I originally met Gary Hawk 12 years ago when I sought out his help as an executive coach. Ideally suited to his calling,Gary's wisdom, experience and insights were the perfect antidote at the time.
Fast forwarding 12 years our paths are crossing again, this time to talk about the book he co-authored with his wife and business partner, Cathy Hawk. Get Clarity, The Lights-On Guide to Manifesting Success in Life and Work helps readers “get clarity” about their life, work, love and play and shares examples of the principles in action through inspiring stories of people who are living vibrant, passion-driven lives.
Like a lot of professionals, Cathy and Gary realized that packaging their philosophies and teachings in book form was the ideal way to spread their message. What I especially like about their story is how they've integrated the book and their business to present a unified branding message. They also invested heavily in quality, especially the editing process.
Here are the notes from my discussion with Cathy and Gary. There are links at the bottom to the book and their website. By the way, if you could use a little clarity in your life I suggest you read a few of their blog posts, or even subscribe. They practice what they preach.
1. What was your objective for publishing this book?
There were several objectives: Clients had asked Cathy to write one for years; We want the work to have a larger presence in the world; It's a great additional product for our retreat clients; I personally wanted to write a book and doing one that made a difference was even better reason; We wanted to create an additional revenue stream; A book is a great marketing piece to promote our workshop and retreat.
2. This is your third book. How did you approach this book differently? Why?
Our first book, Creating the Rest of Your Life, was published without professional content development editing or copy editing. It did serve many of the purposes I mentioned in my above answer. I think we sold 1,000 or so.
Our second book, Lights-On Leadership, was aimed at taking the Clarity system into organizations. We never actually published this for sale, only for client feedback.
We then realized that our brand, Get Clarity, was getting diluted with several titles. We had the content but we felt we were too close to the information to edit it into a formal book. After all, our aim was to distill our core teachings and philosophies into a title that truly represented our brand so it had to be good. You read a lot about the value that editors bring to a project and we decided to follow that advice. Keep in mind it wasn't cheap. We spent more than $11,000 on all the different editing steps but that's a lot less than hiring a ghostwriter. In the end we got a book as good as any book available from a major publisher.
3. Why did you use Smashwords for some of your eBook distribution? What has been your experience?
I just followed advice I was given. My primary focus was having an eBook on Amazon. At the time, Smashwords seemed like an easy way to get the eBook into other formats. Eventually I plan to create an account in both iTunes and B&N so I can manage sales directly rather than through a third-party.
4. Do you mind sharing some specific sales numbers with our readers?
Answering this is embarrassing because we have done an inadequate job of marketing the book and the eBook. We've sold 50 print books on Amazon and 55 of the Kindle edition. We gave away 102 eBooks through Smashwords mostly when we announced the book and for all of 2012 we sold only 18 copies via Smashwords distribution.
To date, total sales of the paper book are about 350, 50 of which were sold on Amazon. We've given away another 100 copies.
Of course I should also add that book revenue was only one of our original goals. These numbers may seem small relative to the investment but we've met and exceeded the other goals outlined in the first answer.
5. How did you announce your book and what were the results?
We announced through all our active channels: Facebook, Linkedin and our email list of 2,000 or so names. The offer was $25 +free shipping vs. the normal price of $27.95 + shipping. We also offered the free eBook download from our site. This created another 150 – 200 “sales”.
6. Your book won three awards. Which contests did you enter and have they helped sell books?
We received a Finalist Award for SelfHelpat the 2012 USA Best Book Awards, Finalist Award for SelfHelpat the 2012 National Indie Excellence Awards and Finalist Award for SelfHelpat the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
I got a list of contests from our book shepherd, Judith Briles atAuthorU.We applied to, I believe, 6 contests, won in 3, lost in 2 and we're waiting to hear in April about the last one. Winning hasn't helped sell any books but has given a sweet boost and bragging rights to the authors.
7. How did you come up with the prices for the books? ($27.95 print; $9.99 eBook)
Both were suggested by our advisors. Since the book and eBook include all of the information on our program, I didn't want to give it away too cheaply. I would have priced the eBook at $12.95 except we make more money at $9.99 [the Amazon 70% royalty requires pricing between $2.99 and $9.99 otherwise it's 35%). The $27.95 price also allows us to offer discounts. We've sold a lot of the books for $25 or $20 at our workshops and speeches.
8. If you were launching the book today what might you do differently?
Not sure I would do much differently. The book is an adjunct or our retreat and training work so all our marketing effort is to primarily get people into the workshops, not sell the book. I did have the intention of spending more direct time, money and effort just on the book. However, success with our workshops has prevented me from making that a focus.
Click here to visit their website, Clarity International
Click here for more information about the book and where to buy it
Have you gained clarity in your life? Or have a story to share? Drop it in the box below and Cathy or Gary will get back to you.
