Ra'anan Cohen built two startups with no tech background, taking the first public and growing the second, Bringg, into a unicorn. After he sold, he wrote Confessions of a Unicorn Founder for himself and his kids, with no plan to publish it, until a friend sent the manuscript to Israel's biggest publisher. The book spent over a year on Israel's bestseller list without him spending a dollar on promotion, and he turned down the biggest in-store promotion in the country because he wanted the right readers, not more of them. We talk about the question at the heart of the book, how much is enough, why readers who are a good fit end up spreading it for you, what the publisher did and didn't do, and why he'd tell authors to start talking about their subject a year or two before launch.

Connect with Ra'anan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raananc

Confessions of a Unicorn Founder: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FZKYYZ8X

I'm Cristian, founder of Beehive Book Marketing. I help nonfiction authors market their books and get them published. More at https://beehivebookmarketing.com

00:00 Intro

00:15 Two startups, then a book

03:11 Why he wrote the book

06:51 The manuscript he never meant to send

09:01 How the publisher set his expectations

09:36 What the book opened up

10:37 How the book found its readers

13:42 Product-market fit for a book, and the promotion he turned down

17:03 Why no discounts or coupons

17:56 The right readers, the higher ratings

19:46 How much is enough?

24:35 Who the book is actually for

27:45 What the publisher did, and what's on the author

29:17 Why to start a year before launch

30:42 Why readers look up the author first

31:52 Where to find the book

#BookMarketing #NonfictionAuthors #BusinessBooks #Entrepreneurship

Melanie Johnson is the co-founder of Elite Online Publishing, which she describes as a high-quality concierge service that does the publishing for authors rather than just helping them do it. Before books, she worked in TV as a news anchor and helped run a television station in Dallas. Her answer to what a business book is for: don't let it sit on the shelf. We talk about the ways a book can work for a business, from mailing it to prospects with a personal note to turning it into years of content, why a launch with a TV-sized audience still fell flat, what's changed in publishing over the last ten years, why AI-drafted manuscripts tend to lose their stories, and her 10x10x3 method for planning a first book.

Connect with Melanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniejohnson-eop/

Elite Online Publishing: https://eliteonlinepublishing.com

I'm Cristian, founder of Beehive Book Marketing. I help nonfiction authors market their books and get them published. More at https://beehivebookmarketing.com

00:00 Intro

00:41 From news anchor to Elite Online Publishing

04:19 What does a book actually do for a business?

05:42 Using your book to get a foot in the door

08:30 Why do some book launches fall flat?

09:07 A famous author's launch that didn't land

12:18 Hiring a general contractor vs. assembling the trades yourself

14:18 What's changed about launching a book in ten years?

15:28 AI, Amazon, and the questions it now asks authors

16:56 Why a book needs stories

17:54 How she used AI on her latest book

19:19 The one thing to get right on a first business book

20:10 The 10x10x3 method

22:25 Where to find Melanie

#BookMarketing #BusinessBooks #NonfictionAuthors #Publishing #Writing

Philip Atkinson is a beekeeper, the founder of Hive Logic, a boutique leadership agency in Switzerland, and the author of Bee Wise: 12 Leadership Lessons from a Busy Beehive. The book became a dialogue: each of the 12 chapters has a reply from a guest expert, and the first reply opens with "I don't agree with Philip." We talk about using bees as a way into better conversations at work, why the launch events weren't about the book, how readers are still talking to each other about it a year on, and why all proceeds go to the charity Bees for Development.

Connect with Philip: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipatkinsonhivelogic/

Bee Wise: https://beewisebook.com

I’m Cristian, founder of Beehive Book Marketing. I help nonfiction authors market their books and get them published. More at https://beehivebookmarketing.com

00:00 Intro

00:37 Hive Logic and what Bee Wise is

01:53 What the bee metaphor opens up

04:17 Why not to be as busy as a bee

04:55 Does a theme cost a book credibility?

07:24 Why 12 experts replied to the chapters

10:16 What the book has opened up, a year on

12:37 Why he wrote it: Friday is Hive Day

15:01 What surprised him about the response

16:41 What he'd do differently at launch

18:44 Why the launch wasn't about the book

20:09 Where to find Philip and the book

#BookMarketing #BusinessBooks #Leadership #NonfictionAuthors