I asked Robert Rolih, the bestselling author of The Million Dollar Decision and European public speaker of the year 2015 as chosen by the Professional Speakers Academy from London, especially for my blog about his success with his book.
Proper preparation
Before the launch, Robert read many articles, books, and case studies on how others had launched their books — for example, internationally successful author Tim Ferriss, who launched the international bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek. He then combined all the ideas into his own marketing strategy. He did not use any tools such as Kindle Spy or Kbook promo. Kindle Spy can help you research niches on Amazon Kindle, while Kbook promo is more useful for marketing. Rolih’s main goal was to use the book to build his personal brand and increase his market value as a public speaker. For one year he developed the concept of the book, wrote the content, gathered feedback from more than 60 so-called beta readers from around the world, improved the content, and worked with external contractors to prepare all the materials for the book (design, illustrations, caricatures, a video trailer, an audio book, content intended for sharing on social media, and more). Interestingly, Robert chose to write a longer book, while the trend on Kindle is toward so-called short reads (shorter books). He also had a great publisher, Rob Kosberg, who owns Best Seller Publishing, and it was Rob who helped him set up the right business model for the book and plan the promotion in the USA. Many authors struggle to decide on a price for their book, and Robert launched his book on Kindle at $6.95 for the e-book and $11.95 for the printed (paperback) version. With this pricing, Rolih wanted to communicate the high value of the book and distinguish it from low-priced or free books.
How to choose a title, description, and keywords
According to Rolih, choosing the title is one of the most challenging tasks. He spent months thinking about the title and eventually came up with five ideas that seemed good to him. Then he got the idea for the final title from outside — from one of the lecturers at the Panta Rei Academy that he runs — Daniel Priestley, with whom he had lunch the day after his seminar in Slovenia. When he showed him his title suggestions and explained the essence of the book, Daniel thought for a few minutes and then fired off: The Million Dollar Decision. The description is also very important, and Rolih advises that in the description you immediately hit readers with the biggest problems the book solves. This can also be done in the form of questions — for example, “Do you suffer from headaches every day?” if you are selling a book that provides solutions in that area. Then you explain how purchasing the book will help them solve these problems. It is also very important to gather some good reader reviews before the book is released and use them in your description. Rolih approached keyword research by looking at the main search terms that appear on Amazon when you start typing a search query, and then decided on keywords based on that.
Book cover
Rolih believes the cover is the most important thing about a book. He spent days or even weeks refining the content of the front cover and back cover, with every word on it carefully considered multiple times — what the description on the back cover would say, where a particular endorsement from a well-known person would appear, and so on. He also had two completely separate graphic designers creating proposals for him. In the end, the version by his US publisher’s graphic designer “won,” and it is truly fantastic. He also involved his Facebook followers in the cover design selection process, and they gave him great feedback.
Video trailer and landing page
Rolih used the book’s video trailer primarily on Facebook, where it has already received over ten thousand views. Some of these views are the result of organic sharing by users, while a smaller portion was achieved through paid advertising. He also actively encourages book buyers to share video content related to the book through the page milliondollardecisionbook.com/share. I have written many times about the importance of a landing page, which in this case is used to explain more about the book itself. Rolih’s landing page can be seen at milliondollardecisionbook.com. He also had several different landing pages for the book launch campaign.
How to sell the first books
In one day, he managed to sell 1,400 books. Rolih keeps 70 percent of the book’s revenue, and from that, the tax authorities, based on the agreement between the USA and Slovenia, take 5 percent, while the rest is taxed as income/profit in his company in Slovenia. I asked him how he approached this, and he said it was through a major marketing campaign that he and his partners carried out in Slovenia, the USA, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The foundation of the marketing campaign was that he had been announcing the book for quite some time and building anticipation for it through email marketing to my lists and on social media (primarily Facebook). He gradually revealed how much work and effort went into it, who the beta readers were and what they said about the book, and he also asked his followers for their opinion on the cover (whether they preferred version A or B) and similar things. In short, he constantly communicated about the book on social media and through email marketing to his customer base. According to Rolih, the email list was the foundation that allowed him to turn the book into a bestseller. He believes that without an email list and regular communication with it, it is difficult to achieve anything in entrepreneurship today, and that 80 percent of all his results are the consequence of deliberately building an email list and regular personal communication. Among paid advertising, Rolih uses Amazon ads to promote the book and Facebook ads, both of which proved effective, as well as the service PR Newswire for distributing the press release at the book’s launch.
Customer reviews
Reviews on Amazon are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Rolih believes that reviews are extremely important, and here it helped him greatly that he had beta readers whom he immediately asked to write reviews. In addition, the first buyers of the book were enthusiastic about the content and were happy to write reviews for him. He believes that reviews are difficult to obtain. A great deal of effort was needed to accumulate a larger number of reviews. He does not use any free promotions for his book on Kindle, where you can offer your book for free for up to five days, which can also increase your visibility and improve your position on Amazon (Amazon sales rank). Regarding negative reviews, Rolih believes it is good for a book to have a few bad reviews. What matters is that the vast majority of ratings are five stars.
He boosted sales with a bonus package
Before the launch, they announced an attractive bonus package that book buyers would receive, and asked those interested in purchasing to sign up to a special list. They then communicated intensively with this list on a practically daily basis until the launch, when they directed everyone on it to Amazon to purchase the book. Regarding bonuses, he believes it is important that during the period when you want to generate a large volume of purchases, you give buyers some special incentive. He offered a discount on the book price (50 percent) along with a gift package. This gift package included an audio book, a ticket to his 4-hour seminar, and his audio program on time management. Buyers who purchased 5 books also received an additional signed copy, which was of course sent separately. In addition to sales on Amazon, they decided to print another 5,000 copies of the book in Slovenia. These copies were intended for customers who purchased a package of 5 books and for the top clients of Akademija Panta Rei, who receive the book as a gift when purchasing one of their other services or training programs.
Using the book for other sales
Rolih believes that when people buy his book, they are then very eager to attend his live seminars as well, which of course carry a significantly higher price than the book. In addition, he is now also preparing an online course aimed at people who, due to distance, are unable to attend his live seminars, and he also already has an audio book on Amazon.
