Reading time: ~2 end-of-Q3 minutes 🍂
Welcome back to the Weekly Book Business Brief—your weekly shot of strategy, tools, and real talk for authors building a book-based business.
Spoiler alert: I'm breaking lots of email rules in this issue: it's too long, there are too many links, etc., etc., so just hang onto it and come on back when you can pop around as it suits your fancy.
To continue: I got to celebrate another trip around the sun last week. While I hear a lot of "you don't look 56!" (which I appreciate, FTR), I'm pretty grateful to (still) be alive, unmedicated, and active on my own power. Thanks to all of you who sent birthday best wishes.
And ... The Honorée Corder Show is now two whole weeks old, and five episodes are out (on YouTube and everywhere podcasts are found):
- Jeff Goins (writer, author)
- Grayson Garvin (former MLB, now multi-family office founder)
- Joel Robare (former head designer for Restoration Hardware & Armani Casa)
- Justin Zebell (CEO of multiple companies, author, No Zero Days)
- Jim Daneker (producer and Mr. Corder's partner in Arcade Orchestra)
I'm working on something cool over on Substack: a new way to get book buzz. You can read about it here.
Now, last week I helped you think about how to build your welcome email. I'm curious—did you subscribe to your own list and read it with fresh eyes? 👀 I hope so, because that email made your subscriber a promise.
It's important to make sure you keep that promise. Ready?
📚 THE NEWSLETTER YOU'LL WANT KEEP WRITING
It's easy to get bored and/or frustrated with writing a newsletter. Thousands of you have been here as I've evolved from week days, to weekends, to every day, and currently to weekly. (If you're wondering why, it's because I continue to ask myself: How can I produce valuable content in a way that fits my business so that I continue to own my business (rather than it owning me)?)
If you're having trouble going from lead magnet to consistent content creation, you're not alone. I've got an easy fix for you: work from a skeleton. Same style, same day(s), same structure, every single time. (You're reading one right now—you may have noticed a pattern. 😉)
Because the structure is solid, the only thing you must decide with each issue is the idea. And ideas--they're the fun part.
🎯 THE 4-PART SAME-EVERY-WEEK NEWSLETTER
1. Say a "quick" hello. Two or three (or more, ahem) lines of your real life. Talk about you, because is what makes readers feel like they know you.
2. Share one idea. You can share an idea from a chapter of your book, a story of something that's happened, or a mistake you see your readers/clients/customers make. Probably a great idea to stick to one per issue. (Good luck with this. LOL)
3. Offer one action. What's something easy or small your readers can do this week that will make their life or business or both better. When your readers get a good result, they'll open your next one.
4. One link. (See my disclaimer, above.) Your book, course, podcast, or your next event. Just one. (Look, sometimes you gotta go rogue. Ironic this is my topic in this week's issue. We'll all be okay, right?)
I keep a running idea list in my Notes app (I've been doing a ton of Notes app work lately) and I recently got a Pocket for this as well. Jot down every reader question, every chapter topic, and every "ooh, that's a good one." Your book alone probably holds a year of ideas. You won't have a lack of ideas when you sit down and see that cursor blinking.
📅 One more thing ... BLOCK YOUR NEWSLETTER CREATION TIME
After you pick your newsletter cadence (and for the love of all that's holy, don't wait until the night (or early morning) before to write it like I'm doing today) do this: put one recurring hour on your calendar labeled "Newsletter." That's the time you reserve to get it done, so you're not rushing, behind, or on the struggle bus. Yup, life is gonna happen (it's happening over here right now), but if most of the time you get it done on a schedule, you'll be darn happy about it.
Have more questions about newsletters? Bring 'em to the monthly Live Q&A on Tuesday, October 13th (and save 50% on your first month!). My entire reader-to-subscriber-to-buyer system is inside of Publishing Ph.D. Code subscriber saves you 30%.
📚 BOOK SPOTLIGHT: YOU MUST WRITE A BOOK
If you've been circling the idea of writing a book, You Must Write a Book is your kick in the keister—why a book changes your business, how to get it written, and how to get it out into the world without making yourself nuts.
👉 Grab You Must Write a Book on Amazon and let your newsletter do double duty.
One more thing: the Empire Builders Mastermind Class of 2027 has a few spots left. I'm going to host it in a really (really) cool space, we're going to chart our course to global domination (complete with multiple income streams that allow for regular naptime and vacations). Interested? Go here.
Have a wonderful week blocking your hour, and I'll see you next Tuesday!
