Control What You Can Control

Having 100% control over every aspect of your author business is a dream.

Yes, we can control a LOT, of it and I'll cover what these things are in a moment.

But what we can't control is SALES (the one thing we all need to stay in business).

It's not all bad though...

Sales happen as a byproduct of what you can control.

Speaking of which, let's look at what you can control in your author business:

#1: Your Ads

Facebook Ads is our traffic source of choice, but choose yours and go all-in on it.

Side note: you only need 1-2, possibly 3 traffic sources to run a thriving six, even seven, figure author business.

With Ads, you have complete control over the creative, the budget, the testing, etc.

With online advertising, we can track performance down to an individual Ad level; something that was unheard of back in the days of billboards, newspapers, TV and radio Ads.

Use the technology we have at our fingertips to your advantage; test ideas, analyze the data, scale what works, shut off what doesn't.

#2: Product (Book)

You are writing every word of your book. Write to market if that's your thing, or write from your heart. Either way, you have complete control over every single word in your books.

#3: Product Page

When selling direct (something I'll show you how to do in my upcoming Direct Sales course – join the waitlist here) you have full control over every aspect of your product page.

When selling on retailers, such as Amazon, ok, you don't have 100% control, but you can control:

– Book Cover

– Title and Subtitle

– Sample/Look-Inside

– Price

– A+ Content (Amazon only)

Use every piece of real estate open to you on your product pages.

#4: Email Marketing

To build your email list in the first place (an email list is arguably the second best asset to own as an author, next to your books) you have control over what you offer to encourage people to join your tribe.

What you offer (Reader Magnet) will have a direct impact on the quality of your email list.

How you communicate what you have to offer (through testing different wording in the back of your books and/or on your website) is again, in your control.

You can then email your list as often as you like* with news, offers, promotions, etc.

*Within reason, and within the realm of staying ethical and legal and respecting every single person on your list as a person, not just a number.

#5: Average Order Value

This isn't relevant to selling on retailers such as Amazon, but more so for authors selling direct.

Average Order Value is how much people are spending with you per transaction, on average, across all your customers.

Using Upsells, Upgrades and Cross-Sells, and the different strategies around these, you can very easily increase your Average Order Value.

Doing this makes your Ads more profitable and more sustainable because you'll be able to pay more to acquire a customer in the first place, making you a more competitive advertiser.

#6: Offer

Again, this is more associated with direct sales, but can also apply to you if you're selling on retailers only.

Here are a few ideas to consider for your offer:

– % Off

– 99¢ Sale

– Free gift with purchase

– 3 for 2 on selected books

– Free delivery when you spend $X

– Bundles/Box Sets (big saving over buying books individually)

Finding the right offer for your readers will take some testing; I won't pretend it's easy.

But when you sell direct, you have so many more opportunities to create offers and test offers to find that winner.

With retailers, you're often limited to just reducing the price of your books or having Box Sets available at a discount as the only way to create offers.

Wrapping Up...

With the above, there are micro things you can control, too.

But the more you try and control sales, the more frustrated you'll become.

Seasonality, trends, new releases from other authors, algorithm changes, market changes, the list goes on (and on).

Instead, focus on the 6 parts of your business we covered above that you can control, and watch things start to change for the better.

Gotta run, it's cold and windy here in the UK, and we're heading outside again today with the boys, so got to get a good, hearty breakfast down them.

Have a wonderful weekend.

To Your Success
– Matt