Your First 1000 Copies Book Summary - Your First 1000 Copies Book explained in key points

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Your First 1000 Copies summary

Name: Your First 1000 Copies
Author: Tim Grahl

Tim Grahl

The Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Your Book

(7 ratings)

15 mins

Table of Contents

Your First 1000 Copies
summarized in 9 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 9

What’s in it for me? Find out how to get loyal readers who’ll pay for your book.

It’s no secret that the internet has changed book publishing forever. Increasingly, both novice and established authors have to learn to adapt to this new environment. And while the sheer range of options for marketing one’s work may seem overwhelming at first, Your First 1000 Copies aims to help you focus on the essential, most useful tools.

To that end, author Tim Grahl presents a system for attracting a large audience of readers before you’ve published a single word. Imagine having a readership in place as you write your book: an audience you can talk to directly, sharing free and interesting content and materials. By the time it comes to actually publishing your book, you’ll have an established following of people who have gotten to know you, who trust you, and who want to give something back in return for all the free content you’ve provided.

Of course, there will be many traps and obstacles to be avoided along the way. And self-marketing is tough work. But Your First 1000 Copies will be essential company during those times.

In these blinks, you’ll find out how to sell without seeming like a used car salesman.

You’ll learn how to keep your readers’ attention with free, valuable content that doesn’t take up all your time and energy.

You’ll also discover how to network using existing platforms and influencers to reach a wider audience.

You’ll find out how to determine which online marketing strategies work for you and which don’t.

Finally, you’ll learn a variety of strategies for marketing and selling books that can give you insight into pitching and generating sales for almost any content or product online.

The key to marketing is not flashy gimmicks, but helping people for free.

Imagine you’re in the market for a new car: the first thing you do is make your way to a local dealer. An eager salesman greets you and immediately begins to show you all the latest models.

After struggling to process the onslaught of advice he gives you, you decide to take a moment to look around the showroom alone. This is when you notice that last year’s models have all of the same features as the new models – for $10,000 less!

While the salesman’s pitch might’ve been smart, he missed the most crucial aspect of selling: looking out for the customer’s needs.

Despite popular belief, good marketing isn’t about tricking or coercing people into buying a product through gimmicks or intrusive self-promotion. Rather, the best marketing strategy is to focus on your customers’ needs and desires.

Take the marketing guru Seth Godin: he markets his books through his blog, where he writes daily blog posts offering valuable advice to his readers, even responding personally to his readers’ comments and emails.

In addition, the best way to look out for the customer’s needs is to provide supplementary material for free. And there are many ways to do that: write a blog, or create a podcast, audio book or informative PDF document.

Author Chris Guillebeau, for example, generated interest and excitement for his best-selling book The Art of Non-Conformity by providing a free online manifesto of his central ideas and theories. The manifesto, called A Brief Guide to World Domination, was downloaded 100,000 times and was a crucial factor in the ultimate success of his published books.

Create a marketing blueprint and then decide what the best tools are to implement it.

Now that you’ve learned the key to successful marketing, it’s time to get more specific and look at how marketing can be used to sell books.

The internet has transformed and expanded the ways books can be marketed effectively. While the advantages it provides are undeniable, the sheer number of marketing options is intimidating to even the most established author. So what are the first steps you should take in selling your book online, and how do you go about it?

Starting an email list is the first step in building a long-term engagement with readers.

What do you do when you’re bombarded with marketing you have no interest in? Do you buy the product or completely ignore it?

Most likely, you ignore it. In order to get potential customers on your side with your marketing, you have to make sure that you have their consent.

Give readers an incentive to join your email list – and don’t give them reasons to leave.

So you’ve set up your email list and are ready to fill it with potential customers. Now you have to get people to join.

How?

Don’t be scared of oversharing content: just make sure it’s relevant in the long term.

Now that you’ve connected with fans and potential customers via your email list, blog and so on, you might be thinking that there’s a limit to what and how much content you should share with them.

But that’s impossible: there’s no such thing as oversharing. Fans of your work will appreciate almost any sort of content you offer them.

To reach the widest audience, connect with the movers and shakers.

The email list and other online marketing tools we’ve looked at so far are all very useful in reaching your audience. However, it’s equally important to reach out to people who are in a position to influence their own audience to read your books.

These “movers and shakers” are called influencers, or anyone who has an online audience of their own who’d be potentially interested in your work. Influencers include other writers and bloggers you’re friendly with, publicists, an agent booking you for an interview – or even a trusted reviewer on Goodreads.com.

When the time comes to sell your book, don’t be afraid to make a pitch.

As you’ve been writing your book, you’ve also been connecting with your readership by keeping them updated with great content. So now that your book is ready, it’s time to request that your fans actually buy your book.

And what’s the best way to do so?

Examine your analytics to find out where you can tweak your marketing strategy.

How can you tell whether your marketing strategy is working?

Aside from actual book sales, there are a few other indicators that show that you’re reaching people. And, in the internet age, these indicators are easily accessible by way of analytical software.

Final Summary

The key message in this book:

To connect with your readers, authors must create a direct, long-term connection with them. The best way to do this is via an email list that provides readers with consistently great content that’s interesting and valuable to their lives. By doing this, and continuing to reach more readers via other platforms and influencers, when the time comes to actually sell your book, you can confidently ask your readers to purchase it, knowing that you’re providing them with an invaluable service.

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What is Your First 1000 Copies about?

In Your First 1000 Copies, Tim Grahl outlines a step-by-step guide to his connection strategy for authors. He reveals how you can create a platform to find your audience and keep them in the loop so they’ll buy your next book. Packed with vital information on how to keep readers interested in your work with good online content and how to sell without being sleazy, Your First 1000 Copies is a must read for any aspiring or established author.

Who should read Your First 1000 Copies?

Anyone interested in learning about marketing
Anyone thinking about writing and publishing their own book
Anyone interested in how to make social media work for them

About the Author

Tim Grahl is an author and consultant. Aside from penning his own best sellers, he has worked with best-selling authors Daniel Pink, Chip and Dan Heath, Dan Ariely and Pamela Slim. Grahl is the president of Out:think, a company that helps authors develop marketing strategies, stay connected with readers and, crucially, sell books.

Categories with Your First 1000 Copies

Marketing & Sales

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