, and editors are just gold. I adore my editor and yeah, my books wouldn’t be half of what they are without her. So yeah. There’s lots of ways of doing that.
With the books that you’ve published, in more of that personal development genre, it looks like you talk a little bit about having a purposeful life. And so, obviously this podcast here is kind of aimed at writers and authors or people who are really passionate about that and feel that part of what they’re here on earth to do, or what brings meaning to them is to share their writing with the world. Can you talk a little bit about what you think a purposeful life is, and if we’re not quite sure what the purpose is behind our writing, we just know we enjoy it, how we can go about finding or making our pathway through writing, purposeful. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Emee: Yes. I have to say we, we talked about the process earlier, and even before I talked about keyword research and category research and all that, we do start with our purpose, because when we write books sometimes we have this excitement, like, yeah, I’m gonna write a book. And sometimes there are people, and I’ve seen some authors who go through this patch, if you like, they have this initial excitement and then it fizzles away. And that’s because they have lost touch of their purpose. They’ve forgotten why they started the project in the first place. Sure, maybe life happens or they have, you know, other priorities came forward and they thought, okay, the writing is just something that I do on the side so I’ll just put that there for now, pin it there, and I’ll have to deal with what I have to deal with my life. And then the writing just fades in the background. So that’s one of the reasons why in my process, in my courses, you will find that I always talk about purpose and really understanding why you are writing your book. Because that purpose is the one that will anchor you and remind you, especially when times get hard, when you start to think, why am I doing this? Or when the imposter syndrome creep says, like, who am I to do this? The purpose will actually remind you as to why you are doing this and the kind of impact that you want to have.
And when we talk about purpose in the context of writing, we talk about it in several layers. So we start off with our personal purpose. Maybe you have this desire, this ambition to write a book, to express yourself, to share your voice. You have this feeling that I need to write this before my time on earth ends, something like that. There’s just this unshakeable feeling that you have to do this. So identify that personal reason. Why you want to write a book and then add on the layers. You can add on the layer of your business. Maybe you want to write your book because you want to build your brand. You want to establish credibility. You want to have an extra passive income stream, which is something that you can have, as a self-published author. So you can add that layer as well. Maybe grow your list or use your book as a way to introduce yourself, or pitch yourself in conferences and so on. So you can add that layer of purpose. What is the business purpose for your book? What is the purpose that you have in terms of serving your audience as well? What are your readers needs, hopes, fears, and frustrations? And what is your purpose in terms of supporting them and helping them in their journey. So add that layer as well. And the thing that excites me the most is the outermost layer, the ripple effect. Such that if you are serving your audience, and if you are able to improve their lives in a certain way, how does that ripple into their relationships? How will that ripple into their careers and how they interact with other people?
And for most of my students, again, maybe because I’m attracting people who are very similar to me, I’m attracting a lot of heart cantered, you know, mission driven entrepreneurs who actually write their books because they want to leave a meaningful legacy in this world, or they want to contribute to the discourse for a particular topic. So I have clients who are writing books because they want to help others, for example, in terms of their journeys. But they also want to contribute in terms of the discourse. So I have one client, Wendy Anderson, so she’s absolutely fantastic. She’s so passionate about pet loss and recognizing that the bereavement over a loss of a pet is something that is, for some people they don’t talk about it because they are afraid that people are just gonna brush off. It’s just a cat or it’s just a dog. She’s passionate about that topic. She wants to, first of all serve her readers and let them know that I see you and I can help you process your grief, but at the same time, she wants to contribute to the conversations around pet loss. And by writing a book on this topic, she contributes her voice, validates the emotion, and letting society know that people can be devastated when they use a pet because it’s it’s like family to them.
So that ripple effect is important, but also that legacy. What is the contribution that you want to make, that you want to leave in society? Embedding that in your purpose makes it so much bigger than yourself. And when you write your book, you remind yourself while you are writing this for yourself, for your business, for your audience and for society as a whole. It makes you so much more grounded and rooted that even when the imposter syndrome strikes, or when the fear strikes, or when other priorities in your life comes in front of you, you are still reminded why you are writing your book, and you are more likely to power through because you’re grounded in your purpose, and the purpose is not just about you. It’s so much bigger and it just lets you go through it and power through in your writing.
Jo: Aww, that is so beautiful. I truly believe that too. Like if we’re drawn to anything really passionately, if we feel that it kind of lights us up inside, then there is a bigger meaning, a bigger purpose, a bigger calling for it. And I think recognizing that, like you said, can anchor us. So that was beautiful. Thank you.
Do you have any last advice for somebody who’s maybe hasn’t started writing a book, but is feeling called to write a book?
Emee: Sure. Well, we did talk about purpose, right? And when you are being called to write a book, there is a reason for that. Lean into that. Listen to what your calling is. You might not actually implement it immediately, because as you’ve said, you might be experiencing fear, you might be experiencing self-doubt, but just acknowledge that you have this calling, you have this fire that you cannot just extinguish. And lean into that, listen to that, and really identify where that’s coming from. Ground yourself in your purpose, whatever that purpose might be, and let that purpose fuel you to drive you forward. Really anchor yourself into that. And once you’ve grounded yourself, you maybe perhaps start getting on with it. But it’s really important for you to also connect with others. Have a little bit of accountability and support, because writing a book can be a lonely experience. It can be an isolating experience. And it’s not as if you’re just gonna write a book and you finish it in an hour. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. So make sure that first of all you ground yourself in your purpose, but also connect with others, have that accountability and support. If you’re serious about getting the book done, you need to have that network, that community, because that will, first of all, make the journey more enjoyable when you do it with other people, but also that accountability. When you tell others that you are going to do something, there will be these people witnessing your journey and reminding you, if you forget what you are doing in the first place, hold you accountable to what you want to do. And yeah, that accountability and support does make a difference. That’s what I would say. First ground yourself in your purpose. And second, if you are serious about getting it done, to buffer that, in case you feel the fear at some point or feel imposter syndrome that you, you forget why you are doing this in the first place, or if you forget that you actually, you have what it takes to get this book done, connect with people, have that accountability and support, don’t do this on your own. Because that way it’s more enjoyable, but also you have these people reminding you what you are doing. And until you get to that end point, there will be people who will celebrate with you because they’ve been through that journey with you as well.
Jo: Oh, that’s wonderful. So I know that after listening to this, my audience is going to want to connect you. They’re gonna be interested in your courses and everything. So can you just quickly tell us what are some of the coaching and courses that you offer and how people can connect with you?
Emee: Oh, sure. Well, many students actually discover me on social media. So you can find me on Instagram, just look for Emee Estacio on Instagram. And I do have a free Facebook community called Self-publishing Made Simple Community. So that’s where you can connect with me and connect with other authors and be inspired actually to see how people are just going for it, publishing their books and launching them to number one best seller. You can see that it is possible for these people and you can be inspired that it is possible for you too. So I’d invite you to, yeah, follow me on Instagram and connect with us on Facebook. And it would be wonderful to have you on board. I also have mini workshops, like the Best Seller Launch Made Simple mini workshops. So if you’ve already completed your book and you are now thinking about publishing and launching your book, the Bestseller Launch Made Simple mini workshop. Again, I’ve been talking about bite sizes and implementable information here. The Bestseller Launch Made Simple is something that you can digest and implement within two hours. So I’ve designed it specifically for people to get the information and get on with it. So that’s a starting point. The Bestseller Launch Made Simple mini workshop, but if you want that extra accountability and support, especially if you are building a book series, for example, or if you are someone who really needs that extra bit of support, you don’t just want to do it on your own, I also have a membership called The Get It Done Hub. We have monthly huddles, we have live Q and A’s, we have co-working sessions as well. So you don’t have to go through this self-publishing journey on your own, cuz it’s more fun when we do it together. So I suppose you’ll have all the information in the show notes?
Jo: I absolutely will. Absolutely.
Emee: Wonderful. So it would be lovely if some of your listeners would be interested in that. The Bestseller Launch Made Simple mini workshop, if you’re someone who can just get on with it. But if you want that extra accountability and support to get it done, Hub is the way to go.
Jo: Aww, thank you so much for sharing that. That’s really cool. And I’m going to check out that Facebook page myself. That’s really neat. Well, again, thank you so much for coming on the show today, Emee. It’s been such a pleasure and I’ve gone away with so many notes, so I appreciate that.
Emee: Thank you for having me. I hope you found that helpful.
Jo: So I hope you enjoyed that chat and got as much out of it as I did. I know I’ll be rethinking some of my launches going forth. Some of today’s takeaways are:
1. Map out your launch sequence with the intention of hitting the Amazon bestseller list and earning the Amazon bestseller badge. This will not only give your books credibility, but will also help leverage Amazon’s algorithm to do a lot of the heavy lifting for you, particularly when it comes to visibility.
2. Start with getting clear about your purpose and your goals behind wanting to write your book. What are your personal, business and societal goals? What impact and legacy do you want your book to have?
3. Focus on using meta data to leverage Amazon’s algorithms. Use software like Publisher Rocket to optimize keywords in your title, subtitles and book description. And make sure you choose your book categories strategically.
4. Update meta data regularly to ensure it keeps working for you and helps maintain long-term sales.
5. Stack promos to help give your launch, a boost. Book promotion services like Buck Books and Bargain Booksy.
6. Ensure you have a solid launch team of at least 30 people, well before launching. Expect about a third of those people to follow through with reading your book and leaving reviews. Reviews offer social proof and can help you get accepted into various book promotion services.
7. Particularly if you write non-fiction, consider writing shorter succinct books to launch more regularly. These are less overwhelming to write and readers can feel a sense of accomplishment in finishing them and being able to put their learning into action.
8. Remember that everyone suffers from imposter syndrome. If you’re really struggling with the writing process, find professionals, such as a good editor, who may be able to help you.
9. If you’re feeling called to write a book, lean into that. Ground yourself in your purpose and write. Seek accountability and support by connecting with others on the journey.
So this was such an informative episode. So make sure you check out the show notes for links to connect with Emee and to explore some of the resources she mentioned. I’m in no way an affiliate, but I do personally highly recommend you check out Publisher Rocket for Amazon keywords and categories.
And if you enjoyed this episode, please help me to leverage the podcast algorithms by rating and reviewing. Just like when you leave a review for books, reviewing this podcast really helps with my visibility.
So I hope you have a wonderful and productive week ahead, my friends. And until next time happy writing.