In 2007, Gallup put a one-time use code inside the back cover of StrengthsFinder 2.0 and killed its own used book market. That book then spent 1,609 days in Amazon’s top 100. In this episode, Steve J Larsen keeps a promise from episode two and shows you exactly what to write into a book so Amazon buyers end up in your pipeline instead of Amazon’s.

In this episode:

• The one-time code that made a used copy worthless, and why a 200-person company had to buy 200 copies
• Amazon sells your book and keeps your customer. You get a royalty. No name, no email, no way to follow up.
• The question is not how to sell more books. It is what happens in the first 11 minutes after someone opens the front cover.
• Put something in the book that only works when the reader leaves the book and comes to you
• Four ways to do it: a one-time code, a companion course, a free software trial, and full page ads in the back (Expert Secrets v2, Dan Kennedy)
• Rich Dad Poor Dad started as the manual for the Cashflow board game
• Why Steve refuses to put the companion course behind a members area login, and how a share button sent 20% of his traffic
• Giving the bonuses away to people who never bought the book: 2 to 5 extra leads for every book buyer
• Ryan Lee’s 53% close rate on readers who finish one chapter and start the companion course
• Write a real book. We do not write books that are transcribed webinar pitches.

Timestamps:

00:00 The promise from episode two

00:50 Gallup kills the used book market

01:23 The one-time code inside the back cover

01:50 200 employees means 200 copies

02:18 1,609 days in Amazon’s top 100

02:47 Why you still put the book on Amazon

03:45 Amazon gets the customer, you get the royalty

05:07 The first 11 minutes after the cover opens

05:36 Ryan Lee’s QR codes and the resources page

07:26 Put something in that only works if they come to you

07:56 The only advertisement a stranger pays to consume

09:52 Full page ads in the back: Expert Secrets and Dan Kennedy

11:14 Companion software and free trials

12:08 Rich Dad Poor Dad and the Cashflow board game

13:32 The companion course at the end of every chapter

15:54 Not a sales message. A real book.

16:51 My favorite version: the stage video behind each chapter

19:05 Why I will not hide it behind a login wall

20:24 The share button that drove 20% of my traffic

22:08 Perennial seller vs. a book that fills a business

23:03 Ryan Lee’s 53% close rate

23:56 Slow down to speed up

24:22 Republishing a book you already wrote

25:42 Give the bonuses to people who never bought

27:05 2 to 5 extra leads per book buyer

28:51 Next episode: the lawsuits nobody is talking about

Links:

See a real companion course: https://stagebookbook.com/resources

Get StageBook: https://stagebookbook.com

Record a question for the show: https://thewealthyauthor.com

Pursuit of Profit Publishing: https://pursuitofprofitpublishing.com