The Self-Publishing Writer’s Checklist 12 – Free Plus Shipping Funnel

Buying items for ‘free’ and only paying for shipping is increasingly being used by marketers. If you’ve got a paperback book it’s a great way to get it out there and hopefully get reviews. Of course, you will have to pay the cost of printing yourself. 

You can copy and paste the checklist below or if you’d like the full list of 18 checklists in printable (PDF) format, just send me your email address below and you’ll have them by return. 

 

If you have any questions or comments drop me a note below and I’ll be delighted to hear from you. 

 

Project Name: _________________________________  Date: _____________________

The Free Shipping Book Funnel checklist is arguably the best book funnel type to use as it allows you to attract buyer leads. Your leads will get your book for free, but they pay for the shipping and handling.

Free + Shipping Funnel Pre-Sell Checklist

1 Have you books ready to be shipped?                                                                                Yes                      No
2 Will you be sending the books yourself?
3 Will you be using a book fulfillment company?
4 Have you your lift letter done (letter to be sent with book)?
Free + Shipping Sales Page / Order Page Checklist
1 Have you created your book sales page/order page?
2 Does your sales page have a benefit-driven headline?
3 Does your sales page have a 3d image of your book?
4 Does your sales page have benefit-rich bullets?
5 Does your sales page have testimonials?
6 Does your sales page have an “About the Author” section?
7 Does your sales page have a bio photo of you?
8 Does your sales page have multiple clear calls to actions (CTAs)?
9 Dies your sales page have a high-quality video?
10 Have you linked the sales page with your autoresponder?
11 Have you created your book list in your autoresponder?
12 Have you linked your book order form to your merchant account?
13 Have you included an irresistible order form bump?

Free + Shipping Book Funnel Checklist

Using the free + shipping book funnel model allows you to monetize your
leads quickly so in your book funnel you should have 1-3 one time offers
or upsells related to your book that will make your prospects life easier,
help them get results faster and offers them advanced training.

Some possible funnel combinations are:

Free + Shipping Book > $27 Order Bump > $97 Offer > $197 Offer
Free + Shipping Book > Webinar > High Ticket Offer/ Coaching
Free + Shipping Book > Survey > Consultation > High Ticket Offer /

Coaching

1 Have you decided on your book funnel combination?
2 Have you created the rest of the pages in your funnel?
3 Have you created your book download page?
4 Have you created a 5-7 follow up email series for after someone buys your
book?
5 Have you created a cart abandon campaign for those who start the
checkout process but don’t buy?

 

The Self-Publishing Writer's Checklist

I’m using these lists myself and they’re absolutely chock-a-block with valuable information. Enjoy!

Contact me if you don't want to do this yourself

9 + 8 =

The Self-Publishing Writer’s Checklist 11 – The Book Publishing Funnel

The giveaway book funnel is where you give away your book 100% free as an eBook. Giving away our products for free doesn’t instinctively feel like good business sense but when you’re selling books, you need good reviews and one way to get them is to practice “Giver’s Gain”. Ask for reviews in exchange for free books.  While not always recommended,  it can be a great way to generate lots of leads fast.Remember to send your customers on to publications that are not free. 

 You can copy and paste the checklist below or if you’d like the full list of 18 checklists in printable (PDF) format, just send me your email address below and you’ll have them by return. 

 

If you have any questions or comments drop me a note below and I’ll be delighted to hear from you. 

 

Project Name:                                             Date:

                                                                                                               Yes                   No

Giveaway Landing Page Checklist

1 Have you created your book Landing page / sales page?
2 Does your landing page have a benefit driven headline?
3 Does your landing page have a 3d image of your book?
4 Does your landing page have benefit rich bullets?
5 Does your landing page have testimonials?
6 Does your landing page have an “About the Author” section?
7 Does your landing page have a bio photo of you?
8 Does your landing page have multiple clear call to actions (CTAs)?
9 Have you linked landing page with your autoresponder?
10 Have you created your book list in your autoresponder?

Giveaway Thank You/Download Page Checklist

1 Have you created a thank you page (for after someone opts in)?
2 Have you inserted a security measure to ensure that only people who
enter a valid email address will get your book?
You can do this by having both a thank you page and a download page.
The thank you page confirms their request and lets them know the link to
the book has been sent to their inbox. In your first follow up email you then
link to a separate download page where they can download your book. 
3 Have you created your book download page?
4 Have you created a 5-7 follow up email series after someone requests
your book?
5 Have you bridged in the next step in your sales process?
6 Have you made your new leads an irresistible offer (paid offer) to monetise
them?
7 Have you offered them a physical copy of the book (paid offer)?
8 Have you stacked your giveaway funnel with other paid offers to monetise
those leads?

 

The Self-Publishing Writer's Checklist

I’m using these lists myself and they’re absolutely chock-a-block with valuable information. Enjoy!

Contact me if you don't want to do this yourself

9 + 7 =

The Self-Publishing Writer’s Checklist 10 – Book Online Advertising

 

 You can and should advertise your book online to make more book sales. As self-publishing writers we have many options available for marketing our books online. 

You can copy and paste the checklist below or if you’d like the full list of 18 checklists in printable (PDF) format, just send me your email address below and you’ll have them by return. 

If you want to start at the beginning, you can find Checklist 1 here.

  

Project Name: _____________________        Date: _____________
                                                                                                                                       Yes                No

Pre-Advertising Checklist

1 Have you your advertising assets (images, baseline copy etc.)?
2 Have you decided where you are sending people (website vs Amazon)?
3 Have you set a Macro level budget and targets for your campaign?
If you have a book funnel send to your funnel, if you don’t simply send
them to Amazon. Bear in mind, tracking of sales will be harder of you’re
just sending them to Amazon.

Facebook Ads

1 Have you setup a Facebook ad campaign for your book?
2 Have you installed your Facebook Pixel and created audiences?
3 Have you chosen your campaign goal?
4 Have you targeted people interested in your book topic?
5 Have you chosen people interested in pages/influencers related to your
book topic?
6 Have you layered your targeting to get more specific?
7 Have you setup multiple ads and ad campaign to split test different
angles?
8 Have you layered your targeting to get more specific?

Twitter Ads

1 Have you setup a Twitter Ad Campaign?
2 Are you targeting people based on interests related to your book topic?
3 Are you targeting your own followers?
4 Are you targeting followers of influencers related to your book topic?
5 Are you targeting Hashtags?
6 Have you installed the Twitter tracking pixel on your site?

Google Ads

1 Have you setup a Google Ad Campaign for your book?
2 Have you installed the Google Tracking Pixel on Your site?
3 Have you done keyword research related to your book and book topic?
4 Have you grouped together keywords and set up ad campaigns for each
group?
5 Are you targeting your own business name, your own name and book
name?

The Self-Publishing Writer's Checklist

I’m using these lists myself and they’re absolutely chock-a-block with valuable information. Enjoy!

Contact me if you don't want to do this yourself

1 + 10 =

The Self-Publishing Writer’s Checklist 9 – Amazon Advertising

It makes sense to advertise to the people who enter your marketplace so this is why advertising on Amazon for self-publishing writers is crucial. It’s a simple process, particularly when you follow this checklist. 

If you’re only stumbling across this series of posts now you can go back to the beginning and start at #1 on this page.

And rememberyou can copy and paste the checklist below or if you’d like the full list of 18 checklists in printable (PDF) format, just send me your email address below and you’ll be able to download immediately. 

Advertising on Amazon

The Self-Publishing Writer's Checklist

I’m using these lists myself and they’re absolutely chock-a-block with valuable information. Enjoy!

Contact me if you don't want to do this yourself

15 + 4 =

NOW is the perfect time

I first wrote this post in 2016 when I stopped putting off writing a book and realised that NOW, right NOW, is always the perfect time. Since then, I’ve published 4 more books (1 fiction) and over 100 low-content notebooks, journals and planners. I’ve also left New Zealand and moved back to Ireland and now writing is what I do. It was thanks to SPS that I felt comfortable calling myself a writer and for that alone, I’ll forever be grateful. 

Folks I’m so excited I can’t keep still. For years I’ve dreamed about seeing my name on a book – not on the inside because I own it, but out there on the front cover. female-leprechaun-dancing-animated-gif-clr
In December I finally did it. I self-published a non-fiction book and on Monday the book reached Num 1 in two categories. On Tuesday I put it out free for three days. There are nearly 71,000 books in the Free category on Kindle and my little offering got to number 607. It’s still doing well in the Secretarial & Office Skills and Business Skills categories. 

I’m already planning my next one and I’m feeling so lucky and blessed to be doing what I’ve always wanted to do. Someone asked me earlier today what had changed to make this happen and I answered that it was really a perfect storm. 

Without giving it an awful lot of thought last year, we upped and left Auckland. It was another thing we’d talked about doing for years but it was only when we saw this house that we had the impetus to actually put our house in Auckland on the market and move to the country. Once here I created the office/library I always wanted and set myself up to write.

I then paid a reasonable amount of money to join SPS – the Self Publishing School – which was founded by a young guy who is so motivating and enthusiastic that you can’t help but be carried along on the crest of the waves he makes. The best bit? I actually wrote. This is the hardest part for the majority of writers – getting your bum on your seat and words on paper/screen.

The more I did, the more I did. We all know that activity creates its own momentum but how many of us ignore that and wait for the perfect time to do things? I did for years. I used to say I’d write “when I settled down”. Hah! As if that’s ever going to happen! I’d never have written a word if I’d waited for that. NOW is always the perfect time.

I’ve also prioritised what’s important to me. It’ll be no surprise to my sister Lucy that I’ve decided that housework is not one of those things. I lost my way for a few years and was never happy if the house was untidy. Now, I’d rather be happy and busy doing what I love. Of course, if anyone says they’re visiting, a great spurt of housework will be undertaken.

Don’t wait for your life to come to you. Get out there and grab it and shake every bit of enjoyment you can out of it. It’s the only one you’ve got!

1940085106-Enjoy-Life-To-The-Fullest-Inspirational-Life-Quotes

 

It’s a dog’s life – and that’s a good thing

doggiesHead over heels. Besotted. Smitten. All words to describe how I feel about our two rescue puppies, Ruby and Barney. They are literally my reason to get up in the morning, as we go for a 6am walk every day. For years I would say “I’d love to have a dog” but location dictated otherwise. However, when we moved here to Matamata and had a decent, fenced garden at last, having a dog was almost the first thing we did.

Ruby came first. She was abondoned outside a pound at 3 months and I’ll never understand why. She is the sweetest natured, most gorgeous girl ever. I sometimes call her “Lolloping Lil” because she has a goofy way about her. Barney, on the other hand, is the problem child. He’s supposedly half-chihuahua and I’m assuming that’s the half that likes to bark. He’s full of dognition and is far too clever for his own (and our) good. But he loves to cuddle and shadows me wherever I go. I say sometimes that he’s like one of those dogs who sit on their owners’ grave.

The Man didn’t have much experience with dogs when he was growing up but my Dad often arrived home with waifs and strays so we always had at least one. I remember a “you or the dogs” conversation once when he arrived with a sheepdog and her SIX puppies.

Our lives have been turned upside down, inside out and sideways! And I love every minute. I’m down three pairs of shoes, but two I didn’t like anyway. It’s lucky we live in New Zealand and bare feet are the norm because the Man has had to go barefoot to buy new jandals. Nothing you care anything about can be left within reach but that’s also got a silver lining – it’s a good way to keep the house tidy!

I’ve had the thought that if both of us had been clueless about dogs (as many new owners are) it would be an absolute nightmare to have two big puppies at the same time. Sure, you can lock them outside and leave them behind if you go out for the day but would you do that with your toddlers? That’s what it’s like. They are babies and as demanding as babies can be.

I work from home which is really good because they’re never on their own. I shudder to think of the damage if they had free reign of the house.  If you’re reading this and think that it wouldn’t happen with the puppies you’d own, all I say is, just wait!

The added bonus in having these awesome little creatures come into our lives is that we seem to have so much room for more. We’re talking about finding a place with more land so we can rescue more animals. Our two cats are rescues, we now have two laying hens (chooks in NZ), four goldfish and hopefully some frogs in the pond, and an aquarium that used to have 28 fish but there’s a catfish that’s looking very well fed and the smaller ones seem to have disappeared!

If you’re a dog person I have a short story on Amazon about a woman who unexpectedly has a dog come into her life – if you want to download, it’s only 99c and you can get it by clicking on the photo here.

Dogs not allowed