What Most Authors Get Wrong About the Amazon Algorithm with Paulette Ensign

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 00:00

Hey friends and future authors, it's Lynn Eliquity's SmartGest Ghostwriter and book editor here at Right For You Self-Publishing. Today I'm excited to have my guest Paulette on because we are going to talk about how to elevate your book sales without using the Amazon algorithm. Because a lot of people are always looking to feel like, what is the algorithm going to say? What do I have to do to make this work? But today we are going to jump into an episode with Paulette and she's going to tell you.

Paulette Ensign (: 00:01

First of these.

Paulette Ensign (: 00:06

Today I'm excited to have my guest Paulette on because we are going to talk about how to elevate your book sales without using the Amazon algorithm. Because a lot of people are always looking to feel like what is the algorithm going to say? What do I have?

Make this work, but today we are going to jump into an episode with Paulette, and she's going to tell you how to make your book show up on Amazon without using the algorithm. But before we jump into today's show, I want to invite you to come and join my new school community on school. It's called Self Publishing for Leaders, and you will love it. It's a great community with lots of author support. So, my guest Paulette today, she is an amazing market.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 00:29

How to make your book show up on Amazon without using the algorithm. But before we jump into today's show, I want to invite you to come and join my new school community on school. It's called Self-Publishing for Leaders, and you will love it. It's a great community with lots of author support. So my guest Paulette today, she is an amazing marketer. She helps to monetize and gives you how-to tips on giveaways for free.

Paulette Ensign (: 00:52

She helps to monetize and gives you how-to tips on giveaways for free online and offline when you speak, write professionally or socially. Paulette and her Tips Products Publishing Agency team have helped thousands of experts throughout the world. You have assets you may not even realize can be monetized.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 00:59

online and offline when you speak, write professionally or socially. Paulette and her tips products publishing agency team have helped thousands of experts throughout the world. You have assets you may not even realize can be monetized. She focuses on licensing and wholesaling her content and she has mirrored her success in selling over two million copies of her tips booklet 110 ideas for organizing your business life in several languages

Paulette Ensign (: 01:16

on licensing and wholesaling her content and she has mirrored her success in selling over two million copies of her tips booklet a hundred and ten ideas for organizing your business life in several languages without spending a penny on advertising. Paulette, welcome to self publishing for thought leaders. Thank you so much, Lynn. I really appreciate the invitation.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 01:28

Without spending a penny on advertising. Paulette, welcome to self publishing for thought leaders.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 01:39

So let's jump right into today's topic. This is really interesting because a lot of people are always teaching how to use the algorithm, but we're actually gonna do a little outside the box here and teach people how not to use the algorithm. So, first of all, are what are some tips that you can give for people who don't want to use the Amazon algorithm but still want to promote their book? And what is the value in focusing on these tips to promote your book?

Paulette Ensign (: 01:40

Let's jump right into today's topic. This is really interesting because a lot of people are always teaching how to use the algorithm, but we're actually going to do a little outside the box here and teach people how not to use the algorithm.

Paulette Ensign (: 01:58

that you can give for people who don't want to use the Amazon algorithm but still want to promote their book and what is the value in focusing on these tips to promote your book? Well first and foremost I wanted to say what a tip is and I have a formula for writing the tips and it goes like this. By the way, it is also the an example of what a tip is. Start one sentence with a positive verb

an action word telling the reader or listener what to do, a second sentence explains why or how. Now, that was a tip. The formula just was in there. And I'll give you an example of an everyday real life tip. As a former professional organizing consultant, which is where this whole tips thing started for me. Here's a tip about getting organized. Take the biggest thing out of the pile first. It immediately shrinks the pile

and motivates you to keep going. And that applies at home or at work. That big fluffy tail, that big fluffy robe that comes out of the dryer that can sit at an avalanche until you finally decide to fold it and put it away. That's an example right there. Another one is a really fat file of paper on your desk that's headed toward an avalanche. Take that out and all of a sudden the pile is smaller and motivates you to keep going. So why people

are finding out a lot from my company and from me and the things that we've published over the years is that those how to tips frequently are being given away free, whether you're a speaker, whether you're an author, whether it's in a social environment and somebody says, Well what do you do? and you tell them and you give them a tip. The fact of the matter is I've spent the past thirty five years monetizing

my own how to tips and teaching others how to do that because that's a really great first access into somebody else's expertise. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a really, really good point. And so what how are the how to tips a marketing tool? Well they're a marketing tool because when someone's interested in your general area of knowledge, think about when you buy either a software package or an appliance.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 04:02

Yeah, absolutely. I think that's really, really a good point. And so what how are the how to tips a marketing tool?

Paulette Ensign (: 04:20

There are those of us who go for the manual right away. There's others of us who wait until we've hit the wall and can't figure it out. The tips are definitely that quick start for what a book content of several hundred p pages might very well be. So in fact when somebody starts to look at maybe fifty two tips in a product as a t a booklet or an audio or a card deck or many other

formats, all of a sudden they feel like the information is digestible differently than starting to dive into a full length book. So that ends up immediately triggering the possibility of a book sale. Because this is interesting, but I really want the guts. I really want to know more about what this expert has to offer. So that immediately is a marketing tool.

And that in the process of that it's it's a learning tool, it's a marketing tool, and it's a source of revenue. And then so how is it a source of revenue? That was my next question. good. I you know, I I my mind reading skills aren't usually that good. So Lynn, I'm delighted to know it's still working. one of the things that I came upon fairly early in the three decades that I've been in this business is that

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 05:27

And so how is it a source of revenue? 'Cause that was my next question.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 05:39

Ha ha ha.

Paulette Ensign (: 05:48

single copy sales on Amazon or in brick and mortar books bookstores or in any other online retailer. The strongest reason to have some way of getting to know who bought those books is by offering a second product that has all of your a contact information in it, including one of the first things that I suggest and that I've heard other book advisors suggest.

is to put a free offer invitation into the front, as close to the front of the book as you can, and again at the end. Because at that point, not only has the person indicated some level of interest in what your book is about on Amazon or any place else, but they also want to know more about what you've got for them. So let's just say that you ended up saying, Yeah, this sounds like a really reasonable idea.

I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna put together fifty two tips that reflect my expertise and I'm going to put it on some place like Amazon or other book retailers and that it's going to be available either as a download in Kindle or it can be as a printed copy a printed copy that will have a little longer life span than what a a

Kindle off Kindle product might have. So in that way, you're accomplishing all kinds of things at once. You are getting more information, you are getting a start in information that might have been a little daunting, you're getting more information and you've made a sale, but that sale functioned as a marketing tool to prompt the buyer to say, you know, a full full size book on this.

Yeah, I mean it's not a whole lot of money. Now, with that you end up gaining the buyer's email address, which means you can provide to them all kinds of other things as time goes by and you can connect with your buyers and you can create a relationship and none of that had anything to do with an algorithm.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 08:11

Yeah, creating that relationship with your buyers is really key to helping to keep them in your ecosystem, but also like to show that you can bring value to them and then obviously that can lead into them not only buying your book but your services as well.

Paulette Ensign (: 08:11

Yeah, creating that relationship with your buyers is really key to helping to keep them in your ecosystem but also like to show that you can bring value to them and then obviously that can lead into them not only buying your book but your services as well. I'll s yes, and I'll share another quickie that's a very easy thing to do. And it may be that you you as a professional writer, may do your marketing once in the year and it'd be set up for the whole year.

How's that possible? Well, if you've got a fifth a manuscript, a Word doc or a Google Doc of 52 tips that all reflect what your expertise is, you can do a number of things with that. You can either schedule 52 tips one a week to drip on your mailing list, or you can license, you can rent out the use of your 52 tips to somebody else who wants to use it.

Now, either way, that's a marketing tool and a revenue stream. And those things can happen before your book is even started. Even started where you can get pre sales before publication. So that's among a couple of ways right off the bat. You can also use those tips within a book as you're writing it, either as summaries to chapters or call outs, shout outs in the middle of the copy to make the point, or even after. You can

Send someone a book that I mean, excuse me, send someone a booklet or drip a tip a week, fifty-two tips of the year, you're marketing to that same buyer once you have found out what their email address is. Yeah, I I really like the pro tip thing and I use that in a lot of books. Actually currently writing a book with a couple other people.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 09:58

Yeah, I I really like the pro tip thing and I use that in a lot of books. I actually currently writing a book with a couple other people. We're writing an anthology together, we're co-authoring and we have a pro tip for every chapter and I love that pro tip because it really highlights like, Hey, make sure that you do this when you're doing these steps.

Paulette Ensign (: 10:09

And we have a pro tip for every chapter and I love that pro tip because it really highlights like, hey, make sure that you do this when you're doing these steps. Mm-hmm. Well, the thing about the fifty-two tips, and I landed on that profile a while ago, because of the fact that you can drip a tip a week. It's educational. Only the fifth or sixth tip is going to have a call to action on it. Everything else is going to be a non annoying

way of staying top of mind with somebody who somewhere along the line indicated interest in what you've got. Yeah, I think that's a great idea. And once a week is a great frequency too, because it's enough to remind them that like, hey, I'm here and I'm helping you. But it's not so much that it's going to be annoying to somebody who's receiving the email. So I really like that once a week 52 week tip thing. This is really which is really good advice. And people buy when they're people buy when they're ready to buy.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 10:47

Yeah, I think that's a great idea. And once a week is a great frequency too, because it's enough to remind them that, like, hey, I'm here and I'm helping you. But it's not so much that it's going to be annoying to somebody who's receiving the email. So I really like that once a week 52 week tip thing. This is really which is really good advice. So friends, we're gonna take a

Paulette Ensign (: 11:09

And they may not be ready to buy until week twenty-one. And they don't have to go hustling through now who is that company that I was getting these emails from? All they need to do is wait a few more days and there'll be another email with con with contact information in it. Yeah, no, that's absolutely a great idea. so friends, we're gonna take a quick break here. I just wanted to mention if you are looking for author support and more great tips.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 11:26

Yeah, no, that's absolutely a great idea. so friends, we're gonna take a quick break here. I just wanted to mention if you are looking for author support and more great tips, definitely check out my school community, publishing self-publishing for leaders. It's on school S K-O-O-L, and you can find it by clicking on the link in the show notes below or just going to school.com S K-O-O-L and looking up self-publishing for leaders. We have a great author.

Paulette Ensign (: 11:37

Definitely check out my school community publishing self-publishing for leaders. It's on school, S K-O-O-L, and you can find it by clicking on the link in the show notes below or just going to school.com, S-K-O-O-L, and looking up Self-Publishing for Leaders. We have a great author community in there. It's very positive and supporting, and you'll absolutely love it. So come join us on school. We have over a hundred members in there right now. All right.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 11:55

community in there. It's very positive and supporting and you'll absolutely love it. So come join us on school. We have over a hundred members in there right now. All right. So Paul Paulette, we've got a couple other questions for you. number the next question is, how are tips better than books?

Paulette Ensign (: 12:05

So Paul Paulette, we've got a couple other questions for you. number the next question is how are tips better than books? Well, I'll tell you, in some ways they are definitely better and other ways it's a tie for first place. And why I'm saying it that way is that every one of us has our own personal learning style and lifestyle. I am somebody who is very bottom line. As soon as somebody starts to say because

I have to work hard to keep listening. So that's my personality style. I'm very bottom line. Somebody's going to respond, like I would, to tips. Just give me the gist of it. Other people want to know the bl blades of grass. They want to know every single is situation. So in the process of your question about why is one better than the other, in either way we're going to satisfy people when you have a tips product and a book.

So in no way am I saying that the tips are better than books and I want to be real clear about that because it's they're better for who? And that somebody who may be primarily a reader and as the way that they learn, they may be a mom to a new baby or a dad to a new baby and they don't have time to read anything. However, when they're out walking with the carriage

They may put the earbuds in and listen, and that's not their primary learning style. So they can get a head start and go, this is kind of interesting. I wonder what else that person has. Then they can go buy an audio book of the same book that you've got. So I'm I'm careful about that. because like so many things in life, one size does not fit all. That's the biggest lie of the planet. I'm here to to say that. One size does not fit all. That if you want

just the gist and you want to get a sense of it. I don't know if you're old enough to remember Cliff Notes. I know that in my in my college years, Cliff Notes were the saving fa you know saving factor. This is kind of the Cliff Notes for the big book, you know, for the big whatever the bigger product is. And I keep saying tips products because those tips can be produced in a gigantic number of formats. And by the way

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 14:09

yeah, absolutely.

Paulette Ensign (: 14:32

That's just in English. So if you have a an audience that is not native English speakers, you may find a real bonanza of things to expand your product line beyond your book. With every author that has ever worked with me privately, we have always d done an expansion of the product line based on tips and that it's typically going to start with some kind of a publication.

Then it's going to be an audio, which we are we have the flexibility at that point to put a little more meat on the bones rather than just two sentences, because it needs to be conversational or it's deadly. and then the third thing is something interactive, so a card deck or a puzzle. These are all things that tips from that fifty two tip manuscript are definitely saleable in bulk and licensed as renting the content.

to use in a promotional context or to resell. So the thing that I want to impress the most on the short time that we have here is that just because I kept saying tips booklets does not mean by a long shot that that is the only format or that English is the only language. It depends on culture and it depends on demand as to where you go next.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 15:59

That makes sense. And like you mentioned, like sometimes you do playing cards, sometimes you do puzzles. And based on what you had just said previously, right? Like it's not a one size fits all. Like everybody doesn't do cards or everybody doesn't do puzzles. I'm based on what you said earlier, I'm thinking that you look at like who your client's avatar is, who's buying, and then develop the product around that that demographic.

Paulette Ensign (: 15:59

That makes sense. And like you mentioned, like sometimes you do playing cards, sometimes you do puzzles, and based on what you had just said previously, right? Like it's not a one size fits all, like everybody doesn't do cards or everybody doesn't do puzzles. I'm based on what you said earlier, I'm thinking that you look at like who your client's avatar is, who's buying, and then develop the product around that that demographic. Yes, and I wanna go into just a little tiny bit because I glossed over saying

bulk sales and content licensing. Whenever any of us has gotten a gift with a purchase, I remember years ago I bought a set of really good pots and pans. The the the the rack that got screwed into the ceiling, the pot and pi pots and pans rack was the gift with purchase. Many, many many times the products that we are talking about with tips

are definitely used in promotional contacts by companies and by associations where they can be given out as a first time buyer gift, depending on what the content is and depending on what the the information and the the goal more importantly is at the company or at the association. In a membership association it can be a gift to you when you join.

It can be all kinds of different reasons to have an extension of whatever it is that is the primary goal of the association and or of the company. And these are marketing tools and they become revenue streams. Bulk sales is usually in the thousands and tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of units produced and sold at a time.

A hundred copies is not a bulk sale in my definition. With content licensing you are renting the use of the content that you will own forever in exchange for payment. And that's a beautiful thing. Absolutely a beautiful thing. You've done it once and you keep having it be a l a revenue stream and a marketing tool each and every time. So these are the th many of the things that

Paulette Ensign (: 18:19

publishers just didn't have a reason to think about. And what I've come to the conclusion to do, and I'm very close to a launch in the next two weeks in fact, is that I've created a curriculum of five courses and they really reflect my thinking that's off the straight and narrow. And I think you want to jump in based on what I'm seeing. Yeah did Yeah, no I actually had a question 'cause you

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 18:45

Yeah, no, I actually had a question 'cause you were were talked about like licensing your content for other people to use and using that as a revenue stream. And I was gonna ask you, can you go into a little more like a high level of how that works?

Paulette Ensign (: 18:48

about like licensing your content.

Paulette Ensign (: 18:54

you can you go into a little more like a high level of how that works? Sure I can. Absolutely. I granted the rights to a to a consumer mail order catalog company, which was it in its day. And they wanted they could print cheaper than I could sell it to them, the print part. So I licensed them the rights.

By legal document, written document, like a lease would be in an apartment, and I granted them the right to print a quarter of a million copies of my booklet. Two hundred and fifty thousand copies. And we had a little bit of a negotiation going back and forth and we landed at a nickel a unit. That was twelve thousand five hundred dollars the first time I had ever seen my name and that amount of money on the same piece of paper. And I said, This is a beautiful thing.

They in essence are marketing for me and they positioned it as a gift with purchase in one issue of their catalog. Now I want to make an important point here. I don't see that kind of number very often in my business. And many of us, especially solopreneurs of any flavor, we are not used to seeing numbers like that. But I want to point out the big issue here was context, because that year

They were delivering seventeen million catalogs. So two hundred and fifty thousand copies of my booklet was a test. And it's context all over again. People, friends of mine thought, you're gonna sell your booklet in the catalog? And I went, No. I'm going to talk to the marketing director who is going to position it totally differently. And that's a piece of education that many, many, many, many publishers and and authors just

don't have any reason to know or have. And I that's my oxygen. I live on how do we do it differently and I see all kinds of things and they're not dead people walking. I see ways to utilize and I have made it very c available to a lot of my clients on how to do that and think beyond. You mentioned something about a box. My typical response to that is what box? There is no box

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 21:17

I like that. That's great. And then, so last question, Paula, is what makes your approach different than books you create and sell them on Amazon?

Paulette Ensign (: 21:17

I like that. That's great. And then, so last question, Paula, is what makes your approach different than books you create and sell them on Amazon? Okay, so what makes the booklets booklets different than the books that are sold is they serve a different purpose. Everything we have in our business is best utilized when a specific purse purpose is identified for it.

A tips booklet is not intended to be the tell all of anybody's expertise. It's intended to wet the appetite in a very digestible, easily digestible way. So it's a stepping stone. The book is for the folks who want the in depth. That they that that's how they're wired, that they enjoy getting a lot of details and going in depth with something.

many times as I mentioned at the beginning of our chat today, is that a lot of times book authors don't remember where they started at the basic level of learning what they know twenty or thirty years later. And I find it it really crucial and delightful when my authors realize what I just said. And even though they have anxiety about but I'm not giving enough information Yeah, yeah, I never heard that before either.

you're not intended to give the whole kit and caboodle on it. The whole story is what's left. And as a former classical musician, I remember the president of my music school, my music college, saying, always leave them wanting more. And that is true with books and with booklets. So whether it's a booklet, whether it's an audio, whether it is a card deck

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 23:00

Right.

Paulette Ensign (: 23:09

Have that be a lead, not a lead magnet, although it can definitely function that way. And think in terms of making a sale to a large company or even a medium sized country comp company who's going to make use of them promotionally, they will give them out free to a much greater reach than much of anything any one of us can do.

So it expands your impact of what your area of expertise is. It helps the buyer accommodate what their goal is for increasing their revenue, increasing their their share of the pie, becoming better known, improving their reputation. All of those reasons and many more are why someone is interested at a company or an association of having this unique tool.

to reach the people they want more from themselves. Yeah, and I think a really important piece of this too is obviously your your what you're saying and your values and things like that.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 24:13

Yeah, and I think a really important piece of this too is obviously your your what you're saying and your values and things like that must align with the company and must complement them, right? 'Cause you don't obviously want to be in direct competition with them.

Paulette Ensign (: 24:27

Well, I'll tell you something that I came upon about competition. when somebody has said to me on the rare occasion that they want to have an exclusive of content, I will acknowledge that I heard them and I'll say I understand and that just means I heard you and then I'll say I'll tell you what, we can give you an exclusive for a year.

Only if you tell us that I'm sure that there's several companies that you feel would be direct competitors, tell us who they are and we will promise not to go to them while you have the license. Now what is accomplished there is we are honoring the request of the person who wanted the exclusive and once that decision maker is no longer involved or doesn't want the product again, we've got four really well vetted next prospects.

Everybody was you know, we observed everybody, high morals, ethics, you know, legally, everything. And that's how we accommodate. So I like to look for things that do work instead of bumping our heads against things that really don't work.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 25:22

I

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 25:32

I love that.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 25:39

That makes sense. And so you had mentioned earlier you're coming up with a class, an online class, to help people like you know, show them the steps to do this. So tell us a little bit more about that and when you're offering it, Paulette.

Paulette Ensign (: 25:39

That makes sense. And so you had mentioned earlier you're coming up with a class, an online class, to help people like you know, show them the steps to do this. So tell us a little bit more about that and when you're offering it, Paulette. Okay, what I'm going to reframe in what you just said is we are about to launch a five c self-guided s set of courses that are not on that are not going to be live courses. They are going to be self-guided.

And uniquely we're going to have a virtual coach for each one of the five courses. And the five courses are based on what we've noticed over the years that people really need and want and are hungry to learn more about as easily and i inexpensively as possible, time wise and dollar wise. The first course is monetize your how to tips. That is the foundation of the whole curriculum.

The next one is excuse me, the next one is elevate your Amazon book sales before, during and after your book is done. That's the

anything on Amazon and don't expect to, then we will suggest they go right on to sell your products by bulk. Then after that there's a course on licensing your content. And the fifth course is about private donor sponsorship. Private donor sponsorship, which ends up really being a filling a gap between corporate sponsorship and philanthropy.

We had a I have a c friend who ended up giving us five thousand dollars to donate toward disseminating a b children's book that w one of our clients had. And we were able to do that and nobody ended up having to sell anything. We were able to send five hundred copies to book to to families that were military families and through

Paulette Ensign (: 27:48

two nonprofits whose mission was supporting military families. So if you would like to be on the mailing list, and you can always unsubscribe, but if you'd be like to be on the mailing list to know when we are launching these, which will be another couple of weeks, I encourage you to go to my website, tipsproducts dot com. Tipsproducts dot com, don't lose your S along the way. It's all one word, but it is plural. Tipsproducts dot com.

And there's a lot of free education on that site, on the media page that has blog, that has interviews like I'm done here with Lynn and also archives of our newsletter. So Lynn, thank you so much for this opportunity to share this information with you and your audience. you're welcome, Paula. Thank you for coming on today. I'm really excited to share this with my audience because this is definitely a right op.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 28:38

You're welcome Paulette. Thank you for coming on today. I'm really excited to share this with my audience because this is definitely right up the publishing alley and and giving people some new ideas on how to market and sell their book. I really loved it. Thank you so much for coming on today.

Paulette Ensign (: 28:47

people some new ideas.

Paulette Ensign (: 28:53

My pleasure. All right, friends, if you're ready to finally get the support you need to self-publish without spending tens of thousands of dollars on a self-publishing course, then what are you waiting for? Come and join me inside self-publishing for leaders on school today. So you can add author to your bio. So you can either join by clicking on the link in the show notes below or you can go to school.com, it's s k o l dot com and look up self-publishing for leaders. You'll find us there.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 28:54

All right, friends, if you're ready to finally get the support you need to self-publish without spending tens of thousands of dollars on a self-publishing course, then what are you waiting for? Come and join me inside self-publishing for leaders on school today. So you can add author to your bio. So you can either join by clicking on the link in the show notes below, or you can go to school.com. It's s-k-o-o-l.com and look up self-publishing for leaders. You'll find us there.

It's amazing supportive community with over a hundred members right now.

Paulette Ensign (: 29:22

It's amazing supportive community with over a hundred members right now.

Lynn "Elikqitie" Smargis (: 29:29

and remember, my friends, once you join the school and join the school community, there's different levels. so make sure that you access the recordings and jump in now. Go to school.com and look for self-publishing for leaders. Until next week, this is Lynn Eliquity reminding you to keep writing, keep dreaming, and keep creating. Your book is waiting to be born.

Paulette Ensign (: 29:29

and remember my friends, once you join the school and join the school community, there's different levels. so make sure that you access the recordings and jump in now. Go to school.com and look for self-publishing deletors. Until next week, this is Lynn Eliquity reminding you to keep writing, keep dreaming, and keep creating. Your book is waiting to be born.