Why You Should Sell Books Instead Of Giving Them Away

I get it.

You’re publishing your book with the intent to give it away.

You’ve heard that giving away copies of your book can help you close business.

In fact, giving books away in the past has helped you close millions of dollars in business for you.

It packed your pipeline for the next 3-4 years.

But here’s why selling your book can actually pay you more, more easily, for longer, than giving your book away could ever do.

This video was originally recorded on Substack Live: https://substack.com/home/post/p-211727278

When your reader buys your book from you, they’re not just paying money for it.

They now have BUY-IN into your message and mission.

What this means to you is that they don’t buy from you based on discounts or free books, but because of their own internal motivation.

Because they believe in you and what you’re doing, they now see multiple opportunities for you to fit into their lives.

They don’t just buy a 6-figure package from you once.

They now want you to pay you 6-figures every year to lead facilitation workshops at their company.

They reach out to you first when they need speakers at their company-wide sales event.

They now evangelize your mission for you to others, marketing & selling for you without you having to be in the room.

You now have repeat buyers.

For longer.

For cheaper.

(Some of highest expenses in business is the cost of customer acquisition. By continuing to give books away, you continue to perpetuate high customer acquisition costs. By selling books, you actually lower customer acquisition costs, and increase lifetime value of each customer, over time.)

Your customers are now creating customers for you on your behalf, evangelizing for you.

A free book is a discounted book.

Discounts bring money in fast.

They’re a quick fix.

A hit.

Like going to the bar for 1 night and going home with a cute guy.

But you don’t want the hit.

You want lasting, sustainable business, don’t you?

When you sell your book, your reader is not just a customer. They are now a believer.

Believers become repeat buyers and evangelizers of your business for you.

Evangelizers create a phenomenon in business called network effects.

Network effects happen when you are no longer the only person talking about your business.

Network effects happen when other people promote your business without you being in the room.

Network effects compound exponentially.

Not linearly.

Exponentially.

Your business benefits when word of mouth about you spreads.

1 book (1 reader) creates 0 network effects, because 1 person can’t talk to themselves.

2 books can create a network effect of 1.

3 books creates 3 possible conversations, 4 books creates 6…

100 books creates 4,950 conversations about you & your business without you in the room.

1,000 books creates 500,000 conversations about your business.

10,000 books? 50 million unique possible conversations about your business. Without you having to do anymore selling.

Whereas if you focus on just giving books away?

Every time you need business, you will have to hustle.

What seemed like the short way, the shortcut, giving books away, is actually the long way over time.

When in fact, what seems like the “long way,” which is selling books, is actually the short way.

The compounding way.

The leveraged way.

The “mommy is present with us at dinner” way.

The “I have something to give to you kids” way.

If you’ve ever considered the maturity of your vision… where you’re at your country house in the future, surrounded by your grandkids, healthy & upright, without having to worry about business…

Then selling your book, re: persuading for good, is the only way.

Book a call with us here if you’re ready to do the noble work of selling your book.

Cheering you on.

Renee