Launch Strategy: A Case Study in How to Move People to Action

Are you planning to release a book, podcast, or other product?

Want to make your launch a success?

To discover how he launched his latest bestselling book, I interview Michael Hyatt.
More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

In this episode I interview Michael Hyatt, author of Platform and co-author of the new book, Living Forward. He's also the host of the This Is Your Life podcast and he blogs at MichaelHyatt.com. In his prior life, Michael was the CEO and chairman of book publisher Thomas Nelson.

Michael explores how he launched his latest Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller, Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want.

You'll discover how to create a launch plan for any project.

Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below.
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Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Launch Strategy
Why write a physical book in the digital age?

Michael has Living Forward available as an audio book, an ebook, and a print book. Since everyone talks about digital books, you'd think physical books are obsolete, Michael says. The truth is ebooks are only 25% of the market; the other 75% are physical books. Publishing only in digital format would mean missing the vast majority of the potential market.

Furthermore, as of now, you don't really have a chance to reach any of the major bestsellers lists unless you publish a traditional book, he adds. The New York Times has an ebook bestsellers list, but those are really only for digital editions of physical books. You also don't have much chance of getting any major media unless you publish a physical book, because most of the gatekeepers in traditional media want to see a print book.

Finally, an ebook doesn't have the same cultural authority as a traditional hardcover book. There are a lot of reasons to write a book, but Michael doesn't know of anything that can give you more authority in your niche than having a published book. An ebook is better than nothing, but it's not as good as a traditionally published hardcover book, he says.

There are other benefits to being a bestselling author. If you're a speaker, you can be introduced with that moniker. It also enables you to increase the prices of whatever you're selling and helps with distribution.

There's a limited amount of shelf space in conventional bookstores. They are risk-averse in what they order, because they get stuck with books they can't sell. Even though they can return unsold books to the publisher, it's just a hassle, he says. Once your book gets on the bestsellers list, the retailers that didn't initially order your book have to have it all of a sudden.

Listen to the show to learn more about Michael's 35-year background in publishing.

About Living Forward

Michael says Living Forward is about creating a life plan. Michael wanted to help people stop drifting through life, become intentional, and start designing the outcomes they want. He learned these things when he started working with an executive coach around 2000.

After he became a divisional manager at Thomas Nelson, Michael and his team were working like crazy to build up the division. They got to number one in 18 months, but the cost was life balance. When Michael told his friend, author John Maxwell, that he was looking for a coach, John introduced him to Daniel Harkavy, the CEO of Building Champions. Daniel became his coach for a decade, as well as a good friend. One of the first things Daniel taught Michael was how to create a written life plan.

His life plan was so transformational that Michael began to write about it on his blog. A while later,